Twitter Tips to help you make the most of your time. Yes, there are actually strategies for maximizing your 140 character missives. My advice won’t apply to every case, but I hope it will serve as a good guide for helping you craft a personalized approach for your needs. The suggestions below are primarily geared towards businesses, but can used for personal accounts, too.
1. SMILE
As I mentioned, there are exceptions to my advice. So, if you’re a haute couture fashion model, you might want to skip to step two. Everyone else, you’re here to engage and collaborate. Project approachability. Smile! Be the “person I’d like to have lunch with,” not “person I’d rather walk up 20 flights of stairs to avoid rather than share an elevator with.” Be a confident, compassionate leader, not a dull, disinterested slacker.
If you’re really camera shy, you can use a logo or photo of an inanimate object. I wouldn’t advise it, though. People want to put a face to the tweets. Either option is still infinitely better than the default Twitter egg, however. If you can’t bother to put up any profile image, why should anyone bother to take you seriously?
2. PERSONALIZE
This step is an extension of picking a good profile photo to represent you. Whenever I look at a new Twitter profile, I look at the photo first [out of instinct], then the bio. Who is this person? Why would I care what s/he has to say? Tell your audience who you are — Concisely & directly: What is your function? What is your expertise?
I highly advise a link to a fuller bio for people who want to know more about you. My suggestions are LinkedIn or About.me If you have various social media accounts, the latter will neatly organize all of your redirects in one place.
3. HUMANIZE
Yes, there is a definitely a place for Twitter accounts that just broadcast news. They are called news outlets, like The Wall Street Journal or CNN. For most other companies, I believe it’s much more effective to humanize your Tweets. Because there will be some people who are only interested in corporate updates, I urge keeping two accounts. One that is business-oriented (Product launches, formal announcements and the such) and a second that allows for more creativity (Employee stories, thoughts about other industries, etc.). Humanize yourself and your staff. Who works at your company? What are they interested in outside of the office? Build an emotional attachment to your brand.
Hootsuite makes managing multiple accounts very easy, even on an Android phone.
4. BALANCE
If you plan to keep a business account that is not limited to formal corporate announcements, make sure you balance the ratio of personal to professional tweets. I would aim to keep work-related updates around 70%.
5. SCHEDULE
Decide when you want to send out your updates. If your company is international, but based in the U.S. you might want to schedule tweets to out at 9PM US time to appear on an Asian timeline at 9AM. Figure out what time slots work best for your company and plan accordingly.
I’m currently experimenting based on Dan Zarrella’s concept of “contra-competitive timing.” In numerous cases, he discovered that the most successful times and days to publish new content are off-peak times. “It’s like when you’re at a noisy party and it’s hard to hear the person talking to you 2 feet away, but… When there is less other noise to compete with (ie fewer tweets, emails, blog posts, etc) your content can gain attention more easily.”
Again, I recommend Hootsuite for this job. Huge fan.
6. DISTRIBUTE
Now that you’ve decided XYZ day at XYZ time is optimal for you to tweet, don’t bombard your followers with all your insights at once. I don’t think that anyone needs to send out more than one tweet an hour. Any more than that, you’re should either be classified as a good friend (in which case, you should just text my personal phone number or email me directly) or a spammer (in which case, just stop. Stop now- seriously).
7. SPECIFY
You have 140 characters to tell me something. Give me details.
Pointless: Checked out some clothes. Totally going shopping.
Much improved: Went to Hermes fashion show with @heatherpixley. Must buy green cashmere turtleneck Heidi Klum wore.
Quality tweets attract quality followers.
8. CHOOSE
Don’t blindly follow everyone who follows you. Yes, it might feel a little rude, but it’s better than cluttering up your feed with updates that are completely irrelevant to you. I have no interest in buying real estate in Florida. Sorry.
9. ORGANIZE
The more time you spend on Twitter, the more feeds you will follow. Make organized lists and use them. Otherwise, things have the potential to become very messy and overwhelming after your feed tops 50 unless you only follow very niche accounts which don’t update often.
It’s also a great public service. I’ve found some great lists compiled by others. I can follow 36 new photographers or 63 CEOs in just one click.
10. ENGAGE
Give. Receive. Share.
Exchange information and build relationships. This is how you will make the most of your time on Twitter.
Empower yourself and others. Remember, we’re here to be social. In fact, Social Media Week’s theme in 2012 focuses on “Empowering Change through Collaboration. This theme is designed as a call to action, allowing individuals- like you- and organizations around the world to explore how social media empowers citizens, increases mobility, enables mass collaboration, develops hyperlocalism, maximizes interconnectedness, fosters knowledge creation & sharing, bolsters leadership, and encourages global empathy.”
11. EXPERIMENT
Twitter is best understood and used by those who do. Experiment. Everyone needs a different strategy. Find the approach that works best for your specific case. I would be remiss not to tell you to heed caution in your activities, though. This is a very powerful vehicle for communication. The larger the corporation, the higher up in management, the more visible you will be. Be vigilant in your messaging choices and stay on course.
12. ENJOY
Of course!
I hope this list helped you. I could go on, but I like the alliteration of Twelve Twitter Tips. Also, I reached my word limit for this post.
Lisa Chau has been involved with Web 2.0 since graduate school at Dartmouth College, where she completed an independent study on blogging. She was subsequently highlighted as a woman blogger in Wellesley Magazine, published by her alma mater. Since 2009, Lisa has worked as an Assistant Director at the Tuck School of Business. In 2012, she launched GothamGreen212 to pursue social media strategy projects. You can follow her on Twitter.
This post is a series of blogs contributed by SMW NYC media partner Differences Magazine. To learn more about Differences Magazine and to see the original post by Jessica Bender, please click here. You can watch the SMW NYC event on livestream here.
Being a social butterfly takes a lot of energy; along with constantly juggling your Facebook and Tumblr feeds, you have to make sure to be smart about what you’re doing on your beloved social networks. Add another thing to your list of things to be concerned about – you might be a social media sinner, and you might not even know it.
If you’re desperate to run to confession to have your soul detoxed, don’t freak out too much. According to a survey conducted by marketing-communications brand JWT, 71 percent of people over the age of 18 have committed at least one social media sin. On top of that, the average person is guilty of doing two sins out of seven.
So, let’s get to the bottom of this. What, exactly, are the seven social media sins? Answer: they are much like the seven deadly sins we’re all very familiar with. The rundown of the scorching sins are:
1. Greed of social media attention
2. Gluttonous towards consumption of online and social content
3. Lust and desire – think of spending too much time sexting with your boy/girlfriend of the week or watching too much Internet porn
4. Social media enabling you to be a lazy bum
5. Acting angry or lashing out towards people on your social network
6. Social media arrogance
7. Jealousy towards what other people in your network are doing
The topic of teens’ sins on social networks came up heavily during the How and Why We Share: The Seven Deadly Sins of Social Media panel on February 16th at JWT Headquarters. Editor-in-Chief of Seventeen Magazine, Ann Shoket, knows first-hand about teens’ online behavior, since she and her team interact with teenage girls all the time. “[It's great] that girls have a voice and can make a mark,” Shoket comments. “[However}, teens have to be incredibly smart about their own PR and making their own image.” If they’re not, teens are going to abuse their power of free speech and spew obscenities and TMI facts that their followers don’t want to hear.
Another problem that teens may face thanks to their social media use is acting shallow about practically anything they encounter. “Liking something has become such a shallow act,” said JWT Digital Strategist Jinal Shah. “Blogging’s better because it pushes people to think and get into a conversation.” More importantly than that, it enables readers of blog posts to construct new and original thoughts upon reading a piece of stellar writing. That’s definitely something that most teeny-boppers have a hard time doing on Twitter, with the very-limited character space and all.
It’s evident what the Big Baddie of Social Media is, though; the utterly despicable act of trolling and cyber bullying (or, as Shoket prefers to call it, “digital drama”). It feels like every day a new story comes out about teens being tortured by their peers or complete strangers on the Internet.
The perfect example of Internet trolling at its worst (at least in my eyes) was the sad situation involving Florida tween Jessi Slaughter. If you don’t know about this, let me clue you in. 11 year-old Jessi liked to post semi-inappropriate videos and self-portraits on MySpace and YouTube. This would usually go unnoticed and ignored by everybody except her friends. Unfortunately, a poster from the infamously trollish 4chan picked up on one of her videos and posted it all over the site. The Team of Trolls couldn’t help but harass her from all sides, from calling her names via email and IM to sending her death threats via text. Long story short, the trauma of the online harassment landed her in several mental institutions.
Cyber bullying may be hard to defeat, but it’s not immortal. For instance, Seventeen launched a social media campaign called Delete Digital Drama last summer to fight back against it using Facebook and Twitter badges to start the conversation. With a growing community of teens against this harsh form of bullying, it should be harder to get away with harassing people on each other’s Facebook walls.
Now that you’ve been enlightened of your possible online wrongdoings, it’s now up to you to check yourself before you go off being a social media menace. You’ll feel a heck of a lot better not being a troublemaking troll or a jealous lazy bum.
This post is a series of blogs contributed by SMW NYC media partner Differences Magazine. To learn more about Differences Magazine and to see the original post by Vivian Nunez, please click here.
Watching any kind of sports game has always been considered a very social experience, but in the last few years that social experience has transitioned more and more into a social media experience. Many of the questions that were addressed in the first half of the panel had to do with social media and whether its involvement in sports would take away from the integrity of the sporting event. The overall verdict was that a balance needed to be reached between physical “in the moment” interaction and virtual interaction with sporting events.
Sports networks have begun to use mass relevance as the perfect gateway to incorporate social media into the sports experience. They have also been using mass relevance as the perfect way to bridge the gap between those experiencing the event live and those tuning in through other platforms. The advantage to this particular kind of interaction is the conversation that emerges as a result. Many young adults are as plugged in to the TV set as they are to their smart phones while watching sports; the use of mass relevance really allows their voice to be heard regardless of where they are watching the event from.
Social media has also been incorporated into the everyday life of sports through its athletes. MLS, NBA, NFL, MLB, and the NHL all have athletes that connect to their audience through Twitter and although that interaction really helps leverage the brand as a whole, its most important contribution is the relationship it establishes. The use of social media cuts out the middleman that tends to exist between a fan and his favorite athlete. For the young adult demographic it is monumental to be able to speak or share thoughts with your favorite athlete or sports personality through Twitter, Google+, or any other social media platform.
The integration of social media into the sporting event really assists each sporting channel because as stated in the panel “fans are the insider perspective of games”, a lens you can get no where else. As a result, the Millennial generation can relate more to a game if they are also able to capture the moment and update their friends about it. The best aspect of being able to use social media through the season is that it is also as easy to get information during off-season, a win-win for both the sports brands and the sports aficionados.
The same theory of social media interaction in sports events is found in the gaming world. The gaming world might even be using it to a greater extent because it is their only base to be able to compare how good they are versus how good everyone else. Nonetheless the idea is the same, if social media was incorporated correctly and information was not only stated but used to start conversations the sports industry and it’s audience would benefit endlessly from it.
I can’t recap my first day of Social Media Week NYC without mentioning the night that preceded it. Speakers at 9am always seem more colorful when they’re presenting on the heels of a crazy party. And Social Media Week’s 2012 Opening Reception – hosted by Nokia and held at the Greenwich Village Country Club – included an open bar and competitive sports. I knew I was headed for a great week when I hit, not one, but TWO hole-in-ones over 7 holes of mini golf! Given that we live in a digital world, I’m shocked and saddened that nobody filmed my moments of glory (okay, luck). Nevertheless, the tone was set for a special week – and the following day’s events did not disappoint.
Keynote: Gabe Zichermann on The Business of Fun: How Gamification Will Change Your Organization: I’m in the (green) gamification business and Gabe Zichermann is my guru. While my personal focus centers on leveraging gamification to promote sustainability, if you’re even remotely involved in game-based marketing, you can thank Gabe Z for evangelizing the movement and making it tangible. He literally wrote the book on gamification, which he defines as “the process of using game thinking and mechanics to engage people and solve problems.” As always, Gabe’s talk was a mix of thought innovation, business application and unadulterated fun. While I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Gabe speak numerous times, he drops new gems with each appearance. This presentation included my first exposure to the concept of “fluid intelligence,” which characterizes the ability to think critically and solve problems. It’s juxtaposed with “crystalized intelligence,” which essentially translates to book smarts. It turns out that – despite popular conception – children are becoming smarter if you measure wits by fluid intelligence. Early and frequent exposure to games and technology is wiring their brains for multi-tasking and tackling complex challenges. This is one reason why renowned experts ranging from Dr. Jane McGonigal to Raph Koster argue that games have the power to change the world for the better. Considering Social Media Week’s 2012 global theme of Empowering Change Though Collaboration, Gabe was the ideal catalyst to press “game on” and kick off the festivities.
This Game Will Make You Healthier: My next stop spoke directly to my lifestyle. As a vegan and exercise enthusiast, I take great care to manage my diet and health regimen. Along with refreshing my body with Vita Coco, I came away from this event – organized by Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness – with a greater understanding of the intersection between health and information technology. As a perfect segue from my morning session, the panelists discussed how game mechanics like challenges, points, rewards and leaderboards can lead people to better physical fitness and nutrition. The drivers are grounded in principles of behavioral psychology and the innate human desires to achieve, be social and get appreciated. Executives from companies such as MapMyFITNESS and HealthPrize demonstrated how their mobile apps and interactive web platforms provide real-time feedback to keep people motivated and on track toward better health.
Chocolate Tasting Networking Party for NYC’s Social Good Community: Being an entrepreneur can be lonely. The long hours, nonexistent vacations and constant pressure are enough to depress the spirits of even the most passionate founder. But being a social entrepreneur is unique: in addition to making money, we are driven by a mission to create a better world. The most valuable currency for an entrepreneur is inspiration. I received a full plate of it (and ethically-sourced chocolate), courtesy of COMMON, Design for Social Innovation at SVA and the Social Innovators Collective, who collectively brought together a diverse, dynamic and dedicated group of people – most of whom were also dateless, considering it was Valentine’s Day and we were all still “working.” I write “working” in quotes because, as the saying goes, when you have a job you love, you never work a day in your life. This event reminded me how fortunate I am to align my personal values with my professional career, and meet the coolest people in the world along the way.
The bottom-line. My experience at Social Media Week NYC wasn’t business or personal: it was both.
Conventional thinking dictates that technology—including social media— and education are at odds with each other. Between the amount time student spend of Facebook, and the rise of pay-for-papers sites, many administrators and teachers have permanently blacklisted all of these programs in their schools. However, social media cannot be valued in such a constricted prism. There are many unorthodox uses for social media, which would engage the nation’s children.
Ms. Seideman goes beyond the traditional use of a Blackboard/WebCt component for her classes; during one occasion, she asked her students to take out their cell phones and reach their parents to answer a question about the Vietnam war , within minutes there were texts from parents and relatives offering many views on this war. During the panel, she explained that she wanted to bring the ‘world into her classroom.’ Moreover, I asked her what fueled her passion about social and bringing into the classroom, she stated, “I created my blog as an outlet for me to actually share my ideas about a year ago, and now I have 11 thousand people who have been to it, which I think is pretty amazing. I was sharing ideas with friends but I was never getting the responses I wanted back. And by going on twitter and other social media sites, I was able to expand my teaching and improve it. I think that is what inspired me, I wanted to meet teachers like myself.”
In addition, the use of social media hasn’t only had a positive affect for Ms. Seideman’s teaching, she sees the transformative effect it has on one of her students: “I have one student who will use My Big Campus or edmodo and post articles and things he has from class, and I think that is the epitome of what you want education to be, where they are going outside of a classroom and online to find resources and things to add to the online community. And he will actually find things that add to our discussions and post them on to our virtual class.” Furthermore, for all of those teachers— who like Melissa—want to include social media in the curriculum for their classes, she kindly shared with me a few of her favorite sites: “I get a lot of ideas from Free technology for teachers. Technology Tidbits. Teaching paperless is a wonderful site, their whole blog is about teaching a paperless classroom. Polls Everywhere is a cell phone service to use in the classroom. And Teaching Generation Text is all about texting.
Yet, the learning experience does not end with a high school diploma. In the beginning of the session, 2tor Co-Founder Jeremy Johnson —whose online learning system partners with universities to create online course programs for their students—- stressed the importance of social interactions of the university setting, and how he implemented that into his online business model: “In order to get the benefit of a high quality of education, you need to interact with other smart students, you need to only let in students who get into [the university] and you needed to actually interact with them the way we are talking right now, and to see them in real time and to actually engage in conversation.” Like Ms. Seideman, 2tor saw the potential and value that Social Media added to their online business, “What we set out to do was to essentially build a learning management system that actually looked far more like Facebook than Blackboard…in order to let people recreate those hyper campus conversations. Because inherently, what social media is doing is allowing you to connect online more deeply with other people. We felt we needed to bring that into academia,” said Johnson.
In the same vein that high school is changing because of social media, college will adapt and reform as well. 2tor CEO John Katzman stated in his panel that perhaps colleges will never be completely done online, however, that taking a semester online to either travel, do philanthropic work, or even having job would be a quite attractive alternative to student—especially since the price of college is incredibly expensive. Perhaps, a complete and robust online high education experience is not that far off from reality.
Penultimate Day 4 of Social Media Week NYC 2012 was an amalgamation of transmedia storytelling, social media anti-best practices, and social good discussions, all centered around the integral importance of collaboration. Here are some of the day’s highlights:
Collaborative Storytelling: Transmedia and Social Media: A panel of creators from Broadcastr, GMD Studios, Lina Srivastava Consulting, and host Storycode dove into discussion on how exactly the transmedia form enhances collaboration and innovation platforms, and what it means for the future of entertainment, activism, marketing, branding and business. Amidst the debate, the speakers utilized an interactive demo of an innovative digital storytelling tool to outline how social media storytelling in a variety of sectors can benefit from the practice of Transmedia.
How and Why We Share: The Seven Deadly Sins of Social Media: A fine group of panelists from various advertising, digital media, and publication backgrounds came together to address how social media vices and virtues drive our actions online — from cyber-bullying behaviors to blind re-tweeting and rampant over-sharing. The highly interactive conversation between the panelists and audience alike incorporated various trends, research findings and real life examples that added a layer of necessary concreteness to a largely anecdotal panel theme.
New Business Models to Convert Human Intent into Tangible Action (followed by free after party): The evening came to a close with a fascinating discussion – held at the very cool Brooklyn Brewery – from an expert panel addressing how new business models they have created leverage social media to unlock underutilized human intent for social good and convert it into tangible action. From living greener to hitting the gym more often, the diverse panelists from StickK, Purpose, Oceana, Opower, Yoxi.tv, and host The Mutual highlighted some very enlightening ways that social media can guide us to better lifestyle choices. The Mutual sponsored after party that followed – featuring an amazing open bar of Brooklyn Brewery drafts and enormous spread of appetizers – capped the evening off with perfection.
Greg is a motivated Cornell University Hotel School alumnus, affectionately known as a Hotelie for life, with keen interests in social and digital marketing for hospitality and lifestyle brands. He’s passionate about sales and marketing in the hospitality industry, specifically as it relates to the dynamic online space. In his free time, Greg obsesses over growing his musical intellect (both modern and past-time artists apply), tennis, and running skills. Check out his lifestyle blog covering these topics at http://www.thesocialsonictraveler.wordpress.com and follow him on Twitter.
Social Media Week 2012, NYC hump-day edition continued the momentum built up during the week’s first forty-eight hours of events, featuring an exceptional keynote from Behance‘s CEO, as well as two spirited, highly interactive discussions around creating community and social engagement. Here were some of Day 3 highlights:
Keynote: Scott Belsky, CEO of Behance, followed by GOOD Panel: Beyond Crowdsourcing: Using The Community To Report: Behance CEO, and Cornell grad (Go Big Red!), Scott Belsky kicked off the full-house session with a keynote addressing many his company’s initiatives to organize and empower the creative world to display and find talent every month. Named one of Fast Company’s “100 Most Creative People in Business”, Scott kept packed audience compelled by sharing dynamic examples of how companies can harness their creative energy to yield the optimal output. The ensuing “Crowdsourcing” panel was a more broadly focused discussion on media’s relationship with its community – addressing media’s failures and successes to get authentic, meaningful anecdotes from its communities directly.
Creating community around your blog: Savvy self-promoting bloggers and freelancers alike came out in droves to the quirky Gershwin Hotel to enjoy an animated and refreshingly candid debate, hosted by Blogads, addressing ways bloggers can build strong communities. The discussion benefitted from each of the panelists’ divergent backgrounds and their keen willingness to offer very specific, actionable advice to the hyper engaged audience they were speaking to. Big kudos to the bloggers at GalaDarling.com, JessicaHarlow.com and ConcreteLoop.com for a job well done.
A Quizzical Evening in Social Media, hosted by BuzzFeed: Closing the day at JWT meant an early evening of light-hearted panel banter, a highly entertaining, rapid-fire game of Pub Quiz, and free T-shirts, food and booze to boot! Relevant thought leaders from BuzzFeed, OMD Word, GE and AdAge engaged the audience with a brief debate on how good social content is almost always surprising, unexpected, and – of course – quizzical. The open bar and prizes that followed were just delicious icing on top of a very scrumptious #socialmediaweek cake.
Greg is a motivated Cornell University Hotel School alumnus, affectionately known as a Hotelie for life, with keen interests in social and digital marketing for hospitality and lifestyle brands. He’s passionate about sales and marketing in the hospitality industry, specifically as it relates to the dynamic online space. In his free time, Greg obsesses over growing his musical intellect (both modern and past-time artists apply), tennis, and running skills. Check out his lifestyle blog covering these topics at http://www.thesocialsonictraveler.wordpress.com and follow him on Twitter.
There was much to love (pun intended) about the Valentine’s Day edition (Day 2) of Social Media Week NYC 2012. The events throughout the day brought attendees much of the same excitement that defined Day 1, with an array of diverse offerings to choose from. Here are some highlights from the three in-person sessions I attended:
Global Brand Management: Best Practices in a Social World: Host Efficient Frontier led a panel discussion – with other key digitally-focused executives from Hyatt and Live Nation – on the challenges and best practices for maintaining a global social presence – one that is authentic, centrally governed, locally relevant, and engaging. Key takeaways from the session centered around success stories and challenges faced by each of the panelists, specifically on how to localizing content in various markets and leveraging more user-generated content (UGC).
Beyond the Like: Using Real People’s Real Stories to Drive Brand Awareness: Microsoft Advertising General Manager Jennifer Creegan kicked off a jam-packed session with a discussion about opportunities that let advertisers deliver word of mouth to their target customer in an interactive, powerful, and measurable way – focusing on creativity, connection, and relevance as the key dots to connect. The ensuing dialogue continued along this path, emphasizing the fundamental belief that “we [as social advertisers] have to bring consumer authenticity into advertising – we think that’s what these ratings + reviews do.”
The New Ghostwriter: This Hearst Magazine sponsored session focused on addressing the issues that arise when third party ghostwriters curate messaging on behalf of others, and what implications this reality has on brands that embrace social media as a means to create conversation and extend their reach. The ensuing conversation touched upon ethical concerns related to trust, authenticity, and transparency involved with ghostwriting – and addressed the convoluted question of whether ghostwriters can ever be a valuable, nuanced asset to a brand. There was no catch-all, resolute answer to this question, but the dialogue around it was both spirited and engaging.
Greg is a motivated Cornell University Hotel School alumnus, affectionately known as a Hotelie for life, with keen interests in social and digital marketing for hospitality and lifestyle brands. He’s passionate about sales and marketing in the hospitality industry, specifically as it relates to the dynamic online space. In his free time, Greg obsesses over growing his musical intellect (both modern and past-time artists apply), tennis, and running skills. Check out his lifestyle blog covering these topics at http://www.thesocialsonictraveler.wordpress.com and follow him on Twitter.
Day 1 of Social Media WeekNYC 2012 was literally a buzz with engaging keynotes, panels, and networking session, far too many for one person to cover. Therefore, the best SMWNYC attendee strategy, from my experience, is to pick your spots for the in-person show-ups, and cover the rest vis a vie LiveStream feed. Accordingly, I was able to hit three Day 1 sessions, hashtagging and tweeting up a #smwnyc storm along the way. Here are the highlights:
Managing Social Media on a Global Scale: This first Opening Day session found hosts Syncapse and Amway discussing, debating and sharing their best practices for managing a global social media presence across multiple countries and languages, with multiple stakeholders, distributors and marketers involved. The key takeaway centered around the idea that ”social media fosters horizontal collaboration” within businesses. The speakers affirmed their tremendous support for this idea, and conceded that – while it’s an ideology that can be difficult to embrace at first – in the end is for the better good of the company.
Keynote: Valerie Buckingham on The Importance of Authenticity followed by Panel: Beyond Borders: Impact of Social Media in a Global Economy: Head of North America Marketing for Nokia Valerie Buckingham kicked off this noon event by focusing on the importance of authentic voice, asserting the idea that what you bring to the social media conversation can be enhanced by examples from around the social sphere. The panel that followed aimed to explore key trends, cultural behaviors and opportunities beyond American borders, especially in light of the accelerated pace of both innovation and appetite for interacting with brands in emerging markets. The key takeaway from this discussion was that – from a marketing perspective – as you move from market to market, you ought to ask yourself one question: do the digital tools you are utilizing tap into the regional social venues of interest? If so, then proceed.
Social Media Week’s Opening VIP Reception Hosted by Nokia: Crowdcentric, title sponsor Nokia, and SocialVibe hosted this lavishly awesome kick-off, invite-only opening party at the trendy Greenwich Village Country Club. Passed appetizers, complimentary libations from Heineken and Bulldog Gin, and – most importantly – exceptional conversation with engaged thought leaders made this the ideal way to properly kickoff the week.
Greg is a motivated Cornell University Hotel School alumnus, affectionately known as a Hotelie for life, with keen interests in social and digital marketing for hospitality and lifestyle brands. He’s passionate about sales and marketing in the hospitality industry, specifically as it relates to the dynamic online space. In his free time, Greg obsesses over growing his musical intellect (both modern and past-time artists apply), tennis, and running skills. Check out his lifestyle blog covering these topics at http://www.thesocialsonictraveler.wordpress.com and follow him on Twitter.
This post is a part of a continuing series of Keynote Spotlights– check back here throughout the week for more information on the phenomenal individuals who will be gracing #SMW12 events next week!
Winner of the Media Ecology Association’s first Neil Postman award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity, Douglas Rushkoff is an author, teacher, and documentarian who focuses on the ways people, cultures, and institutions create, share, and influence each other’s values. He is technology and media commentator for CNN, and has taught and lectured around the world about media, technology, culture and economics.
His new book, Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age, a followup to his Frontline documentary, Digital Nation. His last book, an analysis of the corporate spectacle called Life Inc., was also made into a short, award-winning film.
His ten best-selling books on new media and popular culture have been translated to over thirty languages. They include Cyberia, Media Virus, Playing the Future, Nothing Sacred: The Truth about Judaism, Get Back in the Box: Innovation from the Inside Out and Coercion, winner of the Marshall Mcluhan Award for best media book. Rushkoff also wrote the acclaimed novels Ecstasy Club and Exit Strategy and graphic novel, Club Zero-G. He wrote a series of graphic novels called Testament, and his new graphic novel, A.D.D., was just released by Vertigo.
He has written and hosted three award-winning Frontline documentaries – The Merchants of Cool looked at the influence of corporations on youth culture, The Persuaders, about the cluttered landscape of marketing, and new efforts to overcome consumer resistance, and most recently, Digital Nation, about life on the virtual frontier.
His commentaries have aired on CBS Sunday Morning and NPR’s All Things Considered, and have appeared in publications from The New York Times to Timemagazine. He wrote the first syndicated column on cyberculture for The New York Times and Guardian of London, as well as regular columns for Arthur, Discover Magazine and The Feature. He also hosted is own radio program on WFMU, The Media-Squat.
Rushkoff is finishing his PhD at Utrecht University’s New Media Program. He has taught regularly for the MaybeLogic Academy, NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, The New School University, and the Esalen Institute. He also lectures about media, art, society, and change at conferences and universities around the world.
Elisa Camahort Page, COO and Co-Founder of BlogHer, Inc.
This post is a part of a continuing series of Keynote Spotlights– check back here throughout the week for more information on the phenomenal individuals who will be gracing #SMW12 events next week!
Elisa Camahort Page co-founded BlogHer, Inc. and serves as the company’s COO. With her leadership, the BlogHer conference has grown to five diverse events with over 5,000 attendees. The flagship annual conference is the largest conference for social media leaders in the U.S. and has been described as “ComicCon for women who blog” by Variety magazine.
Elisa’s work has resulted in coverage and profiles from many of the leading media outlets, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, Advertising Age, Forbes, Fast Company, CNN, The Today Show, the Wall Street Journal, and many more. Together, BlogHer co-founders Lisa, Elisa and Jory have been named among the most influential women in Web 2.0 and technology by Fast Company (2008, 2009 and 2010), Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year semi-finalists (2010) and among the seven most powerful people in new media by Forbes Magazine (2009). In 2011 they were jointly awarded the PepsiCo Women’s Inspiration Award and in 2008, the Anita Borg Institute Social Impact Award. Elisa has been honored as an NCWIT Hero and as one of the AWM’s Sixty@60.
Elisa is a founding Fellow of the Society for New Communications Research and serves on the Board of Directors of the 42nd Street Moon Theatre in San Francisco, the programming advisory committee for SXSW Interactive, Advisory Board for Food on the Table, and the Board of Advisors of the Anita Borg Institute.
Throughout this week, we’ll be giving you a heads up on everything that’s going on at our content hubs this time next week. Events are filling up fast so check out what’s going on this time next week and click on the corresponding event link to register!
Note that events are listed in chronological order based on the time of day they occur.
We’re doing all that we can this week to help you optimize your #smw12 experience. While each of our hubs serve as homes for specific content areas, the number of sessions we host on a specific topic far exceeds the capacity we have in our Hubs.
To help you navigate the schedule and find sessions that are relevant and interesting for you, we’re constructing a series of guides, which we hope will surface new and interesting content you might not have otherwise been aware of.
It’s pretty amazing when you think about it: 40 ads that ran during the Super Bowl have been viewed on YouTube more than 99 million times. That is almost 1 billion impressions. It’s daunting to try to imagine all the creative power that went into the ad-making and the subsequent zooming on the Internet as people viewed and shared the content.
But one company, PM Digital, has discovered that the ads with the most views on YouTube did not generate large increases in Facebook fans or Twitter followers, according to PM Digital’s Super Bowl Commercial Index. (Full disclosure: PM Digital is a client of DiGennaro Communications, where I work.)
The PM Digital Super Bowl Commercial index measures Facebook Fans, Twitter followers, and YouTube ad views for 40 brands that had ads in the game. The index tracks changes in engagement on the three channels from Monday, January 30, through Monday, February 6.
My DGC colleagues and the folks at PM Digital have been analyzing the statistics this week. While the YouTube popularity of the Super Bowl ads is staggering, other numbers leave us wondering if the ads were a touchdown or a fumble. And we couldn’t help but think that full integration between traditional advertising and social media has a long way to go. “
Indeed, brands use Facebook and Twitter to engage with people, advertise to them, offer them promotions and drive transactions on an ongoing basis. While brands with the most-viewed ads should feel satisfied about their YouTube results, they have not by and large recruited new fans and followers, thereby foregoing chances to engage with people who have clearly shown an interest in entertaining, branded content.
Key findings from the PM Digital Super Bowl Commercial Index include:
Volkswagen, which led the Index in YouTube ad views, ranked #33 among the 40 advertisers in terms of Facebook fan increases. The German car maker had just a 1.58 % increase of from Monday, January 30 to Monday, February 6.
Chevrolet, whose ads were viewed more than 11.2 million times, saw relatively large increases in fans and followers: 5.77% increase in Facebook fans and 14% increase in Twitter followers. The large Twitter increase is likely due to the company’s pre-game Twitter contest.
The 10 most-viewed ads on YouTube had lower-than-average % increases in Facebook fans; the average fan increase was 12.28%. It should be noted that most brands saw single-digit increases. Huge increases in fans for Taxact.com (117%), the movie Act of Valor (160%), and Bud Light Platinum (119%) drove the Facebook average up; These three advertisers were low on the YouTube scale.
Eight of the 10 most-viewed ads on YouTube had lower-than-average % increases in Twitter fans; the average was 5.53%.
YouTube Views, Facebook Fans and Twitter Followers
Advertiser
Ad Views
Facebook Fan % Increase
Twitter Follower % Increase
Volkswagen
18,081,000
1.58%
5.66%
Acura
16,395,557
3.31%
4.89%
Honda
12,470,027
2.77%
2.78%
Chevrolet
11,217,440
5.77%
14.01%
Audi
6,168,365
2.92%
4.10%
Hyundai
4,595,629
1.26%
2.22%
Bridgestone Tires
1,568,676
5.68%
1.30%
Toyota
3,566,117
6.88%
1.68%
Doritos
3,133,904
8.90%
4.91%
Pepsi
2,861,886
2.34%
0.17%
Top 10 Average
4.14%
4.17%
Average of All Ads
12.28%
5.53%
Sally O’Dowd is a VP and group account director for New York-based DiGennaro Communications, which specializes in B2B communications for media, advertising and entertainment companies. Previously, she worked in Paris as head of content and social media strategy at MSLGROUP, the 22-country PR and events network of Publicis Groupe. She has also held senior communications roles at Arc Worldwide/Leo Burnett and Razorfish, following a career in journalism and public affairs.
We’re doing all that we can this week to help you optimize your #smw12 experience. While each of our hubs serve as homes for specific content areas, the number of sessions we host on a specific topic far exceeds the capacity we have in our Hubs.
To help you navigate the schedule and find sessions that are relevant and interesting for you, we’re constructing a series of guides, which we hope will surface new and interesting content you might not have otherwise been aware of.
Coming up over the next couple of days, SMW Guides on Advertising & Marketing, Music, Science, Technology, Startups, Small Business & Health & Wellness.
We’re doing all that we can this week to help you optimize your #smw12 experience. While each of our hubs serve as homes for specific content areas, the number of sessions we host on a specific topic far exceeds the capacity we have in our Hubs.
To help you navigate the schedule and find sessions that are relevant and interesting for you, we’re constructing a series of guides, which we hope will surface new and interesting content you might not have otherwise been aware of.
Coming up over the next couple of days, SMW Guides on Advertising & Marketing, Social & Environmental Change, Music, Science, Technology, Startups, Small Business & Health & Wellness.
Throughout this week, we’ll be giving you a heads up on everything that’s going on at our content hubs this time next week. Events are filling up fast so check out what’s going on this time next week and click on the corresponding event link to register!
Note that events are listed in chronological order based on the time of day they occur.
This is the first of a part of a continuing series of posts spotlighting our 6 #SMW12 Content Hubs. We’ll be posting profiles of all the hubs throughout this week so keep checking back for more!
The Art & Culture Hub is your go to location for all things music and tv and funny and style. We’re excited about the eclectic breadth of these events and look forward to seeing you there!
You can view all of the events from the art and culture hub by clicking HERE but check out a handful of our favs below!
On Monday check out The Mobile-Social Living Room a panel on how emerging media is reviving the live television experience from 9-11am. From there, be sure you don’t miss this, newly added to the schedule, keynote by Media Personality and Founder of Abrams Media, Dan Abrams from 12-2pm. Then spice it up by heading over to a keynote by hip hop legend Jermaine Dupri on Building a Community (3-5pm) before digging into a panel on social sharing and the Art of Doodling from 4:30-5:30pm.
Tuesday morning– get up and at em with a panel on Digital Voyeruism from 9-11am before heading over to a keynote from Entrepreneur Kevin Slatin with a corresponding panel on E-Commerce (12-2pm). Take a quick lunch break and then head over to The New Ghostwriter from 3-5pm OR maybe decide that this panel on Social Syndication from 3:30-5:30 is more your style. No judgement either way.
Okay. On to Wednesday. I know, all that and we’ve still got THREE MORE days of events for you. Kick the day off with a Keynote from Chris Kaskie, President of Pitchfork from 9-11am then make your way over to a panel on Street Style blogs from 12-2pm or maybe you’d prefer a discussion on the Grammys and digital from 1:30-2:30pm. I know, it’s a touch decision. I promise. You will survive it. Once you’ve made that call the rest of the day is easy. Head straight on over to a panel on how to be funny on twitter from 3-4pm then take a quick breather before going to a panel on the state of curation.
Phew.
Thursday. I know, I can’t believe it either! Start your day with a keynote from Elisa Camhort with a corresponding panel on Companion TV from 9-11am. Then dive into a keynote from Jonah Peretti founder and CEO of BuzzFeed with a corresponding panel on Start Ups from 12-2pm. What a morning.
Grab some lunch and recharge before heading over to a panel on Transmedia and Social Media from 3-5pm. After that there’s a panel called IN THE TWITTER KITCHEN: A MODERN COOKIE BAKE-OFF. It’s happening from 4:30-6:30pm. I’m not going to tell you what it’s about. You can click through to find out for yourself. But I will tell you that maybe you should go.
Friday? Friday! Already. This week will absolutely fly by but if you’ve waited until the last moment to get your fill of #smw12, no worries, we’ve got you.
This is a guest post from Sharon Mandler, Sr. Digital Startegist at Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness. You can follow her on twitter @sharonmandler or @Saatchiwellness.
We’re at a tipping point for the health and wellness industry. We’re about to see a massive change where more and more people are seizing their health and wellness. They’re becoming aware of their own health data and what that means, taking charge of their health records, and moving from info seekers to seekers and advisors.
Ultimately this is a very good thing. We know that by sharing and passing on information we’re accelerating the pace at which truths and innovations come to light. This means that through social technologies, we’re helping one another live better, healthier lives. It also means that the role of brands and brand marketing in this category is changing.
At Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness, we work with our clients to help them understand and own their roles in this exciting new world of health and wellness. Our goal as an agency is to motivate and educate people to improve their total well-being. To us, working with Social Media Week and Luminary Labs to host the first Health & Wellness hub is the natural next step to extend the conversations that will help us all live better lives.
We know. There are a lot of events taking place next week and the very act of perusing the schedule can be, at times, overwhelming. So we wanted to lend a hand and highlight a few of our favorite events taking place at the Health & Wellness Hub!
We’re excited to announce a new addition to the schedule!
On Monday February 13 from 12-1pm, Dan Abrams, founder of Abrams Media Network and TV Personality will be interviewed by Grant Whitmore, VP of Hearst Magazines Digital Media. Their discussion will be followed by a panel on the Future of Brand Journalism in Social Media.
Dan Abrams is the founder of the Abrams Media Network, which includes Mediaite, Geekosystem, Styleite, SportsGrid, The Jane Dough, The Mary Sue, and is co-founder of Gossip Cop. He is also the CEO of Abrams Research.
Dan is currently a legal analyst for ABC and a substitute anchor for “Good Morning America.” Previously, Dan was also the General Manager of MSNBC where he defined the network as “The Place for Politics”. During his tenure, the network saw its most significant ratings and profit gains to date. He also hosted “The Abrams Report”, a nightly legal affairs program, and the acclaimed “Verdict with Dan Abrams”. He is the current host of Investigation Discovery’s “Chasing Justice With Dan Abrams.”
This post is a part of a continuing series of Keynote Spotlights– check back here throughout the week for more information on the phenomenal individuals who will be gracing #SMW12 events next week!
David Eastman is CEO of JWT North America. He is responsible for the overall management and strategic direction of the North American network with a particular focus on the JWT head office, New York.
David is also Worldwide Digital Director for JWT. In this role, he is responsible for the strategic oversight and management of the digital discipline within JWT and all subsidiary companies. He is also a member of the JWT global executive committee.
David became involved in digital in 1997 and previously worked at the Omnicom-owned Republic Family, where he was Chief Executive since June 2007 looking after a portfolio of interactive agencies ranging from digital creative to marketing technology and including five-time UK digital agency of the year, Agency Republic. Prior to that, he spent seven years at TBWA aligned Agency.com most recently as President & Worldwide Chief Executive, where he was responsible for all aspects of worldwide operations. He was also a member of the TBWA global operating group.
He has worked with numerous clients including: British Airways, T-Mobile, Mercedes, The Economist, British Telecom, Carphone Warehouse, Microsoft, eBay and Heineken.
He is a Webby judge and has had articles published in or been interviewed for The Times, Business Week, New Media Age and Revolution magazine, as well as numerous speaking engagements including the Cannes Ad Festival, Internet World and Mobile World. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in the U.K. and a TEDster. Eastman also completed the Omnicom/Harvard Business School senior management program.
This post is a part of a continuing series of Keynote Spotlights– check back here throughout the week for more information on the phenomenal individuals who will be gracing #SMW12 events next week!
Hailing from Toronto, Don Tapscott is one of the world’s leading authorities on innovation, media, and the economic and social impact of technology. For over 30 years, he has introduced many ground breaking concepts that have embedded into contemporary understanding.
He has authored or co-authored 14 widely read books including the 1992 best seller Paradigm Shift. His 1995 hit, The Digital Economy changed thinking around the world about the transformational nature of the Internet, and two years later he defined the Net Generation and the “digital divide” in Growing Up Digital. His 2000 work Digital Capital introduced seminal ideas like “the business web,” described by Business Week as “pure enlightenment.” Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything was the best selling management book in 2007 and has been translated into over 25 languages.
The Economist described his newest work Macrowikinomics: Rebooting Business and the World a “Schumpeterian story of creative destruction,” and the Huffington Post said the book is “nothing less than a game plan to fix a broken world.” His work continues as the Chairman of the innovation think tank, Moxie Insight, a member of World Economic Forum and an Adjunct Professor of Management for the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.
This post is a part of a continuing series of Keynote Spotlights– check back here throughout the week for more information on the phenomenal individuals who will be gracing #SMW12 events next week!
Chris Kaskie is the President of Pitchfork, the essential guide to independent music and beyond. With more than 4 million unique visitors each month and 500,000 visits each day, Pitchfork has one of the Web’s most loyal audiences, and is considered one one of the world’s most popular, respected, and influential music publications. In addition to developing Pitchfork into an internationally renowned online music magazine, Chris runs the company day-to-day and is an architect of Pitchfork’s growth and expansion into other arenas, such as the Pitchfork Music Festivals and Pitchfork.tv. He lives in Chicago with his wife Amy and two children.
This post is a part of a continuing series of Keynote Spotlights– check back here throughout the week for more information on the phenomenal individuals who will be gracing #SMW12 events next week!
Ben is the 25-year-old founder and CEO of Quirky. His entrepreneurial journey started during his senior year of high school with a second mortgage on his parents’ house and the founding of an iPod accessory company called mophie. Shortly after mophie won “Best of Show” at MacWorld 2006, Ben discovered his passion for involving people around the world in the development of new consumer products. The rapid growth of the mophie brand led to its acquisition in August of 2007, which allowed Ben to focus his efforts on bringing his idea of ‘social product development’ to the next level. After two years of research and development on the unique technology platform that became the foundation of his future work, Ben publicly launched Quirky in June of 2009.
A passionate and opinionated speaker, Ben talks Quirky, products and design to audiences around the world. His work has landed him in hundreds of newspapers (New York Times, USA Today, New York Observer), magazines (Business Week, Entrepreneur, Inc., WIRED) and TV networks (CNBC, FOX Business News, The Today Show). In 2007, Inc Magazine named Ben the top entrepreneur in the country under the age of 30. He was 20 at the time. Other than participating in the development of awesome new products, Ben’s favorite things include his niece Lily, Jay-Z, cool kicks and black t-shirts.
This post is a part of a continuing series of Keynote Spotlights– check back here throughout the week for more information on the phenomenal individuals who will be gracing #SMW12 events next week!
Carol McCall is a health actuary with a background in innovation, predictive analytics and health services design. Her specialties are creating novel computational approaches that leverage ‘big data’ in healthcare, and designing services and business models that expand the traditional notions of health, care, community and sustainability.
Carol is the Chief Strategy Officer for GNS Healthcare, a Big Data Analytics company whose industrialized knowledge discovery platform extracts cause-effect relationships directly and at scale from observational data. Her goal is to leverage these capabilities to redesign the entire notion of ‘evidence’ and ignite a true learning system in healthcare.
Prior to joining GNS Healthcare, Carol served as Chief Innovation Officer of Tenzing Health, a subsidiary of Vanguard Health Systems, where she merged creative analytic approaches with human-centered design to build team-based care models that improved people’s health, dramatically reduced costs, extended into communities and created new opportunities for economic sustainability.
Carol also led the R&D efforts in Humana’s Innovation Center where she pioneered using sophisticated analytics to build a portfolio of prediction, knowledge discovery and simulation models. She also launched Humana’s innovations in personalized medicine and led Humana’s Health Services Research Center. Carol also helped launch Green Ribbon Health, LLC a Florida-based company creating innovations in health support services for seniors, and later served on the Board of Directors.
In other roles at Humana, Carol served as their Chief Information Officer and as VP, Pharmacy Management. Outside of Humana, she served as EVP of Managed Care Business Development for Allscripts Healthcare Solutions and as an actuarial consultant for Milliman.
Carol served a four-year term as member of the nation’s National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics, as an advisor to the HRP Scientific Program Board and was a member of the HSRC’s governing board. She currently sits on the advisory board of Keas, a consumer health company. Carol is a fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries.
Throughout this week, we’ll be giving you a heads up on everything that’s going on at our content hubs this time next week. Events are filling up fast so check out what’s going on this time next week and click on the corresponding event link to register!
According to The New York Times’ Bits column, Twitter has sent a message that will flutter in the timeline. The social media microblogger will censor content viewed as inflammatory by selective nations. A grey widget will pop up in the time feed, stating that, “This tweet from @username will be withheld in: Nation X.” Disruptive content could range from banned literature written by Salman Rushdie to criticism of oppressive global regimes. Twitter’s previous policy included an absolute removal of content on a worldwide scale, rather than a selective process of elimination.
The U.S. Government would alert Twitter of content it wished to be removed for security reasons. A few users have speculated that government officials are looking to manage the influence of offline sociopolitical movements (Occupy Wall Street, Arab Spring) that mobilized in the content stream. Others are enraged after the company voiced its disapproval of the SOPA bill, but did not black out with Wikipedia two weeks ago. Some analysts feel that Twitter wants to penetrate market sectors with competing platforms and stronger firewalls (China). Their strategy’s motive will be revealed in time.
In my mind, the message is clear. Content may be king. Censorship wants to be the checkmate. The volume of communication across platforms has evolved to such a high degree that governmental intervention is not surprising. Social media is a young communication device. The medium has empowered the voice of many users, giving strength to the disenfranchised. Consumers express their beliefs in unlimited community forums. As opposed to prior forms of expression in world history, digital censorship has no tangibility. Firewall proxies are solved by hackers within minutes. The facts are simple. Borders do not exist in cyberspace. Censorship cannot control the unseen.
Abdul Fattah Ismail is a digital marketing specialist with expertise in content development. He lives in New York and is an MBA graduate in Marketing Management from St. John’s University. He has contributed articles for Blueliner Marketing and Talent Zoo.
Andy Affleck is an alum of Dartmouth College. He is leading the development of an iOS/Android application for a startup called Ozmott and is also the author of Take Control of Podcasting on the Mac. He’s written numerous articles for TidBITS and is the proud father of an 11 year old.
Andy Affleck, twitter: @aaffleck
Your son attended the Waldorf School where modern technology and media – TVs, computers, mobile phones, video games, and so on – are severely restricted. Did you adhere to the same policy at home?
We did adhere to the policy. Our son attended the Waldorf School during the 2nd and 3rd grades and, at those ages, I felt there was little value in technology as anything other than casual entertainment. The school policy was no media during the week (TV, computers, etc.) and limited use on the weekends. So, he got to play on a few websites he liked (Webkinz, mostly) on the weekend. Now that he is older, there is more value to be had, and he is at a school that makes good use of technology both at school and at home.
You left the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Technology in Education program with the firm belief that computers in education make more sense at older ages than at younger ages. What other ideas did you take away from the program?
At younger ages, children need concrete experiences. They will get a lot more out of working with physical objects than they will virtual ones. At a younger age, I just don’t think children are that great at making the translation from the virtual to the real, at least not consistently, so I don’t really think there’s much point in using a computer as an educational tool. It is just entertainment at that age and should be treated the same way TV is. As they get older, their ability to conceptualize grows and they can start to make that translation.
If there was an online course for parents to teach that transition for children into social media, what topics would be necessary?
First and foremost, parents need to understand the mechanics of how these systems work. They need to be able to see who is speaking to their child in the various possible ways (Facebook comments, instant messaging, text messaging, etc.); they need to understand how to properly set privacy settings to protect them; and they need to understand how these systems can be used for both good and for bad so they are prepared to deal with any situations that come up. All too often, parents know too little about the way these systems work (and Facebook seems to go out of its way to make it difficult to understand, and then change it often enough so you never can stay caught up) and so let their kids use them without any proper supervision or ability to help them out when they need help. If kids sense that their parents have no clue, they won’t even go to them for help, so the parents may not even realize there is a problem.
The analogy I like to use is a parent taking a child into a big city for the first time. They hold their hand. They explain the cross walks. They warn them about the scary yellow cars. They explain about keeping themselves safe and what to do if they get separated from their parents, and so on. In the same way, parents should be working with their children to understand this new world of social media, how to safely navigate the streets and crosswalks of Facebook and such and stay safe. They would never let their child go into the city alone by themselves on their first visit and they shouldn’t do that with social media either.
What are the biggest dangers of introducing children to social media?
The biggest danger is a parent who doesn’t understand anything an let their children go without supervision before the child is ready to be alone. I believe parents have a responsibility to teach their children to be good, decent people. They teach their children how to be polite, how not to say mean or hurtful things, how to be a friend to people and how to be kind to strangers. By the same token, they need to do this with social media. We do not need another generation of people who all post the kinds of horrible things you see on any given YouTube comment thread. And we need to teach children that the only person in history who had the right to shout “First!” was Neil Armstrong.
How much of a responsibility should schools take in guiding students towards using social media in smart, effective and ethical ways?
I go back and forth on this one. Schools are involved with socializing children. If your child is bullying another, the school will ask you to come in and talk to them and work with them on a way to address the issue. By the same token, that should extend to social media. Of course, most — if not all! — of what happens on a site like Facebook is not on school property and outside of their jurisdiction. So it is not clear that schools have any business saying anything about behavior online. That said, I think it would be a wise thing for schools to do some work with kids on good online behavior in general the same way they do anti-bullying presentations. I don’t know how effective these things are, but it’s a start.
Some adults have decided that to remove social media from their lives because they feel it’s completely unnecessary. Are there benefits to introducing social media into a child’s life?
I am a firm believer that no child should be allowed a Facebook account until they are 13, as that is the official policy of Facebook. Even when they are 13, it is the parent’s job to determine if their child is emotionally mature enough to handle social media and be a good online citizen. That said, I see a few advantages:
1) It is a great way to stay connected after a move. My son has a number of friends he still talks about that he hasn’t seen in a few years. I imagine him getting reconnected through Facebook in a few years.
2) Often times, kids aren’t going to school in their local community. My son goes to school that’s at least 10 miles away. His best friends outside of the city on the opposite side from us. Getting the kids together requires a lot of driving so after school meet-ups are not common. Right now, they use the phone a lot, but I can see social media taking the place when they are old enough to get online in that way.
Sure. We can live without all technology. But life would be a little more boring, at least for me. I enjoy my interactions online and have caught up with friends I haven’t spoken to in years who live far, far away. Would I die if my Facebook account went away tomorrow? No. But I would be sad. It enriches my life and I like having it there.
Lisa Chau has been involved with Web 2.0 since graduate school at Dartmouth College, where she completed an independent study on blogging. She was subsequently highlighted as a woman blogger in Wellesley Magazine, published by her alma mater. Since 2009, Lisa has worked as an Assistant Director at the Tuck School of Business. In 2012, she launched GothamGreen212 to pursue social media strategy projects. You can follow her on twitter.
When we talk about social media, many think of a bunch of people sending out TMI to their old friends on Facebook and random followers on Twitter.
Lonely hearts spending Friday night’s on OK Cupid. Loads of pictures of Junior doing…well, pretty much everything. Over 200 “S*** so and so Says” videos on YouTube. And, of course that’s part of it.
But it’s not the meat of it.
It’s not what keeps us logging on and checking in and making new connections with like-minded people around the globe. People are social animals. We love to share, don’t we?
Something we often overlook when speaking of social media is the importance of bringing online relationships offline. By bringing online conversations into the “real world,” we are able to see the humanity. When someone is just an avatar and a handle, it’s harder to truly connect and identify with them – to see the differences and the similarities. Connecting via a Facebook group or on Twitter is a great way for a shier person to continue the conversation, but it’s important to think about how to take the next step.
As we approach Social Media Week, I want to touch on one of the things I think it so important about it: the real life connections that people will make, through attending events, through watching panels, through collaborating on projects, through bumping into each other in line for the bathroom at the closing night’s party. Real life, face to face, in the flesh interactions.
The beauty of this interaction is that it can help us make stronger bonds. To develop stronger and better relationships.
When we speak of collaboration through social media, people coming together to work to bigger and better goals, it’s important to note the importance that personal (IRL, we call it) interactions play in this process.
So, while attending your Social Media Week events, make sure to take a moment to look up from your tablet or smart phone or lap top. That person you are Tweeting with might be somewhere in the room.
Wouldn’t your conversation be so much more fruitful with more than 140 characters?
Briana is a social media professional, community manager and facilitator, obsessed with the ever-changing use of social media platforms as tools to connect people and make lives better. For more of her thoughts on the evolution of social, visit http://brianacampbell.net.
Social Media. Hate it or love it, everyone talks about it. And has an opinion about it.
While everyone is exposed to it daily, how many people really know what it is?
You, being a self-selecting audience, would likely be able to provide an informed response. Others, however, might simply blurt, “Facebook!” as if that alone explained all.
For my first blog post, I wanted to consider the basics of what we’re discussing. Together, the words “social” and “media” form fabricated jargon which appeared sometime after the advent of Web 2.0, as explained on Wikipedia:
“…web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration on the World Wide Web. A Web 2.0 site allows users to interact and collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue as creators (prosumers) of user-generated content in a virtual community, in contrast to websites where users (consumers) are limited to the passive viewing of content that was created for them. Examples of Web 2.0 include social networking sites, blogs, wikis, video sharing sites, hosted services, web applications, mashups and folksonomies.”
Social media became inextricably tied to the internet sometime after 2004. Nonetheless, I argue that social media has existed as long as mass media has reacted to reader submissions and/or called readers to action. Media being a tool for information delivery; social defined as any form of interaction between two entities, corporations or individuals. Reprinted letters to the Editor? Social media. Paper flyers for organizing protests? Social media.
Communication + Collaboration = Social Media.
Social media as we know it today, rooted within a virtual context, crept into common households through online journals and college kids on Facebook. In 2004, I told someone I planned to do my independent study on blogging. He asked, “You want to study websites about people’s cats?”
Since the days of feline photos and emotionally fueled teenager musings, the growth of social media has grown exponentially. Can we visit any of the top 50 most popular sites on the Internet without coming across one-click options to Tweet / Facebook / + 1 / Share / email?
The number of social media users and social companies continues to rise globally, and the barrier to entry is relatively low.
Why does this matter?
The internet has made communications almost instantaneous and far reaching. Political groups can now rally more efficiently. Companies can spread their branding with ease. The possibility for danger and/or profit has been multiplied. Witness the revolutionaries who used Twitter to spread their message and organize troops faster and wider than any paper campaign could have achieved. Witness firms that pour money and time into data mining Facebook.
On a personal level, social media has simultaneously extended our networks while closing distances between degrees of separation. It transcends time and geography. It archives our lives online and allows some semblance of control over our public persona.
Social media is a powerful force we still don’t fully comprehend. It can be dangerous. It recognizes almost no boundaries, and it’s still growing.
And that’s why we care about this double-edged sword.
Lisa Chau has been involved with Web 2.0 since graduate school at Dartmouth College, where she completed an independent study on blogging. She was subsequently highlighted as a woman blogger in Wellesley Magazine, published by her alma mater. Since 2009, Lisa has worked as an Assistant Director at the Tuck School of Business. In 2012, she launched GothamGreen212 to pursue social media strategy projects. View her online portfolio at http://about.me/GothamGreen212. Follow her on Twitter via https://twitter.com/GothamGreen212. (In case you’re wondering, she greatly enjoys social media, admittedly spending far too much time on it.)
Games are like ketchup: widely loved and diversely applied, with an appeal rooted in childhood. In fact, a new report reveals that over 90% of U.S. kids aged 2- 17 are gaming today. Yet the gaming generation has been on the rise for three decades, leading to not only an army of young gamers, but also an influential adult segment. It is small wonder, then, that “gamification” is the most disruptive force to impact marketing since the arrival of social media.
Typically defined, gamification refers to the use of game mechanics, such as points, badges, leaderboards and challenges in non-game settings. Traditional examples include airline frequent flyer programs and “Buy 10, Get 1 Free” loyalty offers. But the proliferation of social media and smartphones along with the cultural adoption of gaming has increased both the scope and sophistication of gamification.
At its core, gamification is about one thing: fun. In today’s competitive battle for mindshare, games are the most effective tool for leveraging technology, rising above marketing noise and engaging the socially-networked consumer.
Like any marketing strategy, gamification can be applied to encourage frivolous consumption or provide superficial entertainment. But games are also uniquely suited to change the world for the better. As gaming enthusiast and renowned author, Dr. Jane McGonigal, points out, “When we are playing games, we are tapping into our best qualities, our ability to be motivated, to be optimistic, to collaborate with others, to be resilient in the face of failure.”
The power of gaming is derived from the underlying behavioral psychology that motivates people to play. Successful gamification design involves understanding player personality traits that can be identified through models such as Bartle Types and Keirsey Temperaments. A key finding of gaming studies is that the vast majority of players are driven by cooperative social interaction. Gamification guru, Gabe Zichermann, developed the “SAPS” rewards model to further outline the behavioral drivers “Status,” “Access,” “Power” and “Stuff.” While extrinsic rewards, such as free products (Stuff), can be short-term motivators, Zichermann reveals that intrinsic rewards, such as community recognition (Status), are superior mechanisms for fostering engagement and loyalty. The most compelling rewards fulfill innate human desires for achievement, reciprocity and appreciation. Great games make us feel alive.
The Gaming Era is upon us. Gartner analysts predict, “By 2014, a gamified service for consumer goods marketing and customer retention will become as important as Facebook, eBay or Amazon, and more than 70% of Global 2000 organizations will have at least one gamified application.” As a result, gamification presents an exciting opportunity to advance sustainability initiatives. Research from OgilvyEarth suggests that games can be a vehicle to create brand equity while also promoting green behaviors. The synergy between gamification and sustainability is based on the fact that, like gaming, greening is largely a social action that triggers an emotional response. Innovative companies recognize the opportunity to tap into consumer passions and have begun to employ “green gamification” to create shared value for individuals, businesses, communities and the environment.
The recent union of Recyclebank and Greenopolis affirms the traction of two leading platforms that reward people for everyday green actions. Recyclebank’s “Green Your” challenges use quizzes, pledges and social sharing to educate and incentivize players on interactive microsites. Greenopolis’ RecyclePix mobile App encourages users to share pictures of recycling to earn rewards. The interface includes a dynamic photo stream that can be voted on for bonus points.
Solar manufacturer, SunPower, recently ran a Facebook contest to teach people about solar energy in exchange for badges and prizes. Startups such as Simple Energy and Practically Green use the social web to calculate metrics like household energy saving and reward users for their relative performance. These companies validate that people are proud to share eco-conscious habits and that a little friendly competition positively reinforces their green activities.
Traditional industries are green gaming too. The Nissan Leaf includes CARWINGS, which is a digital tracker that both measures fuel consumption and ranks drivers according to fuel-efficiency. The Ford Fusion Hybrid adds graphical flair by incorporating a Tamogochi-style game, in which a small dashboard plant grows and shrinks based on green driving practices. Even social games on Facebook are experiencing a makeover; for instance, Guerillapps and upcycling pioneer, TerraCycle, partnered to introduce Trash Tycoon, which applies Zynga-like gameplay to bridge the gap between virtual and real-world sustainable living.
Gamification and game development are still in their formative years, evolving to exhibit more purpose and tangible impact. As the sustainability movement also matures, it behooves the stakeholders to embrace the potential of green gamification.
In order to propel green into the mainstream, we need to make it enjoyable, accessible and rewarding. As my fellow eco-entrepreneur, Anthony Zolezzi, proclaims, let’s embrace “fun and fame, not guilt and shame.” This is the new spirit of sustainability and green gamification is leading the way.
*** Ashok Kamal is the Co-Founder & CEO of Bennu, which is the leader in green social media marketing. Connect with Bennu at @Bennuworld. To learn more about green gamification and engage with companies highlighted in this blog, join us at Social Media Week NY’s “Green Gamification” panel on February 15th.
What happens when you call a company and you reach an automated response?
You immediately tell yourself to buckle in for a ride and a wait. You navigate a maze of torture before you finally reach someone. From time to time the automated attendant will jumble what you say, and you’ll get lost in the labyrinth with no way back. The times when you call a company and actually get a person the first reaction is “Wow! A real live person!”
Customers are the lifeblood of a company. Frustrate them and they might refuse to do business again. Wow them and they’ll be singing praises. Customers are no longer faceless people who drive a company’s bottom line. They are partners with a voice. And an avatar.
Some of the most successful companies are now providing great service by utilizing social media to engage customer concerns and praises. It’s a way to engage customers directly to share information quickly and publicly. Companies that are executing customer service well are using a combination, if not all of the social media platforms available. We’re seeing companies utilize Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, blogs, and Tumblr to varying degrees of success. The best companies are using them to provide engaging content and actively monitor conversations. How? Read on:
Lend a human voice. If leveraged correctly, social media can create a distinct company voice. Customers would rather interact with a business that engages people with fun and interesting content over a company that use social media to report earning figures. To ensure a consistent voice, make sure to understand what your company represents. Select three adjectives that describe your company (e.g. whimsical, informational, old-fashioned), and use these adjectives to guide your copy and presence while addressing issues with a personal touch.
Build loyalty through transparency. Companies make mistakes. Through social media, these mistakes can be turned into successes. Social media allows for a quick apologies. More often than not this will garner admiration from even the most frustrated customers. One of the best ways to lose customers is to not admit mistakes. Social media provides a direct and quick avenue for companies to reassure customers.
Morph customers into evangelists. Engage with contests, bantering, quizzes. Convert customers who were just looking to purchase into people who want to talk about you. Awesome service combined with interactive activities will prompt customers to interact and spread the word. Quirky provided a Black Friday campaign on their Facebook page and nearly quadrupled their fan count overnight (If a person “liked” the page and signed up for the sweepstakes they would get a free $5 gift card). This push came from a pool of loyal customers who passed along the deal and spread the word to their friends.
The X-Factor. You never know what will spark conversation and go viral. A funny post can go a long way. Information that you didn’t initially think was meaningful can become meaningful. Even a little mistake can do wonders. As seen in 2010, an American Red Cross employee accidentally posted a tweet about imbibing on beer. With a little push from Dogfish Head, this little accident brought in a surge of blood donations and monetary donations after the mistake was embraced.
Not every social media platform is ideal for every company. Find out what works for you and listen to how your customers communicate. Once you find out, target your audience and make them your best representatives.
Christopher Tran is a New York transplant by way of San Jose, California. His experience engaging community and clients through the use of social media spans the nonprofit and government sectors in addition to current position at a NYC based start-up. On a personal level he’s aspiring to find the perfect balance between working, brewing beer, eating, and searching for the perfect burrito in New York City. You can find him at his blog and on twitter @tealsharkie.
The use of the words branding and social change in this title is not an attempt towards commercialization or to cheapen movements such as the Socialist Revolution, Women’s Suffrage, or Civil Rights Movement, but to more clearly identify how we are reaching individuals, giving expression, and creating the tribe around a movement.
The internet may be a phenomenon of our generation, but social change has utilized the benefits of branding since the invention of large format printing for posters during the Belle Époque era of the late 1800’s. One of the greatest examples of branding social change of this kind is the Communist society’s use of previously banned modern art and movies as the perfect platform to attract, inform, and motivate the illiterate masses.
Not intended as a history lesson, I’ll fast forward to the current tides of social change: the uprising in Egypt, Occupy Wall Street, The Tea Party. All have used social media as a conduit to the masses and each other, giving their own unique voice and persona that distinguishes them not only from each other but to the media. This is where we come full circle. This, my friend, is known as branding.
An adviser to small businesses and start-ups, Darcey launched the Solo-Preneur Success Program based on brand strategies and corporate citizenship platforms. Her work has been chronicled in The New York Times, Forbes, TIME, and AOL Online; she has keynoted at IBM, the SBA, MORE magazine Re-invention Convention, Staples, BDO Seidmans, T-Mobile, and on her own DVD “The Essential Guide.”
A quarterly catalog, advertisements in the New York Times, and socialites in the front row of fashion shows ain’t cutting it anymore and fashion brands have taken note. In order to stay relevant, brands have to go where their consumers spend most of their time, where they shop, and where they speak to their friends: online.
The title of this blog post was said by none other than the grandmother of chic, Coco Chanel. Those words are truer today then ever before. During Madame Chanel’s time fashion was a luxury enjoyed by the elite. They had the prestige, pedigree, and money to indulge in the decadent lifestyle of high fashion. The exclusivity of fashion continued well into the 21st century until social media came into the picture.
Coco Chanel
Social media has become the great equalizer of the industry. A stay-at-home mom living in the Midwest can log on to Twitter and follow OscarPRgirl (Oscar de La Renta’s Communications Director) to get the latest scoop on dresses, parties, and events just as easily and quickly as an heiress in New York City. The veil of mystery has officially been lifted.
Fashion brands have learned that they need to create a highly curated space where they are able to create their voice and personality. This space enables consumers feel that they are a part of the community and appreciated. They have created a home where new and old customers feel comfortable expressing a range of emotions from unabashed joy to complete dissatisfaction. By encouraging and promoting an open dialogue with anyone, from anywhere, these brands have the opportunity to build a relationship built on loyalty and trust.
Speaking about the role social media, the CMO of Tory Burch, Miki Berardelli, says “We’ve brought in all the content into the shopping experience so that the customer can explore and connect with the brand while they’re browsing product.” Consumers today are encouraged to embrace, connect with, and embody fashion brands. Long gone are the days when it was acceptable to look in from the sidelines and fantasize.
In today’s world, consumers from all walks of life are walking into fashions kitchen, pulling up a chair, and having a coffee and chat. Coco Chanel said it first, but today more and more woman can say it with pride: “I don’t do fashion, I am fashion!”
Can you think of any industries where social media has played the role of the great equalizer?
Sutanya Dacres is a brand consultant currently living in New York City and is convinced she was a Parisienne in a former life.
I’d like to offer some point-counterpoint commentary on a topic matter that currently occupies a lot of my physical and mental energy consumption: how to optimally leverage your LinkedIn network to land, as I affectionately like to call a “full-time position with benefits.” A Job-Job. While I am currently enjoying my flexible schedule freelancing for various Manhattan start-ups as both social media strategist and sales manager, I am really after that Job-Job. As a social media enthusiast, I am hell-bent on finding ways to optimize my usage of LinkedIn to get ahead and land that ideally suited position.
I recently stumbled upon a really interesting infographic (because seriously, what infographics have you come across that weren’t interesting?) billed as the LinkedIn Boot Camp (praise you Mashable and Pete Cashmore!). It immediately sparked a barrage of pre-conceived opinions I possessed about this social networking site. I decided to take the time to offer a bit of a point-counterpoint analysis on this, largely spot-on piece outlining nine ways to best take advantage of the site’s functionality and features. Note: please excuse the somewhat corn-ball ‘boot camp’ metaphors that each point leads with; they were MindShare.com’s, not this author’s, choice of vernacular.
Point #1 – Core Conditioning: Completing Your Profile - This is a no-brainer, baseline action item that you should check-off your LinkedIn To Do list as soon as possible. From an SEO perspective, completing your profile in full is a crucial component of managing your own personal brand. To be more transparent, as the infographic accurately points out, your LinkedIn profile will consistently index as a top 5, first page search result when you, or more importantly, potential clients and future employers, “Google you” in search for more information on your background. So get on this…pronto!
Point #2 – Endurance: Connect with Everyone - I’m not sure that I fully agree with this. Yes, direct connections are integral to building your network and, in turn, would presumably improve your ability to leverage said network for both business lead generation and professional opportunities. That said, you should not dismiss the very clearly stated message that LinkedIn champions each and every time you reach out to ‘LinkIn’ with someone (yes, the term has become a verb); that is, it is notbest practice to connect with someone you do not know at all or, more specifically, someone who has very little to do with the professional space that you occupy. Every generic, rather innocuous LinkedIn invitation that I receive from someone I have never met in my life just makes me feel like I’m being ambushed by some obnoxious telemarkterer. So unless you have some affinity for bantering with telemarketing folk, I would steer clear of this spammy-practice.
Image by Christopher S. Penn via Flickr
Point #3 – Guns & Ammo: Customize Your URL and Websites – Like point #1, this is another ‘no-brainer’ that needs to be at the very top of your To Do checklist, not only for SEO purposes but for ensuring that your profile maintains a clean look and feel. After all, you are the keeper and protector of your own personal brand, a brand that I contend is the most important out there (lo siento Starbucks…).
Hope these first three points were a helpful start to all of you savvy, social networkers out there. Here’s to hoping your next step is your LinkedIn page. Stay tuned for the second half of this point-counterpoint LinkedIn discussion…
I’m a motivated Cornell University Hotel School alumnus, affectionately known as a Hotelie for life, with keen interests in social and digital marketing for hospitality and lifestyle brands. I’m very passionate about sales and marketing in the hospitality industry, specifically as it relates to the dynamic online space. In my free time, I obsess over growing my musical intellect (both modern and past-time artists apply), tennis, and running practice.
I have come to the understanding that some brands are hesitant about social media use for one of two reasons:
1. Fear. They are afraid it will somehow reflect poorly on their brand.
2. Priority. They claim they do not have the capital to contribute to a social media effort.
Today, few brands can afford to neglect this space, even if they are placing minimal effort into social media. Consumers will discuss whether a brand has occupied the social media landscape. It is important to seize this opportunity, before falling too far behind.
One industry that I think has neglected to address the social media opportunities as much they could is the airline industry. With American Airlines declaring bankruptcy, and others not far behind, social media is a key opportunity to create brand differentiation. The airline industry is a customer service industry, and as airlines stray from that business platform, they stray from the innate components that keep them afloat. This past week, I witnessed a missed-opportunity first hand.
My Flight Experience:
I recently traveled on a flight with Continental/United Airlines (recently partnered) where I was forced to de-board two separate planes because of malfunctioning equipment (thankfully, the third plane was in working order). During this twelve hour debacle, I decided to experiment with the @continental (which is no longer maintained) and @united accounts to see what type of response I would get. I had the time on my hands, so why not put social media efforts to the test? After sending numerous tweets to both accounts from my personal account (@mikeeev), I heard nothing. Not one response and still none to date.
Then, having recently listened to former Jet Blue CEO David Neeleman speak about customer service, I decided to tweet @JetBlue. I read on their account that they did not respond to any formal complaints, but I figured I would tweet at them to see if I received a response. It was a Tuesday evening and I told them I was stranded at the airport with two faulty planes and was very annoyed with my current airline.
Within minutes I received two tweets, the first asking what they could help with and the second providing me with a phone number to the company. In those tweets, a combined less than 280 characters, I was won over.
The Conclusion:
If United had responded to my tweet, I would have felt more valued as a customer. End of story. And in order to survive a cut-throat industry like the airline industry, brands cannot afford to lose customer value. Jet Blue re-affirmed that a competitor can be there for me. So all else the same, why would I choose a non-responsive brand over one that responds to me? I wouldn’t.
Social Media is now not only a bonus space for big brands, but a requirement. Consumers are beginning to expect direct outreach via social platforms, and those who fail to see this might have more than two faulty planes to deal with.
Michael Varallo is a digital marketer with expertise in social media, mobile, branding, and email marketing. He is also a research fellow at Fordham University’s Center for Positive Marketing. Reach him on twitter @mikeeev or find his contact information on MichaelVarallo.com. More can be read on positive marketing and brand influence at The Center for Positive Marketing at Fordham University.
by @Rachel Shechtman
Founder | Cube Ventures : Connecting Innovative Storytellers with Brands
Lucky Magazine debuted at Social Media Week NYC with a new all-day conference called “FABB” (with two b’s!), a fashion and beauty Bloggers conference. The shopping magazine’s editor-in-chief Brandon Holley welcomed a crowded room at the amazing new Apella building complex by proclaiming, “you all created a democracy and that is what lucky style is all about!”
The day was packed with an impressive line up of diverse Bloggers, industry executives and entrepreneurs. I enjoyed kicking off the day with coffee with fashion star Rebecca Minkoff; bloggers in attendance included John Jannuzzi who after his day job covers fashion and style on Textbook, to the energetic and distinctive Karla Sugar who came in from Dallas and MsSpinach who arrived from Washington, the notable Jessica Quirk from What I Wore, and the list goes on….
The first panel, Big Brands and You, included executives ranging from Coach to Bergdorf Goodman. There was clear consensus among the panelists that they are thrilled to see magazines embracing Bloggers and social media, although I am not sure they had a much of a choice in the matter. Many referenced Polyvore and one campaign that received a lot of buzz was Bergdorf Goodman’s partnership with Polyvore to dress its fashion director Linda Fargo for this Fashion Week – we the people dressing a front row fashion icon!
Kerry Diamond from Lancôme said “Bloggers are one of the most exciting things that have happened to the industry in years …” however, she went on to comment on the over saturation of blogs and lack of quality control. So then exactly how do you appear on her radar? No, it’s not by garnering the most followers or traffic but in Kerry’s words by having a strong “point of view”. In her words “if your blog doesn’t have a point of view we won’t be working with you.” She closed saying that blogs help sell products as much as magazines. One blogger stood up and commented after these remarks “Bloggers are experiencing a moment of popularity like supermodels did in the 80’s.”
Lucky Magazine Editor in Chief Brandon Holley and Fashion Designer Tory Burch
Holley Brandon, Editor in Chief of Lucky Magazine, welcomed Tory Burch to the stage for a great conversation about the growth of her business, her Madison Store opening this coming fall and hiring Honor Brody away from the traditional publishing world to run and build her media presence online. Tory was very candid about her learning curve and using twitter to be dynamic, not just push sales and product; however she went on to say “ there is a fine line between being private but interesting.” When asked about her favorite blogs, she said there were too many to name but two that came to mind were industry favorite satorialist and new buzz worthy svpply.
Lucky Magazine Editor in Chief Brandon Holley with Entertainer and Entrepreneur Joan Rivers
Fashism co-founders Brooke Moreland and Ashley Granata did a great social shopping demo which was followed by lunch with Joan Rivers. I could write pages on Ms. Rivers after her dynamic talk but Brooke summed it up perfectly. “Yes she is a celebrity, a legend and downright hilarious – but she also had poignant, honest words of wisdom that relied on her years of experience as an entrepreneur. Joan is a brand- she is a self-made woman who has learned from many mistakes and is still out there every day hustling and building her brand. Also, she says ‘fuck’ a lot, which is cool.” Later during Q + A DIY Author and Blogger Erica Domesek asked, “Do you make things?” Joan replied, “ I needlepoint and paint terribly.”
A notable start-up which is the ultimate fashion democracy is StyleTrek. Founder Cecilia Pagkalinawan shared insights into their business and partnership with Lucky.
• Site launched Sept 2010
• Selling to Customers in 91 Countries
• 500% sales increase from November to December
• Featuring 25 designers from 5 continents
It is impressive to acknowledge that it’s not only democratic as it pertains to social engagement and marketing messaging, but also in the sourcing. “Styetrekkers are empowered entrepreneurs who get a percentage of sales from designers they acquire for StyleTrek” Not only are they enrolling their consumers to co-create their inventory and supply flow but the participatory experiences makes them feel like stakeholders and further results in their loyalty and consumption. Leveraging supply to create demand!
An image from Lucky Magazine that highlights Styletrek.com
The day ended as energetic as it began with a conversation between Brandon and Jenna Lyons, J.Crew’s creative visionary. “She’s in the building” someone commented. Jenna has endless wit, charm and intelligent insight. She spoke about the importance of storytelling and debuted a new video, About a Thread Count which is the second in a three part series. While it isn’t online yet you can see the first About a Shoe shown below
All filmed in Italy, you get an intimate sneak peek into the J.Crews design, discovery and inspiration process, which makes this big brand feel so accessible that you wonder if it just might be the result of a small designer working in Italy. Brands spend so much time looking to outside sources for inspiration and marketing messages, and the J.Crew video series is a testament that there are golden nuggets of consumer marketing in your existing business practices – just look!
As you can tell it was an action packed day with amazing people and content. The day’s conversations were captured thanks to Livestream and are available online – check it out. Cocktails and photo fun concluded the amazing day. Thank you @LuckyMag
Fab @FABB – Social Media Week Attendee and Friend Elspeth Rountree enjoys a photo moment
Throughout this week we’ll be posting on the ground accounts from individuals that attended New York Social Media Week events. To participate, email a blog submission to info@socialmediaweek.org
Check out the hashtag #smwlake for more comments on the event.
Day 3 of Social Media Week NYC kicked off with a presentation from social media experts across the pond. The first few minutes at the Art & Culture Hub at Hearst Tower were spent reconnecting with old friends, sipping coffee and riding out the few minutes of technical difficulties. It can be quite funny when you walk in a room and there are 4 people on the screen all trying to talk simultaneously from around the world, but no one can hear each other. Although the fact that we have technology that can even connect us all, is truly amazing. A huge thanks to Watchitoo for making it all possible.
Toby Daniels, Founder of Social Media Week, was there to kick-start the panel and truly brought into perspective how important social media is, not just here, but everywhere. It is a global phenomenon that connects us all and is truly where emerging trends are born. Our host for the morning, Freddie Laker (Head of Digital Strategy in Asia for SapientNitro) begins with a keynote on his key learnings, take-aways and predictions for the future, after moving to China and becoming apart of a rapidly growing social and digital nation.
You can instantly predict how truly funny and brilliant Freddie is, something I think makes for an excellent speaker. After being in a global role for a short time and still living in the states, he realized that he should “put his money where his mouth is” and actually make the move to Asia. Something he describes as being both truly humbling and inspiring. Although he doesn’t speak the language very well, he knows how to order food and give directions to taxi drivers. He quotes, “If this is Communism, I don’t know what Capitalism is anymore.”
Social media has changed the world as we know it and it’s hard to wrap your head around it sometimes because it gives us the opportunities to communicate, collaborate on new ideas and even enable revolutions. China is a huge part of that movement with over 500 million internet users and countless popular platforms only available to those living in China. Freddie goes on to explain what when we start these platforms over here in the states, we fear we are “westernizing” the rest of the world, when in fact, we are actually broadening our own horizons. America is often criticized for being too closed off, instead, we are becoming more worldly be creating platforms that connect the world. Social media is also creating a whole entire new set of youth, youth that are hyper-connected, worldly and cultured and that will be drastically different than the generations and generations before them.
From an outsiders perspective, we view China as being cut-off and closed in from social media because their government doesn’t allow Facebook and Youtube, but what we are missing is that instead, they have created multiple social, video, real-time and gaming platforms of their own, that are more popular and more innovative than platforms available to the rest of the world. Just because they don’t have Facebook, doesn’t mean they aren’t wired in.
Freddie continues to get the crowd engaged and laughing with some examples of popular Internet culture in China. He describes their “Triad of Internet Power” as: Ninjas, Animals and Little People. Going on to describe examples of hilarious memes and viral phenomena’s that have infiltrated China’s highly developed Internet world.
Hot trends in Asia that will have a significant impact on global social media:
- Social gaming: entire networks are already in place that are driven by social games.
- Location-based services: a trend that is taking more time to become popular in China, but growing as smartphone penetration grows.
- Collective buying: thousands of Groupon-type platforms are already in existence.
- Real-time everything: status updates, wall posts, feeds…growing more and more towards everything being set in real-time.
Future predictions for Asia and social media, according to Freddie Lake:
- Facebook is developing virtual currency as we speak, an idea that was first introduced in China. Due to its widespread success, it transitioned into a payment portal, which Freddie thinks, will be what Facebook will eventually turn into, think PayPal meets Google checkout.
- Development, ideas and platforms to reach rural areas of the world. In many parts of Asia, India, etc. people don’t have access to the same technology the rest of the world does. Freddie ideates that some of the best new developments (think Facebook Zero and Facebook Lite) will be to reach out and connect with people who don’t necessarily have internet and maybe only a WAPP connection.
- The rise of cheap smartphones. Phones that will be under 100 dollars, easy to use and accessible to more people around the world.
- The birth of hyper-relevance. Basic storytelling ideas where we now live in a world where we know where you are and who you are. The idea that companies and governments will be able to leverage this information as a database. Does Facebook want to become this? If China doesn’t have Facebook or Opengraph, who will be the Chinese Opengraph of information? By 2013 most of the internet sites will be in Chinese, what does this mean?
- The Internet of things. Meaning everything we own could be scanned and searched for. Example: missing car keys with and RFD barcode on them. Freddie doesn’t think that American necessarily has the power to collaborate with every company and manufacturer to do this, but China does. He is extremely humbled by the focus and dedication their government gives on new initiatives.
What’s next? He has no idea. He will even pay you money if you know. But all he does know is that Asia and South America are places to watch, some great innovations and developments are going to come from them. He has a suspicion that new millionaires will be born in America trying to copy what they are doing.
The second part of the presentation consisted of a panel of 5 social media experts from across the world. One that was actually present in the room and the rest via digital video. Below are excerpts of the questions and answers given to the panelists, moderated by Freddie Laker.
Speakers:
Katarina Graffman,Owner & CEO of Inculture, Stockholm, Sweden
Justin Barkhuizen, Ex-Director of Social Media, MediaCom
Mark Leong, Digital Strategist, RAPP, Tokyo, Japan
Zarul Shekhar, SapientNitro + TV Producer/Anchor Delhi, India, Manager of Digital Media
Mehdi Lamloum, Digital Planner, OgilvyOne, Tunisia
1. Describe a day in the life of someone in your country using social media:
Zarul: Presented a wonderful video showing how people in India use social media in their daily lives. They update Facebook, blog about life, send SMS to their friends and can even order things through SMS and email. Social media has definitely changed the way people communicate in India and has made Internet and advertising popular. Zarul even shows an example of him taking a picture of a car crash, uploading to the police Facebook and getting a quicker response than any other method. Amazing!
Mark: Shows how in 2005 he was using SMS, email and phone a lot >> fast forward to the present and you can find him barely using SMS and phone, mostly using Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Foursquare, etc. He says that in Japan it’s not necessarily about how many platforms we use, but about which ones we choose to connect with friends on.
Justin: Showed a video about people in South Africa using social media to find parties, connect with friends and promote events in their towns. They are so excited about using social media. Justin comments that in South Africa, there is free wi-fi everywhere. There are so many things they can do that they couldn’t do before. People use social channel for betterment instead of tracking Kim Kardashian.
2. Describe shifts in the ways people live their lives and certain user behaviors that are specific to your country.
Zarul: A huge user trend in India is online matrimony. Arranged marriages are still very prevalent in India and thus there are many resources available to help you get married, such as livestream channels, programming, case studies, counselors and relationship managers that help you get married. Another trend, blind dating online.
Mark: People in Japan hide their true identities online behind fake names, pictures and avatars. This is slowly starting to change and for the first time, people are using either their real names, or combinations of their real names/pictures so that friends can easily find them on Facebook. Mark describes having trouble finding friends because he was unable to remember their Foursquare nicknames. Mark also describes how these trends are mostly on American social sites, on Chinese specific platforms, fake identities and avatars are still being used.
Katarina: People in Sweden used to be very scared of the internet, but now people are getting used to posting things on the internet. A lot of people have online diaries and are sharing the stories of their lives for everyone to see. Also, their blogging/diaries are great marketing tools because people are absorbing the information and sharing it.
Mehdi: There are a limited number of internet users in Tunisia. Social media is THE media in Tunisia. The media they have available to them, tv, newspapers, etc. is so awful that social media has become the best option.
Justin: Only 5 million people use the internet in South Africa but mobile data is huge. WAPP experience is the best way to reach people which is why the government is focused on building platforms for youth empowerment and to raise awareness about HIV and other social issues. Education needs to take place.
3. What are Apps, Platforms and Tools unique to your countries.
Zarul: India is fad driven. We don’t join Facebook because we think it’s cool, we join because is popular and everyone else is doing it. There are many localized social networks, such as ibibo.com, that cater especially to gaming with Indian street names, facts, etc. Making the experience just that better because it is culturally built. Big brands are able to advertise, run competitions and offer the people of India free gifts and giveaways. Another great tool is the ability to send SMS through ibibo.com and to update status through voice for people that don’t have internet access.
Mark: The top platforms in Japan are Mixi and GREE, both of which have 20 million users, where as Facebook only has 2 million. What will happen in the next few years with these platforms will be exciting to watch.
Katarina: It is interesting how people in Sweden use social networks to talk and discuss very private topics like sex. Especially when everyone used to be so scared of the Internet. People are not afraid of being really open.
Medhi: The only social networks available in Tunisia are Facebook and Twitter, the rest are all socialist sites. 1 in every 2 Internet users in Tunisia is on Facebook. They use it as Youtube, Flickr and as a dating site because there is nothing else available. Facebook blogging in popular and so is an site that aggregates tweets called Tnlabs.org.
4. Thoughts on the future of social media.
Justin: The top 10 Facebook pages in South Africa don’t contain any brands. There is a magazine, a tv personality, but no brands. Brands need to figure out what to do and get their message out there. Cultural perspective: there is so much to do, so much to mobilize. I think we will continue to see stuff getting out there and people buying into it.
Zarul: There is a lot of illiteracy, language and education lessons are the biggest need. One example of how that is changing is through Nokia phones, they offer a service to learn English, this is a great resource. Fisherman are also using apps to help them determine the weather and if it is safe to go out that day. Social media is really influencing and helping the ordinary man in every day life, someone who is illiterate.
I absolutely enjoyed this panel and glimpse into the wide stretch of social media around the world. We are all constantly evolving and connecting and as the speakers all described, moving towards a completely wired in and connected world. A huge thanks to Social Media Week NYC and Sapient Nitro for giving us this excellent presentation.
Amanda Mullahey is a contributor for the Social Media Week NY Blog and a digital strategist, social media enthusiast and freelance blogger. You can check out her website here.
We are now two months out from Social Media Week this February 7-11, and a LOT is going on. Following yesterday’s announcement that Nokia will serve as global headline sponsor of Social Media Week, today we are pleased to announce a new twist to the week for our third weeklong event in New York: five distinct “Content Hubs,” reflecting key areas of focus for conversations on the societal impact of social media. These five physical hubs will host daily programming and cover these themes: People and Society; Art and Culture; Business, Media, and Communications; Science and Technology; and Music, Sports and Gaming.
With today’s announcement, we are also releasing a very preliminary version of the schedule of events for New York, as well as select sponsors and keynote speakers. Many events are still TBD and of course there are many more to come, but please take a look to get a sense of some of the exciting things to look forward to in February. The preliminary schedule can be found here: http://socialmediaweek.org/newyork/schedule. Registration for these events will open on Tuesday, January 11, 2011.
CONTENT HUBS
The locations of four of the Hubs have been confirmed already with Google hosting the Science and Technology Hub; global advertising agency JWT hosting Business, Media, and Communications; The Paley Center for Media hosting People and Society; and Red Bull Space hosting Music, Sports and Gaming. We hope to announce host Art and Culture Hub within the next week.
“JWT is heavily involved with Social Media Week on a global level,” said Social Media Week Board Member David Eastman, who is Worldwide Digital Director and North American CEO at JWT. “The conference has grown in importance and stature, much as the social media space itself has. By hosting and participating in this essential series of events, we are helping both educate the audience as well as ourselves.”
PROGRAM
Continuing the collaborative theme of Social Media Week, the New York organizers are looking to co-curate a significant proportion of the content by soliciting event ideas from some of the city’s leading thinkers and practitioners in the fields of social and mobile media.
Stephanie Agresta, Social Media Week board member and EVP and Managing Director of Social Media for Weber Shandwick said, “Social Media Week is leading the charge to globally scale the community of digital thought leaders driving this important channel. By creating connections among influencers around the world, SMW is providing a valuable service to consumers and brands alike.”
In addition to Weber Shandwick, confirmed content curators in New York include: MTV, Financial Times, New York Times, Frog Design, the New York Public Library, Edelman, the Barbarian Group, Saatchi Wellness, 360i, GOOD, The Personal Democracy Forum, Morris & King, Deep Focus, Publicity Club of New York, Fenton Communications, Wholefoods, Foodspotting, DotBox, Comedy Central and many more to be added. Confirmed speakers include JWT’s David Eastman; Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley; Meebo CEO Seth Sternberg; John Winsor, founder and CEO of agency Victors & Spoils; with many more to be announced.
Social Media Week New York is one of nine cities simultaneously hosting Social Media Week this year, along with London, Paris, Rome, San Francisco, Toronto, Hong Kong, São Paulo, and now Istanbul, which was added to the global lineup this week.
Global support for Social Media Week is led by mobile communications giant NOKIA, with additional support from global partners Meebo, a social platform with more than 180 million users; and JWT. Other brands involved around the world include Google,Vodafone, Oi Telecommunications (Brazil) and Fiat Motors.
The strength of Social Media Week lies in the collaborative efforts of the community. There are many ways to get involved in the conference. To participate as a brand partner, sponsor, event host, panel speaker or volunteer, please visit: http://socialmediaweek.org/get-involved.
Today’s #SMWNYC event for me was the most insightful event of the week. It was held at the Converseon offices in Midtown, which hosted an intimate crowd, albeit a packed room, enjoying breakfast crepes, freshly squeezed OJ, and Mimosas. Why couldn’t all of Social Media Week be this tasty (& educational)?
The event was moderated by Converseon’s CEO: Rob Key
On the panel were 3 well-informed & knowledgeable digital marketing professionals who had much to share:
Jon Burg – Emerging Channels Specialist at Digitas (@jonburg)
Craig Daitch – SVP of Activation at Converseon (@cdny)
Andy Von Kennel – SVP Growth Director at Rapp (@avkthinks)
Rob kicked off the event by asking us to “stop using the term ‘social media’ (would defeat the purpose within Social Media Week) since it is a limiting term when discussing it as a business solution.” “The next steps in social media won’t be about the next Twitter account or viral video.” It’s beyond that. Rob introduced us to Converseon, the agency, which leads the way in Social Media listening tools and metrics.
The purpose of the panel was to discuss listening while participating in social media campaigns – something not discussed at the other #SMW events I attended this week. The overall concept of the panelists discussion was to think of social media as a listening tool. By listening, we can gather insights into brand perception, brand awareness, be able to provide appropriate customer service, etc.
Let’s hear from the panelists…
Listening & Challenges
Jon – brand marketers need to be listening and engaging an active vocal audience. Get to know your audience as people / as human beings. This is the first time that we can listen to what millions of people are doing and saying. Social media gives us those tools.
Andy – social media allows us to get specific guidance from listening for products and branding.
Jon – the challenge with our clients is getting out of the perception & expectation that social can do everything. It is not the end all and be all. The social fluency of your client will affect how you are able to run your campaign, or your campaign in general.
Craig – another challenge today is that CMOs have little time to prove results. We live in a world of accountability – it is no longer about the checklist anymore (do we have a Facebook & Twitter acct?).
ROI
Rob – Social Media ROI is like dark matter in the universe.
Jon – there are different ROI models depending on the agency. We’re trying to remove “media” from “social media” –> different forms of ROI will come together.
Today, we can demonstrate that social media does things, but we don’t have the full picture yet. What agencies claim they can do, they often can’t.
It’s not about technology. It is about the insights & value the social media intelligence brings to the company. The technology is just the tool or platform to get us there.
Craig – (agrees) it is not technology, but the human intelligence behind it. In social, human power trumps technology.
Andy – (also agreeing) understanding sentiment takes a human element.
Jon – sentiment is a metric, but it doesn’t necessarily give insight.
Twitter is disposable. It is only valuable if RT’d or blogged about (which has a longer lasting affect).
“The social media space is still very new, the industry is still taking shape.”
Social Media Intelligence
Andy – we were able to use social media with a client to figure price and a new flavor. Social media was used as a means to do market research.
Jon – social media intelligence helps brands define the company components and how we work with people.
–> “The Web is the world’s largest focus group”
Craig – Consumers don’t care what position you hold within the company, they just want to get what they want. Social media professionals can be on the clock 24/7. Consumers are agnostic to your position.
Rob – we (agencies) need to talk about (social media as) business solutions & what social media listening can do to help their company. We need to talk about what social media does and stop talking about what it is.
Jon – an important question to ask is: How do we bring social media to your business, and how do we bring your business to social media?
—-
Great questions were asked, and of all the events I had to attend this week, this one gave me the most insight into ways marketers need to be approaching their clients concerning social media as a tool.
About this Social Media Week Guest Blogger: Though Rebecca recently graduated from The University of Texas at Austin’s Advertising program, she has been a social media enthusiast for years, and is honored to guest blog at #smwnyc. To learn more, visit her blog and follow her on Twitter @rebeccaweiser.
Women in Social Media Panel at the JP Morgan Chase Building, NYC
The panel of strong, successful women featured those who, after spending time with traditional and realizing that digital is the future, have found their niche in the digital space. Their entrepreneurial spirits and experience provided insight into the two biggest issues addressed: “Why go social?” and “What is the right way to do it?”
Why: “Bloggers just get it.”
One issue addressed was that of the FCC’s new restrictions on bloggers, essentially mandating that they issue full disclosure whenever gifted or paid to create content. The panel agreed that this is completely in line with the informal blogging code: be honest. Bloggers should give full disclosure regardless of the FCC, as they owe it to their readers.
Have fun: Blogging should be a safe, fun space in which like-minded individuals can express themselves.
Whenever a blogger posts about an item, readers can immediately click through and potentially be moved to purchase. This immediate response truly separates traditional from digital, allowing for faster and much more effective ROI.
How: “What is the right way to do it?”
Before starting anything, either business, blog, or any other type of venture, it’s important to make sure you talk to others. If you have friends who have done this before, ask them for guidance, or “learn the expensive way.”
In order to gain traffic to your blog, try getting your name out there. Try guest-posting on a blog that you like. If readers like your style and content, they’ll want to read more.
Take calculated risks, and go exploring in the digital realm. “Buying domain names is like a 21st century landgrab.”
Ironically held in a space known as “Former Tower Records Space” on Foursquare, ‘What is your $ocial Music Currency?’ discussed the role of Social Media within the music industry. The event was sold out / standing room only, which sure makes me glad I had a press pass.
Admittedly, the music industry is not where I consider myself super-knowledgeable, thus I decided to focus on the words of wisdom relating to social media, marketing and business (which I have a background in).
While the event was advertised as discussing Social Media currency, specifically within the music industry, the panel didn’t really touch on it as much as I would’ve liked. The term “currency” wasn’t really used. Rather they discussed either their personal experiences using social media, mainly Twitter & blogging, or the recent changes to the music industry [caused by technology].
The panel consisted of:
?uestLove* – Drummer from the Roots and the Jimmy Fallon Show Andrew Katz- Sr. Marketing Manager for Pepsi Marisa Bangash- Co-Founder of Uncensored Interview
The panel was moderated by James Andrews* – Co-Founder of BeEverywhere.tv
*I found ?uestLove and James to be quite interesting characters.
?uestLove discussed the idea that there is little success in the music biz without a tribe / crew / group surrounding it. Even solo artists have their groups. Today, an artist’s crew could be online (especially with the emergence of social media). Andrew added that the world doesn’t need another Britney Spears or Beyonce. As a brand that is entrenched in the music industry, Pepsi is involved in connecting audiences to different tribes. Artists today need their own social network for them to have worth to brands. Are they involved in the network? Do they embrace social media? Brands are looking for those that do, and piggy back on their success.
?uestLove sees the music labels as the middlemen of the music world, which in essence they are. Marisa added that globally, labels aren’t necessary anymore. Due to the emergence of social media, artists can bring their message directly to the consumer. However, ?uestLove added that as an artist today, you need to do a lot more than just spin or produce… Can you blog? Can you represent your brand? He implied that beyond being a good musician you must also be a good marketer / promoter.
Pepsi uses music to find new ideas. Ideas get voted on, and receive grant money from brand. Artists are encouraged to use their social networks (blog & tweet) to gain votes. Andrew claims that Pepsi is new to Social Media (he named Facebook & Twitter specifically), but an upcoming crowdsourced campaign should boost their presence. According to Andrew: Brands are curators (of content). It is easy to sponsor content, much harder to be a creator of content.
Marisa discussed the licensing of indie music by big brands. Brands & bands can go hand in hand, especially if it is organic and authentic.
As a popular tweeter, ?uestLove (~1.3M followers) has been approached by companies to tweet, which he deemed a bit scary. A quarter million dollars is a large carrot to push a brand’s content. (It seems he hasn’t taken a bite, although he said he may sell eventually sell out to Twitter, but not yet). ?uestLove uses Twitter to push new music & bands, and demos that come his way. Causes are important, but can be problematic if they are not properly vetted. This is similar to what I heard Monday evening at the Social Media & Haiti event.
In response to an audience question, ?uestLove noted that Business, Art, and Commerce are a dirty combo. Concerning blogs he mentioned that journalists / writers today are lazy since they are copying content from popular music blogger and just re-purposing the content. This leads to writers not forming their own ideas, which is dangerous. Andrew added that blogs are the new [music] charts. Marisa added that blogs have replaced print and magazines; magazines folded because of blogs, which today has become a crowded space.
And finally, to wrap up the review of the event, the best quote went to an audience member: “Fans today are no longer clapping, but rather are Tweeting.” Too true.
Orli Sharaby is a Senior Social Marketing Strategist, Lifestyle at 360i. You can follow her on Twitter @orlibeth.
The fashion industry isn’t generally known for being on the cutting edge of technology, communication and media, so it was an interesting scene at last night’s Social Media Week panel The Devil Wears Prada and Tweets About It, as well as the subsequent Digital Divas party. While undoubtedly the best dressed crowd so far (though the week is still young!), it was clear from the panel discussion and audience questions that the fashion industry is still grappling with how to adapt to today’s changing media landscape and consumption habits.
Deirdre Sullivan – Social Media Director at ideeli
Conversation topics focused on the small (how can an aspiring designer use social to compete?) to the large (is luxury dead?) and even included a little eye rolling (was Tavi’s hat too big?). Here’s a sampling of the best nuggets from the night (note: all commentary below is paraphrased, and does not represent actual direct quotations by panelists).
On aspiring designers using social media to promote themselves:
Yuli: It’s easy for designers to build a fan base online, but fashion is not adapting to the potential of social media platforms like music has. Possibly because they still have this fear of being copied or having their ideas stolen.
On ensuring that the talented ones, and not the “Tila Tequilas,” will rise to the top:
Orli: Social media is a natural weeding system, where true talent will be recognized. Also, established design houses can and should use social to source their talent, which ensures the integrity of designers and stylists who rise to the top in this way.
Yuli: People will not last in the fashion world unless you actually have talent, and unless you are creating things that people want to buy, because fashion fans will not stand for it.
On the value of creativity and uniqueness:
Yuli: The real path to success for aspiring designers is for the designer to focus on their identity and making something unique and different.
Deirdre: Big brand days are over, people want luxurious unique design. Something with good craftsmanship. A clear branding message and identity is important early on.
Orli: Etsy is a good example of how this can play out extremely successfully, the fashion industry has yet to see major success in this area but it’s a huge opportunity.
On the changing definition of luxury in today’s world, especially as knockoffs are so readily available:
Yuli: Bottom line, brands need to educate the public on what they are buying. People are more interested now in where and how their products are made, and small and luxury designers can capitalize on that by educating consumers.
Orli: If a brand is scared of educating its customers, they have a bigger problem.
Yuli: Social is a great medium for putting yourself out there and letting consumers know exactly why luxury matters.
Deirdre: Dedicated fans talk to each other online and through this conversation they weed out the lesser quality items.
On blogger integrity and the grey line between journalism, PR and marketing:
Yuli: As a blogger, I have a new policy that I don’t accept gifts from brands. The brands need to be responsible when it comes to gifting and not make bloggers feel uncomfortable.
Orli: Traditional media, especially magazines, have been deceiving consumers for decades by not being clear about the gifts, products and incentives they receive, and by graying the line between advertisements and content. Bloggers are actually more transparent, not less.
On what is missing right now in fashion & social media, and what the current leaders could be doing better:
Deirdre: Conde Nast should invest in technology. They have the voice, but aren’t using it to move forward into social media.
Yuli: There is not currently a successful social network for the entire fashion industry and fashion consumers, which is a miss. Also, the link to the commerce aspect is completely missing from editorial.
On bloggers in the front row of fashion shows:
Orli: The recent front row appearance of bloggers at the Dior show was nothing more than a PR stunt, they did it for the news. They’re not forming authentic, lasting relationships with these bloggers which is unfortunate.
Yuli: Those bloggers were in the front row because of celebrity status, no different than inviting Penelope Cruz to sit in your front row.
Andrew: If I were a designer, it would make more sense for me to invite the blogger who’s built up a half million person a month readership from scratch, than to invite the assistant editor of a magazine with the same circulation. Obviously the blogger who’s built it from scratch is going to be better at promoting your brand.
***
As we look forward, 2010 has the opportunity to be a major turning point for the fashion industry in social media. With so few fashion and luxury brands having the entered the space in earnest, and so few of the major publications/media companies investing heavily right now, there’s an apparent white space just waiting to be filled. It will be exciting to see who rises to the occasion and who is left in the dust – and how that might impact what’s on the racks and in the closets of tomorrow.
Katie Perry is Corporate Marketing Coordinator at 360i. You can follow her on Twitter @katieeperry.
Social marketing programs have proven their worth in driving sales (@DellOutlet), building loyalty (Coca-Cola’s Facebook page) and improving customer service (@comcastcares) – but in the throes of a complex political campaign, what is the worth of social engagement?
If done right, it just might be the difference between victory and defeat.
The evidence? Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s 2009 mayoral campaign, in which he won by just over 50,000 votes. Jonah Seiger (@jonahseiger), Chief Online Strategist for Bloomberg ’09 and Managing Partner at Connections Media LLC, shared the social strategies that ultimately bolstered the then-incumbent’s road to re-reelection at a Tuesday SMW event hosted by ClickZ and the Personal Democracy Forum.
Victory Tweet: @mikebloomberg responds to the win.
Seiger admits that social media, though not necessarily the linchpin component, played a crucial role in Bloomberg’s eventual victory. To illustrate this point, he walked us through a series of calculations:
According to what Seiger calls “conservative” estimates, there are +/- 3 million people in New York City’s social media sphere.
Seiger estimates his team’s efforts had a 10 percent share of voice during the campaign – that is, 1-in-10 people using social media saw someone they knew say they were voting for Bloomberg.
10 percent of the +/- 3 million estimate totals 36,720 voters, per Seiger’s estimates; however, he argued that people active in social media, these “online political citizens” tend to participate at a might higher degree than average voters.
Based on this, he estimates that social media drove roughly 85,000 votes for Bloomberg on Election Day.
“From the top of the campaign [Bloomberg] down to the volunteers, digital was embraced in a way I’ve never seen before,” Seiger said. “There was an awareness of the importance of digital as a communications and engagement channel.”
Seiger, who also worked on Bloomberg’s 2005 mayoral campaign, said his team weaved social media into a broader digital strategy that encompassed web design, display media and paid search. These components, in turn, were “integrated within the larger campaign strategy,” he said.
Campaign Web site – Infused rich media and included a “bottom bar” that provided an engagement option on every sub-page. The site provided more opportunity for engagement via Facebook Connect. About 40 percent of site traffic was organic (funneled from social media and natural search).
Display media – Included rich content and links the Mayor’s YouTube channel. Seiger said YouTube plays totaled 224,000 during the campaign, or the equivalent of about 450K views of 30-second TV spots.
Paid search – Search ads appearing on the engines drove traffic to the Bloomberg’s Twitter feed (@mikebloomberg) and Facebook page. For example, if someone searched “Twitter” from the NY metro area, they would see a sponsored ad promoting @mikebloomberg.
The social aspect of the digital program was especially impactful. The number of people fanning and following Bloomberg on Facebook and Twitter reached 40,000 by campaign end (that number is nearly 42K at present). Though this number pales in comparison to Starbucks’ count of roughly 6 million between the two social networks, it is staggering when compared to that of Bloomberg’s competitor, Bill Thompson, whose combined total was about 6,300.
Supporters engaged with the Mayor's team via Facebook.
Here are some key takeaways regarding the campaign’s use of social media:
*Tweets and Facebook updates came from the campaign itself (not Bloomberg personally) and Seiger’s team “made no pretenses that mike Bloomberg was personally tweeting.” That aside, Seiger said Bloomberg’s personal interest in technology and social media led to times in which the mayor himself tweeted from the account: a designated day during the campaign and on Nov. 3.
*Seiger’s team estimates there were 31 million second-degree followers of @mikebloomberg (followers of his followers). Of this number, they calculate that 11 percent were NYC residents. For Seiger, these geographical insights were key. “The intelligence garnered from Twitter traffic shows what themes or trends are bubbling out of certain communities,” he said. “Twitter is moving more toward geo-location, and this will become important for the execution of social media in politics.”
*The campaign utilized hashtags (like #yankees, #brooklyn and #jobs) to tap into relevant conversations already occurring among NY-based Twitter users.
*A “Tweet Out the Vote” push allowed Bloomberg supporters to voice their advocacy with the ease of a click. Re-tweets of this message by Twitter power users like @jackdorsey and @craignewmark added further momentum. This strategy was mirrored on Facebook by inviting people to donate their status to Bloomberg’s cause.
*A core component of the strategy was inspiring and maintaining two-way conversations on Twitter and Facebook. “Social media is as much about listening as it is about talking,” Seiger said. “Talking back is especially important.”
*Seiger also noted the importance of supplementing organic/word of mouth promotion for a Facebook page with paid advertising. When asked if he would agree that advertising should be utilizing to gain fans, Seiger was in “adamant” agreement. “Any legitimate social media strategy necessarily includes online advertising as a component,” he said.
***
ClickZ’s Kate Kaye , who spearheaded the launch of the site’s Politics & Advocacy section, also contributed to the discussion. For further reading check out Kaye’s recent analysis that breaks down the Bloomberg campaign’s digital spend in the context of overall media spend.
Izzy Forman is the Digital Publicity Manager at 360i, where she is responsible for leading a team of digital publicists that builds and nurtures relationships with online influencers (bloggers, editors, forum moderators and fan site creators) to advocate for a brand and its products and services.
Monday’s panel on the role of social media in light of the recent Haiti earthquake focused on a number of ways that social media has (and hasn’t) impacted the how the news media functions during times of crisis. The panel did not shy away from the magnitude of the tragedy in Haiti and covered a lot of ground in the session.
The discussion was led by:
Moderator: Andrew Rasiej, founder of the Personal Democracy Forum and senior technology advisor, The Sunlight Foundation
Panelists:
Ann Curry, news anchor for NBC’s Today Show | @anncurry
Rob Mackey, staff writer The New York Times, The Lede blog | @RobertMackey
Erik Parker, journalist who was in Haiti when the earthquake struck and used social networks to send images, video, tweets | @theparkerreport
Jason Cone, communications director, Doctors Without Borders | @MSF_USA
From the range of stories told and questions asked throughout the afternoon, here are a few points that helped clarify the evolving relationship between social media and news reporting.
A New Frontier in Crisis Communications
The afternoon began with anecdotes from panelists Jason Cone (Doctors Without Borders) and Ann Curry (NBC News) about how they used Twitter to mobilize aid in the first days after the disaster in Port au Prince.
In the context of Twitter, their story unfolded like this: A Doctors Without Borders’ plane couldn’t land. Curry then saw their complaint via Twitter and tweeted a request to the military to let the doctors land. A reader sent Curry the official handle of the US Air Force via Twitter, who subsequently tweeted at them to let the plane land. Finally, Doctors Without Borders landed in Haiti.
This story illustrates the power of concerned citizens (the reader that tweeted the handle), the massive community created by social media, and the meaning of news spread in real time — but it’s only part of the story.
While the anecdote illustrates some of the most obvious benefits of social media, it also reminded me that, at least in the foreseeable future, traditional methods of crisis communications still apply. Even though social media informed Curry of the problem and helped her to get the word out, the issue was ultimately resolved when she contacted US Military leaders directly by utilizing her official relationships as a news reporter.
As news breaks in real-time and journalists report less from far off places, it makes sense that the opportunity to get information via social networks continents away would be compelling. Yet a story Curry shared about getting information from a Haitian humanitarian-turned-citizen-journalist via Twitter provoked questions from other panelists and the audience about the reliability of such reporting methods.
How does a reporter effectively vet an online source in a breaking news crisis? How does a journalist determine if a minute-by-minute eyewitness account contains a hidden agenda? And how can a story be confirmed or denied without cameras on the ground?
The consensus on the panel seemed to be that effective journalists treat their social media sources just like any other sources — they vet the best that they can, and use source info responsibly and cautiously, like they would do if interviewing people at the scene of a crime.
Curry’s embrace of the opportunity to share breaking news, respond to feedback, and receive real-time information directly from people on the ground, via Twitter, seems indicative of her commitment to getting the most accurate, up-to-date information she can deliver. And while the rules governing reporters and their @ sources are not yet ironed out, social media is one of many very useful tools in reporting breaking news.
Ultimately, the concerned, motivated and tweeting citizen-journalists in Haiti were valuable resources that allowed outlets to report stories and provide information that they never would have known about in the days before Twitter.
About this Social Media Week Guest Blogger: Dani Klein is Founder and Blogger at 
About this Social Media Week Guest Blogger: Though Rebecca recently graduated from The University of Texas at Austin’s Advertising program, she has been a social media enthusiast for years, and is honored to guest blog at #smwnyc. To learn more, visit her 
The panel consisted of:
Orli Sharaby is a Senior Social Marketing Strategist, Lifestyle at 360i. You can follow her on Twitter 
