Catch Up Lady

Why Twitter Will Endure

One of the best sessions at the #140 Conference yesterday was by David Carr @carr2n, a brilliant writer and blogger for The New York Times.  In 10 minutes he gave one of the funniest, most spot on presentations I've seen on "why Twitter will endure."  I do it barely any justice...

• Momentum – Despite some slowing growth of the user base there are more than 50MM tweets posted per day.  Besides, the metrics aren't the most important thing to focus on "look at MySpace."
• Twitter is Joyful – Nothing gives the deep joy of Twitter, and the ability to see into the skulls of some of the best writers in the country. 
• Utility – If forced to pick between listening on Twitter and broadcasting, he’d pick listening on Twitter every time.  Twitter is human enabled RSS – you can scoop in a cup and find out what’s happening right now.
• Simple/Easy UI – Simple is hard, and Twitter does it well. 
• Starbucks – Twitter makes waiting in line at Starbucks tolerable, and calms you the baristas appear to be moving underwater. 
• Hook Ups – We never give up hope that we’ll somehow meet and have serendipitous interaction with other humans, and  Twitter - or mindcasting - is one of the best indications of who you are.
• Pipes – Twitter is infrastructure. 
• Serendipity – David's "thanks to Twitter" story involved getting an offer for a new seat on an airplane after tweeting that the passenger next to him seemed to be involved  in an Axe Body Spray cult.  Everyone has a story like this.
• Zietgiest – Twitter helps you see over the hill and expose you to trends that might open your eyes (like Glee!)
• Hivemind – Need help with Final Cut Pro?  Recommendations for a NetFlix rental?  Interviews for a story?  The hivemind is always active and always helpful.
• Decency – Your avatar is you and people mind their manners unlike other places.
• Fame – You have the opportunity to curate your followers to maximize value
• Inertia – Chances are that you wont leave your followers behind, even for something like Google Buzz. 

Snowcial Media: Tales from Snowmageddon 2010

 Snowmageddon.  Snowpocolypse. Kaiser Snowze.  The 2009/2010 winter season in DC has gone by a lot of names.  One of the most notable side stories in my (social media crazed) mind is the role that social media (or should I say snowcial media?) has played in everything from storm tracking, to commiserating, to clean up efforts.  Particularly noteworthy is the way "traditional" players got in on the action.

The Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang

A blog at its core, the Weather Gang blog became my go-to for all things weather related.  They give insightful, accurate forecasts with a personality, and take advantage of the rest of the social Web (Twitter, Facebook) to promote the site, its content, and its conversations.  What's great is that this is run by the Washington Post - it's great to see such integrated use of social media across a traditional media site.

Washington, DC Department of Transportation

Despite apparently having like three plows to service the entire city, DDOT DC has taken a proactive role in communicating its snow removal plans to the community.  A Twitter handle DDOTDC is collecting reports of unplowed streets and sending them to the Snow Command Center (which is probably in Cheney's secret bunker...) - so while huge swaths of the city remain unserviced, there is a sense that someone is out there listening.  Notably, DDOTDC is even going one step further that listening and has launched Snow Map DC which allows you to type in your address/crossstreet/block and see what service its received and what the current road conditions are. 

(Personal side note - all those dots don't necessarily translate to clear streets, as they would commonly be defined.  Here is Wisconsin Ave between M and K Street last night - doth those green flags lie??)

Of course Twitter and Facebook also played pivotal roles in keeping the DC community together.  Twitter did what it does best and became a real time focal point for discussion -  hashtags, twit pics, and live updates dominated  in the days leading up and during the storm.  Facebook played to its community organizing strengths - The Official Dupont Circle Snowball Fight group has over 6,000 fans - 2,000+ of whom showed up for the actual event last weekend.

I've written this post in the past tense - which is ironic, seeing as how we're about to get another 10 - 16" tonight and tomorrow... snowcial media may have more gas left in the tank.  Stay tuned!

Weddings Going Social FTW

In July, I blogged that the bar for incorporating bad R&B into weddings was at an all time high.  We had the Brubaker's First Dance, as well as the JK Wedding Entrance Dance video - and let's face it, who knew where we could go from there.  Barring a wedding announcement montage set to a Keith Sweat video, I'm not sure what else could possible emerge to eclipse these two front runners.

Then came.... Jeff & Erin's EPIC Wedding Trailer.  I mean, shit.  I'm at a total loss for how my future wedding (to my future finace at an undetermined date and time)  is going to stand out in the social media world. Damn you Jeff and Erin.  Damn you.

Conan Selling Tonight Show on Craigs List

Conan O'Brien has been pulling out all the stops in his quest to get The Tonight Show returned to the 11:30pm slot that NBC is currently trying to bump him from in order to return Jay Leno to the slot he vacated in favor of a prime time show.

In addition to releasing a letter addressed to the "People of Earth" in which he lays out his argument and apologizes for his hair, Mashable reported that he recently put The Tonight Show for sale on Craigs List. 

Can't wait to see what happens next...

Patagonia: Selling a Story

From Rob BonDurant, VP of Marketing at Patagonia – from today’s WOMMA Summit.

Patagonia…

• Uses business to inspire and implement solutions to the sustainability crisis
• Believes passion cannot be created
• Is a non profit thinly disguised as a company
• Makes money so they can demonstrate their business model works, and donate more money to their 1% Earth Tax
• Designs its products and communications to adhere to the natural law of simplicity – things are done when there is nothing left to take away
• Always has an answer to “Who we are? How did we get here? Where are we going?”
• Is driven by story telling – it’s the anecdote to logic
• Doesn’t create stories, it just publishes them
• Received 100,000 unsolicited stories and photos from customers last year - that number will double this year
• Is selling a story, a symbol and a badge
• Believes the only limit is imagination – never budget

Patagonia...

• Creates experiences that complement their customers’ journey, versus interrupting them
• Relies on customers motive and intent to keep their brand top of mind
• Uses social media as real time reviews that are shared internally
• Cares a LOT about SEO, user experience, and the online buying path
• Now has more people chatting with them online than calling on the phone
• Is dead focused on getting people to comment and share their experience online

Patagonia...

• Would rather inspire than promote
• Would rather earn credibility than buy it
• Advertises as a last resort

Patagonia...

• Is a30+ year old experiment 

Stream 2009: After the One Night Stand

At Stream, I helped facilitate a great session with Jory Des Jardins (co-founder of BlogHer) and Christine Cea (Director of Brand PR, Unilever) entitled After the One Night Stand – How To Get Beyond Buzz and Create Sustained WOM Programs. Our session focused on this challenge from three perspectives: the agency, the client, and the partner.

Getting Beyond the Campaign Think One of the biggest challenges in creating sustained WOM programs is that budgets and mindsets are locked into campaign cycles. This mentality is not conducive to social media programs, which are centered around creating a long-term, open ended dialogue with online stakeholders. While some WOM programs are specifically designed for short-term deployment, many others stop simply because the campaign the social media effort was attached to ended. Unilever has broken out of this with respect to social media by creating a taskforce that provides leadership and oversight for all social media efforts across brands. Many other companies have started hiring in-house social media experts who serve a similar purpose. On the agency side, we discussed selling the program you want to execute for your client. While you may be planning for a campaign that occurs over a finite period of time - build in a budget to maintain the relationship.

Organizational Structure

At present, few companies are set up internally to handle the "soft costs" associated with a sustained WOM campaign - from running a Twitter handle, to playing a community manager role. The ideal solution for brands at the moment is to have their agencies transparently assist in co-managing these aspects of the campaign, and, through trainings, help brands create internal capacity that can take on more of these responsibilities in the long term.

Understanding Audience Behavior and Partner Advantages

Rooting your WOM program in robust audience and partner research is another key ingredient in creating sustained programs. On the research side, understanding your target audiences online behaviors helps you craft a program they will want to engage with continuously. Choosing the right partner can afford you a deeper level of community understanding - as they are intimately familiar with not only metrics on their audience, but also smaller nuances that can help make your campaign a long-term success.

Optimizing a Program for the Long Haul

What works in Month 1, might not work in month 6 - so planning a program that evolves is key. There are two ways to make sure you're ready. The first is laying out a value exchange - understand what a brand can do for the campaign/influencers, and what the campaign/influencers can do for the brand over the long term. Make sure your value exchange is solid, and offers value as time goes by. Building on that concept, optimization is the second key. Don't build a cathedral and walk away - make sure the agency and the brand are involved in week to week fine tuning that ensures the campaign stays strong and meets needs.

Demonstrating Value Through Measurement

And what would our discussion have been without a long conversation on measurement?? All present agreed that measurement, and demonstrating the long term value of social media was integral to creating sustained WOM programs. I shared Ogilvy's Conversation Impact measurement model, which maps to the marketing funnel and focuses on metrics like reach (that tie out to existing marcom efforts), as well as engagement and action - which is where WOM programs can uniquely add value. Additionally, integrating social media measurement into brand's existing measurement reports helps demonstrate where social is adding value and can help make the case for longer-term planning and execution.

What are other obstacles to creating sustained WOM Programs, and how can collectively overcome them?

5 Things You Need to Know About Social Media in Mexico

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

1. Internet Penetration in Mexico is Growing Rapidly Internet penetration in Mexico is hovering between 25 – 30%. This rate that is low compared to many Asian and European countries, and while it trails a few other LATM countries (notably Brazil, Colombia and Argentina) percentage wise, Mexico is in fact second only to Brazil in terms of sheer number of people online (111,000,000+). Internet penetration will continue to grow at a rapid pace in Mexico. Stats on LATM internet penetration can be found here.

2. Social Media Adoption is STRONG and Driven by Young Influencers Internet growth is lead by Mexico’s youth - 48% of all Internet users in Mexico are 15 – 24, compared with 35% in Latin America, and 26% worldwide (ComScore State of Internet Report – Mexico, 2009). So, it’s no surprise that early adopters/heavy Internet users in Mexico are using social platforms at a rate higher than most countries in the world – beating worldwide averages for time spent online a month (Ibid). 

(Stats from Universal McCann Wave 3)
While the general population is inverted – using social at rates lower than most other large countries globally, these young early adopters represent the future of social media in Mexico. These are the trendsetters who are leading their lives online – for an increasing number of people in Mexico to see – and they will be the influencers of tomorrow.

3. Online Affinity Groups are Slow to Form – “Personal” Use Dominates in Social That being said, groups of online influencers organized around affinity groups have yet to truly emerge in Mexico. Unlike the online scene in the US (which is segmented out by Mom Bloggers, Food Bloggers, Tech Bloggers, Bloggers Who Have Red Hair, Ride Horses and Live Within 30 minutes of a Stateline, etc, etc, etc,) Mexico’s social media universe has not matured to the point of fragmentation. I discussed this with Ogilvy’s Gonzalo Fragoso, author of the popular Yo No Quiero Blog, who confirmed that many of the “biggest” bloggers in Mexico are using blogs for what they were originally intended – personal online journals – versus a platform for membership in a larger affinity group. Now, that doesn’t mean that Mexican’s aren’t interested in niche content – in fact many people I talked to note that when they are looking for specific blog content they turn to US sites, or Spanish language blogs from elsewhere in LATM and Europe. This has obvious implications for the types of social media campaigns one would create in Mexico at present, and it will be interesting to watch the space evolve vis-à-vis “special interest” influencers.

4. Digital Spends are Small, and Social Media Spend is Smaller Experts I spoke with approximate that 5% of budgets are going to digital – owning to Mexico’s Internet penetration, and the low-cost of advertising on television. Brands in Mexico run the gamut from those with no familiarity with social, to those who are getting ready to experiment. Among those experimenting, most all campaigns are channel focused (a Twitter account, a Facebook page…) and are rarely tied to a broader, ongoing social media strategy. This is something we still struggle to overcome in the US – and like here, the answer is education and internal trainings for clients, and seriously demonstrating the ROI of pilot social media programs in order to sell in more sustained, strategy driven campaigns.

5. Ogilvy Mexico is Ready to Go! I was super impressed with the team we have down in Mexico City – the 15 or so that I trained were all heavy social media users themselves, and extremely eager to apply their enthusiasm and creativity to client work. We’re lucky to have these guys on our global team, and I can’t wait to see what comes next for them.

Why I Love Working with Social Media Smart Asses

10thflrvending is not to be confused with its rival, 10thflrcandydish.

What Rockstars Can Teach You About Social Media

Great presentation from Mack Collier, with some really rad* visuals.

* I'm bringing rad back.  Deal with it.

What Rockstars Can Teach You About Kicking Ass With Social Media

View more presentations from Mack Collier.

Shit My Dad Says

Props to my mom for sending this gem my way.  Shit My Dad Says is a Twitter handle authored by 28-year old Justin who lives at home with his 78-year old father.  The handle is solely dedicated to transmitting pearls of ... wisdom (?)... from Justin's dad. 

Shit My Dad Says has over 150,000 followers - and is only following LeVar Burton back.  Which I find even more hilarious than the concept itself.

My Mom could definitely have a Twitter feed dedicated to her one liners.  One of my faves:  "How do you tell the difference between baking soda and powdered sugar? Taste it, if it tastes like shit it's baking soda."  I wonder if @ShitMyMomSays is taken yet...