Launch PR

SA's Julie Hall to Speak About the Power of Social Media at Ad Club Breakfast

How to Harness the Power of Social Media for You and Your Brand

 

Presented by Julie Hall , Executive Vice President of Schneider Associates, Founder of Mommies Clique and committed Mommy Blogger.      

Learn the ins and outs of personal branding on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook and how to leverage knowledge and marketing potential of social networking for you and your clients. With the advent of social media platforms like Facebook, MySpace and YouTube, content sharing sites like Digg and Delicious and microblogging tools such as Twitter, everyone has the ability to brand themselves as an industry leader.

Here you’ll learn how social media branding efforts will work for your clients. Everyone wants a piece of the social media pie. Join us as we explore tips and techniques to help provide unique content and value which will set you apart from the competition.

START
April 16, 2009, 8 - 9:30 AM
 
LOCATION
Digitas

Register Now!

Buzz about mini red laptop depicts Dell’s online philosophy

You may have noticed a bit of online chatter about a new Dell product currently on the hush hush: a new, red, mini laptop. But Dell wasn’t always as open about its relationship with the blogosphere.

It was probably the wake-up call Dell needed. I’m talking about all that negative buzz that slammed Dell three years ago when a popular blogger, Jeff Jarvis, wrote a series of critical posts about Dell’s poor customer service.

Like many other companies, in the past Dell had adopted the common tactic of consciously ignoring negative blog or message board posts. Knowing well that in the online world everything never truly dies, it’s easy to see this plan of attack (or lack thereof) is flawed.

A year ago, Dell decided to change its attitude toward online critics by addressing them directly. Today, practically all online stories or posts relating to Dell (whether they are mainstream media blogs like WSJ.com’s Business Technology Blog or personal parenting blogs like Daddyblogger.com) are followed by comments straight from Dell bloggers themselves.

One way Dell is taking advantage of customer engagement is through the Internet’s powerful word of mouth component from a promotional standpoint.  In fact, the online coverage of Dell’s new mini laptop may not have been exactly accidental. Chief Executive Michael Dell toted the new mini laptop to the Wall Street Journal’s D: All Things Digital conference to give some bloggers a sneak peak.

When blogger, Brian Lam from popular gadget blog, Gizmodo, caught sight of the new laptop, an article and pictures were posted for the rest of the blogosphere to see. The result? Buzz and excitement about the future release. Not a bad tactic.

To us, it looks like Dell’s new online philosophy is definitely paying off.

 

brandjunkie Jim Thompson Discusses BRITE Takeaways

This month, Julie Hall and I were invited to attend and blog the BRITE Conference at Columbia University Business School with fellow bloggers Francois Gossieaux, Max Kalehoff, David Berkowitz, Tom Guarriello, Lois Kelly, Valeria Maltoni and Christine Whittemore. BRITE brought together over 200 top CMOs and executives from companies like GE, Pulver Media, Cisco, LEGO, Proctor and Gamble, SAP and Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids. The conference engaged marketing professionals in rich discussion about the convergence of technology and media and its implications for modern business.

After the conference, I spoke with Jim Thompson, editor of BRITE media sponsor, brandchannel. brandchannel was launched in 2001 by Interbrand in an effort to create “the world’s only online exchange about branding.” I was interested to hear why brandchannel chose to sponsor BRITE and Jim’s takeaways from attending the conference.

Amanda: What innovation in business and technology is brandchannel leading?

Jim: We are huge fans of innovation and are using our online presence to accomplish something that we believe is unquestionably unique: the brandchannel 2008 brandjunkie awards. We've spent the past seven months designing insightful questions that will allow branding professionals across the globe to participate in our survey, which captures what people really think about brands—sentiments that can't necessarily be demonstrated in a simple chart or index. Voting began on February 25! Visit www.brandchannel.com for more details. (I apologize for the shameless plug!)

Amanda: What encouraged you and your brandchannel colleagues to sign up for BRITE and serve as a sponsor?

Jim: We're always looking for new ideas and talented writers with a distinctive understanding of the branding industry. The BRITE conference provided us with that environment, and we weren't disappointed. Becoming a sponsor was an easy decision. We know that success in life often depends on surrounding yourself with good people. And the BRITE conference naturally attracts intelligent, motivated, and inspiring people. We appreciate being associated with that group on any level.

Amanda: What were your favorite sessions and why?

Jim: My favorite session was listening to Marty Homlish speak at the BRITE Jury Award for Big Thinker on Friday morning. As an editor, I love compelling stories that teach us about ourselves, both as regular human beings and professionals. The story he told regarding how the Sony Walkman came into existence—so it would be possible to listen to music while playing tennis—is an excellent example of human ingenuity and creativity.

Amanda: What were your big takeaways from the conference?

Jim: Enthusiasm.  Creativity is such an important component to any endeavor, and if creativity needs anything it is enthusiasm. brandchannel came out of the conference inspired by all of the talented professionals we encountered; listening to their ideas and accomplishments made us want to work harder and seek creative ways to expand brandchannel's potential.

Amanda: A few weeks after the conference, what idea(s) presented at BRITE are you and your colleagues still thinking about?

Jim: Telling the truth. One theme that arose repeatedly was that, in all situations, effective branding is about conveying the truth. The reason I still think about this is because it's such simple advice, and yet is apparently difficult to practice. I understand most corporations don't want to be misleading; it's that they have trouble conveying the truth because they don't really know who they are as a brand. That opens up a whole new level of intriguing discourse.

Amanda: After the conference, have you and your colleagues discussed implementing anything you learned or heard at BRITE?

Jim: Because we are an online publication, our ears always perk up when we hear the word "technology." One of my favorite moments from the conference was listening to Craig Newmark. After receiving effusive praise from fellow panel members about how he single-handedly revolutionized the way entire cultures shop, date, congregate, and socialize, he slowly leaned toward the microphone and explained that he really didn't do anything other than provide people with a platform. That's what we'd like to accomplish at brandchannel. We'd like it to be a living, breathing online entity where branding professional come not just to read articles, but to interact with the content and each other via our comment sections and brandjunkie awards.

NEW SERVICE POST: Zoomorama

Launch Date: December 2007

There are lots of places online where you can share and compile your photos, but while the site name changes, the format on each is usually fairly similar.  On December 11, 2007, Zoomorama presented its service at LeWeb3 conference in Paris, France.  Zoomorama strives to make photo-sharing an easier and higher quality experience for Web users.  Zoomorama President Franklin Servan-Schreiber said the following at the LeWeb3 conference:

Sharing photos is a huge part of the Internet experience, but it’s an experience that is disappointingly like sharing snapshots out of a shoe box, and in low resolution at that. Instead we think it should be like telling a story, sharing the emotions, and also enjoying your 5 to 10 mega pixels to the max…  We aim to offer a platform for visual blogging, mixing full-resolution photos, videos, and text of course.  We are convinced we have a 10 times better solution for sharing images online, and we have a way to monetize that solution.

In Zoomorama, you can create a photo collage and zoom in and out of specific photos that are all located on one page.  Zoomorama is also planning to incorporate video sharing within their photo montage capability (as seen in the example below), but this feature is still in the lab.

As of now, you can download and use the Zoomorama service for free.  Want to know more?  The site has a helpful FAQ page outlining specifics regarding media formats and the ease of content sharing so you can learn more about all things Zoomorama.

We are looking forward to seeing how Zoomorama develops its services.  What do you think of this new approach to photo sharing?

NEW SERVICE POST: Google Street View Launches in 8 New Cities

With Google Street View, there is really no excuse for ever getting lost again. If you are navigating the streets in any one of the 23 cities now included in the service, you have the option of viewing street-level photos along with traditional maps. Google initially went live with the service on May 29, 2007, and today it launches in eight new cities.

Now, if you want to visit the Launch PR team at Schneider Associates in Boston, you can use the Street View feature in our city.  Along with Boston, other cities included in this new launch wave are Dallas, Detroit, Indianapolis, Fort Worth, Minneapolis, St. Paul and Providence.

Do you find the Google Street View service helpful?  Have you ever used the service when you were exploring a new city or trying not to get lost?

NEW COMMUNITY TRENDS: Blogger Nation Gets an All-Access Pass

I was reading one of my favorite sports bloggers, James Mirtle (who is also a writer for The Globe and Mail), who brought up an interesting feature by Tim Lemke in The Washington Times about the Washington Capitals hockey team's relationship with new media outlets.  The Capitals are by far the most advanced team in professional sports in granting access to bloggers.  Many of them have been granted full-season press credentials to Caps home games, giving them the same access as traditional sports media.

As Lemke points out, traditional media coverage of hockey has dwindled in recent years, particularly as most news organizations have been hit with budget cuts.  “Blogger Nation,” as they are affectionately called, looks to fill the void left by the mainstream press.  Many Capitals blogs, such as Eric McErlain’s Off Wing Opinion, Jon Press’s Japer’s Rink and John Keeley’s On Frozen Blog, are among the most popular blogs in the sports world, attracting tens of thousands of unique visitors each month.

Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, the former AOL executive who might even rival Mark Cuban as a tech-savvy sports owner, responded to the Times article on his blog, both questioning the “self-fulfilling prophecies” of mainstream media’s programming choices and pointing out the blogosphere is only getting bigger.

He says, “As was once said, ‘Others go to where the puck is; I go to where the puck is going to be.’  We helped ignite a blogosphere because it is where ‘the puck is going to be.’  It was that simple.”

It’s not just in sports that bloggers are beginning to gain access.  This year, CBS invited 11 influential “Mommy Bloggers,” including Mindy Roberts and Sara Fisher, to visit the set and interview the cast of “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” the Julia Louis-Dreyfus sitcom about a single mom, to promote their new fall lineup.  Here’s a video of their visit on YouTube:

Bloggers have proved that, when they are given access, they can provide valuable exposure.  Will you consider them to play a role in your next launch?

Social Media Looks to Break its Chain from the Desktop

Leaving messages on social networks like Facebook used to be a task that could only be completed while you were stationed at your computer. Doesn’t sound like a very social environment.

This summer, the new Apple iPhone made mobile Internet browsing available to the mainstream, and with it came our favorite social media Web sites. With this new, robust Web experience, a quiet walk in the park or a lazy day at the beach can now be a complete multi-media experience. Social media companies see the numbers—nearly 200 million subscribers in the United States alone—and are gearing up to jump from your desktop to your pocket.

And the iPhone isn’t the only new product to make the leap. I had doubts whether Twitter was going to succeed as a powerful social tool, but now that the site is mobile, it’s like social media and GPS got together and created a “super-baby.” Now, not only can you see who’s around you, you can get a sense of what they are thinking, doing and talking about.

While we were formerly slaves to the immovable desktop, mobile media is finally adjusting social tools so we can actually socialize. In public, with people. Now that we can take our social media wherever we go, we become the masters of our media, and not the other way around.

MommySpace

Over the past few years, communications professionals have flocked to the Web to better understand the interests and media important to Millennials. While sites like MySpace and Facebook garner a lot of our attention, niche social networks and online media provide rich insight into a wide array of demographics. Mommies have begun to form an important and quickly growing community online. Do a simple Technorati blog search for "mom" and you'll find over 18,000 mommy blogs. According to USA Today, these mommies spend over $1.7 trillion a year and now comprise about 52% of the online population. Here are a few recently launched sites that will help you explore these mommy communities and understand why they are as important for you to follow as their Millennial offspring:

Cafe Mom: a leading social network for moms to stay in touch and make new friends

Minti: a social network and article advice site for moms and dads to share parenting tips

The Mommy Blog: Mindy Robert's blog about her adventures and experience as a mom

Urban Mamas: a blog founded by Portland-based moms that includes advice, tips, stories and a family friendly community events calendar

Urban Baby: a site and e-mail newsletter with product recommendations for hip urban moms and kids

Daily Candy Kids: a site and e-mail newsletter with product, fashion and services recommendations for moms and kids

Healthy Habits Healthy Kids: a busy parents' guide to getting kids to "eat right, sleep well and be happy"

We'd love to hear from you. Post a comment below with links to your favorite mommy and parenting sites on the Web.

Urbanspoon Serves Up Innovative Web Monitoring for Restaurateurs

Each week, Frank Bruni and Nick Fox use their refined writing and expert palates to dissect dining for New York Times Online readers. Meanwhile, a Culinary Fool uses Flickr shots and a modest yet engaging personal blog page to digest the best local fare for Seattle diners. Urbanspoon, a small Web startup, harnesses the wisdom of seasoned and freshman foodies alike to help diners locate the best restaurants. Aside from the obvious time-saving benefits this mashup offers to users, Urbanspoon may also offer restaurateurs and marketers a unique platform to manage online buzz about their brands.

Since the birth of the Semantic Web, site developers are able to easily integrate and combine information from a variety of online platforms. The budding business of mashup results in a rise of one-stop-shopping sites that save consumers time previously spent surfing several different platforms to find information on one topic. Urbanspoon aggregates online restaurant reviews from local newspapers, blogs, forums, comment boards and professional review sites, and serves them up in a centralized hub. Urbanspoon users can vote on reviews, leave comments and check out the best, newest and most buzzed-about restaurants. Interactive tools also allow users to rank their favorite eateries and the new Urbanspoon Facebook application allows users to share these favorites with friends.

While this site primarily offers consumers the ability to review comprehensive dining information, it offers restaurateurs and marketers the ability to effortlessly track pickup and online buzz happenings around a brand and its competitors in an expanding range of media. Rather than just monitoring pickup in major publications, Urbanspoon allows us to monitor small personal pages and on-site feedback from users. There is even an option to proactively add a restaurant profile or edit the on-site profile of a restaurant if a user or communications team finds inaccurate data.

Led by Ethan Lowry, Adam Doppelt and Patrick O’Donnell, the site is a proven and formidable force in the restaurant industry. Still in its first year since public launch, Urbanspoon attracts more than 1.5 million monthly page views and 500,000 unique visitors each month.

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Consumer-Generated PR

Idaho Potato launched a consumer-generated video contest on May 15^th called iTuber, where potato lovers can submit a two minute video of themselves demonstrating a recipe, performing a potato-themed skit or solving a common household problem with a potato. Three participants will win a $1,000 grand prize, five runner-ups will receive a custom-made gift bag and everyone who enters gets a Buddy the Spud doll. Using consumer-generated contests as a way to reach your target consumers has been quite successful for small and large companies alike in uncovering news ways of looking at their product and their brand enthusiasts.

Idaho Potato is joining the ranks of major brands like Doritos, who pioneered this type of contest famously during Super Bowl XLI, where Doritos allowed users to upload their own video’s to a special website and vote on them to determine who’s entry would run during the Doritos Super Bowl ad spot. Heinz 57 catsup is doing something similar where Heinz  fans are encouraged to create a short ad showcasing the brand. Heinz will choose and post the top 15 entries and viewers will be responsible for voting on the winner who will receive $57,000 and an ad spot that will air on national television.

In general companies have been weary about consumer-generated media. It requires company’s to trust their consumers and let go of their advertising and PR control because they are allowing consumers to display their own messaging and content that may or may not be in line with their brand messaging. But don’t fight it, consumers trust messages that are created by someone like them— the everyday consumer—more than they d o a messages created behind closed doors by a company’s marketing team. Employ a public relations agency to drive the strategy behind the contest, reach out to media and establish a presence within social networks to inform online community members about how they can participate. Consumer-generated media is here to stay, how can your brand benefit and how will your PR and advertising agencies get you there?