Pass the (Social Media) Kool Aid

Tweet the Rainbow

02Mar09

Would you make Twitter your homepage?

How about using Flickr photos tagged with your brand name as official company images or take what someone has written about your company history and products and use it as official brand language.

Sounds a little crazy, right? Or it might be intriguing, but you know that suggesting it at your next marketing meeting may get you tossed out the window like the Bud Light guy in that Superbowl commercial.

The folks at Skittles (parent company MARS) are only throwing one thing out the window — and that’s the traditional approach to brand websites. Log onto www.skittles.com and 2 bright red widget boxes pop up on your screen. One is a verification and disclaimer (T&C) clause that you have to accept. This is interesting. They’re attaching their online brand to user-generated content, yet MARS Inc. is not responsible for what you might see.

Just a heads up: Any stuff beyond the Skittles.com page is actually another site and not in our control. This panel may be hovering over the page, but SKITTLES® isn’t responsible for what other people post and say on these sites. Click the box below to acknowledge that you know SKITTLES® isn’t responsible for that stuff.

After you accept, that leaves one box cemented on your browser window, with six tabs at the top. The new homepage for Skittles.com is the Twitter search stream for thh keyword “Skittles”. Clicking on any Products link pops you to the Wikipedia page. Same for Pics (Flickr stream), Videos (YouTube channel — only 3 videos, but that’s another topic), and Friends (Facebook Fan Page). Chatter takes you back to Twitter search [is this a sign that the "Home" tab may be changing?] and Contact gives you a feedback box on the only page that looks corporately owned.

A few questions I had after my first glances at the site:

How much monitoring is going to take place on all these channels? It didn’t take long for slurs and negative statements to show up on Twitter search (aka homepage), and we all know that anyone can edit a Wiki, post pictures to Flickr or become a fan on Facebook and post/tag rogue content.
Why would someone leave a feedback email when they can post to a homepage instantly in 140 characters? I would assume the same person that gets those emails is also reading the Tweets.
How will Skittles recieve, measure and respond to the Tweets, good and bad that are being posted? #Skittles has been a trending topic all morning, and the site just went up.
Also, if a brand is going to base its homepage presence on Twitter, shouldn’t it own its own Twitter handle? As of 10AM (ET), @Skittles had 1 follower (and a profile pic of a LOL Cat), @SkittlesCandy was being squatted on by a concerned fan, @SkittlesUSA and @MARSInc weren’t in use yet.
What do we call the new Skittles online presence? It’s not a true website. Portal, widget, application, channel, presence are all more appropriate descriptions of their new initiative.
Will the new efforts make an impact on sales? @PRSarahEvans posed this question to Twitter in a TwitPoll . Early results showed 63% of responders say Skittles makeover does not make them more likely to buy Skittles.

The “who owns your brand” discussion is a popular one within social media circles, and I expect the Skittles initiative to spark another round of it. But I’m mostly curious to see if Skittles.com will change or be modified before the buzz dies down.

One last thought – I’m not against the new Skittles web campaign. I think its a fresh approach that maybe didn’t consider all the corners (or they did, but don’t care). Skittles and MARS have taken the “everyone owns a pice of your brand” mantra and acted literally. They’re telling consumers “what you say and do about us is better than what we can tell you”…although this also has the feeling of “we’re saving thousands in web development dollars”. Skittles deserves Kudos for their unique approach, but I don’t expect to see it copied soon.

Filed under: Brands, Social Media links | 4 Comments
Tags: brand, Facebook, links, media integration, online, skittles, social media, Twitter, unique, web, YouTube

Get busy and learn!

19Feb09

I’m creating a new list of places to educate yourself about social media, social networking, digital marketing, PR 2.0 and whatever else you want to call it. This list is in the spirit of #followfriday on Twitter (which I’ve been tagged in but never reciprocated, sorry!) and in response to questions about where to find more about social media. This is by no means a comprehensive or final list — there is no easy way to rank the 900+ people I follow on Twitter and the (seemingly) 100+ blogs and emails I try to stay up with. (I’ve even avoided going back to Tweet Deck b/c I think it’ll take a day to organize all the people and keywords I’m following!)

I attempted this last year, in the form of my favorite PR blogs. In the [near] future, I hope to publish more specific lists for those of you interested in just social media, sports marketing, golf-industry, young professionals, corporate examples or something else. For now, though, here’s a list (mostly from the top-of-my-head) of where to start if you want to get busy and start learning.

Who to Follow on Twitter:

(tip- if you haven’t already, get to www.twitter.com and sign up. Follow these people and follow the people they are following and talking to. Follow whatever interests you, say hi to a few people along the way and make Twitter usable for you.)

What to read, whether on the site, in email or your RSS reader:

I’ve left off a ton of people who are probably just as deserving of a shoutout. Feel free to nominate more sources of wisdom and knowledge in the comments and I’ll update this list accordingly.

Filed under: Blogs, Social Media links | 3 Comments
Tags: 101, blog, intro, Kyle Flaherty, links, social media, Social Media links, Twitter, wisdom

SMC Jacksonville Chapter Launch Tues 2/17

11Feb09

Calling all social media types (and those interested) in Jacksonville to the chapter launch of Social Media Club JAX. We will be launching the club next Tuesday, February 17th, 6:30 – 8:00 PM at the Pablo Creek Regional Library. (click for map)

This will be the first open gathering of Social Media Club Jacksonville for everyone interested in joining the club. The plan is that it will be an informal meet-up to introduce the goals of Social Media Club, talk about what the Jacksonville chapter can look like, and a way to meet like-minded people in the community.

From the founders: Chris Heuer and Kristie Wells started Social Media Club (SMC) in July 2006 to help people find all the relevant communities of interest in which they want to participate. We want to help you explore your personal and professional passions by helping you connect with a community of your peers based on both geography and areas of interest. We want to ensure that the world of Social Media does not become an echo chamber of self-reinforcing thoughts, but is instead fueled by diversity of opinion and perspective.

If you’d like to learn more about the Social Media Club parent organization, visit socialmediaclub.org. The About page and Our Tag Line give really good background to the principles of why SMC is rewarding for everyone involved.

Social Media Club JAX is for everyone with an interest, everyone is welcome! To RSVP for the meeting, you can tweet to @smcjax, comment on this post, add your info to the wiki or email us. Also, if you have ideas for what you’d like to see, let us know or bring them with you to the chapter launch. Hope to see you there!

Filed under: SMC Jax | 2 Comments
Tags: chapter, club, community, jacksonville, launch, SMC, smcjax

When a Tiger roars on (bootlegged) video, everyone hears it

08Dec08

Time just released the Top 10 Everything of 2008 lists online. It’s no surprise that Tiger Woods’ putt on the 72nd hole of the U.S. Open was the number one moment in Sports in ‘08. The producers of Time.com added a YouTube clip of Tiger’s putt to the article. The YouTube video, 2 minutes of the NBC coverage, was posted by the user “theslicegirls”. (When this post was first written, the video had 65,545 views.)

Courtesy of Golf.com

Alternatively, Hulu.com has the official NBC Sports U.S. Open highlights, which can be clipped based on user preference and then embedded [but not on WordPress, unfortunately].

I’m not sure why Time.com producers would use the bootlegged YouTube clip rather than the official highlights from Hulu.com, but it’s another example of traditional web behavior, by both producers and users. It will be interesting to see if NBC puts any pressure on Time to change the video on the page.

I’m personally guilty of accepting, using and sharing the first relevant video or photo I find, even if its copyrighted by a large media company. However, I’m now on the other end of the protected footage argument, professionally. Using appropriate or official content, and giving credit back to it, is not only the responsible thing for online producers and bloggers to do; it’s also the easiest way to build credibility.

From a brand perspective, this example also highlights how having an official presence on a video or content site is half the battle. The other half is telling media/bloggers that the channel and videos exist, and that the brands want content to be shared with the media or blogger’s audience.

On that note, the PGA TOUR’s official YouTube channel is at http://youtube.com/pgatour. I would be very happy to see more media, golf bloggers and golf fans sending, sharing and posting official PGA TOUR highlights and features! (If you have questions about that, shoot me an email or Tweet directly)

Filed under: Work | Leave a Comment
Tags: blog, golf, media, PGA Tour, social media, Tiger Woods, US Open, video, YouTube

Let’s start Social Media Club JAX!

12Nov08

After living here for seven months, I’ve come to love lots of things about Jacksonville. One thing, though, keeps me wishing I was still back in Portland — the passionate, engaged tech (geek) and social media community that thrives in PDX.

I know the same like-minded people are here in Jacksonville too. I know because I twitter with them, read their blogs and met a few at BlogOrlando last month. I want to take the steps to build a Social Media Club Jacksonville. The club will be a place for all interested people, from Twitterati to bloggers, geeks to PR pros and newbies, to come together and create our own community. I think Jacksonville will embrace and support a SMC Jax, as soon as we get it going.

I’ve chosen Social Media Club as the umbrella organization because it is led by some of the top minds in this space, clubs have been established all over the USA (and world now), and I believe in helping their missions succeed. SMC is on Twitter at @socialmediaclub and on FriendFeed.

The efforts of SMC Jax will be low key to start and we will need everyone’s help to get it rolling in 2009. So far, there’s an email address (smcjax at gmail dot com), Twitter account (@smcjax) and wiki page to begin sharing updates and collecting interest. I’d like to have a breakfast meetup to gauge interest on Saturday, November 22nd. Since I’m new to the area, I don’t know all the best breakfast spots or even the best area to meet. Please vote in poll below the best location for you to meet up. Feel free to suggest specific locations in the comments, keeping in mind we’ll need meet at a place with a table for 10-12 people (I’m optimistic), is somewhat inexpensive, and (most importantly) has great breakfasts.

Please spread the word and start thinking about what SMC Jax could mean to you. This is our community and we can build it as such! If you have questions, feel free to contact me on Twitter or via email. I’ll post more updates here as we get more info.

Filed under: Social Media links, community | Leave a Comment
Tags: club, group, jacksonville, jax, meetup, SMC, smcjax, social media, Twitter

Don’t Kill Your Community Before It Starts

01Oct08

Earlier today, I participated in a webinar called “Community Killers”. It was presented by Miles Sims of Small World Labs. Miles gave some advice on what Small World Labs sees as choices that can lead to destroying, or at least hampering the success, of online communities. Below are the four ‘community killers’ and some thoughts of mine, blended together.

1. Being too Tech-Centric
It gets easy when building a new online space to get caught up in all the cool things that can be done, especially on a white label solution. People get excited and start thinking ‘we need more features, right now!’ and ‘Our users [or CEO] will love this!’

Remember that features come and go, but the community needs a reason to stick around.

Begin with the end in mind – what is the purpose of building the community?
Start small and focused and build out your platform as the community grows
Add the bells and whistles as the community requests them – listen to what they want!

Without a complete strategy on how to add and manage content or who is in charge of creating content, the community site is in danger of becoming all flash, no substance. There is enough flash online. Give your community substance.

2. Lack of relevance to customers
Building an online community is not like building a baseball field. Do not go into this project thinking ‘If we build it, they will come.‘ Simply put, the community space is not about the company. It is about the customer. Give them a reason to join the party and a chance to participate in shaping the brand.

3. Implementing Web 1.0 Strategies in a 2.0 Environment
Companies that don’t ‘get it’ will treat an online community like just another marketing campaign. They don’t want to lose control, so they see no reason for the company, or its employees on the site, to be open, transparent or authentic. Those that don’t get it are thinking ‘push our message’ and not ‘what can the community tell us?’

Brands that get the strategies behind social media understand:

The difference between what people will view and what they’ll share.
If people are passionate about the community goals, they will be committed to making it grow
Ask the question ‘What does your community empower people to do?’

4. Poor Metrics
Everyone wants to base success on the the number of users signed up in a community. That isn’t the best way to measure the successfulness of a campaign. Use this rule of thumb: If it’s important to your business, measure it!

As community spaces mature, companies are seeing increasing customer loyalty, adoption of new products/services and cost savings. These are good things to measure, if they fall within your business objectives. When a business ties its goals directly to the metrics, they will have an accurate gague of success. Also, don’t forget to measure what the company invests into building, moderating and maintaining its online community.

Finally, when you do report on the number of users in a community, make sure to differentiate between actives and registered, lurkers and superusers. Not every user is counted equally!

Thanks to Miles and Small World Labs for providing some insight into what makes online communities fail and succeed. Now I pose the question to you, what other decisions lead to the road of online community failure? On the contrary, what are the best choices that can be made to help a community succeed?

Filed under: Social Media links, community | 1 Comment
Tags: building, community, conversation, marketing, measurement, objectives, Social Media links, tips

Surfin’ down to Blog Orlando

23Sep08

This weekend I”ll be attending Blog Orlando 3 at Rollins College. It’s a one day un-conference for the Central Florida community of new media avids to come together, share and learn new things. It’ll be my first Blog Orlando experience (I only moved to Florida five months ago) and I’m excited to see what its all about.

One of my big picture to-do items for the remainder of 2008 is to increase my contributions to my online communities. I’ve spent the last 12-16 months reading, studying and asking questions about social media, PR 2.0 and the like. My experiences so far have been life-changing, literally. Before I left Oregon, I started helping others learn more about the theories, tools and getting started in new media. Lately though, my focus on giving back has been more internally driven. Learning a new side of business, a new company culture and starting to make my footprints here have set me back in giving into my online communities as much as I would like. Hence, another reason why I’m excited to attend Blog Orlando.

I don’t get many weekends in Orlando, so I plan on taking full advantage. I figure the solo trip is an excuse to start my Couch Surfing adventures on the East Coast. The Orlando CS community isn’t as large as those on the left coast, but I get the impression it’s a hospitable one. I’m also hoping to check out Halloween Horro r at Universal Studios one night, as I heard it is a can’t miss scare-fest. I recently purchased annual passes to Sea World and Universal that I might use on Sunday if I can round up a group to go with (no one likes to see Shamu alone!)

In short, I’m really looking forward to this weekend’s adventures. I follow many of the speakers at Blog Orlando on Twitter, including Sarah Perez, David Alston and Phil Gomes, and look forward to seeing them in person. Feel free to follow me on Twitter (@ltbeyer) to connect before/during Blog Orlando or to get updates from the sessions. I’ll also be posting news, recaps and notes here as I can.

Filed under: Conference '08, Social Media links | 2 Comments
Tags: blog, blog orlando, community, Florida, orlando, participation, Social Media links, Twitter, unconference

Be a NFL Highlight Editor!

22Sep08

NFL.com announced today the launch of the NFL.com Replay Re-Cutter, in partnership with Adobe Premiere Express. The new tool lets fans edit and remix video highlights of their favorite team, players and plays during the season with photos, graphics, and audio. NFL.com provides all the content, including music tracks you’ll hear in official highlight videos.
Fans can edit, remix, post and share their highlight mixes on the site, and also post links to them off-site through web sharing tools (ie: AddThis). To create a remix or to rank the videos, you have to create a profile. Anyone can watch the videos without logging in.

With the Replay Re-Cutter application, the NFL joins the NBA in letting fans remix highlight videos and share them online.

I spent a little time this afternoon playing around on Replay Re-Cutter. I found it to be a little hard to use at first. The more time you spend with it, the more features you will discover. One of my favorite features is the ability to toggle audio levels for both the soundtrack music and the individual clips. I like to take short shots of sideline or close-up footage to intermix with the highlights. I was pleased that I was able to keep the announcing audio (nat sound) when I wanted and use just the soundtrack at others. It helps keep the video clean (if you want it to be).

You can’t embed re-cut highlight videos (though you can post them bookmark and share on Facebook and other sites no prob), so I can’t put mine on the page. But, if you want to see a short reel on Browns QB (and ex-Oregon State Beaver) Derek Anderson in the first two weeks of the ‘08 season, click here.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tags: video, highlights, fans, remix, nfl, nba, cleveland browns, adobe

Filed under: Work | Leave a Comment

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SMC Jacksonville Chapter Launch Tues 2/17

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