experience matters

Scott Shamberg | Critical Mass Executive

SxSW is months away still, but the big ideas that make up the big weekend are already up and ready for votes! There are so many awesome ideas out there that sometimes it’s hard to choose which to vote for! Let me help you. Breaking News: Front Page or Top Tweet is a panel idea discussing the issue of how breaking news should be announced. For anyone who is intrigued about WikiLeaks, loves discussing breaking news on Twitter, or fancies themselves a “Citizen Journalist,” this panel will be right up your alley.

While many people are accustomed to their daily doses of CNN, New York Times or your local news source, the twitter-sphere seems to be finding it easier and more exciting to get it from social networks of choice. With the myriad digital channels that exist today, nearly every traditional consumption pattern has changed in some way. We’ve all grown quite satisfied with the complete control we have over information.

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Jeana Anderson | Critical Mass Chicago

Trying to increase your Facebook fans, Twitter following or even charitable donation numbers? Give something away.

Brands make a habit of promising that if YOU follow or like they’ll give things away to a varying number of followers. Life as a Community Moderator has by no means made me immune to this. In the past year, I’ve become a fan of Einstein Bagels—even though I don’t eat bread. I’ve voted on my favorite feature of a Ford Explorer and “liked” the page—even though I have no use for a car in the city, and I’ve followed Chicago Food Critic Steve Dolinsky for the chance to go to dinner with him (and won)—even though (I’m sorry, Steve) I had no idea who he was. Why? Because these brands were all giving stuff away and even though I didn’t necessarily need this stuff, I did what these brands and people asked for a chance to win.  Was I bought or was I earned? Short answer: I was bought in all cases except for Steve Dolinksy, he’s great. I don’t fit the other brands’ profiles of a model community member, and I’m a useless fan.

Upon realizing my own affinity to follow the directions of those who will buy or give me things, I started to think through successful contests and giveaways for branded communities. Thus, my proposal for a SXSWi panel, Fans for Freebies, was born.
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Alyssa Rosengarden | Critical Mass Chicago

Do you remember when Facebook was a college-only network? You could only join the website if you had a valid university email and you knew, no matter what, the only people that would be able to find you would be college buddies. As a measly high school-er at the time, I was very disappointed that I would not be able to join too. But lo and behold, right when I became a high school senior, the flood gates opened and everyone was able to join Facebook. And in an instant, everything changed.

All social networking sites have come miles from where they started. Even Foursquare, which is relatively new to the game, has changed dramatically since it first went live. Location based services are now all the rage, while “liking” something has become a universally understood verb. But now what? What is next for these communication beasts?  These sites create ‘citizen journalists’ out of all of us and people are taking this responsibility in all different directions. In fact, many people have accepted the role of breaking news on sites like Twitter and Facebook, which opens up a whole new can of worms.

Citizen journalism through social media sites has become a recently accepted trend. People Tweet about political elections and World Cup winners even before news outlets have a chance to process the facts. So when it comes to being citizen journalists (as we all have) and that little issue of freedom of speech, should there be a line drawn when it comes to breaking news?

Take for example, General Stanley McChrystal. Most of you probably followed the story about how the General made inappropriate remarks to a Rolling Stone reporter during an interview. Afterwards, you probably found out that he stepped down from his position and was replaced by General David Petraeus. But you probably also found this entire story out before the issue of Rolling Stone took the stand. The story was buzzing around the Internet, and particularly social networking sites, before anyone could contain it. Yes, everyone was going to find out eventually. But is it really our responsibility to break news as big (and possibly sensitive) as this? According to Twitter and our very own government, yes it is.

What do you think? Is this going overboard or Constitutional rights? Alyssa’s opinion here.

Jeana Anderson | Critical Mass Chicago

The social media marketer’s dream came true over at Old Spice over the past two days. The brand’s latest campaign by Wieden + Kennedy was translated into real-time, branded video responses to social media fans and followers. If you weren’t watching along in awe with me, or if you ignored all social media in general, you may have missed it. If that’s the case, here’s a recap:

The campaign developed originally for TV is over-the-top masculine, peppered with hyperbole stated as hilarious science. When combined with the nearly perfect casting of the ruggedly attractive Isaiah Mustafa, who is every woman’s kryptonite and every man’s idol, viral sharing of these videos was imminent. A phrase from one of the earliest ads exemplifies the tone of the entire campaign: “Did you know that women prefer Old Spice for their men one bajillion times more than lady-scented body washes?”

Riding the horse of popularity associated with the ironic campaign, Mustafa holed up in what appeared to be a bathroom, setting out to thank influencers (read: celebrities and bloggers with a large following) including Ellen Degeneres, Perez Hilton, and The Chicago Blackhawks. He also answered questions from fans–all in the exaggerated tone of the original campaign. Memorable moments from the two day real-time YouTube video onslaught included the spokesperson pausing to facilitate a fan’s proposal to his girlfriend, shooting down an offer for coffee from @Starbucks and putting to rest rumors that he was masking the voice of a nerd. In slightly over 24 hours since the marriage proposal video was posted on YouTube, it has been viewed 269,203 times and counting.

Each video in the series reeks of manly, unabashed confidence, and based on a search of Social Mention, we are eating it up: the brand is mentioned in social media every 39 seconds.

Aside from its novelty, uniqueness and incredibly sharable nature, there were some strong points to this real-time-video-production-marathon that made it even more extraordinary (and more viral) than the original. Or as the Old Spice Man may put it, virally viral videos that were viraler than the viral originals.

But what makes it extraordinary? Read More

Andrea Donatucci | Critical Mass Chicago

Last week, I attended the Chicago AMA BrandSmart Event “Staying Relevant in an ever changing world.” The day started with an inspiring keynote presentation from Walgreen’s CMO Kim Feil called “Changing Times at Walgreens- There’s A Way.” She explained how her team is working to change consumer perceptions and emerge as the preferred and trusted health services provider. With their new brand campaign “There’s A Way,” Walgreens is moving beyond the trusted traditional channels of TV and print and expanding into digital (online advertising as well as the largest out of home digital display in Times Square) to deliver integrated messaging and a more consistent customer experience.

What made her presentation especially fitting to the theme of the day was her own personal story… her first day as the new CMO at Walgreens was the same day that Wall Street experienced its biggest one day drop ever. Her “best laid” plans of transforming the brand were immediately revisited with the lens and added pressure of compelling consumers to spend (in especially trying economic times).

Beyond the keynote, I tried a sampling of breakout sessions from the available tracks of Innovation, Engagement and Social Media. My favorite presentation was one entitled “Diving into the Social Media Mosh Pit” given by Melissa Meulenberg, ecommerce Manager for the Hard Rock Hotel Chicago.

My reason for selecting this session was two-fold: the title sounded pretty interesting, plus this particular hotel is located across the street from the CM Chicago office and has been the topic of much conversation… but more about that later.

Melissa is a marketing department of one so I was immediately impressed by her simple but efficient methods of staying aware of the brand dialog that is in play on Twitter, Facebook and Trip Advisor. She told many stories about being tuned into what current and past guests were posting and responding quickly. Some of the major themes:
1.   Selecting the sites in which you wish to join the dialog
2.   Setting aside time each day to respond to posts and contribute new, relevant content (not solely promoting or talking about your brand)
3.   Turning fans of your brand into public advocates.
• Hard Rock has an outreach to encourage those with positive hotel experience to share their story on Trip Advisor
• Their ranking on Trip Advisor has moved up 30 spots among Chicago hotels in last 18 months to #46
4.   Proactively searching for comments about your brand as a Customer Service opportunity (before, during or after the experience with your brand).
• When comments are overly negative, taking action privately first and then publicly to remedy the situation
• Also taking action when posts give the opportunity to turn a good experience into an extraordinary one

All of the stories were entertaining, but the following account is my favorite.

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Nicole Armstrong | Critical Mass Calgary

Yesterday, I read the Fast Company article about the new logos Greenpeace followers have created to provide a more accurate visual representation of the brand, considering how out of place the green and yellow sunburst seems when, as the article puts it, “the defining image of the company is a dark blob spreading across the Gulf”.

This article made me immediately think – actions speak louder than words!

On BP’s site, they define themselves as:

“Helping the world meet its growing need for heat, light and mobility. And we strive to do that by producing energy that is affordable, secure & doesn’t damage the environment“

Unfortunately, the actions associated with BP (i.e. giant plumes of oil as big as 10 miles, long 3 miles wide and 300 feet deep, including oiled smeared beaches and pelicans dyed with crude) have gone completely against the image Beyond Petroleum was trying to create for themselves. This has seriously impacted consumer perceptions. Especially in instances like this, when actions cut to the quick of consumer’s values, the outcry against brands tends to be far-reaching and irreversible. In this case it has even led to new visual cues – like an oil stained logo at left.

What’s more, this is all consumer generated content. There has even been a fake BP twitter page created: @BPGlobalPR:

This page was created less than a week ago, and it already has over 46,000 followers, nearly 8 times as many followers as BP’s official twitter page. This site is making a farce of the BP brand with tweets like:

• It’s official, the phrase ‘All the tea in china’ has been replaced with ‘All the oil in the gulf” – Can’t wait for the royalties! #bpcares
• If Top Kill doesn’t work, we’re just going to toss a giant ‘Get Well Soon’ card into the Gulf and hope for the best.
• Negative people view the ocean as half empty of oil. We are dedicated to making it half full.

The consumers are beginning to reshape the BP brand – in fact they are making the BP brand as dirty as BP has made the Gulf!

It’s like I alluded to in my Semantic Web post – consumers are in control of defining the brand within the marketplace, based on that brand’s actions. And here we are seeing this happen to BP – going as far as consumers rebranding the organization themselves.

Nikki is an Associate Planner in the CM Calgary office.

Alan Dodaro | Critical Mass Chicago

It turns out all of that idle time spent on Twitter could actually pay off. In my case, it did with a brand-new job. The Great Recession changed how people think about jobs while creating new ways for people to be heard and stand out. I spent months looking for new opportunities the old-fashioned way trolling through job posts and making weekly sweeps through career sites without any luck.

On Twitter, I followed a few agencies including Critical Mass and noticed several companies tweeting about new opportunities within their organizations. This made me rethink my job search strategy with Twitter. Here’s what I did to land my sweet new job:

Research

I knew I wanted to go beyond the traditional agency setting and explore a more interactive workplace. Aside from a few staple companies, I didn’t know who the main Chicago players were in this industry. I began following the trades and blogs diligently to see who was making headlines. Once I had a few companies in mind, I began following them and their key players, learning more about each company as information was pushed to my twitter feed as soon as it was released.

Extreme Makeover: Your digital image edition

Social media allows for very personal interactions and it leaves a lot to be desired when you update about your mystery rash, blackout bar nights (to be fair, everyone gets one drunk tweet) or starring role on the next episode of Hoarders. Save the sick stuff for Facebook where it belongs (kidding) and focus on creating dialogue. Tweet about work, websites and industry happenings you think is cool (and why). Retweet anything insightful and provide your own commentary. You’ll get your fair share of followers that will boost your twitter credibility too.

Change your avatar to a photo of yourself. Make your face clearly visible and be the only person in the shot. It doesn’t have to be dry and corporate but keep it to something you’d feel comfortable having your grandma show to her friends. A real photo helps connect you to your online identity, and will help people pick you out at networking events and at (fingers crossed!) your interview.

Finally, include a bio. After indicating I was in the advertising/marketing industry, some of the agencies I followed began following me back even while it was very obvious I was in a very junior position. Keep your bio short and sweet highlighting relevant information showcasing your interests.

Twit Lists

The typical twitter feed can be an overwhelming free association of thoughts from friends, celebrity train wrecks, industry leaders news posts. My problem was that I wasn’t monitoring my timeline 24/7 meaning important posts could be pushed out of my feed if my timing wasn’t perfect. Twitter has a feature that allows you to group specific people/companies into specific lists separate from your main timeline. Even more helpful, you do not need to be following a person to have them on your list, provided their updates are public. I set up a list to follow agencies and companies without the noise and distraction of everything else. This helped organize my hunt.

OK, so how do I actually GET the job? Read more.

Scott Shamberg | Critical Mass Executive

Recently I attended an event that was classified as a “marketing forum”  designed to match marketers with vendors for two days of one-on-one networking. We met with 38 marketers representing brands from all over the world.

The biggest take away for me was pretty clear – everyone and their mother want to know how to “do” social media.   Literally everyone we talked to asked us about social–from Visa to Trump, Western Union to Scotts Lawn Care. Here were the top 3 questions we heard at the event and that we are hearing on a recurring basis from marketers.

1.    My executive team doesn’t understand it.  How can I convince them?
2.    How can I do social media on a local level?
3.    Can you tell me how to measure social media?

Clearly brands big and small know they need to participate but are not sure how just yet.  But I’m seeing the irony in these brands wanting to understand a new channel built on authentic conversations in a business environment built almost exclusively on short, relatively shallow conversations. Nevertheless, let’s look at those three questions.

Convincing Executives
This is no easy solve. Many CMOs would still rather shoot a commercial than develop a Facebook page. Try the 3 E’s.
EXPERIMENT: Get your execs to play with Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare.  Let them see for themselves how influential they are.
ENGAGE: Get your agencies involved with your executives when you can and let them do the heavy lifting.
EDUCATE: You know your executives better than anyone.  Find ways to get them educated through articles, conferences, examples and stats.  The more they know they more involved they will get.

Keep Reading for my Recommendations on Local Social and Social Measurement

By Nicole Armstrong | Critical Mass Calgary

With the rise in consumer-generated content – an increase in people willing to create it and wanting to consume it – we are going to see the creation of something called the “Semantic Web”. This means the web isn’t going to be based solely on set content like it is now, but rather around people’s sentiment around topics, ideas, organizations, people, etc.

We already can begin to see the rise of the semantic web through things like Twitter, where we can search real-time sentiment on a topic. For instance, I didn’t learn about Michael Jackson’s death on a news site, but on Twitter! We even see Twitter being integrated into Bing’s search results.

This is a real-time search on Twitter for Manchester United.

Even sites like GoodGuide, which help consumers find healthy, socially responsible products, are establishing the semantic web by having people rate products they feel are the best.

Or who needs to research a product, when they can use Facebook Connect to message all their friends who have the same product and ask them how they like it and would they recommend buying it!

This is a very interesting concept to take into consideration by brands as the web and how we use it continues to evolve!

So, what does this mean for brands?
Read more for the answer

By Nicole Armstrong | Critical Mass Calgary
Last year, the ENGAGEMENTdb Report came out proving the more socially engaged a brand is the better it performs in both conversations (building consistent brand perceptions) and financial performance. And last month, eMarketer came out with a report finding that people who follow brands on social platforms have an increased intent to purchase that brand. In addition, 60% of respondents claim their Facebook fandom for brands increases their chance of recommending that brand to a friend–this is almost 80% for people following brands on Twitter.

So, this makes it very clear that online brand engagement leads to positive business results: increased purchase intent, positive word of mouth & brand affinity. However, if not approached from the appropriate angle, things can turn very sour, as bad news travels faster than ever because of social platforms. More importantly, if a brand is not being honest & genuine in its actions, consumers will discover its falsities just as fast.

So, when a brand engages with its customers, it must do so genuinely and with purpose.

The other day, one of my colleagues mentioned that his dentist sent him a Happy Birthday email. He explained how out of place it felt, as it was a generic, insert-name-here kind of email, plus he doesn’t have that kind of relationship with his dentist – a person he sees once, maybe twice, a year. Now, if he sent a Happy Anniversary: Thank you for being a valued patient for ‘X’ number of years, that would have made more sense, because it would have been in context with his brand relationship.

This got me thinking: if engaging with customers can lead to such fantastic results, yet becoming too buddy-buddy can sour that relationship, where is the line for appropriate brand engagement? Because, really, there is a fine line between treating customers like revenue generating units and going too far in trying to “friend” customers.

So, I began looking into how customers want to engage with brands online. What I found was 4 key things customers want from an online brand relationship – they want to:

1. Ask questions / make suggestions and be answered / heard
2. Be “in the know” with exclusive content about new products, features, services, etc.
3. Be rewarded for showing their support with exclusive offers & promotions
4. Be introduced to others who are associated with the brand as well

In essence, customers don’t want to become friends with their favorite brands; rather, they want to form a utilitarian relationship with brands. This helps them get the most out of their brand experience, whether it be insider tips & tricks, deals on the next hot thing, recognition for being a valued customer, etc.

So, in the end, social media should be leveraged to enable brands to reach the middle ground, between treating customers like numbers and close friends, and, instead, treating them like people, who want to get the most out of their brand experience, beyond the product and/or service.

Nicole is an associate planner from our Calgary office.