2 Years Later

March 16th, 2013 | Posted by Shane in Social Brands - (1 Comments)

This year at SXSW, we celebrated the 2nd anniversary of the first ever meeting of the Brand Socialites. Two years ago, at my first SXSW ever, I met up with some pretty rad people from some brands that I really respected. I’m not going to bore you with the details – they’re all covered here in the first post of this blog.

What I want to talk about is where we are now.

Last Sunday, thanks to the hard work and planning of Jake from Garmin and Brooks from Southwest and the sponsorship of 4 great companies (Southwest Airlines, H&R Block, Garmin and AMC Theatres), we had our second annual SXSW Brand Social meetup at Takoba in Austin. From the meager beginnings at the Lustre Pearl where 10 met together, we now had close to 100 social media managers, brand strategists, community managers and the like all gathered together for a happy hour filled with war stories, sharing of ideas and rapping (literally).

I wasn’t able to attend last year, but I had a lot of people come up to me who knew why we started this group, thanking me for putting everyone together. I’m not doing this to pat myself on the back.

No, this is about the community.

Our community of a few has grown by 10x since it started. We now have brands from large to small…from uncool to very cool (NASA! LEGO!). The only way that this community has grown to be a vibrant place is because of the wonderful way in which we have learned to share ideas without fear. We’ve learned to respect opinions and even if our competitors are at the table, the people who actually do the work in the world of social and digital know that it’s likely that the person across the table pretty much already knows everything about you.

The truth is that my view of those in social who were actually doing the work was very small. I started by connecting with a few people on Twitter that I really respected. Through them, I connected with others and those people brought others. In the days since our meetup at SXSW, I’ve gotten more requests for access to our Google+ Community than in the entire month prior.

That’s because people see value in knowing the people behind the work. It’s not just about strategy and high-minded thinking. Understanding why people approach social the ways that they do requires you to understand the person who is actually doing the work. That helps to give you context.

Connecting with other Brand Socialites has truly been the most valuable thing that has happened in my career in the past two years. I now have a group of people that I can rely on to share with me honest opinions of my ideas. This is what we do for each other. We don’t pay anyone for it. We don’t have a lot of structure. In a lot of ways, we just DO. Like we just DO with a lot of our tactics.

So, what’s next?

Well, I’m glad you asked. The next step is to keep adding amazing people to our group and start planning our first non-SXSW event. We’re going to need a ton of help. Since this community belongs to all of us, we need volunteers to help organize, plan and speak at the first annual official conference. We’ll be discussing this a lot more in our Google+ Community, but for now, I wanted to get it out there. It’s coming. Likely in Kansas City or Dallas. One of our co-founders, Adam Evers is on point. Reach out to him on G+ or on Twitter @adamevers.

And if you’re reading this and you work for a brand and you’re thinking to yourself, I WANT TO BE A PART OF THIS, please reach out to me and I will make sure you get in.

Thanks again for making this community so awesome. I glean so many insights from so many smart people. I’m so glad I’ve been lucky enough to meet many of you in person. I left SXSW so inspired by the work that you are doing. It made me want to be better in my own job.

So keep it up.

- @shaneadams

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Data, Insights, Opinions: ROI, Oh My.

November 29th, 2012 | Posted by Lauren in Social Brands - (2 Comments)

Metrics in the digital space don’t have to be tough. So why do we make it that way?

Every company, every brand, every person is going to look at metrics differently. It’s all about weighted variables, what you find important and if you’re able to mold to what your C-Suite wants to see. Some might do monthly. Others quarterly.

Analytics Dashboard.

Here’s a few examples of metrics you can look at with digital campaigns and strategy:

  • Sentiment – Positive, Negative, Neutral
  • Share of Voice
  • Action of Consumer
  • Impact on Brand (think quantitative ROI – download vs. redemption, sales, foot traffic increase or decrease)
  • Average Sale per coupon redeem (this ties in to Action/Impact)

Each of our concepts have different metrics reports – one might focus more on competitor analysis, another could focus on foot traffic based off campaigns and FSis, and another is heavy on action/impact of a consumer. All reports have sentiment and share of voice.

But we don’t stop with those metrics – instead, sentiment and share of voice are used as a foundation. Automated sentiment can make it superficial, and not accurate, so you have to be prepared for volume and time commitment.

I’ll be the first to always state to my boss and C-Suite that I don’t place my end results on sentiment and share of voice. It’s a stepping stone in deciding on what we do, how we do it and why we do it. Consumer opinion and insights (how we analyze said opinions and success of campaigns) will always drive purchasing decision and WOM.

If you’re a brand that focuses heavily on sentiment and share of voice, opinions will always matter. That’s what those metrics are based on. Opinions lead to insights. Everyone could be a potential customer in that they influence someone.

Think on this, and something one of my mentors told me when my roles turned heavy in analytics: “Data can always be manipulated. Insights are subjective. Facts? Interpreted.” 

Then answer: Are we as brands focusing on certain metrics to make our campaigns successful in presentations, or do we also focus on the failures? Do we improve because of them? In our presentations, we always discuss what’s worked, and what hasn’t. How we can improve next time, and what the metrics tell us, whether its a success or failure. That’s just Business 101. If my boss stumps me with a question, I figure it out. I never will know everything, I’m always learning.

There’s always room to learn and discuss.

So tell me: how are you looking at metrics? Why is emphasis placed on certain ones over others? How can we improve on results presentations?

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KitchenAid – A Post From Two Different Timezones

October 4th, 2012 | Posted by Katie Morse in Case Studies | Social Brands | Twitter - (6 Comments)

This post was co-written by Lauren Fernandez and Katie Morse.

Hi, Katie here. Social Marketing Manager for Billboard by day (and night), wannabe chef (and yoga instructor) by night.

And I’m Lauren. I do a lot of digital for Landry’s, Inc, I can hold a handstand for 10 seconds and I like to tell people how much I like The Hoff.

Katie again. I missed the debate. Oops.

I did, however, arrive RIGHT in time to see the aftermath… and continue to see it this morning as I sit in an office right next to my AdWeek colleagues (they’re a sister company of Billboard’s).

Lauren and I were Tweeting each other last night watching this all unfold, and continued chatting this morning about the various points being discussed (or not) around this gaffe.

Sidenote: Lauren again – we do this all the time, so you can always chat with us @misskatiemo and @cubanalaf.

Here’s a summary of the main responses so far:

  • Never hire someone young to manage your social media
  • See? This is why you need agencies to manage your social media!
  • Always use separate tools to manage your work/personal social media accounts
  • I would never make the same mistake! How horrible! They should be fired!
  • Fire the person who did this, immediately!
  • The world is ending

OK, so that last one wasn’t really a serious response… but you get the point.

We’ve been watching this unfold over the night and into the morning and both Lauren and I agree that there’s been an utter lack of real discussion taking place about this. Yes, it’s a big public mistake. Yes, judging by this Tweet, someone did get fired.

But, at the heart of the matter, this was a mistake that shouldn’t have happened and it’s a mistake that hasn’t been handled in the best way possible since it was made. Why not? Here’s why…

Media Relations/Crisis Communications

Acknowledgement of a situation, assessment and solution are three distinct, and different components of a crisis communications plan.

Acknowledgement

Acknowledge a situation within 10 minutes of it occurring and you are made aware of the situation. Acknowledge that you are apologetic, you are looking into it and will provide information as you are able.

Do not, under any circumstance, start rapid-fire tweeting media that you would like to go on record to talk until you have all facts and are prepared to discuss.

Assessment

This happens on an internal level. Your crisis communications team should be put in place as follows: CEO, HR, Legal, Marketing and PR, if appropriate. For us, our social team falls under marketing.

Take a deep breath, as you’re going to be running on adrenaline for a few hours. Each person on the team should have a role: The CEO should work with Marketing to craft a statement, then run it past Legal and PR. HR should be checking the corporate social media policy to see if any rules were broken and how to handle.

PR at this point should be fielding media calls with a, “We are aware of the situation, and as soon as we have more information we will be more than happy to discuss with you about what happened.

Execution

Once the statement is crafted and approved, get it up on your website. One tweet should be sent linking to the statement, and RT it out every 15-20 minutes. Post it on your brand Facebook page and pin it to the top so people see it. Only respond to persons/customers if inaccurate information or questions are asked.

A few things that KitchenAid can improve on:

  • Do not double tweet the same exact tweet to multiple media outlets, or in this case, the same tweet to the same outlet twice
  • Field media calls and inquiries offline if at all possible – the frantic tweeting can make the situation look worse
  • Don’t move to DM immediately – if this started in public, continue it in public until it’s absolutely necessary to move to DM.
  • Include customer comments and response planning in your crisis communication plan. In this case, KitchenAid could have decided that no customer should receive a response, or they could have left this tactic out of their plan. Either way, they’ve received hundreds of replies and haven’t responded to a single one outside of people who work for media outlets offering interviews

HR

The difference in this situation vs. other similar embarrassing brand situations (Red Cross, Chrysler – to name a few), is that the person who sent the erroneous Tweet was fired. Publicly. Over Twitter. In real-time. Even assuming that KitchenAid followed their own termination procedures to the letter, that is not the proper way to announce someone’s terminated employment to the world. Even announcing it as a response to a question in an interview would have been better, instead of a Tweet right in the thick of the moment.

How many companies out there have “how to publicly announce employee departures” built into their crisis comms plan? Our bet. Not many. Chime in if you do.

Companies also need to think about how they positioned the tweet about the assumed public firing, because it is seen by a ton of eyes. People then went and investigated who could have tweeted it, speculate what happened and why, and it continues to impact the brand in a negative manner.

As an HR person, laws are different in each state and every company has their own policy. However, unless you’re willing to make said policy public, all handlings of this nature should be taken offline.

The Fishbowl

Even beyond the scope of what KitchenAid did right or wrong, we’re both astounded at the absolute lack of real discussion taking place inside the “social media fishbowl”. The focus seems to be entirely on the tools used, or the age of the person Tweeting, rather than the real issue at hand…

How much should social media professionals reveal about themselves publicly and what responsibilities do they have to the companies they (we) work for in that regard?

It’s a complicated issue, and there’s no doubt that it differs based on your personal brand and the company you work for. Some people were hired because of their “edgy” or “opinionated” personality, or work in diverse industries where personal comments and opinions are regularly shared publicly. Other people or brands are more conservative, and social media/marketing professional need to understand what is expected from them on the brand side.

So sound off in the comments: What do you think? Let’s get a discussion going.

 

 

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How to get (and make the most of) an internship

August 14th, 2012 | Posted by Katie Morse in Social Brands - (2 Comments)

I interview about 10-15 potential interns per year on average, and usually select about 50% to work with my colleagues and me at Billboard for a semester.

Through these interviews and internship experiences each semester, I’ve come to realize that times have changed since I was in college. Included below are a few key tips for anyone looking to interview at my company (or any other, for that matter), collected in the spirit of education potential interns on how to get and make the most out of a college internship.

DO YOUR RESEARCH

Nothing, and I repeat NOTHING, is worse than a potential intern (referred to as PI in all further paragraphs) showing up to an interview unprepared. How can the interview tell if an interviewee is prepared?

  • They can intelligently discuss what the company does
  • They have questions about the internship description
  • They come prepared with their resume in case their interviewers forgot a copy

… for starters.

Conversely, if a PI shows up to an interview and imitates crickets chirping when I ask them to tell me what they know about the company I work for, forgets a copy of their resume, or say that they don’t have any questions about the internship/work environment/company/why the sky is blue… I know they’ve failed to do even the most BASIC levels of research.

SEND A THANK YOU NOTE

It’s polite, plus it expresses your interest in securing the position. You’re the one that has to work for the internship, not the company! Show them that you’re willing to put in effort and follow-up digitally (or even better, with a thank-you note that is hand-written) after the interview.

Pro tip: Ask a follow-up question while expressing your excitement, and make it a good one! Nothing shows interest like… interest!

Once you get the job, here are a few top tips for maximizing your internship…

NETWORK

Seriously. You’re there to learn if you want to work in the field/at the company/in that type of role eventually, right? Why not ask around? Talk to the people that DO the jobs you’re interested in or ask your boss at your internship to intro you to people at other companies (but let them know the purpose of the request). The worst your boss can say is “no”, so gather your gumption and make the ask.

BRING A PEN AND PAPER EVERYWHERE

Are you going to a meeting? You may need to take notes. Are you working on a project? You may need to take notes. Are you talking to your boss? You may need to take notes. Are you being given directions? You definitely need to take notes.

… see where I’m going with this?

You may THINK you may be able to remember everything, but hedge your bets and bring a pen and paper anyway on the off-chance that your memory isn’t perfect and/or your boss gives you a complicated (read: multi-step) set of directions.

SHOW UP ON TIME

I work odd hours, as many people in my field do. If your internship hours are from 9am-5pm, I expect you to be there at 9am even if I’m not. I work whatever hours the job requires, even if that means showing up at 7am and leaving at 11pm for multiple days in a row, working weekends, or taking a breakfast meeting and showing up to the office at 10.

I don’t expect the interns to work the same hours as I do, but I do expect that they’ll show up on time to their internship and work the hours outlined when they were hired.

DRESS PROFESSIONALLY

“Professional” has many definitions, depending on your industry. Professional for me used to mean heels, a skirt/slacks and a nice top or a fitted suit. Professional for me now means something akin to “business casual” OR “would happily network with other music biz professionals after work”.

We have everyone in jeans and a t-shirt in our office to full suits every day. Aim to strike a balance and wear things that belong in an office setting. Save your pre-faded jeans and gym t-shirts for your nights and weekends, please.

ASK QUESTIONS

The purpose of an internship is to learn. One of the best ways to learn I know of is to ask questions when you have them. No question is stupid (really), no question to small or too big, and I’m never too busy to explain something and help educate someone about my role or the professional world.

So – fellow readers, what tips do you have for interns that want to work with you? Share your tips, pet peeves, pearls of wisdom and other thoughts in the comments… I know I didn’t hit on all of them!

The First Annual Brand Social

July 16th, 2012 | Posted by Shane in Social Brands - (2 Comments)

We’ve been talking about an in-person event for a while now. Since we have an inordinate amount of brands here in Kansas City, we wanted to offer our fair city as a host for the first annual Brand Socialites conference. Having just hosted the All-Star Game, we’re feeling good about what we have to offer and we can’t wait for all of us to meet in person.

Our target is September 6-7, a Thursday and Friday, with the “conference” ending on Friday around lunchtime and possibly having some time for a fun outing in the afternoon. Many of the details are still being determined, but here’s where we need your help:

Please fill out the survey below. It will help us shape what the conference will be and who is interested. Please pass it around to folks in and outside your organization that you think would be good attendees. Keep in mind, this will be focused solely on brands, so agencies and PR firms need not apply.

Fill out my online form.

We’ve got a lot to do in a short amount of time. The more input we can get from you, the better. Thanks.

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Why You SHOULD Sweat the Small Stuff

May 2nd, 2012 | Posted by Shane in Social Good - (0 Comments)

Richard Carlson, Ph.D. became a famous author and motivational speaker behind the strength of his book: Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff…And It’s All Small Stuff.

This phrase has to be one of the most overused pieces of advice that we share with one another. When it comes to worrying about tiny wrongs that people do to each other — in relationships, at work, etc. — it makes sense.

However, when you start to add up these small things, they tend to pile up into huge issues, especially when you consider there are 7 billion people in the world with “small stuff” bogging them down.

But what if we treated the small stuff like big stuff? Especially when it comes to the problems facing the world today. Issues that may seem small to us can have a massive impact when solved on a macro scale.

Take the example of Blake Mycoskie and TOMS Shoes. Several people don’t like what TOMS has come to represent or maybe they just don’t like their shoes, but Mycoskie saw a small (to us) need that he wanted to do something about — getting access to shes for people in need, particularly in third world countries.

The results can be astounding. Scott Harrison, the founder of charity: water had a similar experience. He saw something small (OK, access to clean water isn’t exactly small…maybe specific is a better term) and he created a charity solely focused on solving this specific problem. Once again, we saw remarkable results

This week, Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg decided to use his amazing influence to solve another very specific problem: organ donation. And by enabling Facebook users to easily register as an organ donor within the confines of Facebook, he saw staggering results overnight. The state of California saw an over 5000% spike in their organ donor registry in less than one week.

This small-issue problem solving can be applied to business. I work in the retail industry and I know the massive effect that something as simple as a clean bathroom or new seats can impact a business.

Oftentimes, we hear our leaders talk about “solving big problems.” We look for the next “game changer.” The phrase “Go Big or Go Home” gets bandied about. The problem with that kind of thinking is that it is like trying to eat an elephant. Now the common answer to the joke is that you do it “one bite at a time.”

But what you’re left with is a belly stuffed full of elephant and it can take an awful long time to choke down those tusks.

Perhaps we should try to solve smaller problems first. Smaller problems are more digestible and not nearly as overwhelming (and they don’t make you fat like eating a full elephant does).

See, unfortunately, when all we do is focus on the big problems, the small problems can get worse. Have you ever been in a movie theater with someone who is texting or talking really loudly? In the scheme of things, it’s a small thing. But anyone who has experienced that knows that it can have such a detrimental effect to your movie-going that it has the potential to become a “big problem.”

I’m not saying we should ignore the big stuff entirely. I am saying, however, that small, specific problems like texting in a theater are much easier to solve than something bigger like: “less people are going to the movies.”

Take a moment to look at your life or your business or your relationships with others. Are there small specific problems that you can solve? I truly believe that if you would actually sweat the small stuff a little, you might actually start to find some solutions to the bigger problems.

So what is your small stuff?

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Sales, ROI and Social Marketing: Why “ROR” Is Total BS

February 21st, 2012 | Posted by Lauren in Facebook | Social Brands | Twitter - (0 Comments)
buzzword-bingo

Buzzword Bingo must be alive and kicking, because terms such as “ROR” and “ROE” keep making the rounds in discussions on how to measure social marketing.

What, you’ve never heard of ROR? “Return on Relationship” is a BS way to show your C-Suite that you have honestly no idea why they should spend 50-100K on your social media campaign. There’s too much discussion that sales can’t be tied into your social marketing objectives and initiatives, and it’s wrong. As brands and marketers, one can’t solely focus on conversation, engagement and only reactive community management. That’s the key difference in a community manager and a social marketing manager.

Answer me this: if you’re a company, what is always going to be the end goal? To make money and keep the business alive. This is your bottom line. If you’re not impacting the bottom line with your initiatives, how are you selling in what you’re preaching? My C-Suite would laugh in my face if I told them that we would spend X amount of money to only see engagement and brand awareness. Every type of program, campaign or brand presence we have is also tied into action, impact, foot traffic and sales percentage increase.

The foundational problem is that many have no idea how to set measurable objectives. If you can’t do that, how are you going to create a strategy, tactics and then tie it in to your overall business goals and financial success?

One of my mentors, Don Bartholomew, is fond of a house metaphor to break down objectives, strategy and tactics. He’s told me before that “the objective is shelter, the strategy is build the house, and the tactic is the hammer.”

The easiest way to set a measurable objective is to always have a percentage tied into it, ie. 10 percent increase in X over 6 months. The wrong way to set your objective is to be vague, such as “Increase brand awareness in the social media space.” That could be an overall goal, but it’s not something you can measure.

Here’s an example:

Objective: Increase brand awareness of X product/company/etc by 20 percent in 6 markets over a 6 month period
Strategy: Increase brand awareness by identifying and pitching 30 key bloggers in X industry (Goal: 25% of bloggers will cover)
Tactics: Content creation executed by identified bloggers, status updates and tweets; Bloggers will offer an online code for 25% off X

The code/tracking initiative is key on tactics, because to tie-in sales you have to have some way to identify that your initiative is in direct parallel to someone coming in to your business and spending money. Look, engagement and community building is great. It’s all part of the puzzle. But, you can’t stop there and hang up your hat on it. You must be able to look past and see how your social marketing is impacting the bottom line.

And, if you ever hear the words ROR? Ask them how they sell it in to their C-Suite.

Let’s discuss: Do you agree? Is it only about engagement? Is it a blend? And, how are you impacting your bottom line?

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Whitney + Waffles = Whaaaa?

February 20th, 2012 | Posted by Traci in Social Brands - (5 Comments)

We’ve all heard of “best practices” for social media. Don’t just promote yourself. Reply to tweets. Talk to your audience. Stay relevant. When do we go from “staying relevant” to “WTF?”

Earlier this morning, Waffle House tweeted the above to their audience. The responses were about what you’d expect from Twitter:

My personal favorite is ol’ Phil reminding The House That Belgians Built that he, too, enjoys the sweet, cake-like delicacies. Who doesn’t?

For our accounts, I’ll post about holidays when it’s relevant, like how to fit workouts into your busy December schedule (shameless plug: you can log activities like singing carols and housework on MapMyFITNESS.com). However, I generally tend to stay away from posts like the above unless it’s directly related to fitness, like when Olympian Grete Waitz passed away last year.

Truth be told, I’m waffling* over how I feel about this. On the one hand, why shouldn’t they post about it? Whitney Houston was a well-known singer, to say the least; she was the first woman to have an album debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, in addition to her other achievements. (We’ll ignore her sordid personal life for the sake of brevity.) On the other hand, WTF does this have to do with waffles?

What say you? Should brands incorporate more cultural news and trends like this into their social posts, or should Waffle House have left this post covered? (And smothered. And scattered. You get the idea.)

 

*I can hear you groaning.

Hello world!

February 16th, 2012 | Posted by Shane in Social Brands - (9 Comments)

What Social Media Managers Really Do

A couple years ago, I started realizing that the industry of social media was rife with people who:

  • had no idea what they were talking about,
  • were full of it,
  • had no idea how to scale to a business, and/or
  • hadn’t actually done any social media, but had only talked about it.

This presented a problem to me as someone who has been “doing” social for a while and was looking for other people who were actually in the business of social media as a profession, particularly as it pertained to representing a brand. I began to get more and more frustrated with the world of social media clubs and the like that I almost just gave up on a professional community entirely.

Then, I began to discover that all of these people who were running and executing the social strategies and tactics for their individual brands could be found online. I actually started in a place where I spend a lot of physical time, Chipotle. Through Chipotle, I got connected with Colin, who connected me with a whole slew of other people in the very active Dallas social media community that is rife with people who represent their respective brands in social spaces, whether it be Twitter, Facebook, blogs or what have you. Then, I got connected with Adam from Famous Dave’s. We reached out to the people that we knew to invite more and more people.

Those connections begat new connections and so on and I thought to myself, “I really want to talk with these people about business approaches to social media — tactics, ideas, etc. — but I don’t want to really do it in a public forum like Twitter.” The risk of giving away a competitive advantage, the desire to keep somethings in a gated community and my experience as a community manager for AMC Theatres made me want to create a place where we could talk freely without worry of SEO bombs dropping on us every time we wanted to discuss our social strategies.

That’s really where Brand Socialites was born.

Many of us actually met in person last year at SXSW and we continued to figure out ways to grow and improve our group.

Initially, this site was intended to be that closed community, but we found an alternative way of doing that and since I  bought the domain, I thought, why don’t we start a blog? I floated the idea to my new friends at other brands and there were lots of folks who wanted to contribute. So I guess this marks the start of that. Several of us will be sharing our thoughts on various topics (we won’t focus solely on Pinterest, I assure you). We don’t claim to be social media experts or ninjas or rock stars. We are just the people who actually do social media at the brands you know and love (or don’t). We’ll bring practical and tangible ideas. I hope you enjoy.

- Shane Adams, February 2012