Great first #CareerMomChat

I’m excited. Last night I hosted the #CareerMomChat on Twitter and despite not much promotion, we had some WONDERFUL conversations. As I’ve said before, while I appreciate a bunch of things from Lean In, I feel it is in many ways too remote and removed from where I’m at in my life (family and career) right now. So that’s what I’m looking to do- fill the gap and try to get some other mamas in on this as well.

We had a great chat with some really poignant and spot-on thoughts. I want thank Natalie (@bakeanddestroy), Evelyn (@evelynalauer), Julie (@juliesmolyansky),  and Rain (@Devivo) for taking part. A small but mighty crowd!

I think that moving forward, I’ll aim to host these a touch later (so I can finish dinner and getting the kids to bed) and on Tuesdays, as Thursdays are often tricky. All in all, off to a good start!

Oreo’s Rainbow Risk Pays Off

Sunday night, Ian and I were vegging on the couch, watching TV and checking our phones. I was flipping through Facebook and came across a post from Oreo. It was a photo of an Oreo cookie with a rainbow filled center, in honor of Pride weekend, and with it was the caption: Proudly support love!

I showed Ian and mentioned how awesome it was. What I didn’t mention was how amazing it was not only from a standpoint of a brand supporting equality, but that the brand was willing to take such a risk.

As someone who strategizes and plans content for brands’ on Facebook, I can only imagine the time, energy, thoughtfulness, and resources that went into making this happen. It seems simple enough, but this was huge. And the impact of it has been absolutely fascinating to watch. It’s garnered a ton of publicity, buzz and people are sharing it like crazy (as of right now, that photo has generated 217,345 “Likes”, 35,415 comments and nearly 67,000 shares.

I also love that while reading through the comments, those who are now brand advocates and supporting Oreo as a result of this photo far outnumber the posts of boycotts and hatred. As one person shared, “A sea changing moment. An iconic product recognizes our humanity.”

So, Oreo, from a marketer, strategist, and human rights supporter, I applaud you!

My RWW Debut

One of the many blogs I read on a daily basis is Read Write Web. They consistently have their digital finger on the pulse of what’s happening, what’s coming up, and what’s shaping our industry. So I was flattered when they included me and my two-cents in this recent post about Facebook insights.

Here’s the article in full:

How Pro Marketers Use Facebook Insights

By Dave Copeland / May 31, 2012 03:30 PM
Facebook introduced five levels of administration to its brand pages Thursday. The added protection means more people are going to have access to (and have to learn how to use) Facebook Insights.

While there are plenty of how-to guides for beginners out there, we wanted to touch on the more advanced side of Insights. We asked three leading social media managers for their top tips on getting the most out of Insights.

More Than Just Likes and Unlikes

Catherine Merritt, an account supervisor in Olson PR’s social and emerging media department, uses Facebook Insights to figure out what is and is not working on the brand pages of her clients. She uses an Insights grid to track what types of posts work and do not work, and doesn’t get hung up on the number of people liking or unliking a page.

“Facebook insights and analytics are part of the puzzle, but in looking at them, it’s important to step back and see what they’re really showing. One of the most important takeaways I leverage from them is what they tell me about the content we’re putting out,” Merritt said. “What are the top five learnings I can gather and what does that mean to the page’s future? It’s not just about the number of Likes [and] Unlikes. It’s about what’s sticking to the wall and making sure you have a malleable page management and content process in place to quickly apply what each nugget is telling.”

Watch for Universal Trends

Tony Wright, the social media manager for Outside Line, manages brand pages for several clients and has used Insights to keep a running list of trends that seem to apply to most brand pages. Among Wright’s findings:

• Serious users should consider using a third-party service to store Insights data to avoid glitches that occasionally show up in Facebook’s system.
• Shorter, snappier posts are more likely to attract user interaction than longer posts.
• Niche brands often need extra attention to build and sustain user engagement.
• Wright is also starting to notice some drop-off in the effectiveness of posts ending with a question or with “a dozen exclamation marks.”

“As more brands join Facebook and start competing for exposure among users’ busy news feeds, we’re seeing lots of brands starting to talk in very similar ways, using quick win tactics to guarantee a good level of response,” Wright said. “While this often works in the short term, users could very well become fatigued.”

Use Insights on Your Domain

Alison Kimszal, a new media business analyst for DefinedLogic, said many users don’t realize they can use Facebook Insights on their domain as well as their Facebook brand page.

“While the Facebook Page Insights are great for gathering how much interaction your posts are getting, the Domain Insights provide you with valuable information on how many people are coming to your domain from Facebook and organically sharing links to your site,” Kimszal said. “Metrics on shares, likes, comments and demographic information for each domain and URL on your site can be measured via the Domain Insights. Domain Insights also collects data on Facebook Social Plugins such as the like button, the send button and the comments box.”

Pepsi and Twitter Partnership Reshapes Remote Online Audiences’ Role

Not only can we view concerts remotely via streaming video, now we can control them. Or at least the songs that get played. At least that’s one of the ideas coming out of a massive partnership with Pepsi and Twitter.

According to this AdAge article, “Pop-up concerts will be held in small venues around the country beginning at the end of June. They will be announced on Twitter one to two weeks in advance and will be streamed live on the platform through the @Pepsi handle. Twitter users will also be able to influence song choices at the concerts.”

There are a few reasons I’m particularly excited about this, but the main ones are that:

1. It’s pushing the envelope in interactive/community-based entertaining. This is with concerts, but it’s only a matter of time until it becomes TV, radio, and other traditional verticals
2. Similar to their Refresh program, Pepsi is taking this platform (as it did with Facebook) and reshaping its capabilities, thus driving further innovation. Bravo to them for the vision and ability to make it happen

It’s only a matter of time before we see more ideas from other brands take shape based off this new model. I’m curious and eager to see where it takes us.

Here’s the AdAge article in full:

Pepsi, Twitter Ink Yearlong Deal
Global Music Partnership Builds on Soda Brand’s Current Campaign

By: Natalie Zmuda Published: May 30, 2012

Twitter has inked its most extensive partnership to date, this one with Pepsi.

The global partnership, dubbed “Live for Now Music,” coordinates with Pepsi’s current campaign and new global positioning. It will span 52 weeks.

“This is the biggest initiative a marketer has done with Twitter to date,” said Adam Bain, Twitter’s president-global revenue. “It ranks as one of the smartest campaigns we’ve seen on the platform too. … This yearlong program takes full advantage of Twitter.”

The program, which has been in the works since late last year, has three aspects and relies heavily on video, both live streaming and original content. Mr. Bain said the program does not require Twitter to make any updates to its platform.

Pop-up concerts will be held in small venues around the country beginning at the end of June. They will be announced on Twitter one to two weeks in advance and will be streamed live on the platform through the @Pepsi handle. Twitter users will also be able to influence song choices at the concerts. Shiv Singh, global head of digital for PepsiCo Beverages, says the concerts are meant to be “spontaneous.” He declined to comment on artists that will be featured.

The brand also will be working with Twitter to determine trending topics related to music by analyzing the platform’s hundreds of millions of tweets. Those topics will be compiled into a short, weekly video digest, which will be embedded on Pepsi’s Twitter page every Wednesday. Finally, the brand will give away free music downloads via its @Pepsi handle.

Pepsi plans to use Twitter’s ad products — Mr. Singh says they have worked “very well” in the past — to draw attention to “Live for Now Music.”

“This further reinforces Pepsi’s position as being a curator, sponsor, creator, supporter and participant in pop culture and music, specifically,” said Mr. Singh.

Mr. Bain said “Live for Now Music” is the second program to come out of the relatively young brand-strategy group, which is run by Joel Lunenfeld. Mr. Lunenfeld joined Twitter less than a year ago from Atlanta-based digital agency Moxie Interactive, where he was CEO.

The first program to come out of the group was the AmEx Twitter Sync Campaign, launched at this year’s South by Southwest Interactive. Mr. Bain wouldn’t discuss how lucrative these types of partnerships are for the six-year-old platform, saying only, “We’d like to do more deals like this. … Any opportunity to get strategic with a marketer and agency is rare.”

Pepsi isn’t the only one getting strategic with a popular digital platform. Rival Coca-Cola announced a global partnership with Spotify in April. The music-streaming service will be the centerpiece of Coca-Cola’s “Year of Music” campaign in 2013.

Before You Start, Set Your Goals

Don’t be a disease chasing a cure. I’ve said that countless times to clients and colleagues in regards to chasing after the newest bright and shiny social media toy. And it’s a stance that more brands are embracing.

In essence, it suggests that for a brand to enter a new social outlet or platform, they need to have clear objectives and goals set in place to justify and shape their strategy for being there in the first place. The brands who are doing it right know what they’re setting out to do, which provides direction and a path to success. Brands who blindly enter a space because “everyone else is doing it” might as well hang up the towel because they’re bound to get lost in the clutter (not to mention waste manpower and dollars in the process).

My advice for all brands, whether they’re an F500 or small business, is to define what success on that outlet looks like. What are the goals, who are you trying to reach, and how can you get there? By carving a strategic route, you’ll see infinitely stronger ROI and ROR (return on relationships).

As Kim Kadlec, worldwide VP, global marketing group at Johnson & Johnson said: “You must know what you are trying to accomplish [first]…What’s your end game? What are you trying to accomplish? People are there because they love [Facebook]. We don’t want to ruin the party. That’s our challenge.”

Project re: Brief by Google: Reinventing Classic Ads in the Digital Age

It’s been over 18 years since digital advertising arrived on the scene. Hard to believe, right? Well, 18 years later, Google is looking at new ways of innovating how these ads look, interact and work. Hence Google’s Project re: Brief.

In Project re: Brief, Google is working with the creative minds who came up with four legendary ads (Coca-Cola’s “Hilltop”, Volvo’s “Drive it like you hate it”, Alka-Selter’s “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing”, and Avis’ “We try harder”) to re-imagine these classic spots within the digital and online age.

I, for one, am curious to watch this project unfold. Take a look at the first installment of Project re: Brief by Google.

This is the Dawning of the Age of the Influencer

If yesterday was the age of blogger engagement, we’re now in the age of the influencer. And let’s be honest, we’ve always been in that age, but now what our influencer looks like has changed. Want proof? Look in the mirror. Yes. You are, in some shape, form or capacity, an influencer. We all are. And brands are starting to take more and more notice of it.

There are a number of influencer ranking platforms out there, such as Klout, PeerIndex, TweetReach, etc.. but that’s not what I’m talking about here. We need to start recognizing that there are concentrated pockets within the online space made up of vocal, relevant and influential people that could prove incredibly valuable to sharing information, creating excitement and most important, growing advocacy. For brands, this is huge. The brands that will win in this will be the ones who don’t simply look at a number, but see the bigger picture and recognize the ROI is now ROR, return-on-relationships.

The Altimeter Group released a new study about the role of social influence and one of the things that I found very interesting and agreed with most is how they break down the influencer by reach, resonance and relevance. And through these three pillars are the keys to tapping into the right audiences and influencers. Additionally, it’s not just about someone having a huge following online, but finding those that have a concentrated audience centered around a shared interest or subject.

I think within the next six to 12 months, brands are going to step back, realize their pay-for-play blogger programs aren’t returning on their objectives and will reassess how to reach their core audiences online. And I believe that it will come down to strategic, thoughtful and smart mining of regular folks online that fit in one category or another. Time will tell, but we’re already moving in this direction.

It seems like an arbitrary nut to crack, but we’re getting there and this is going to be a pretty fun and exciting space to see expand. I, for one, am very much looking forward to it. Who doesn’t love an influencer case study?

What do you think? Is influence a matter of a Klout score or more than that? Would love to hear additional thoughts.

The Art of Marketing: Chicago 2012

One of my favorite things to do is network. It’s why I founded the Chicago Public Relations and Marketing Network and why I try to attend events and conferences as often as I can. There’s an event coming up that I’m looking forward to, the Art of Marketing Chicago. It is one day packed with information, connections, innovation, discussion and thought leadership.

Among those presenting are some pretty top-tier hitters, including:

• Seth Godin – Marketing visionary & New York Times bestselling author of 13 books
• Randi Zuckerberg – Former CMO from Facebook
• Gary Vaynerchuk – New York Times bestselling author of Crush it & The Thank You Economy
• Keith Ferrazzi – New York Times bestselling author of Never Eat Alone & Who’s Got Your Back
• Avinash Kaushik – Digital Marketing Evangelist for Google & bestselling author of Web Analytics 2.0
• Mitch Joel – Bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation

It takes place on April 24^th and I have a special discount code for anyone that would like to attend: CHICAGO22

Click here for all the info and I hope to see you there! http://www.theartof.com/marketing-chicago-2012

Disclosure: The Art of Marketing has provided me with a complimentary ticket but all thoughts here are my own.

Nine Year Old Given Best Day of his Life from Friendly Flashmob

The power of the internet gives this 9-year-old boy a day he’ll never forget!

One BILLION Dollars

One million dollars. Er, one BILLION dollars. Depending on scale, it’s either a lot or not so much. I mean, yes, it’s a lot, but you know what I mean.

But how’s this for you: one billion dollars for a photography company made up of 13 employees? That’s what Facebook recently bought Instigram for, which to me, is insane. It’s not only insane, but I fear it’s the beginning of the end.

We’ve been waiting for Web 2.0’s bubble to burst, and with this overly inflated purchase, I think this might be the snowball to set off the avalanche. In my opinion, the dollar amount seems inflated and offsets what realistic expectations and valuations should be, which is when we get into this funky, unstable ground.

As Facebook continues to consume startups within the social space, it will be interesting to keep an eye on what sticks, what sinks and everything in between.