Archive for June, 2007
Posted June 28th, 2007 by Kevin
Last week, Digital Influence Group Chairman, Larry Weber, celebrated the release of his new book, Marketing to the Social Web: How Digital Customer Communities Build Your Business, with a launch party at the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, Mass. Drawing on his three decades of experience, Larry provides a roadmap for all marketers looking to harness the power of the social web to enhance brand awareness and create effective customer communities. The early reviews are in and here is what people are saying about the book:
• “The Social Web is an intriguing but scary place for marketers,” said Josh Bernoff, Vice President at Forrester Research and co-author of Groundswell, an upcoming book on business strategy and social technologies. “Marketing to the Social Web is the guide you need to enter this world with confidence. Let Larry Weber take your hand and show you around – you’ll profit from it.”
• “Larry has brought pragmatic and useful recommendations to help brand builders manage the complexity of social interaction in a digital age. I was pleased to read a book that actually suggests how to do something with social networks, instead of just ponder them.” – David Kenny, Chairman and CEO, Digitas Inc.
• “Where’s the allure of social 2.0? Brands can talk…customers talk louder! Digital influence has arrived.” – Jeff Taylor, CEO, Eons and Founder of Monster.com.
• “Larry Weber provides a simple and effective roadmap of the new customer information highway. Marketing to the Social Web is a valuable tool that will give everyone the confidence and know-how to compete in this fast-growing marketplace of ideas.” – Steve Harris, Vice President, Global Communications, General Motors Corporation.
Of course, in the spirit of the social web, we want to hear reviews from some of the lucky few who were able to get their hands on a copy of the book already. We’re happy to answer questions and will keep you updated on the progress of the book as more news becomes available.
If you’re interested in learning more or purchasing a copy, please visit the books site here.
Posted June 26th, 2007 by admin
The Social Web is a powerful vehicle for responsible social change. Thinking of the social web as MySpace and Facebook is like thinking of AOL as the Internet. Have you ever thought about how the Social Web is helping prevent family abuse across the country? How about how the Social Web is empowering activists to rebuild African societies, end poverty and provide education to remote villages around the world?
Thanks to the all mighty Social Web, in just 3 months StopFamilyViolence.com organized people from across the US who sent more than 164,000 messages and made countless phone calls to Congress to pass crucial legislation and extend funding to stop domestic violence. StopFamilyViolence benefits from the support of online communities like Netsquared.org which helps non-profit organizations and passionate activists adopt social web tools. Organizations like Kabissa.org are committed to nurturing African civil society organizations by providing them with information and communication technologies (ICTs) necessary to benefit the people they serve. Kabissa’s programs include: enabling organizations to access the power of the social web, empowering organizations to integrate the Internet into their work, and encouraging interaction between African organizations through their social network.
Cause-related social networks like MyKenyanSpace.com, NABUUR.com, and TakingITGlobal.org are nurturing communities of activists around the world by giving them access to networks of knowledge, mutual support, and financial resources on a scale that otherwise would be next to impossible. I think the day has finally come in which ONE person CAN actually make a difference.
Posted June 25th, 2007 by admin
Web 1.0 was the ‘static’ web, where one could merely READ online content from all over the world. With the advent of Web 2.0, users can now READ and WRITE (i.e. publish) their own content for others to see and discuss. Many have already announced the arrival of Web 3.0 and are anticipating Web 4.0. Here’s a little daydreaming, brainstorming and ‘googling’ I did about where the web is going. Please feel free to add your views and insights.
• The 3D Web. Second Life (SL) made popular a whole new dimension on the Internet. The whole computing technology is headed toward 3-dimensioning everything. What we now know as the Desktop, will be replaced with a whole 3D “Office” which we can navigate much like in SL. We will have the files and folders in drawers that we can customize and design to our taste (or lack of it!). Techniques like the recently announced Microsoft Surface will add more actual physical movement to enhance the 3D experience. Holograms are not that far either.
• Faster, Better Browsing. Even web browsing is going 3D. The trends we can spot on the Net are creating browsers that recognize more than just keywords.
• More Customization. We can easily spot the trend of customizing everything: from iGoogle, through Facebook applications, to mashups - the Internet is one big buffet of widgets. Soon enough, we’ll be able to build our own software too, even if we know nothing about programming. As consumers, we will control what we want to see, how we want to see it and who we want to talk to about it.
• Anytime, Anyplace, and for Free? We will have Internet access from pretty much anywhere. That is almost certain. WiMAX is very close to being a reality today and before we know it we will be able to use every spare second connected to the Web. Will Internet access ever become free? Maybe not. Cheaper – for sure. But its omnipresence means that people will rely on the Internet as their primary source of information in much greater numbers. Moreover, projects like One Laptop per Child will make the use of computers available even in the underdeveloped regions of the world.
• Online Alter Ego. What started as a ‘nickname’ in a chat-room, or an anonymous e-mail address, now is a profile on the social networking sites and soon will turn into a whole persona. A single unique identification will ease navigate through all profiles and customized content (an early example of this is OpenID). The persona will live, work and thrive online.
• Regulation. Yes, the Internet is facing many problems in terms of regulation. But as the anonymous dimension of participating on the web is being eradicated, the fact that the web is not a world without consequences will kick in. In fact, the trend has already gone into the other extreme and caused a lot of controversy with maps and web cameras everywhere. While privacy is a hot issue, our tolerance to having our every moment exposed to the public has increased dramatically in the last few years. Now it’s almost standard to have your image up on the web for others to see. Copyright is another burning issue that will need to be addressed in this line.
• So how will marketing follow? In his new book, Marketing to the Social Web, Larry Weber argues that “the Web is rapidly becoming the most important marketing medium.” The Internet is growing where television fails –in bringing people together, Weber, a social media guru and my employer, adds. In fact, most TV ads now include an invitation to visit a web site.
• Marketing in the new World Wide Web will only work as a dialogue, and only under the consumer’s terms. The book is a comprehensive guide for marketers and how they need to “communicate with customers, rather than at them,” a must-read for anyone who plans to stick around during the next stage of the Web.
Posted June 15th, 2007 by Kristin
July 7, 2007, YouTubers and fans will converge upon Washington Square Park in NYC from 11am until 8pm for a gathering event. Why should marketers care? Popular YouTubers are the new influencers. Lonelygirl15 has 94,625 subscribers and her videos have over 11 million views. Smosh has 118,334 subscribers and their videos have over 6 million views. 777 is an excellent opportunity for marketers to begin cultivating a relationship with these influencers, not to mention spread around some swag to develop brand awareness. So will you be in New York City on 777?
Posted June 13th, 2007 by Scott
I’ve been to quite a few Second Life (SL) events in the past, but haven’t been as impressed as I was with the launch of the Offical Playboy Island last night. I think this event was a great representation of Playboy as a brand rather than the stereotypical affirmations people usually make. What really caught my attention were the greeters who made it a point to greet almost every person that teleported to the event. Xena and Zoey, members of the Playboy team, were dressed as bunnies and welcomed everyone to the event throughout the night, even ushering tours around the facility.
The first level was a mix of mingling and casual shop browsing with the opportunity to buy Playboy branded clothing for both yourself (male & female) as well as your avatar. Surrounding the island, were several tiki bars and even a replica of the infamous “Grotto” (which I didn’t have a chance to go into but heard some stories haha). I did venture to the second level for a while which was definitely where the party was. I was told that the Sim was maxed out at 85 avatars throughout the night. Now you may be saying “85? That’s nothing!” However, when you look at it over the course of several hours, that’s a high number of people continuously engaging with your brand. Not to mention all the people (like myself) who told friends and family about the event.
I want to give props to MSGiro, the developer and manager of Playboy in SL, along with his team at Sentient Services for putting on such a successful event and representing the Playboy brand so well. It’s amazing how far SL has come since my first encounter with it and I feel other large enterprises will soon begin to realize its value. To those of you who still aren’t sure or have tried it and say it doesn’t work, all I have to say is “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Just give SL time and patience and Linden Labs will do the rest.
Posted June 7th, 2007 by Kevin
Jackie Huba, author of Citizen Marketers and The Church of the Customer Blog recently posted on the recent education CompUSA received regarding the power of social media. It took a mere four days for one customer’s complaint to gain national attention on Foxnews.com. Four days!
Considering that several other situations like this have occurred with well known brands, it’s hard to fathom that a CEO would respond to a customer with essentially a “tough noogies,” but that is exactly what occurred here. Huba’s post is a hard lesson for many business leaders who feel that social media and customer evangelism issues can be tackled on an as needed basis. All too often, organizations find themselves behind the 8 ball when the fire storm of customer service issues spreads. Instead of being able to have a conversation, they are forced to run damage control.
Could this issue have been avoided? Absolutely! Organizations need to realize that any type of communication they have with customers today, whether it is on the phone, in person or in writing will find its way beyond that one customer and into the hands of multiple customers. Although the conversation appears one-to-one, business leaders need to begin seeing those conversations more like this 1-to-1-to-3,000.
The CompUSA issue is the perfect example of why it is important to enlist the assistance of people who understand the social media space and the industry. Although everyone may love your brand now, one person mistreated can cause a world of trouble in just four days. Take the initiative and start the conversation with your customers before they feel compelled to tarnish your reputation and forever leave a negative footprint online.
Posted June 6th, 2007 by Kelby
Twitter has been on the minds of many folk inside the walls of Digital Influence Group and outside. BusinessWeek’s Catherine Holahan (with whom I’ve had the pleasure of working a number of times) wrote a piece discussing how bloggers are increasingly adopting tools like Twitter that enable them to quickly post entries to their blogs using their cell phones. While these devices may limit the length of posts (even on my Treo I am not a big fan of typing long messages on the tiny keyboard), individuals no longer have to wait until they get in front of a computer to write about the conversation they had at lunch or kids can quickly update their parents on their current whereabouts.
What really got me thinking about Twitter (after my initial use of the service failed to capture my attention), was the two CNET colums, one taking a pro-Twitter stance the other an anti-Twitter. I thought both authors did a great job presenting their cases, and while I remain in the anti camp, I understood the arguments for the service and continue to think about how the service could be used as something as just an online journal of mundane activitites.
As my colleague Kevin noted, it is all about “how” one uses Twitter that demonstrates the service’s value. While I agree with this, other than a few specific instances (families staying in touch with each other), I can’t think of any particular compelling reasons to jot down little details about what I am doing, going to do or thinking about doing. Maybe my life just isn’t that interesting…
Anyone using Twitter in an interesting/offbeat way? I would love to hear about it.