Why Blogs and Social Media are Effective Marketing Tools

presents

Blogs and social media Marketing for the 21 st century

Case Studies

Who should’ve had a blog:

Dell
In 2005, Dell didn’t have a blog. But one of their customers did …

Dell’s customer strikes back
This customer was very upset with Dell’s customer service.
He wrote about his experience on his blog.
So did another blogger , whose post was so popular, it led to the creation of a new term for Dell…

Dell Hell in Google
If you search for Dell Hell in Google, that guy’s post is the first result.
As a result, Dell got negative press coverage in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

Dell couldn’t fight back
Dell didn’t have a blog, so they were unable to communicate with the angry blogosphere.

But there was a happy ending. Dell set up their own blog.

Happy ending
“ In the age of customers empowered by blogs and social media, Dell has leapt from worst to first ." – Jeff Jarvis, Business Week
First step: Dell dispatched technicians to reach out to complaining bloggers and solve their problems, earning pleasantly surprised buzz in return .

Dell’s new blog

Measurable results
Dell saw a 27 point decrease in negative blog posts , from 49 percent at the peak of Dell Hell to the current 22 percent .
Cost would have been hundreds of millions for similar ad campaign.

Michael Dell: " A company this size is not going to be about a couple of people coming up with ideas . It's going to be about millions of people and harnessing the power of those ideas ."

Apple lost billions
At the hands of bloggers…

May 2007: “…earlier yesterday technology blog Engadget published what it claimed was an internal email from Apple that stated the iPhone launch would be delayed until October and that the Leopard operating system would be delayed until January 2008 . Six minutes after the post, Apple's share value had sunk to $103.42, cutting Apple's company value by $4bn . - TechCrunch
“ Applegate”

“ Applegate”
“ Apple has received formal government approval to sell its much - anticipated iPhone in the US, just a day after a bogus email, dubbed " Applegate " , wiped $4bn from the company's stock market value . “ - Guardian

Target’s not on target

Target PR Nightmare
A rep from a non-profit concerned with media and marketing’s impact on kids writes to Target objecting to the ad on the previous slide.

Target’s unfortunate response
Target: “ unfortunately we are unable to respond to your inquiry because Target does not participate with non - traditional media outlets . This practice is in place to allow us to focus on publications that reach our core guest . ”

uh oh…

= PR nightmare

Target was publicly slammed for having questionable advertising practices and elitist public relations policies.
Story was picked up and repeated thoughout the blogosphere
Target PR Nightmare

Target PR Nightmare
Shaping Youth is a small, grass - roots organization - that has a blog.
Target is #33 in the Fortune 50 - with $59 Billion in revenue - but no blog.

Video takes down the big guys

Comcast couch guy
From the blog : “A Comcast technician came to replace a faulty modem. After spending an hour on hold with Comcast's central office, he fell asleep on my couch. I've been in my apartment for three weeks and my internet connection is still non-functional. This is my tribute to Comcast, their low quality technology and their poor customer service.”

Comcast couch guy
Number of views on YouTube: 1,181,809
See the movie

AOL – cancel my account!
Vincent Ferrari wanted to cancel his AOL account. It took him 21 minutes of frustration to succeed. At one point the AOL rep asked 30 year old Ferrari to speak to his dad.
Unfortunately for AOL, Ferrari recorded the conversation and published it on YouTube.

AOL – cancel my account!
Video covered on MSNBC and elsewhere
Number of views on YouTube: 218,391
See the movie

Blogs and social media have a serious impact…

Why blog? Visualization of the blogosphere Because you are already there.

And you have no control

Today’s leading brand Source: Millward Brown’s Brandz

Nature of advantage is shifting Decades and billions on marketing, branding and advertising $0 on ads The big boys: Coke, P&G Google

The corporate website is becoming irrelevant

Irrelevant Corporate Website
“ But we’re tired of the corporate website and all its happy marketing speak, stock photos of smart looking dudes or minority women crowded around the computer raving about your product, the positive press release, the happy customer testimonials, the row of executive portraits, the donations your corporate made to disaster relief, the one - sided view never ends . “ – Jeremiah Owyang, Sr. Analyst at Forrester Research : Social Computing

The new corporate website
Websites are created with customers
Unfiltered customer testimonials will appear
Content will have both negative and positive views about your products
Your website will be a Community Resource

Outcome
Customers will make your site the first place to go for information, trust will increase, you may be able to build better products and services with real-time customer feedback, and most importantly, you’ll be a community resource that will help you meet your customer needs faster.
- Web Strategy: How to evolve your irrelevant corporate website

What is social media?

Sites considered social media:
Blogs
Message boards
Forums
Social networks (MySpace or Facebook)
Video sharing (You Tube)
Picture sharing (Photobucket)
Podcasts
Vidcasts
Wikis
Groups
Virtual words or communities (Second life)

Examples

Common traits:
Editable
Participative
Connect people

The blogosphere is doubling in size every 6 months

Growth of the blogosphere
It is now over 60 times bigger than it was 3 years ago
On average, a new weblog is created every second of every day
19.4 million bloggers (55%) are still posting 3 months after their blogs are created
Technorati tracks about 1.2 Million new blog posts each day, about 50,000 per hour
34% of large corporations currently have a blog solution, 70% plan one by the end of the year

“ To blog or not to blog? The answer, simply enough, is to blog. No better opportunity exists to engage in an open dialog and exchange of ideas with customers and potential customers.” Bob Lutz, Vice Chairman, General Motors

" If you blog, you exist ." - Shai Agassi, former Board Member, SAP

What is a blog?

Po rtmanteau of “weblog” Written in chronological order Displayed in reverse chronological order A verb From Wikipedia entry for “Blog” http :// en . wikipedia . org / wiki / Blog

Blog Characteristics

RSS Feeds

Trackbacks Tells other blogs you linked to them, and then an excerpt of your post appears with a link back to your blog in the comments section of their post that you linked to

Pingbacks You get a notification that other bloggers linked to your blog, and an excerpt of their post appears on your blog with a link to their blog (opposite of trackbacks)

Example of pingback

Comments

Pings
Blogs set up to ping send an automatic message to tens or hundreds of blog directories, telling them you just published something new.
This not only spreads your blog further, but Google is known to follow these blog directories, and it helps Google pick up on new blogs quickly.
Pingomatic.com is an example of a pinging service.

Tags
Good for search engines; gives them more info on what the post is about
Good for Technorati blog directory
Good for finer categorization of posts

Social Bookmarks
Make it easy for people to submit posts to bookmark directories
This helps spread the word, and if enough people “vote” for your blog, you can get tons of traffic

“ It’s a new media world that really returns us to old Main Street ethics. A shopkeeper within the town builds great relationships with his/her community members. There’s an intrinsic understanding that they need the community as much if not more so than the community needs the shop. And so the shopkeeper works hard for the community, and treats it well.“ - The Participation Ethos

Isn’t it a waste of time?

Other wastes of time:
“ Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.” – Marechal Ferdinand Foch
“ The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?” – David Sarnoff’s associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.
“ Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?” - -H.M. “Harry” Warner, Warner Brothers , 1927.

Benefits: General
Low cost and fast to set up
Transparent and authentic
Information is always up-to-date
Blogging is innovative = you are innovative

Benefits: Reach
Get the right information to the right people at the right time.
Broad reach via RSS and email subscriptions
Opening a new marketing channel for products and services

Benefits: Financial
Test out ideas on the blog before development
Forrester research: savings from customer insights

Benefits: Search Engines
Search engines like:
Sites that publish fresh content
Sites with inbound links
Keywords

Benefits: Thought Leadership
Position you and your company as thought leaders in competitive markets
Establish a true, credible voice in the marketplace
T im Ferris launched The 4 Hour Workweek to New York Times bestseller list through blogging

Benefits: Branding
Strengthen and promote your brand
Give your company a human face
Forrester research: increased brand visibility
Forrester research: reduced impact from negative user-generated content, and increased sales efficiency

Benefits: PR
Free and controlled news desk
Damage control!
Rapid response tool
Create buzz - give small hints abt. new products, generate press interest
Announce conferences/events

Benefits: Customer Relations
Customer queries answered leading to reduced customer service or technical support calls
Enhance customer loyalty
Build sense of community
Turn customers into your sales force
Reach an active, passionate consumer base
Reach people on their own terms

Benefits: Lead Generation
Better communication with prospects
Leverage existing customer base to spread your message
Increased enquiries generated
A living white paper
W ord of Mouth - 80% of online users trust the opinion of a friend or acquaintance more than any other possible web source

Benefits: Intelligence
GM's Fastlane Blog ’s Bob Lutz, says he receives better consumer intelligence from reading the comments on his blog than those from traditional market research channels, like surveys and focus groups.
Quickly and easily poll your customers
Get feedback
Build better products from 2-way conversation

When blogs came to the rescue…

Johnson&Johnson sues Red Cross over use of Red Cross!
J&J uses their blog to take the dialogue beyond the standard corporate PR, and communicates on their blog.
vs .

The result? A large number of comments and stories generally providing broad support for J&J's point of view . While there are negative comments, the blog achieved what no other crisis communication's vehicle would have delivered .
vs .

GM leader in social media
GM launched blog in 2005 – Fastlane
Written by Vice Chairman
200 years: GM expanding social media strategy to include GM Next
Isn’t that a waste of time?

GM says yes to SM
Forrester compared the results of GM’s Fastlane blog to those of a focus group, and since a focus group costs about $15,000 a month, which works out to $180,000 each year, GM has achieved similar results via their blog, and saved itself $180,000 in cash per year .

GM is trying to engage their customers one car at a time .
Transparency
Increases chances of reaching younger buyers
Profit? Increase of 2.6% in sales compared with January last year .
GM says yes to SM

It ain’t all rosy…

Problems with social media
Time
Compliance issues
Untrustworthy member data
50% of blogs abandoned within 90 days
Loss in workplace productivity
Hard to measure success
Need for openness

Growing pains: Ford
Ford recently released their first social media release .
Ford’s lawyers did a very unsocial thing and stopped some of their most exuberant fans from printing up a fan calendar with photos of their own Ford cars in it .

“ The folks at BMC ( Black Mustang Club ) automotive forum wanted to put together a calendar featuring members’ cars, and print it through CafePress . Photos were submitted, the layout was set, and… CafePress notifies the site admin that pictures of Ford cars cannot be printed . Not just Ford logos, not just Mustang logos, the car - as a whole - is a Ford trademark and its image can’t be reproduced without permission . So even though Ford has a lineup of enthusiasts who want to show off their Ford cars, the company is bent on alienating them . ‘Them’ being some of the most loyal owners and future buyers that they have . Or rather, that they had, because many have decided that they will not be doing business with Ford again if this matter isn’t resolved . ” ( From BoingBoing - read more there)
Growing pains: Ford

“ Ford pulled the spark-plug right outta their hearts .” – Todd Defren

How do I social?

How to social
Have a personality
Don’t be afraid of failure
Pick the right social media for your audience
Make friends
Add value to the community
Don’t self-promote

How to social (cont)
Be accurate
Be transparent
Be patient
Increase your linkability
Make tagging and bookmarking easy
Help your content travel

Social Media Trends

Fatigue
The average amount of time each user spends on social networking sites has fallen by 14% over the last four months (ComScore)

Fads
MySpace > Facebook > Twitter > Friendfeed > ?

Microblogging/Lifestreams

Who’s on twitter
Carnival Cruise lines
Intel Software
Adaptive Path
PodTech Network
Hillary Clinton
Barack Obama

Ways to use twitter
Personal Branding
Get feedback
Hire people
Direct traffic
Read news
Network
Company intranet
Notify your customers
Event updates
Find prospects
Provide live coverage
Set up meetings
Support your social media strategy – get votes for articles, etc.

Reputation Management What happens when you google your name?

The web is the network
To end off, I suggest you watch this video on what the new web is all about – it is about us, and we are creating it.
The Machine is Us/ ing Us

" To find something comparable, you have to go back 500 years to the printing press, the birth of mass media ... Technology is shifting power away from the editors, the publishers, the establishment, the media elite . Now it's the people who are taking control ." Rupert Murdoch, quoted in Wired, July 2006 .

About illuminea
illuminea provides online marketing services, including website and blog design, development and strategy; and social media strategy development and consulting services.
illuminea also gives courses on the subject of blogging and social media, and other marketing topics.
Learn more on illuminea.com – and read our blog at illuminea.com /blog .

Thank you! www.illuminea.com [email_address] Also see us at: WordPressGarage israelplug Twitter facebook

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Why Blogs and Social Media are Effective Marketing Tools

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