CRMBuyer (of all places) has a interesting article today on brands competing for consumer affection in social networks. Interesting quote in the piece from Richard Feinberg, director of the Center for Customer-Driven Quality at Purdue (great job title), who says, “Businesses that don’t participate are going to be left behind.” Thanks to Jeff Zabin of Aberdeen Group for the kind reference.
Entries Tagged 'Social Networks' ↓
Brands and Social Networking
1.10.08 by Mike Spataro {General, Mike Spataro, Social Media, Social Networks}
College Student Recruitment 2.0
1.7.08 by Mike Spataro {General, Interactive Marketing, Mike Spataro, Social Media, Social Networks}
If you’re interested in learning more about how college admissions officials are stepping up student recruitment efforts with social media campaigns then today’s Boston Globe article, “Colleges Turn to Web Tools in Hunt for ‘08 Freshman” is worth downloading before it goes behind the firewall.
While a number of schools may be starting to implement these new techniques, it’ll be interesting to see if any of them in the future can draw a line between the number of applications and new media spending. There is no question though that perspective students are drawing from each others’ experiences on sites like Facebook rather than fancy college brochures before making a decision on where to go each fall.
Corporate Bloggers Launch the “Blog Council” Organization
12.7.07 by Blake Cahill {Blake Cahill, Blogs, Brand Management, Consumer Generated Media, Customer Experience, General, Social Media, Social Networks}
Andy Sernovitz, one of the founders of the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association and GasPedal, who is a leading guru on WOM and social media has just launched “The Blog Council” a professional community of top global brands dedicated to promoting best practices for corporate blogging. Founding members are AccuQuote, Cisco, Coca-Cola, Dell, Gemstar-TV Guide, General Motors, Kaiser Permanente, Microsoft, Nokia, SAP, Starwood Hotels and Wells Fargo. These many of the most respected companies that are presently listening, understanding, and engaging with customer in social media. Congrats to Andy for founding what I am sure will be a great organization. Nice quote in the official press release from Sean O’Driscoll at Microsoft. To learn more check out the council’s site.
Disparity between Social Media and Traditional Media in Presidential Politics
12.6.07 by Blake Cahill {Blake Cahill, General, Social Media, Social Networks}
Looking at Facebook’s election pulse, I noticed a tremendous disparity between online social media and traditional news media. Let’s compare the difference between Facebook presidential candidate supporters and those who answered an ABC News Poll.
For Democratic Presidential candidates, Obama is crushing his opponents with 57.71% of Facebook members while Clinton trails a distant second at only 18.79%. However on the ABC News Poll Clinton leads 49% to Obama’s 26%.
The Republican race is just as interesting. Ron Paul, who is huge in social media, leads Facebook supporters at 33.92% but has only 3% support on the ABC News Poll. Rudy Giuliani the leader in the ABC News Poll at 33% comes in with Facebook supporters at a measly 9.32% which is sixth place against the other contenders.
With the power of online social media, how will these results shape the views of others in the coming year? Only time will tell.
SNCR Social Media Awards
12.6.07 by Mike Spataro {Blogs, Consumer Generated Media, General, Interactive Marketing, Mike Spataro, Social Media, Social Networks}
The Society for New Communications Research is another fast growing organization gaining wider respect and new members each year. The group handed out awards last night in Boston to more than 50 companies and individuals in the area of excellence in social media and interactive services.
It’s a good thing that organizations like SNCR and WOMMA put in the time and effort to recognize what people are doing because I’m not sure how we’d keep up with some of the amazing work being performed in this emerging industry. We were thrilled to be among the winners in the area of technology innovation for our TruCast solution, but if you ask me the real winners are the people whose lives are being changed everyday by smart interactive and social media thinkers. For instance;
The Humanitarian Emergency Logistics Preparedness, Inc. (HELP) is a non-profit humanitarian relief organization that helps victims of natural and man-made disasters on a global basis. They target medical/health concerns in disasters and other areas of chronic medical need. HELP deploys “Doc-in-a-Box” mobile telemedicine clinics and a Web-based community of volunteer physicians and hospitals. These clinics enable local physicians to have modern state-of-the-art facilities and expertise “looking over their shoulder” providing the latest technology and insight to the remotest regions of our world. It’s safe to say the program has been an enormous success. The work being performed in the non-profit area is among the best you’ll see. You can find the other case studies on the SNCR New Communications Review site.
Awards were also given to some of the usual brands that have been long-time social media leaders, such as GM, Dell, Sun, Microsoft, Boeing and others like Midwest Airlines. In fact, I had a chance to spend some time with Tish Robinson who authors Midwest’s popular female-focused travel blog - Travels with Tish - Girlfriends Getaway Guide, which is based on the personal travel experiences of Tish and her friends. What a cool idea.
More on the actual conference sessions in the days ahead.
