OK, you’re on Facebook and maybe Twitter. Now what?

Join RDI’s Senior Social Media Strategist Crosby Noricks at the LavaCon Conference on Digital Media and Content Strategies, Sept. 29–Oct. 2 in San Diego, CA and learn surefire strategies for landing new clients and customers using social media.

Don’t miss Crosby’s session at the conference, “You’re Only as Good as Your Last Tweet” on September 30th at 11:00. Be sure to give Crosby’s session “five stars” when you vote for your favorite sessions http://bit.ly/9mrBcq!

Register using the referral code REDDOOR and get an additional $50 off the early registration pricing!

See http://lavacon.org to view the program and register.

Make sure it drives traffic, conversation to your domain

With the degree to which many companies drank the proverbial social media “Kool-Aid” last year, it’s no wonder that a slew of organizations are feeling a hangover effect in 2010. Many firms are beginning to realize that all their time and money spent devising and implementing such an approach has not only failed to produce measurable results, but also damaged their own brand equity in the process.

What happened

A good number of companies jumped into Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and other platforms over the past 12-18 months without a well conceived plan to bring those conversations back to their primary web site. Sure, discussions are occurring, and many in fact may be positive in and of themselves. However, without a solid strategy, it’s very difficult to measurably tie social media back to business goals.

Full Story >>

Social media is playing a significant role in shaping customer buying decisions. As a result, retailers are abandoning traditional advertising channels in favor of social media and other digital channels to proactively engage consumers in real time.

TOPICS will include:

+ Hooking new customers via social media
+ Building community
+ Leveraging brand evangelists to drive word-of-mouth
+ Social CRM
+ Promoting sales and events

SAN DIEGO Panelists:

+ Crosby Noricks, Senior Social Media Strategist, Red Door Interactive
+ Natalie Malaszenko, Director of Ecommerce, Petco Animal Supplies, Inc.
+ Christine Morrison, Social Media Marketing Manager, Intuit
+ Liya Sharif, Director, Marketing, Qualcomm
+ Moderator – Reid Carr, President, Red Door Interactive

DENVER Panelists:

+ Tony Felice, Data Insights Strategist, Red Door Interactive
+ Brian England, Marketing Manager, Social Media Strategist, Western Union
+ Beth Leleck, Email Marketing Manager, ExactTarget
+ Joe Rogel, Social Media Strategist, Gaiam
+ Mike Slone, Director of Interactive Services, Vail Resorts
+ Moderator – Scott Esmond, Director of Business Development Denver, Red Door Interactive

EVENT DETAILS
The San Diego event will be held on Tuesday, January 26 in our beautiful space on the 15th floor of Diamond View Tower; and the Denver event will be held on Tuesday, February 2 at the hip and funky Fuel Café at TAXI.

8:30 – 9:00 AM Registration, Breakfast & Networking
9:00 – 10:00 AM Presentation & Questions
10:00 – 10:30 AM Networking

Cost: $35
Parking validation included.

If you have any questions about the Speaker Series, please contact:

Erika Werner, San Diego event: ewerner@reddoor.biz
Scott Esmond, Denver event: sesmond@reddoor.biz

Do you crack jokes that include the words “fail whale?” Find yourself spending Sunday nights tweeting away about the latest episode of #trueblood? It might be a bit embarrassing to admit it to your significant other, or explain it to your CEO, but used correctly, Twitter has some pretty serious benefits for businesses and individuals alike.

Twitter is a powerful communications tool that every business can leverage and is becoming a core component of many brand’s overall promotional strategy. Businesses are successfully using twitter to build community, better connect with customers, and participate in brand conversations online. These insights help a smart business glean valuable information to inform future strategy.

We invite you to join us and the San Diego Ad Club on Friday September 25! Our social media strategist Crosby Noricks will teach you how to develop a Twitter-specific social media strategy from concept, to execution to measurement. Learn how companies, including several here in San Diego, are successfully using Twitter to meet their online business objectives.

You will learn:
• Key questions to ask when developing a Twitter strategy
• The different between a Twitter strategy and a Twitter campaign strategy – and why you need both
• Recommended management, monitoring and measurement tools
• How to integrate Twitter into an overall social media or online promotional strategy

When: Friday, September 25, 2009 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM

Where:
Courtyard by Marriott
595 Hotel Circle South
San Diego, California 92108

Greg Grunberg with Rubio's Business Supervisor, Lauren Dougherty

So how did the Yowza and Rubio’s partnership come about?

Rubio’s is one of Red Door’s social media clients (others include Souplantation, Charlotte Russe, and La Quinta Inns & Suites). During our ongoing monitoring, Red Door found a tweet from Mr. Grunberg himself urging Rubio’s to take a look at his Yowza! app. After a few tweets exchanged on Twitter (including a bit of pressure from Mr. Grunberg when he rounded up his followers to mass request Rubio’s on Yowza!), we brought him inside the agency walls for a meet and greet. Rubio’s is now offering exclusive coupons through Yowza! and its been a blast riding along Greg’s Yowza! train!

For more photos and video from the event, check out the Rubios and Red Door Facebook Fan Pages

Newspaper readership has dwindled and a sad few have closed their doors completely. Subscriptions were down, but worse, the 2008 ad spend dropped nearly 30% in some categories.¹ Reach and performance metrics acted as the harbinger in this dive, but the industry should not discount psychographic factors from both sides of the advertising fence.

“The explosion in Consumer Generated Media over the last couple of years means consumers’ reliance on word of mouth in the decision-making process, either from people they know or online consumers they don’t, has increased significantly,” said Jonathan Carson, President of Online, International, for the Nielsen Company. Nielsen recently published some staggering numbers along with the assertion that “consumers trust real friends and virtual strangers the most”. Another statement made in this release urges advertisers to “be encouraged by the fact that brand websites are trusted at that same 70 percent level as online consumer opinions,”² placing a thin veil over the curious demon that is tormenting both brands and their agencies: that online consumer opinion currently carries the same weight as brand websites.

Nielsen: Consumers Trust (April 2009)

Interestingly, there appear to be few correlations between the Nielsen data and 2008 ad spend reported by AdAge, below,³ but there are some that could be drawn. The reality is that consumer-generated media is such uncharted territory for some, that the numbers are not being presented alongside traditional spend. The source for the AdAge data reports that Internet data reflects “display ads only.”⁴

AdAge: Breakdown of the 2008 Advertising Dollar (LNA 100)

Reflecting on 2008 ad spend, we can envision multi-channel integrated campaigns where frequency still reigns supreme, but there are several key indicators of shift in message and delivery.

During the recent Cannes ad festival, the awards were dominated by PR and Integrated campaigns, which AdAge editor Laurel Wentz described as “a clear admission that the age of interruption is over.” Wentz goes on to say, “This is a (winners) list dominated by attempts to engage consumers and deeply involve them in brands.”

David Lubars, Chairman/CCO of BBDO North America has another take, “The way the world is heading is voluntary engagement … The work has to be a magnet.”⁵

What does this mean to an agency being approached with the question of social media?

Rather than engage the insights and experience of established interactive agencies, some traditional agencies are forging the road ahead, attempting to develop expertise in-house, and finding the task to be formidable. In a recent interview, Alex Bogusky, Chairman of Crispin Porter + Bogusky said, “we’ll see a lot of longstanding big agencies struggling.” Traditional media seems to be, he said, “freaking out.”⁶ CP+B has been venturing into the realm of social media recently, and have even put forth a beta site that leans heavily on consumer-generated content.

Agencies looking to develop social media strategies internally are finding that some foundational marketing concepts must change. Of course, a successful social media campaign would first set out to identify groups in which the target demographic is active, yet base the overall strategy not on sites, but on goals. To participate effectively in this space means the abandonment of push messaging in favor of a more dynamic, conversational style. The message would be developed around a core set of questions that the target market would be expected to have curiosity around, and achieve frequency with timely delivery of on-message keyword phrases. Trust and credibility must fostered and developed by engaging the audience with as much transparency as possible. Listening is one of the most critical aspects, both conversationally and analytically, but it’s all too often missed.

Recently, aspiring adman Byron King “infiltrated” social media, in an attempt to gain favor with CP+B, if not a job. King created a persona as an “Interactive Mole”⁷ with the stated goal of generating the type of buzz that would cause someone within CP+B to reference his work on Twitter. Ironically enough, the inside man that fell for the ruse was none other than Wojtek Szumowski,⁸ CP+B’s in-house sociologist, and posts related to King’s travails then dominated the front page of the CP+B beta site. King earned a LinkedIn recommendation from Alex Bogusky himself,⁹ but not a job.

Are you listening?

———–
1. Source: Newspaper Association of America, “Advertising Expenditures”, Date not cited, http://www.naa.org/TrendsandNumbers/Advertising-Expenditures.aspx
2. Source: Nielsen, “Global Advertising: Consumers Trust Real Friends and Virtual Strangers the Most”, July 7th, 2009 http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/global-advertising-consumers-trust-real-friends-and-virtual-strangers-the-most/
3. Source: AdAge, “Spending Fell (Only) 2.7% in ‘08. The Real Issue: ‘09″, June 22, 2009 http://adage.com/datacenter/article?article_id=137409
4. Source: TNS Media Intelligence, “TNS Media Intelligence Reports U.S. Advertising Expenditures Declined 14.2 Percent First Quarter 2009″, June 10, 2009 http://www.tns-mi.com/news/06102009.htm
5. Source: AdAge, (subscription) “Cannes Swept by PR, Integrated, Internet Winners”, June 29, 2009 http://adage.com/abstract.php?article_id=137630
6. Source: The Huffington Post, “Embrace For Impact: Alex Bogusky Discusses Social Media and Long Term Changes in the Media Landscape”, July 10, 2009 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeremy-abelson/embrace-for-impact-alex-b_b_229160.html
7. Source: Byron King, “The Mole Project”, July 15, 2009 http://globatron.org/moleproject
8. Source: Twitter, http://twitter.com/wojtek3000/status/2671585116
9. Source: LinkedIn http://tinyurl.com/nzm8f3

Keep these factors in mind when applying your email + social media integrated strategy:

• Understand what motivates your subscribers to share
• Deliver dynamic content that is relevant on the subscriber level as much as possible
• Make calls to action clear and simple
• Know the social networks that are relevant to your subscribers (social technographics)
• Make sharing tools obvious and ask subscribers to take action.
• Always include links to your brands presence in social media (Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, RSS feed, YouTube, etc)
• Use Twitter in addition to email marketing to address customer service issues, product launches, and special offers.
• Use Facebook to post important information and updates for your biggest fans and brand evangelists.
• If you have a customer community on your website, provide links to community content within your emails. (Polls, forums, message boards, ratings, etc.)
• Take advantage of opportunities to allow your subscribers to easily share the content of your email newsletters by adding social sharing tools such as “Share This.”
• Turn your best email newsletter content into working social applications for deeper engagement with consumers (widgets, iPhone application, SMS alerts)

1. Souplantation knew that a great deal of their customers have created strong bonds on Twitter and Facebook. So it made sense for their brand to be there.
2. Souplantation knew that the majority of people subscribed to their e-mail list “Club Veg” would most likely be on social networks.
3. Souplantation set up a Twitter account and a Facebook Fan Page and began connecting with customers.
4. Souplantation promoted the ability to connect on Twitter and Facebook by adding callouts to connect on their website and as standard links in their email marketing templates.
5. Souplantation developed interactive promotional campaigns that were cross promoted through e-mail and social media to drive conversions.

The results: In the first month, Souplantation boasted more than 800 followers on Twitter and 450 fans on Facebook (now 2,600+ Twitter followers and 7,000 Facebook fans). Their Valentine’s Day promotional campaign, where individuals were invited to tell Souplantation via Twitter, just what made their “Sweetie so Sweet,” resulted in a 12% conversion rate, with people either purchasing a gift card, conducting a location search, or opting in for the “Club Veg” e-mail newsletter.

Are you integrating e-mail marketing and social media to give customers more ways to connect with your brand?

Ryan Leslie is a producer, singer, rapper, and multi-instrumentalist who graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Economics and Government at 19 years of age.  Impressive to say the least!  Here is a short video introduction should you not be familiar with his work:

After signing a recording contract with Universal Recordings and never receiving proper marketing support for his music, Leslie decided that he was no longer going to rely on a major label.  In 2005 he launched Ryan Leslie TV, a Youtube channel where he began posting his music videos, behind the scenes footage in the recording studio, and an inside look into his day-to-day adventures as a young record producer.  This was an unprecidented approach to promotion in the music industry at the time.  The Youtube channel in coordination with his Myspace page provided increased exposure for his music and enabled him to cultivate a loyal fan-base.  In 2006, Leslie was accused of artificially inflating his Youtube channel ranking by creating fake accounts.  This lead to a temporary removal of  his channel from the “Most Subscribed” list.  After writing an official statement to the Youtube community channels denying the claim and an official investigation that resulted in no proof of wrongdoing, Leslie’s channel was reinstated.

Ryan Leslie continues to build his brand through social media tools.  His personal website RyanLeslie.com is a fully integrated “content hub.”  There he posts all of his personal thoughts, videos and ways to connect with him directly.  The level of transparency even goes as far as sharing his personal cell phone number and email address.  By opting in to receive communications from Leslie via his virtual Blackberry phone, you can get exclusive invites to shows, hear new music he is working on, and even a personal call from the man himself.  Sound too good to be true?  Check out this experiment he conducted while on a radio promo tour in San Francisco:

His personal Twitter account updates as well as Facebook Connect are integrated into the site so that users don’t have to create an additional user name and password to log on.  This also allows Leslie to attach a real person to comments and reactions.  Each of his posts can generate 150+ comments which goes to show the high level of engagement.

On February 10th Ryan Leslie’s self titled debut album was officially released.  Exactly 7 minutes after making an appearance at the Times Square Virgin Megastore (R.I.P.), the store was sold out of Ryan Leslie albums.  By sticking to a revolutionary idea and the use of  social media tools, Ryan Leslie is “helping to reshape the business paradiam for a dying industry.”  This video speaks for itself:

Topics covered this year include email, search, mobile, optimization, testing, lead gen, direct mail, analytics, advertising, PR and video.

Plus three trends surfaced:
1. EMAIL IS NOT DEAD – Personalization and optimization are key
2. BUILD SOCIAL NETWORKS – There is value in building one-to-one relationships
3. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION – Natural search produces significant ROI

Thanks to MarketingSherpa and Red Door Interactive partner, Omniture, for putting out this valuable information!