A few weeks ago, I was asked to share some of my thoughts with iMedia Connection on common mistakes marketers make with Social Media and when it’s time for a Social Media Makeover.
Here is a re-post of that article and a few tell-tale signs your brand is missing a social media marketing opportunity.
The full article from iMedia Connection can be found here.
Article Highlights:
Brands often mistakenly plan social campaigns for the same window of time as they would an online advertising campaign
An intern should not be tasked with managing all of your social media efforts
Brands shouldn’t strip content off of blogs and communities just so they can promote it on their own websites
Common misconceptions and pitfalls
In the year of the social media revolution, we’ve seen many brands, organizations, and individuals jump in and make a concerted effort to expand their presences online and establish their social media footprints. Some of these brands have done a great job and really understand the importance of social media in getting people aware and engaged — while others are latching on to the newest trend and, perhaps, going through the motions to keep up with the Joneses.
Among the more than 3 million businesses creating Facebook pages and groups — not to mention millions of special-interest and community-driven blogs, up to 70 percent of which blog about brands — many have failed to connect the dots in terms of how to use these platforms effectively. Many brands fail to leverage social spaces to drive awareness and engagement among their customers and fans. They simply aren’t having conversations about their brands in the places their audiences share most.
KML had the chance to spend some time talking with Jonathan Waud, who recently appeared on Bravo’s Make Me a Supermodel Season 2. He not only won us over (we may be slightly biased)– he won over the fans by winning the vote for Favorite Model.
Since we love all things social media, we thought we’d take this opportunity to ask our favorite supermodel some questions about how he uses social media and the web to connect with his ever-growing fan base.
How active would you say you are online?
I love to be online but I’m always on the go so I don’t get as much surf time as I’d like. Thank goodness for mobile! When I am home, I do everything online– Facebook, banking, news, staying in touch with family. Everything.
What are your five favorite web sites you can’t live without?
Last Monday, KML had the honor of attending the red carpet premiere of the horror/comedy One Eyed Monster, starring… Ron Jeremy (playing it straight - it’s rated R people!!) and Amber Benson (from Buffy the Vampire Slayerfame).
Our Mission:
To help represent… er… the star of the movie, The “Monster”, on Twitter while he worked the premiere.
While this may not sound like your typical work assignment, it’s one that the KARMA crew enjoyed — as we, his “Monsterettes”, were able to report live from the movie premiere and share details with all of the movie (and monster) fans.
Our approach? Report on arrivals, comment throughout the event, share Twitpics, and respond to fans over the course of the movie and premiere.
While the premiere is long over, you can still follow our star on Twitter at @RonsMonster (note- be prepared for some candid remarks and humorous, slightly NSFW photos).
Today’s entry is brought to us by our guest blogger, Jeff Last.
Why is a meteorologist contributing to a social media marketing site’s blog? I don’t have a book or a super-absorbent shammy cloth to sell. I’m not a star (although my wife and son gave me the nickname “Hollywood Jeff” years ago, but that’s for another blog).
How can weather be part of today’s social media?
Weather affects our lives. Severe weather is a leading cause of damage to personal property. The U.S. has sustained 90 weather related disasters in the last 30 years with overall damages exceeding $1 billion per event! Extreme weather results in thousands of deaths and injuries annually.
Reducing the affect of weather on individuals and property requires knowledge and preparation. Agencies, like the NOAA National Weather Service (NWS), rely on fast and efficient dissemination of information to alert the public of trouble and tell them what to do if they are in danger. As a matter-of-fact, dissemination of this information is as important as the information itself. An advance warning of a tornado is useless if no one hears it.
Therein lies the point of this missive.
Many decades ago, weather forecasts and warnings of severe weather were “broadcast” to the public in only a couple of forms (the newspaper probably the most popular). It wasn’t until 1921 when the University of Wisconsin made the first successful use of radio to broadcast weather forecasts and advisories.
Fast forward to today.
A growing segment of the population is leaving traditional media to get their weather information elsewhere.
This next generation of weather consumer must be reached.
So, what did I do? I started office Twitter and Facebook fan pages to dip my toes into the sea of social media. These sites have gained followers and fans in the two months they’ve been around with no official promotion or advertising. The information posted to these pages is what can be found on our website or on NOAA Weather Radio (the “voice” of the NWS), but social network sites allow for contact with a different market, typically younger adults and professionals that look well beyond traditional media for information. In addition, as social media promotes a dialogue, our consumers have another way to interact with us.
Social media allows me to promote weather safety and disseminate weather information to a segment of the population who may not have been listening before. And best of all, I can brag about the wonderful weather in northeast Wisconsin to all of my friends in southern California.
Jeff Last is the Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the NOAA National Weather Service in Green Bay, WI. Jeff has been in the weather business for over 20 years, but only recently became addicted to social media thanks to a certain EVP of an L.A.-based social media marketing company. Please follow him on Twitter @jefflast because his weather alter-ego twitter page (@nwsgrb) has more followers than he does.
Well, the folks at KARMA Media Labs thought we’d demonstrate through some short videos. Part 1 of many (and thanks to one KML’er in particular for suffering a red face for the sake of social media).
Not long ago, KARMA Media Labs launched our Twitter profile @karmamedialabs and blog BROADB®AND as a place to share factoids, ramblings and things we find interesting in the land of social media and beyond.
Once launched, the KML team looked at me and my partner somewhat quizzically and asked if there were limits or rules for what to post.
My answer? Anything you find interesting.
As far as who should post: Anyone who has something interesting to say.
We believe its not only important to have interesting content, but it’s important to get other people’s perspective, knowledge and interaction on our blog and externally.
Some things we keep in mind:
Be social! Read/comment on other blogs
Send an email or comment if you like something
If you want to have a blogroll, add things you really like
If someone posts a comment on your blog, reply to them as a comment
Invite other people to guest blog
And speaking of that last point, KML is always looking for guest bloggers to share what social media means to them personally and professionally. We get excited when we have the chance to learn more about other people’s philosophies, challenges and opportunities.
Interested in sharing your opinion? Send me a note.
PS. If you’re wondering how to be a good guest blogger, check out this great article.
Not a week goes by without my seeing yet another article or blog post bemoaning the fact that social media marketing cannot be measured or touting a new, “revolutionary” way of measuring word of mouth (WOM).
I really enjoy this lively debate but my own experience at KML and beyond has made me a believer: social media marketing can be measured and most campaigns can be evaluated on an ROI basis.
There are several issues that I believe create the brouhaha around metrics and social media marketing.
Most companies do not take the time to define what their social media goals are in measurable terms to determine what their success metrics are. And many times, agencies are just as guilty. As one often says, you cannot manage what you do not measureand you cannot measure what you do not define.
Every social campaign, even for the same brand or product or property, will have different metrics attached to it. Because the objectives of campaigns and the environment and circumstances in which they are implemented will differ, so should their metrics. A campaign may need to focus on conversions to measure its ROI, another may be all about buzz and awareness with yet another’s success measured on time spent engaging with a specific tool or piece of content. And too often, we see marketers using the same old, and usually irrelevant, online metrics of pageviews, unique visitors, etc.
Here’s an ugly little myth: “even if you can figure out what to measure with WOM/social media marketing, the measurement methodologies are so unreliable as to make the results meaningless.”Nonsense. Word of Mouth, social media, non-traditional online marketing analytics are just as accurate as traditional offline and online analytics, but because the marketing methods themselves are new, their measurement has not been codified into accepted standards. And there are sometimes several ways or methodologies to track one specific metric. This, however, does not make these measuring tools inaccurate but it does make them more likely to be influenced by subjective interpretations.
Social media marketing measurement tools are developed and released on almost a daily basis and existing methodologies are being constantly refined which will give our industry trustworthy tools much faster in its lifecycle than any other advertising or marketing field before.
Stay tuned for part 2 which will list some of the free and paid measurement tools that we are huge fans of at KARMA Media Labs.
It doesn’t get much more fun for a designer than to get a chance to create a logo for a new company or redesign one for an existing brand like Pepsi or Sci Fi Channel.
With the recent launch of KARMA Media Labs we explored many identity concepts– ranging from speech bubbles to science-y lab iconography– for our new logo.
However, the idea for the logo came rather quickly: By focusing on the tagline What Goes Around Comes Around, layering a series of rotating transparent squares created a blooming shape, symbolizing movement and growth and gives KARMA Media Labs visibility and recognition.
For the logotype and identity system typography we chose the Gloriola font because its wide range of weights/cuts lend itself to endless creative possibilities. Additionally, Gloriola has a wonderful balance of warmth/friendliness and reserved coolness. The color green because it symbolizes success and growth.
The process for creating our KARMA Media Labs and BROADB®AND identities was very streamlined. Here are a few tips that helped make the process a smooth one:
Start the process with a branding workshop session where you go through a series of briefing questions with the client/stakeholders to address the company’s values, attitudes, goals, audience, etc. The logo should grow organically from the answers to these questions.
If you’re designing a new logo concept for a company like KARMA Media Labs, be prepared toBYOWB (bring your own white board). During the work session, documenting the answers together with stakeholders on the whiteboard (or any visual way) is important. It will ensure that by the end of the meeting both the designer and client leave with a clear agreement on the company’s core business and communication goals.
Follow up with meeting notes including decisions that were made.
Lastly, inviting the stakeholders to collaborate through the creative process worked well for us because it kept stakeholders and designers in sync, and cut down on the number of review cycles.
Most people who know me well know one of my biggest complaints is that I have no cell signal whatsoever in my home. I am in what they call a “black hole” - an area in Los Angeles (yes, Los Angeles!) that gets nothing but garble on not just one, but two AT&T cell phones. I’m that tool who actually drives my car three blocks just to use my phone.
I’ve thought about ditching both phones and going to a different carrier, but the truth is…
I <3 my iPhone.
Imagine my joy over the news today that Skype is launching an iPhone application. Oh Praise Jeebus! While Apple and AT&T have put some restrictions on it (you can’t do ALL your calling with Skype, just over internet via Wi-Fi) still, this could be life changing for this dual cell phone toting gal. With the Skype iPhone app, you’ll be able to make free VoIP calls to other Skype users. If you want to call a landline or cell, Skype provides low cost calls to those phone numbers too.
Some people think this might be a step toward the end of cell plans as we know it, and that we’ll soon just be paying for data plans. Others are critical of the application’s shortcomings. What’s most important to me– it’s one step closer to enjoying my phone(s) in my home and not putting up with lousy service from my wireless carrier.
Whether or not it poses a threat to AT&T remains to be seen, I’m just happy to be able to use my iPhone again.
To follow up on my earlier article about my obsession with The Snuggie, I couldn’t help but notice a new crop of Snuggie Wannabes making their way into the social media universe.
While The Snuggie wasn’t the first blanket with sleeves (check out SkyMall’s Slanket), it was the first blanket with sleeves to embrace social media and make its presence known to millions of people. There have been several parodies of the Snuggie commercial (see The WTF Blanket), but now we’re seeing more copies of the Snuggie itself.
A hipper, more stylish version of the Snuggie, the Nuddle (nap + cuddle = nuddle) is long enough to cover your body from your neck to your feet, and has open slats for your arms (not to be confused with sleeves), along with- get this- an outer hand pocket to keep hands warm. What’s better than the hand pocket? Well, a foot pocket of course!
It’s the Mini Snuggie for Kids! Now you can keep the whole family warm with the Snugglette, a smaller size Snuggie with smaller arms so kids can stay warm. And get this — while the Snuggie comes with a free reading light, the Snugglette offers free matching slipper socks.
Last, but certainly not least (and our favorite), Pantalaine introduces the all-handmade Couch Dress. Benefits? Pantalaine will customize this item to fit you and any loveseat or sofa in your home. And bonus gift: Two flower Broaches included with each dress - choose from many popular designs.
So which lounge-wear, blanket with sleeves is your choice? At the end of the day, there may be copies of the Snuggie, but the more interesting story will be if they can compete with it online and generate the same level of interest. Let the best blanket win!
A few weeks ago, I was asked to share some of my thoughts with iMedia Connection on common mistakes marketers make with Social Media and when it’s time for a Social Media Makeover.
Last Monday, 
Today’s entry is brought to us by our guest blogger, Jeff Last.
Not long ago, 
Not a week goes by without my seeing yet another article or blog post bemoaning the fact that social media marketing cannot be measured or touting a new, “revolutionary” way of measuring word of mouth (WOM).
It doesn’t get much more fun for a designer than to get a chance to create a logo for a new company or redesign one for an existing brand like 
Most people who know me well know one of my biggest complaints is that I have no cell signal whatsoever in my home. I am in what they call a “black hole” - an area in Los Angeles (yes, Los Angeles!) that gets nothing but garble on not just one, but two AT&T cell phones. I’m that tool who actually drives my car three blocks just to use my phone.
