Curating your presence on Twitter to enhance your brand

Companies are proving that Twitter gives their brand a voice that stands out and encourages a dialogue between the companies and the community.  Twitter is a place to be yourself and speak your mind, and successfully branded Twitter pages have done just that.

Consumers are able to have a dialogue with a company through social media, instead of only viewing traditional advertising.  Many companies approach social media differently, and what works for one company, may not work for another.  Some businesses create an individual persona for their social media accounts (like using the voice of the CEO or specific employer), others create a  forum led by customer comments and conversations, but all successful social media campaigns create a unique voice for their brand that serves to enhance and support their overall mission.

• Starbucks perfectly exemplifies the community-based dialogue that can be accomplished on social media. On Twitter, Starbucks responds to both compliments and complaints, even if it is simply someone tweeting about their morning cup of coffee.  Starbucks has established a brand voice that is engaging by tweeting daily to specific Starbucks customers.

• Southwest uses social media to generate conversations with customers.   In the words of Southwest, “We don’t hide behind the brand, we want people to speak out in their real voice.”  Southwest maintains an authentic voice by not overly editing their bloggers.  Like Starbucks, they respond to customer’s questions and concerns on Twitter–showing that they care about their reputation and the experience of their customers publicly.

• Coca-Cola is another dialogue-driven social media campaign.  Most of their tweets are  written to specific Twitter users who have engaged  with the brand.  Like Southwest and Starbucks, Coca-Cola creates a personalized brand by creating conversations with customers.   

• The Humane Society is a non-profit that uses Twitter to spread awareness and connect with animal lovers as well as potential donors.  Many of their tweets are retweets about pets or pet adoption.  The Humane Society also started the popular hashtag “FelineFriday” and retweets many tweets that use this hashtag.  For other non-profits that successfully use Twitter, click here.

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Is there anonymity left on the internet?

Facebook and Google+, as with most social networks, force users to give up their privacy to get more out of the service, but are there any benefits to this loss of anonymity?

Facebook and Tumblr deal with online privacy very differently.  Facebook requires you to use a real name and is designed to connect people.  There is no anonymity on Facebook–it even started as a closed network that required a verified .edu email address to become a member. However, Tumblr doesn’t require any personal information, and allows people to anonymously share pictures, ideas, etc.

In an interview with BloggingHeads, Andrew McLaughlin, VP of Tumblr,  and Marne Levine, VP for Global Public Policy for Facebook, explained how anonymity and transparency effect Tumblr and Facebook.  McLaughlin and Levine provide completely opposing viewpoints on the importance of anonymity.  McLaughlin praises the freedom that comes along with anonymity, while Levine criticizes the lack of comfort and lack of security that stem from anonymity.  While Facebook is a networking tool used to connect people, Tumblr is creativity tool used to share ideas–anonymity has a different role with each.  In Facebook’s case, the lack of anonymity allows users to connect with other users, but since the network has opened up it is nearly impossible to verify identity.  In Tumblr’s case, anonymity allows people to share ideas, but this also makes people less accountable for their ideas and opinions.

Full Video of the interview

Anonymity may allow people to express themselves without consequences, but it also creates a false sense of security.  Anonymity allows people to express themselves without reproach.  Free, anonymous expression makes sense for Tumblr, as it allows users to explore creative interests that they wouldn’t explore without anonymity, but it does not make sense for Facebook, which is meant to be an online extension of real interactions that happen between people.

The real question may be whether this anonymity is truly possible.  If you engage in social media, your information is going to be in their database forever.  Even if you don’t have an account, however, your information may not be as private as you think–everything that you have ever searched on Google is tracked and saved.  If you choose to delete your Google search history, your search history can still internally be used by Google for 18 months.  Nothing that you do online is anonymous, the only question is if you know your anonymity is being violated or not.  Google has agreed to pay a 22.5 million dollar settlement to the FTC for violating users privacy, without their knowledge.

How Flavors.me combined the best of social media

Imagine being able to see all of the sites you frequent online collected in one organized forum.  Instead of having to visit Facebook, Twitter, and the other sites you visit separately, you could instead visit one site.  This is exactly what Flavors.me is attempting to accomplish by collecting all of your social media needs and displaying what is most important.  Flavors.me’s goal is to eliminate the oversharing created by all the superfluous information on social media sites.

In order to eliminate oversharing, Flavors showcases important information from the social media sites that you use most frequently from over 30 social media sites that you can choose from to add to your Flavors account.  The problem with Flavors is that not all of the social media sites work seamlessly on the site yet.  While Etsy and Hype Machine work well on Flavors.me because music and photos are integration right into the stream, Netflix and Facebook seem awkward.  It will be interesting to see how they are able to successfully integrate Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn in one place in the coming months.

Just as you can have followers, and can follow other people, on Facebook, Twitter, and many other social media sites, you can do the same on Flavors.  It compiles all of your needs into one site and allows people to interact with different components of your social media site that were previously completely separate.  It’s Flavors’ interface that really stands the chance of setting it apart from other social media aggregate sites, but without a more seamless integration of the most popular sites.

What exactly is the future of Flavors.me?  While conceptually a site that would combine the most important aspects of your social media tools would be extremely beneficial, Flavors is not exactly user friendly–something that is pretty much a necessity for a social media site to gain popularity  With 750,000 users it might be difficult for Flavors to compete with Facebook’s extensive, loyal network–but perhaps it will become an add-on to Facebook, only time will tell.

For more of Flavors.me:

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/28/flavors-me-spins-into-a-social-network/

http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/flavors-me-evolves-from-personal-landing-page-and-shows-off-its-social-aspirations/

http://vator.tv/news/2011-11-29-flavors-offers-a-centralized-and-confusing-social-hub

Positions We Specialize In

Trufflepig Search digs deeps to recruit the best in marketing, PR, and communications for our client companies. The following is a list of the types of positions we serve for our client companies:

Social Strategist/ Senior Digital Strategist/ Social Media & Community Strategist

• Defines and expands social media strategies and is the primary decision maker for the campaign: runs the program, decides on spending, and tracks the overall measurement of investment.
• Cognizant of the global landscape of today’s social media adoption and upcoming digital trends. Creates strategies and data-driven objectives based on this knowledge; early adopter.
• Develops strategies to implement tools, works toward brand objectives, and adds value to communities that appeals to current clients while acquiring the attentions of new communities.
• Good communicator: works with the client company to identify its overall goals for using social media and works with the social media experts.
• Responsible for receiving issues, opportunities, and insights from the online community manager and using these to reestablish and align social media goals.

VP or Director of Communities/Engagement

• Oversees current social media campaigns, promotions, and interactions between the company and its communities.
• Promotes thought leadership with blog posts and postings to communities.
• Establishes goals for managers/developers and creates objectives for social media campaigns.
• Primary decision maker for the social media campaign, decides spending, and tracks investment and ROI.

Content Manager/Emerging Media Manager

• Plans content for a variety of channels for programming (blogs, webinars, forums, radio shows, interactive media, etc.) through social media.
• Generates discussions related to other PR topics, such as company product releases, and makes content relevant to the lifestyle of the community.
• Responsible for developing emerging media strategies and addressing recommendations for change. Evaluates potential industry issues and assesses opportunities for growth in emerging media.
• Monitors the company’s performance in carrying out campaigns and provides analysis of growth by monitoring web analytics—follower counts, Google analytics, Omniture, sentiment, etc..
• Manages social media community engagement efforts, circulating existing marketing materials through social-media channels.

Online Community Manager/ Digital Communications Manager/ Online Reputation Manager

• The voice of the company externally and the voice of the customers internally. Monitors the company’s reputation with respect to its competitors, often using different social media sites and tools.
• Executes digital strategies for generating leads, building brand awareness, and driving attendance to sites. Creates, manages, and oversees a variety of publications and social media
• Interacts with PR, online marketing, customer care, and sales teams. Responsible for maintaining relationships with outside influencers such as bloggers, analysts, journalists, and the media.
• Generates social content for corporate blogs and formulates new dialogue for social media content and for external engagement with customers in social channels (community, Facebook, Twitter).

Social Media Designer and Developer/ Director of New Media/ Director of Community Development

• Technical expert for company’s social media accounts: designs, programs, and manages social tools and media content like blogs, communities, and traditional websites.
• Works with campaign leaders to develop unique and engaging technical solutions for more online exposure and visibility in social networks.
• Develops strategic plans to best support and drive online campaigns, fundraising, and mission objectives.
• Implements new social media campaigns and tracks the progress of current marketing promotions to creates online-based relationships with clients and promotes brand loyalty
• Visualizes, plans, and creates the look and feel of communities and social media tools, based on collaboration with marketing and communications departments.
• Oversees timelines, content calendars and manage upcoming web projects with the developer (or technical) teams and third party vendors.

Social Media Marketing Specialist/ Social Media Marketing Specialist/ Marketing Technologist

• Markets the company’s brand through all channels of interactive marketing social media, circulates existing company marketing materials, and is responsible for all marketing-oriented technology
• Expands on the company’s already implemented brand positioning by working with PR and marketing teams to maximize the development of programs that are still gaining exposure
• Enhances the brand’s image by developing customer loyalty and increasing brand awareness. Establishes consistency across multiple networks and works with the marketing and public relations team to ensure proper messaging is being published online.
• Manages analytics measures, such as SEO and PPC, related to social media, reporting on campaign effectiveness.
• Leverages Google Analytics and other social media management software to develop criteria for evaluating social media campaigns

Data Evangelist/ Social Media Analytics Strategist

• Measures and evaluates all social media campaigns, working with social media strategists to influence decisions on whether to continue or terminate projects.
• Develops and alters the criteria by which they measure social media’s effectiveness (length of time spent on sites, number of new registered users, search engine optimization [SEO] improvement, number of page views, etc.) and evaluates social media’s contribution to ROI
• Social media experts with a background in market research or web analytics often take the position of social media analytics strategist which calls for the measurement of success in social media projects and campaigns.
• Propose opportunities for social media growth and supplies detailed reports of current and future campaigns with their estimated contributions to cost and expansion.
• Responsible for analyzing performance and providing suggestions to improve or expand the use of technology and social media platforms.

Note: Titles in social media marketing and communications often vary. This list is meant to be a helpful guide rather than a compilation of what we offer to our clients.

Other keywords that could be used interchangeably among the above titles are corporate tweeter, reputation management, media strategy, digital media, social CRM, social computing, engagement, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, social media marketing, social media branding, online communities, communities and conversations, social media operations, interactive media, new media, new media marketing, online content, social technology, and social network.

HKSocial: Social Media Week Primer

During our last HKSocial, we discussed the upcoming events during Social Media Week Hong Kong, which runs from February 13th-17th. HKSocial highlighted some of the events in the upcoming week with guest speakers involved in a variety of different social media oriented businesses.

Some of the events discussed at this Social Media Week Primer will deal with everything from dating on twitter (“Dwitter”) to the importance of photography in social media (“iPhonography”).  The events discussed in this HKSocial focus on the personal and social aspects of Twitter, Facebook, etc. as well as the business applications of social media.  The breadth of social media events in the upcoming week really showcases how Hong Kong is a hub for social media.

For anyone who was unable to attend this month’s HKSocial, or for anyone who would like to re-experience it, online videos of the event are located here.

Social Media Week Recap: Facebook’s impact on PR and Social

The PRSA panel about “Facebook’s Impact on Entertainment, PR, and Marketing” was an insightful look into a tool that over 750 million people use, many of them everyday.  This panel was led by Allyson Smith, VP, New Media at The Jim Henson Company; Clinton Schaff, VP, Dialogue Digital and Interactive Media Group and Golin Harris; Rich DeMuro, Tech Reporter at KTLA and Tribune; Eric Kuhn, Social Media Agent at United Talent Agency, and Kay Madati, Entertainment Strategist of Global Customer Marketing of Facebook.  Even though Facebook is not the newest social media tool, it is still proving indispensible and continues to penetrate deeper into user’s daily lives.  While all the panelists did concede that Facebook can in fact be a black hole of productivity on a personal level, they placed a greater importance on the benefits that Facebook can provide on a business level, and further on a social level.

There is a distinct difference between using Twitter and Facebook for business, and each panelist advised people not to combine their Facebook and Twitter accounts because the two sites have very different purposes.  Facebook provides a more natural forum for building a personal, thoughtful relationship; whereas Twitter provides a much faster and more concise diffusion of information—it’s great as newsfeed but for interacting with others Facebook is still king.  That is not to say that Twitter doesn’t lend itself to a dialogue, Twitter is great at getting the conversation started with people with like interests, Facebook is useful for keeping it going.

The event also highlighted how popularity and influence, which can be measured by Klout, on Facebook translates to popularity and influence in the real world.  But you shouldn’t just view your Facebook as a way to gauge your influence, you should use Facebook to build your brand by engaging people.  For instance, having a certain number of Facebook likes on its own is meaningless if this not equate to real world consumers or clients.  It is essential to be active on your Facebook and ensure that you will pop up the newsfeeds of those who liked your page.  Make sure to post engaging, pertinent status updates to build your fan base.  The panelists also discussed the importance of responding to negative posts that may be posted on your wall, for more on the importance of responding to criticism read our previous article here.

Making the most of Facebook Posts

A report from BuddyMedia that came out this week examined how Facebook can be best utilized for business. When you include a link in a post or on your page make sure to use the whole link—people who did this in the BuddyMedia study found a 3 times higher engagement rate than when a shortened URL was used. While shortened URLs are useful for twitter, people are more likely to click through on Facebook when they see the branded link.  Also, posting a question at the end of a post instead of at the beginning boosted people’s engagement rates by 15%.  The majority of pages saw the most engagement on Thursdays or Fridays, but this varies by industry, to see what day is most used in your industry click here.

With a network of 750 million active users, half of whom use Facebook on any given day, connecting your business on Facebook is a great idea.  Facebook is even creating pages for businesses who have not yet done so themselves so it is best to claim it as your own so that you can monitor it and respond to customers. Out of these 750 million users, 250M use it on their phone—ensuring that they have access to Facebook 24/7. With such a huge, and dedicated, network, Facebook is the perfect place to brand your business, increase engagement, and improve your product or service.

Car brands hope to prove value by being tech-savvy

In today’s super-connected world, brands must remain tech-savvy to stay relevant and prove their value to customers who are online more than ever.  A recent Bloomberg article reports how the automotive industry has adapted to the needs of its customers on the web.

In the article, Johan de Nysschen, Audi’s U.S. chief, says that people are accustomed to the benefits of connectivity intheir everyday lives, so car companies shouldn’t expect drivers to be isolated from what’s happening around the world when they get into their vehicles.

Here’s how a few car companies are keeping up with customer needs, according to Chris Reiter and Tim Higgins at Bloomberg:

Toyota: just announced last week that they will begin work on Toyota Friend, a social network for Toyota owners, details to be announced soon.

BMW: allows users to lock their cars and turn on the heat remotely via a smartphone app.

Ford: lets users play music on voice command and have their tweets read out loud.

Audi: will add real-time traffic data to its navigation service in Europe later this year.

Mercedes: provides Internet access (full while stationary, restricted when driving!) in select models.

Read more here.

Social Media Enhances Recruitment Strategy—but Traditional Phone Calls Still Essential

Social media presents new options for recruiters to find candidate background but the traditional methods of researching potential employees are still essential. According to HR Magazine, many corporate attorneys limit what its employees can say about past employees, even employees who could benefit from compliments on good work ethic (Meinert, 2011).

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) poll on background checks taken in 2010 revealed that most information provided by former employers gives limited help in deciding whether a candidate is a good company match. Of the 433 responding organizations, 98% said they would verify the dates of employment for current or former employees. More than two-thirds said they would not discuss work performance, and over 80% said they would neither discuss character and personality nor any disciplinary actions taken while the candidate was employed (Meinert, 2011). Because references are not always a reliable source of useful information, companies are turning to social networking sites to aid in background checks.

Of course, phone calls and profile research are still essential to the hiring process. Screening through social networking sites is much more cost-effective than traditional phone interviews. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter all provide free services where companies can post career opportunities that gain exposure to consumers as well. However, Trufflepig Search understands that nothing can take the place of first hand interaction. Interviews offer a better chance to interpret the candidate’s tone and indicate certain personality traits.

It’s still time consuming but important to contact phone references. Yves Lermusi, CEO of Checkster, a background-screening company, states that, for a traditional reference check by phone, it takes 76 minutes to try to contact three references and reach two (Meinert, 2011).

Trufflepig Search uses social networking sites to find candidates who are Internet-savvy and know about LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook. Applicants who are familiar with these social networking sites are especially valuable.

Especially in tough economic times, we at Trufflepig Search know the value of incorporating social media into our recruiting efforts.

References

Meinert, D.. (2011, February). SEEING BEHIND THE MASK. HR Magazine, 56(2), 31-32,34,36-37.  Retrieved from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 2251277611).

Weinstein, M.. (2010, September). Are You LinkedIn? Training, 47(5), 30-33.  Retrieved from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 2250060131).

New Findings in the 2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report

The accessibility of media shared on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube has permanently changed marketing. Michael Stelzner’s report surveyed over 3300 marketers to provide a snapshot of what marketers are up to in business for 2011. 

Here is the complete ‘2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report’.

A few take-aways:

• The top question marketers wanted answered was on measurement tools to track ROI
• 93% of those surveyed used some form of social media in their marketing efforts
• 90% said it was important to their business (key insight: smaller businesses were more likely to agree)
• A significant 58% of marketers are using social media for 6 hours or more each week and 34% for 11 or more hours weekly
• 72% of marketers who have been using social media for more than 3 years report it had helped them close business
• At least 73% of marketers plan on increasing their use of YouTube/video, blogs, Facebook and Twitter
• 92% of marketers are using Facebook and 75% plan on increasing their activities
• Blogs remain a strong area of focus for social media marketers, with 75% indicating they’ll increase their blogging activities
• 73% of marketers will increase their activities on Twitter. Large businesses are most likely to increase their activities on Twitter, with 77% reporting

Trufflepig Search says that social media is essential for business. Targeted exposure, engaging with customers, and upping search engine rankings are just a few of the critical benefits—adding to what social media does for HR, recruiting, customer service, and PR.