M2.0: Social Networking

Social Networking sites are getting a ton of press lately. I usually share a couple MySpace examples in my Teradata User Group presentation, one from the Colonial Center and another from Nordstrom.

The Colonial Center is Columbia’s largest indoor venue, the home to a number of concerts, Gamecock Basketball and others events. Their page boasts over 11K friends, a network in tune with upcoming events and an opportunity for follow-up – for instance, photos from the recent Kenny Chesney concert.

Nordstrom also uses MySpace for their BP division, offering photos, fashion trends and ties of the retailer to various artists.

Fun Facts
MySpace is the third most popular site in the US, Facebook is the seventh (according to Alexa Internet). LinkedIn is also gaining popularity, garnering over 20 million registered users and now allowing company profiles.

There are even software applications that allow you to create your own social networking site – like Dog Community, Dog.com’s user group that was highlighted in one of our past Service In Action calls – find out more by listening to the January SIA Podcast.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for more in the series.

Pink & Orange

Those of you who have attended one of our workshops, you know my undying devotion to the pink and orange beacon that is Dunkin Donuts… this devotion stems back many years, to the Dunkin cart on campus and today to the store just over a mile from my house – where they recognize my car and have my coffee ready when I pull through.

But today’s post isn’t about knowing your customer’s vehicles, but instead focuses on this brand’s eMarketing creativity and timeliness. First things first, for those of you who haven’t enjoyed your free donut, run out now! Dunkin Donuts is giving away a free donut with every coffee purchase. As a devoted fan, I got the forewarning email and enjoyed my strawberry frosted (AKA Homer Simpson) donut this morning. This timely email has mass appeal – it’s hard to refuse free pastry – and offered a nice twist to the typical promotion/ event-based marketing (not everyone’s brand ties in with tax-time.)

They’re giving a way more than donuts, Dunkin is also running a total of five contests; my favorite is the YouTube based contest that asks loyal fans to submit videos on How Do You Keep America Running? To date they have received 42 video submissions that have been narrowed down to the Top 10; the prize is a year’s supply of coffee (heaven!). Dunkin Donuts is promoting this contest from their site, as a splash in their emails and through their own channel on YouTube – a medium that has garnered over 222K channel views and over a thousand subscribers.

Not a bad strategy for a brick-and-mortar food services company, huh? Their creativity has spanned so much further than the typical in-store and/ or mass advertising approach to include user-generated content and timely emails to bring you back to the store – kudos Dunkin!

Getting Started with Twitter

We talked on Friday about 17 ways to use Twitter. So, you're ready to get started - now what? Here's some simple tips on what to do next.

Set Up a Twitter Account - This is the most basic step, obviously. First, go to Twitter.com, but don't create an account right away. Take a minute to think about what the best username will be to identify your company and brand. You can change the screen name later, but it's best if you get the right one the first time. One company who uses Twitter has changed their screen name 3 times in 6 months, making it difficult to remember who they are.

Next, take a few minutes to set up your picture and back ground for your page. Again, make sure it fits with your brand. Carnival Cruises has an excellent set up, as does M&Ms.

Read the Public Timeline - Take a look at what people say, how they use the system. Twitter now allows you to search for users, so look for your friends, colleges, and other businesses. But don't just look at businesses, look at individuals as well. This will help you get a good idea of what you can write yourself.

Get a Badge - Twitter provides badges that will update what you are doing on your normal page. You can plug this into your blog, Facebook/MySpace page, or even your home page. This badge will make it easier for people to see what you're doing with Twitter, as well as make it easy for them to find you.

If You Build It, They Will Come - Just having an account will attract followers from several places. If you want to boost your followers, put a notice about your account in your email newsletter, or start following other people who seem interesting to you.

Start Writing - Posting to Twitter takes a lot less effort than writing a blog. You're limited to 140 characters per post, so that isn't much you can say. A post (or tweet) could be a link to a new product, thoughts on something new your business is doing, or just whatever you're doing at the time.

Other things to keep in mind:

• Twitter is much easier to keep up with than some other social networking sites. I use Twitbin, a Firefox plug in that runs on the side of my browser, and keeps a running tab on who I'm following and allows me to quickly post. In addition, there are a number of free desktop clients that you can install.
  
• It's a good idea to read the Twitter Etiquette guide, so that you don't do anything to annoy the customers who are following you.


• Twitter can be used for more than a promotional tool. You can also use it to manage tasks and do other things around your work life, such as take notes. There are dozens of other apps for Twitter. Do some exploring and see which ones you find most useful.

When you sign up for your account, make sure to follow us!

17 Effective uses for Twitter

The blog Dosh Dosh has published a list of 17 effective uses for Twitter.

There’s been a great deal of articles on how Twitter can be used for marketing purposes and I think most of them can be condensed to the simple aim of tracking and directing attention. Twitter allows you to monitor how influencers think or feel, you can also get into their attention zone via active networking.

For businesses, Twitter is another channel which connects current and potential customers with your product or brand. It allows deeply infiltration into the lifestyles of interested participants, which helps to build brand persistence/loyalty.

The article goes on to examine both the pros and cons of using Twitter, including a list of 17 effective uses for Twitter as a business tool. Read through the article at Dosh Dosh, and think about how you could apply these tips in your business.

Reagan’s eBucket List

In the spirit of Jack & Morgan’s latest film, we thought we’d borrow the idea and apply it to email. So to set the stage, we’re writing our must-dos for 2008… my eBucket List includes three suggestions:

Welcome Email: As a consumer (and eMarketing consultant) nothing irritates me more than not receiving an email following sign up. I’m even willing to make concessions, say a welcome or first campaign within the same week. To all of you without a welcome email campaign – what are you waiting for? You’re missing a perfect opportunity to set the stage for future campaigns, reinforce the recipient’s expectations of your brand or even convert them to a customer right out of the gate.

Private Email Club: If you compare recipients across campaigns, you’ll likely see that there are a handful that consistently open and click. Acknowledge them; let them know they are in your First Responders Club. Give your first responders the perks of receiving offers a couple hours before the remainder of your list; or offers unique to them. This First Responders Club could evolve further, maybe even a Private Email Club – something that could include a paid membership for personalized emails with offers sent before the remainder of the list. Your cost could be based on the shipping fees your repeat customer made in the past year (play with it based on the customer.)

Mix in a little Web 2.0: User Generated Content is huge; it gives you the third party endorsement your product/ service needs. See how you can take this feedback and incorporate it into a Web2.0 medium – a community, a blog, videos etc. If nothing else figure out a way to make a presence on the various channels – put your TV commercials on YouTube, post your emails on a blog with a little comment about the campaign.

Keep reading, more eBucket List ideas coming this week.

Remember your piggy bank?

I don’t remember when I got my first piggy bank, but I must have been really young. I do remember my first savings account, I was in second grade and a bank representative came to our school to talk about savings, I still have that account, and a couple more.

Times have changed and now with the growing number of banks, their marketers are having to compete with others for attention… sound familiar? This competition has spawned some interesting approaches; one that I recently heard of was a bank that sponsored a concert targeting teens. More than 400 teens attended the concert; but only 24 of them opened savings accounts (the point of the event.) Unfortunately there was little connection between the bank and the event.

One of my neighbors runs marketing for a credit union; his team is part of a coalition focused on educating youth on the virtues of saving. Their site is phenomenal – it has calculators, games, stories, testimonials and quizzes to engage users; but they get maybe a dozen hits a month are will likely shut down the site.

The concert and the site are creative approaches but they miss the mark when it comes to association – none of the teens targeted wanted to be forced to go to a non-traditional channel. One possible way to strengthen the connection would be through the social networking power of MySpace… yes, it’s a non-traditional channel for some marketers, but the target market is very familiar with the site.

Ease into the process, maybe start with advertising within your zip codes. Another approach would be to create a bank’s profile to post upcoming events, tips etc.

Be Prepared
The immediate reaction of most, is a negative perception of MySpace, particularly that of upper management. When you present your case, share with them the number of accounts created on MySpace each day – according to Wikipedia, they have over 230,000 new registrants each day; and hit the 300 million account bar in December 2007.

By having your page on MySpace, you’re marketing to you future customer, your emerging market … maybe without cost. Sure there are risks in this approach but we predict that MySpace (and other social networking sites) will begin to take measures to safeguard their users. Until then, choose your friends wisely and make sure your offering is in line with your brand after all, it’s just another medium.

Gobble Gobble

Get ready for the upcoming holiday season by helping the Stave Puzzles Clown feast on falling foods – just beware of escaped turkeys!

The game was launched via email on Friday; it included a clever subject line and takes an interesting twist on the year-end close-out sale. They are giving away something big on November 26; to win you must accumulate points, which are gathered by playing the game. The game is fun and engaging, it’s timed well with at Thanksgiving theme. The goal is to get you to play everyday, accumulate your 200 points (daily minimum entry) and get another entry in their grand finale.

They’re doing a great job at keeping you engaged; it also entices new users to sign up for emails and pay attention to the brand. As an email marketer, I absolutely love their style because its simple, straight-forward and effective – they’ve even started a user community/ blog titled, Stave's PuzzleNuts.

So until you’re ready to launch a game or start a community, visit their site enjoy the game and enter to win – you may even figure out a way to get your users involved.

More People Leveraging Communities

We've talked in the past about using Ning to start a community for your customers, and now our friends at Stave Puzzles have started their own community using the service called Stave Puzzle Nuts. Having just launched today, as of this writing there are 30 members of the community!




This site gives these users exclusive looks at upcoming puzzles, photos, and more. It's a fantastic way to engage customers, as the good folks at Dog.com have already learned.

If you've been thinking of starting your own social network site for your customers, take a look at Stave Puzzles' new site, and see the fun things they're doing with Ning.

See it, hear it, talk about it…

You have to engage your subscribers in a dialogue. This is the best way to communicate with them. We had the opportunity to meet up with artist/ entertainer, MC Hammer – and in my brief talk with him, I realized he was also a philanthropist, truly giving back to the community. His blog – www.mchammer.blogspot.com – is a must read for style.

Very delicately, MC blogs about his various projects. The neat thing about his site is that it weaves together articles, pictures and YouTube videos. Can it be any better? His writing style is short and engaging, and the man is making friends one at a time.

Reagan recently conducted a workshop on creating interactive conversations – the idea was to engage readers and leverage the many channels that the web provides us. Seven absolutes that should be leveraged include:

1. Blogs
2. MySpace/ Facebook
3. YouTube
4. Flickr
5. Twitter
6. Email
7. Surveys

You have to know what is in the mind of your customer. So keep these main points in mind – 1) Ask across all channels; 2) Respond with timely and targeted messages; and 3) Engage through creative marketing strategies.

Read MC’s blog and if you like donate to his cause.

What the heck is M 2.0?

If you were to open a business, you need to let people know that you are in business. In the “good ole days” all you did was call the phone company and you were in the book. Some people went the extra mile and registered with the Better Business Bureau, hosted a grand opening or did a little advertising. These still apply but given the challenges and opportunities today, it’s fascinating what David can accomplish with all the Goliaths out there.

Here are a few (Web 2.0) things to consider to enhance your presence:
1. Your website – This is your imprint for the online world and an absolute to let people find you. Keep it simple and current, and try to engage people – but don't stop there.

2. Your email list – Ask people to sign up, ask them for preferences, communicate with them on a regular basis. Overstock.com, Paul Fredrick Menstyle and King Arthur Flour are three companies that do an outstanding job in getting people to sign up.

3. Your blog – Keep this current; incorporate customer feedback, product information, testimonials, email campaign information and editorials – all written with a passion to keep users engaged. The Craving Anthropologie blog is a masterpiece; Stave Puzzles and Duncraft also have great special interest blogs. An up-and-comer in this space is the blog of 1154 LILL Studio’s.

4. Your MySpace & Facebook Page – Set up an online profile about your company, feature key people within your company. If you are a financial institution – feature your reps, if you are a consumer products company – feature some of the personas that you market to, if you are a B2B company – feature the difference you are making in society, if you are selling a city – market it and so on. This is how the new generation will find you, and we better learn to be connected.

5. Twitter – Remember the Dell Dude? People enjoyed looking for him – now people track their favorites on Twitter – just remember to keep it brief.

6. Flickr a little – Why not put images up so people can find them, if people can see a delicious desert on Facebook with a note that it was put together with the finest ingredients from King Arthur Flour – odds are they will visit the site to learn a little more.

7. YouTube is cool – This weekend, we enjoyed watching two hours worth of clips with the kids – all different kinds of videos. A couple of months ago Britton’s of Columbia posted a video on how to tie a bow tie; the Masai shoe is so aptly displayed in a video from Herrington Catalog (part of their site). Of course you may have already heard the story of BlendTec. The point is that we should look for ways to engage the user through infomercials, as well as testimonial videos – linking all of it back.

8. Surveys are vital – we always want to know what our customers are thinking and how we can help them even more. Design Toscano does a great job in engaging their users for feedback. The key point is that you should always look for reasons to ask questions and try to leverage this information for future communiqués.

9. Podcasts are effective too – Why not record customer testimonials and play them on your site. Same thing for a bank – have someone provide a daily update on the rates and the market performance, trends, etc. Set these up on your site so people can come and be entertained as well as engaged.

10. Mashups are good way to integrate – think of it as a site cocktail, for instance you can combine mapping sites (Google or Yahoo!) and overlay apartment listings or traffic information. There are a couple sites that make it possible – visit Popfly or Yahoo! Pipes

So how do you use these Web 2.0 techniques? Yogis define M2.0 as new era marketing, in a recent seminar on M2.0 in Woodstock, VT, Reagan Taylor defined M2.0 as a strategy and tactics that leverage Web 2.0 technologies. The beauty of M2.0 according to Taylor is that all of this can be done on a minimum budget. Look for future seminars on M2.0 – we’re planning on in Atlanta soon.

Over Nine Billion Served!

Our friend Jeff Greene forwarded a brief from The Center of Media Research; this report stated that approximately 134 million Americans viewed online video in July (2007) – that’s almost three out of four U.S. Internet users.

In total there were nine billion online videos viewed in the month of July… so are you in the count? There are a ton of ways to use video to promote your products, services or position yourself as an expert in your respected field. The possibilities are endless:

• Show the user how to do something – i.e. tie a bow-tie, frost a cake or make coffee art
• Give information – a short walking tour around your hotel or through a place of interest
• Promote through contest – submit videos from a recent event or have their child tell about their trip to the zoo or museum

General tips for getting in the game:

• Keep it short – about 90 seconds when possible
• Use the right tools – sites like YouTube don’t require users to download software, a typical roadblock (site popularity is listed in the linked article)
• Link it or Tag it – In addition to integrating your video into your blog or site, be sure you include the proper keywords so that your video is found when a user searches

For additional tips, ask the Yogi – he’ll help you get it “in the can!”

Social Networking Goes to the Dogs

Our good friends at Dog.com have launched a new Social Networking site, Dog.Community. The community gives people an opportunity to share photos about their dogs, read blog posts from other dog lovers, and of course, make new friends.

In the midst of the site, different ads are served up pointing users back to the Dog.com site.

This community is a fantastic example of using a social network to engage your customers with your brand, and to position you as the expert in your field.

PS - you can take a look at my Dog page here.

Web 2.0 Invasion

Like it or not, the world of Web 2.0 is here – from Wal-Mart offering a Facebook roommate comparison tool, professors replacing textbooks not to mention the countless instances of integrating corporate businesses into blogs, podcasts sponsorships and networking sites.

So what are you waiting for – Web 2.5?!?! The time is now, look for ways to creatively integrate your products and services through one of the countless social media vehicles available, ideas are only a “Google” away. Acting now will guarantee the entry-level pricing (free in most cases) – because its only a matter of time before these social tools will begin charging a cover.

Create your Own Social Network

If you've been leery about setting up a profile for your company on MySpace or Facebook, then perhaps you should consider setting up your own. Set up your own? That's right.

Ning.com allows you to set up your own Social Networking site for your brand. This will give you more control over content as well as who signs up. Plus, since it's your own social network, you get an added layer of customer engagement. It will tell you how engaged customers are in your brand, and give them a place to share their enthusiasm with others.

Twitter - Part 2

A month or so ago, we talked about Twitter, the new social media/blog tool/Instant Messenger application that allows users to post 140 character messages via the web, instant messenger, Cell Phone or even browser plug in. Users can also choose to have the updates to those they choose to follow pushed to their phones via text message, to an RSS feed, to Instant Messenger, or other apps.

Since we've talked about the service, we've come across other businesses that are using Twitter to reach their customers:

Amazon is using the service to push out daily deals on clearance items from their store.

JetBlue is now using Twitter to push out special flight deals, as information on things like their new in-flight magazine, contests, and more.

Wine Enthusiast is sending out updates on new products that have been added to their site, along with links to the new products.

The thing to keep in mind here is that these companies are using a totally opt in technology to send customers who are actively engaged in their message. The service is free to sign up for an use. Why not try it?

Social Shopping - Part 2: How to get your products Socialized

Yesterday, we reviewed the different social shopping sites that are on the web today. But how can you as a retailer get the most use from these sites? And is it worth your time?


1. How to add products to the site.

The easiest way is to create a profile for one of the sites, and then build lists. We'll use Kaboodle in our example, as they have an easy to use Firefox button you can install that allows you to add items from any site you're on.

The Firefox add on make it very easy to add the item to a list. From Kaboodle's site, you'll see that the product description pulls directly from your site, and additionally, you can offer other comments on the product.

Once you've added the product to your list, it is now exposed to other users. Other people can see these items now from the site as well as on your list. Your "friends" can see the items you've added, and also offer up comments on those items.

In addition, once an item has been added to the site, you can track and see how many other people have added it to their lists or made comments on the item.

2. Is it worth the effort?

As with all other social media, such as MySpace, YouTube, a Blog, etc. there is some investment of time needed. Certainly, you don't have the time or resources to add every product into each and everyone of these sites.

Is it worth the effort? Internet Retailer's article mentions some of the statistics surrounding the number of users and visitors these sites are receiving; and while they might not be as massive as a MySpace, they are pretty significant. Plus, these audiences are engaged shoppers, so there is a level of interest there.

3. How should I approach this? What are some best practices?

Again, with any new media innovation, you should look at whether or not it makes sense for your brand before moving forward. If you do think there is a good fit, here's some best practices before proceeding:

• This is a community, so act like a good neighbor. Work to be a part of the community, not just an opportunistic marketer. Doing this will go toward adding toward advocates of your brand.
• Look at which sites fit best with your brand and concentrate on those sites. We mentioned 6 sites yesterday, but there are a couple of dozen out there. Find the one(s) that are best for your company.
• Update for new and feature products. If you tried to highlight every product, it would be overkill. Focus on featured products and new products when they become available.
• Manage your resources properly. If you don't have the time to do it, perhaps have a summer intern work on the project. The initial set up will take the longest, but updates from that point should be easy.

Hopefully if this is something that you have though about diving into, these tips will help you out in getting started. Please let us know how these using these sites has worked for you!

Social Shopping - Part 1: Review of the Sites

As many retailers look for ways to harness social media sites like MySpace and YouTube, there are now sites that are devoted to the social act of shopping. Internet Retailer ran an article in their June issue about these sites. Our interest here at Email Yogi was piqued, so we decided to delve deeper.

First, how it works. The overall concept is that a user goes out to these sites, and lists items from various sites that they have purchased in the past, or want to purchase in the future. They can write a brief review of the item, tell what they think of it, why they want to buy etc.

Next, we asked our resident fashion expert Ebony to review the sites for us. Among the ones reviewed were Kaboodle, StyleFeeder, ShopWiki, ThisNext, StyleHive, and CrowdStorm.

Her over all thoughts?

Kaboodle - User friendly, easy to learn. I signed up last week and already have 11 "friends"!

ThisNext - Not as user-friendly as Kaboodle. It's not very easy to navigate through and you can't see how to make "friends" as quickly as I would like. The plus is that it allows you to post to your own blog or MySpace page from the website, giving a true integrated feel.

StyleHive - A little overwhelming, with lots of items and things to go through

ShopWiki - Very utilitarian, but seems to work well.

CrowdStorm - coming out of some sort of beta test, so hard to tell what's what.

StyleFeeder - Apparently you get feeds for a variety of websites. Not as user friendly as some of the other sites, but does have a celebrity endorsement aspect that is appealing.

I'll vouch for Kaboodle as being user friendly; I've already made a wish list from a number of sites.

But how can online retailers use these sites? Are they worth your time? Tomorrow, we'll look at how you can leverage these sites to your advantage.

Feelin’ Social?

Sorry readers, but as you saw in Phil’s Friday post, we’ve been tearing up the Northeast (yours truly in the Green Mountain and The Granite States).

Not to steal Phil’s thunder for social shopping, but I did find an interesting article that is somewhat similar – the fine folks at Computerworld published the findings of the "Face of the Web" report from market researcher Ipsos Insight. This study found that 20% of adult internet users reported visiting a social network site (like Facebook, MySpace or YouTube) in the past 30 days. The study also noted that in 2006 the US was ranked fifth (Brazil, China and Mexico, and South Korea took the top slots) of users visiting social sites.

This just goes to show the legitimacy of these channels; and the possible marketing opportunities for businesses/ services – might want to take advantage while it’s still free.

Happy Clickling!

Do you believe the hype?

Jupiter Research just released a study on the impact of Social Marketing efforts to drive retail business. Technology News World reviews the article here.

While the analysts show that the social media sites might not lead directly to sales dollars, one should take into account the presence that your brand gains when engaging in this social media. Those impressions do build a brand awareness, and as the Tech News World article shows, niche marketers do stand to benefit.

As with any marketing effort, you should look at your own brand and determine what would work best for you and your target audience, as well as how best to leverage your brand into other media. Also, be realistic with your expectations. You might not be an overnight success, but stick with it, and your efforts will pay dividends.

NO YOGI?!?!

I guess our blog is just too young to make the PC World 100 Blogs We Love list – or we’re number 101. The list debuted in PC World on Monday and was picked up by MSN this morning.

Our exclusion must be from a lack of comments (wink, wink); so readers, start sending us your thoughts… the more active, the more legitimate the Yogi Blog becomes. In the meantime, feel free to check out the PC World Editor’s picks for top blogs.