Cake New York

Happy Birthday guys! RT @foursquare: Happy birthday, foursquare! We launched exactly one year ago... http://bit.ly/dlKpjuMarch 11, 2010 10:53
Come to Tribeca! RT @JetBlue: We're in Manhattan today giving away tickets starting at noon. Ready to come find us? http://bit.ly/JB10NYMarch 10, 2010 8:10
Facebook to add location sharing: http://bit.ly/dmuPvWMarch 10, 2010 8:06
new by social media monitoring tool @sysomos: http://www.fourwhere.com bringing together comments & locations from @foursquare on google mapsMarch 9, 2010 7:04

Don't Call Me A Mommy Blogger #SXSW

My favorite quote from the SXSW panel “Reaching Tastemaker Moms”:

“No one that I didn’t give birth to can call me Mommy, so don’t call me a ‘Mommy Blogger’.”

Point taken. Brands and marketers are desperately trying to woo so-called Mommy Bloggers, but many in the industry just aren’t picking up on the things that women in this demo are looking for when deciding to promote or partner with a company.

Sure Moms online are happy to write about brands and products, but how excited can they be to write about cleaning implements or diapers over and over again? And how can brands effectively connect with Moms when all they have is a product to sell?

It’s not so hard: Find your product’s unique proposition and share how it relates to a mom’s life overall, not just when they’re using it and add value through your activity.

Lindsey Maines of Rock and Roll Momma and Heather Nolte of Glama Jama did an excellent job of sharing their experiences, their likes/dislikes, and if they really care about the best way to do the laundry while they’re trying to manage a million dollar business (answer: they don’t, sorry).

They thought a great first step would be to stop trying to reach out to the Moms with sites that pull in the most readers and instead find the Moms who are the perfect fit to partner with your brand and reach out to them.

What else should we know?

Moms Online Are More Than Just Moms
There is no silver bullet to reach all Moms and there’s no quick fix for identifying influencers for your brand. Research, read blogs and comments to truly comprehend what comprises each “influencer mom’s” ecosystem. And please understand that online moms are writing about more than their home life and children- they have different interests and passions, and brands need to appeal to that.

Content Works
Moms online love video- in fact, 84% of moms view online video at least twice per week. They’re also uploading video on their own, so a natural fit would be working on UGC initiatives.

Adding Value
Online moms are technically savvy and dealing with larger issues when dealing with digital, like safety, privacy, and education – especially when dealing with their kids. Wouldn’t it be great if brands could cater to that and ask themselves “What do Moms want?” rather than ” What do I want Moms to know about my product?” Show moms that you CARE about things they need and care about, then connect with them around those causes/issues.

Partnerships
Don’t look at moms as just a face for your brand, they’re also a BRAIN that understands your brand and can deliver value. Tap that brainpower. Make a council of Moms that you work with on an ongoing basis, see what they think and pay them for their time. Paid-for product reviews are a no-no, but payment for time, brainpower and content creation is only fair. This is a business for Moms, so treat them with that kind of respect- they deserve it.

Offline Experiences
Don’t just leave interactions online. Creating an offline experience for an online Mom is a win, and will have a ripple effect for that Mom’s online community. It doesn’t just have to be an invitation to an event either; help them host a get-together with other Moms and you’ll probably see some UGC come out of it too.

My team is lucky to partner with Moms online on behalf of the brands that we work with and I found this panel extremely valuable. Would love to know your thoughts, please leave a comment below.

Turning 27 in Social Media Years

Posted by Billy Linker

I just celebrated a birthday – the big 27. On top of wondering whether I am getting old, my birthday got me thinking about generations and how differently we interact with technology. I know… fun stuff to think about on your birthday!

I come from a generation that wasn’t born into a world of social networks, smart phones, online dating and social old computer gaming. And though most of my friends and colleagues my age are now fully immersed in everything internet, we spent a good amount of our lives without these technologies – which were mostly introduced to us in our early/mid teens – and as a result we interact with these technologies differently than younger generations. (Example: we still occasionally use phones to actually call people.)

Future and younger generations are being born into a world where digital communication is the primary and default method of communication. Younger folks don’t have the same hesitation to adapt new technology and the internet is their life from day one. There isn’t any skepticism from these youngins towards opening their lives online because they don’t know any differently. And the repercussions on how this is effecting everyone from Fortune 500 companies to your local pizza shop are dizzyingly scary and awesome.

But what about me? Being 27 doesn’t mean my day to day interaction with technology and brands is that different from younger generations, does it? I took a look at a couple things that have happened to me in the last few days and how I reacted with technology:

My TV Broke: So annoying! My initial reaction was still to call the company I bought the TV from, get someone on the phone and scream. Why? Because I want to talk to someone one on one and it is what I have been doing since I could buy products.

Younger generations? They are going directly to Facebook, Twitter and online forums because it is the center of their social graphs and primary form of expression. If they are upset their gut reaction is to voice concern online and in public, not just on the phone with a semi-interested call center employee.

How does this effect the big box retailer? They are going to have to put the same resources towards online support as they do offline support and will have to learn how to talk to their consumers on the consumer’s turf (not just put us on hold for 30 mins).

Picking a Restaurant: I texted a foodie friend asking for recommendations and walked around for 20 minutes looking an menus outside of places (I still like some element of surprise).

Younger generations? I suppose most of my generation is hip to this one, but finding a restaurant has turned into a combination of crowd sourced reviews/recommendations (Yelp) and personal network recommendations (posting on Facebook asking your friends where you should eat). Younger generations will continue down this road, but with an even heavier influence of location based awareness technology (Foursquare, Gowalla, location based advertising).

How does this affect the restaurant business? It doesn’t matter if you are a one person operation, you better have a web presence and engage with your customer base online. Your sign is still important, but if you don’t have positive online feedback, you will have a tough uphill battle.

Celebrating my Birthday: I have to admit, I’m not a huge celebrator of birthdays and this year was no different. My gut reaction as to how I wanted to celebrate was to spend a quiet night with a couple old friends. All of which was decided and planned via email a couple days before.

Younger generations: As we open our lives online, birthdays and other celebrations continue to veer towards a more public existence. Nearly every aspect of celebration is taking place online – from letting people know it’s your birthday to planning the celebration to buying people presents. Younger generations have different expectations for how they should celebrate or be celebrated – and brands are reacting accordingly with everything from targeted advertising to full cottage industries popping up to help us celebrate, plan, and purchase. I wonder if the idea of not celebrating your birthday will even exist for future generations?

At the end of the day, what I’ve learned is that I am still finding it hard to break old habits in favor of total digital immersion. I don’t think is necessarily a bad thing – but it’s amazing to see just how quickly the digital revolution is changing the way we act and how future generations will totally change the way brands reach their audiences.

And I have to say, on my 27th birthday, there is no place I would rather be than smack in the middle of that transition.

Customer Service In 140 Characters or Less #SXSW

Posted by Rosie Siman

Today I attended a panel titled Customer Service in the 140 Character World which discussed customer service within social media outlets – specifically Twitter. As a social marketing strategist who manages brands profiles online, I’m especially interested in the customer service aspect. As a consumer, I’m particularly annoyed with the way that most brands misuse these platforms that are almost built for their success. [I actually wrote another post here titled 'Customer Service is the New Marketing']

Why is social media built for customer support? It allows one on one interactions in almost real time. It avoids automated response systems, support forums and 1800 numbers that provide more annoyance than answers. There is a built in community element – sometimes I get answers from the community surrounding the brand instead of the brand itself.

Agencies talk about customer service with social media a good bit – It’s an unavoidable topic amongst marketers because social media lends itself to support. We’re consistently seeing consumers bypass FAQs and automated messaging systems for real people and real answers. But agencies talking amongst themselves only goes so far. On the panel today, we heard from brands who were not just talking the talk, but walking the walk. Sure, Zappos was almost built around social media – But Comcast? Dell? HP? These brands fall into that “traditional” category… And they are making it work.

A few key takeaways:

- Customer Support is Still Too Siloed. This is a change that has to happen internally. Are PR and Customer Support one in the same? The panelists said yes. They said it was essential to create a workflow that allows for quick approvals and answers from the appropriate people. It’s internal structuring and it’s a change that HAS to happen. How to implement? They advise to start with putting TweetDeck on the CEO’s desk with a Twitter search about the brand.

- Get Feedback and Do Something. As a company, you have to invest in the way that you listen to consumers. The most important thing about feedback is what you do with it. Feedback is worthless unless you are willing to make changes and show your customers that you’re implementing their suggestions.

- Give Answers. It doesn’t matter if someone has 1 follower or 1 million followers, they are all your customers. Give them the answers they are looking for in the platforms that they are on. Take time to explain “why” and give them the whole story even if it is technical and/or boring. If they understand the “why,” they are much more likely to support your brand for the long haul. The Comcast rep said, “We can’t make cable free, but we can tell our customers exactly why it costs what it does.”

Agencies can only do so much. People in the audience representing brands were advised to look to agencies as consultants. As consultants, they can help you understand the space; They can come up with forward thinking ideas; They can teach you the appropriate social interactions. But in the end, the brand has to be willing to make changes and talk to the consumers themselves.

Yes, it’s difficult. Yes, it requires organizations to acknowledge and embrace the power of social media. But it’s not impossible. Customers aren’t going anywhere and neither is social media.

What do you think are the best ways for brands to active customer support through social media channels?

[Full panel notes generously provided by William Hertling here]

Not at SXSW? Be There Vicarious.ly

Posted by Rosie Siman

This week, both Michelle and myself will be at SXSWi. We’re planning on checking out the panels, learning tidbits to share with you, meeting cool people, earning some new badges on Foursquare and attending a few parties here and there

If you’re not at SXSWi, watch this space for our golden nuggets of learning. You can also live vicariously by checking out (ba-da-boom cha!) Vicarious.ly, which aggregates all the geo-location “check-ins” in Austin in real time. While Foursquare is the geo-location app that has coined the “check-in,” Vicarious.ly also aggregates BlockChalk, Bump, Flickr, Gowalla, Fwix and Twitter.

While it’s a great tool to see clustering of people and overarching trends, it feels a bit overwhelming. At first glance, it also provides some topline insight on the Gowalla-Foursquare battle. While New Yorkers are used to using Foursquare, the steady stream of Gowalla check-ins in Austin shows that they’re becoming a major player in the geo-location gaming world.

Check in, check it out and of course, if you’re at SXSW, please do come and say hi!

You can find us on Twitter here: @rosiesiman & @miishi

Digital and IRL Worlds Collide With Facebook Printing

Posted by Rosie Siman

Kodak recently announced that beginning this summer Facebook users would be able to print their pictures directly from Kodak printing kiosks.

After logging into your Facebook account from the kiosk, you are asked to pick pictures from those that you’ve uploaded. At this point, it doesn’t appear that you can print pictures where you’re tagged if they were uploaded by other people.

Worried about the size? Kodak will show an icon if your pictures aren’t high enough resolution to limit disappointment.

For a walk-through of how it works, check out the video posted on Kodak’s “Plugged In” blog here.

The only bad thing I have to say? The contact info they give on their press releases is TinyURL.com/emailkodak. [Why would anyone use any URL shortener other than bit.ly?!]

With Kodak taking this step, I think we’ll start to see other printers doing the same. We may even see sites like Facebook and Flickr add an element of digital printing/ordering to the site itself. What do you think?

Museum Of Modern Tweets

Posted by Shana Weiss

Failed to get enough culture in this week? You may not have a chance to run off to the MOMA or The Met right now, but you can definitely take a moment to visit The Museum of Modern Tweets.

Creators (or shall we say curators) of the site, Odessa Begay and Jordan Breindel, have made a very interesting and novel art form out of celebrity’s 140-character offerings. If you have ever wondered what dinner would be like with a Ms. “Chaincondom” at Lance Armstrong’s house, or what constitutes a good day for a Jonas brother, (jet-packing down a yellow brick road to a money-nourished unicorn?) then you will be pleased with your visit.

Check out a couple of my favorite illustrations below, all done by Odessa Begay. The museum’s collection is updated every Tuesday, so make sure to stay up to date with this new twist on celebrity tweets.

A day in NYC

Posted by Tom Evans

Not much to say about this other than take 5 minutes out of your day to watch this brilliant film.

Afraid it’s not as sunny and warm in NYC right now – but summers not too far away…

The Sandpit from Sam O'Hare on Vimeo.

NYC Now Provides Press Passes to Bloggers

Posted by Bea Villamor

New York City’s Rules for Press Credentials were just updated – online journalists and bloggers have been recognized as legitimate members of the media and can now request for press passes. Prior to this, the NYPD, which issues press passes, did not consider strictly online journalists and bloggers as part of the media.

There’s a catch though – for an online journalist or a blogger to be given a press pass, the “applicant must show that he or she has covered, in person, six news events where the City has restricted access, within the two-year period preceding the application.”

While only a fraction of bloggers fit this criteria, it’s interesting to see how traditional institutions and processes have started to acknowledge their presence and influence.

Source: Gotham Gazette

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