New com.motion RSS feed

Dear readers,

After nearly two years, we have decided to upgrade the com.motion blog to a new platform - wordpress! If you are receiving this in your RSS reader it means the transition hasn't gone as smoothly as we would have liked. However, to continue to receive the same great content from the com.motion team, please resubscribe to our new feed - http://feeds.feedburner.com/thecommotionblog

Many thanks!

Ed Lee
Managing Director, com.motion Toronto

NEW FEED - ADJUST YOUR READER

Due to some frustrating technical circumstances we've had to change our RSS feed, please adjust your reader: http://feeds.feedburner.com/thecommotionblog

Thanks for subscribing to our blogger and your understanding!

The com.motion team.

Google goes musical

The web is abuzz with the news that Google is apparently getting ready to launch a new music service. While it’s still unclear how the Google music service will function, there seems to widespread acknowledgement that it will incorporate two popular social music tools Lala and iLike. With the billions of songs being shared, bought and listened to online, it only makes sense that the monolithic Google would enter the very lucrative music market. Google will make an official announcement on Wednesday, but until then, enjoy this screen shot (via Techcrunch) of what a possible Google music search of U2 might look like .

WordPress goes Moblie

Adapting to the rapid growth of mobile browsing, Wordpress.com has launched two new mobile optimized blog themes. The first is a tweaked version of the popular WPtouch theme (currently employed by this blog), geared towards smartphones with full browser support like the iPhone and Android based devices. The second is an updated version of their WordPress mobile edition which will allow for faster page loading and for more information to be displayed on less powerful phones.

Giving readers a chance to read blogs as quickly and easily as possible, wherever they are, is always a good strategy. Great to see Wordpress.com empower publishers to do so more easily.

For more information visit the original article from Mashable here

Here is a snapshot of what the com.motion site looks like when accessed from an iPhone:

Microsoft Looking Glass: Social Media Monitoring for Business

Last week I was sent an Advertising Age article on a new proof of concept product from Microsoft designed to help marketers understand the social media conversation around their brand, organization or clients. Code name: Looking Glass.

The idea is to use the powerful Sharepoint platform as a jumping off point for communicators and marketers to monitor and action relevant social media activity. The use of Sharepoint is, in my view, a crucially important part of the announcement as it allows for the integration with existing business systems – which will further mature the use and adoption of social media, moving it into the core business function as its use within the communications function increases. The communications function is doing an outstanding job of adjusting and adopting social media for its need, but this could take it to the next level as business people start to understand the core value of social media – the data.

From the Advertising Age piece:

The idea is to connect social-media-monitoring tools to the rest of a marketer's organization -- customer databases, work orders, customer-service centers and sales data. Looking Glass will pull in a variety of feeds from platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr and work with third-party data sources as well (the folks behind it have already talked to some firms such as Meteor Solutions and Telligent). All of the data collected will connect into Microsoft's enterprise platforms, such as Outlook and Sharepoint.

-snip-

What this also means for marketers is how all that social-media information they're drowning in becomes more actionable.

Here's how: A marketing manager can get an e-mail alert when there's a sudden surge of chatter about his or her brand on Twitter or Facebook, along with the sentiment of that chatter and the influence level of those blogging. That information can then be connected to a customer-relationship-management system to decide whether customer service or PR should respond. Or a cable operator's customer service rep could monitor Twitter for outage reports and send off a repair request straight from the tool. And Looking Glass will hook up to existing customer databases, so a pharmaceutical brand manager would be able to figure out if a person throwing a hissy fit on his blog is an influential doctor or current customer.

There is also a video overview which you can see below:

So why am I excited by this?

I’ve long said that integrating social media and all the data it can produce for you into business processes such as CRM and market research can elevate the communications and marketing disciplines within the organization. This product looks to start that migration in earnest.

No More Sidestepping The Issues: Sidewiki

Last Wednesday, Google announced the launch of Sidewiki, the latest addition to the Google Toolbar... and potential anxiety instigator for brand managers everywhere. Google describes Sidewiki optimistically, saying:

"Help and learn from others as you browse the web."

"Contribute helpful information to any web page."

"What if you could learn from others who have visited a page before you?"

Simply put, Sidewiki allows you to comment on or annotate any website. Continuing its mission to make information relevant and readily available, Google has tossed another knowledge management tool into the ring. As we already do with Twitter, Facebook or Get Satisfaction, we can learn from the experiences of others and throw up flags and gold stars to help each other out (an optimist's view). Seth Godin became the first case study for Sidewiki with his "Squidoo/Brand Jacking" scandal last week (a bit on that here). Unable to comment on Seth's blog or the Squidoo page about 'Brand Pages', readers looked to Sidewiki to collect their frustrations.

This tool bares some considerable power and issues to consider. Sidewiki represents another avenue to be monitored and engaged... or not... depending on your strategy. Whether you participate or not, it is another cog in the social branding process. Users of Google Toolbar and Chrome will see comments and annotation right next to your web page, whether you like it or not. That's where the difference lies. Even though comments will be displayed right next to their web page, publishers don't control the feedback platform. It can't be turned off or moderated. Co-creation of content is the oft sited holy grail of brand/consumer relationships. In this case, Google is facilitating the co-creation of your brand on their turf and plastering it right next to yours.

Time for some perspective: not much is new here. There are no shortage of tools that host and aggregate annotation and feedback. In that regard, Sidewiki is just another tool on the list. The importance and principles of listening, learning and engaging to create good relationships remain. Sidewiki should provoke you to again consider: how do you want to participate in the creation of content that contributes to how you are defined?

As a user, my biggest concerns using any feedback platform are realibility, relevance and civility. Google is touting an algorithm for Sidewiki that will present comments in order of their quality and utility rather than order of submission. Beyond the relevance of your comment, it also considers feedback from other users, previous entries you've made and a few other unnamed 'signals' (more on that here).

In what seems to be an attempt to reconcile the issue of where the content resides, Sidewiki offers an API allowing developers to work with its content. I'm presuming we'll see the API used to replicate the functionality of Wordpress plugins that aggregate Twitter commentary on blog posts in the near future.

I'm looking forward to seeing the evolution of Sidewiki and the use of its API. As always, listening and learning will pave the way to success.

A Truly Remarkable Experience

This year, we’re proudly celebrating the 250th anniversary of Guinness and last weekend we went to Ottawa with Guinness master brewer Fergal Murray for a truly remarkable experience. In celebration of its 250th anniversary, Guinness asked Canadians what they would consider to be a “remarkable” experience. Of over 800 entries submitted, Simon Halpin’s request to tour Canada’s local breweries and record the stories of the people who run them, stood out as it embodied the core characteristics of Arthur Guinness himself: inspiration, dedication, ingenuity and effort.

Born in Dublin, Ireland, Simon moved to Canada at the age of four. His uncle worked at Guinness from a young age and later became a brewmaster in Kilkenny for Smithwicks. Simon’s entry was inspired by a memory of his uncle coming to Canada with a goal of meeting local brewers to learn about their passion for the business. This passion for the craft is the spirit behind the gathering on September 19th.

Guinness fulfilled that remarkable experience for Simon at Ottawa’s Heart and Crown pub and invited local craft brewers to join. Simon had his experience, lucky Guinness socks in tow (see the image above), and the event was a great success enjoyed by all.

com.motion was proud to hear that Simon will be starting his own blog to share his remarkable experience with friends, family and fellow Guinness lovers.

Simon’s experience will become one of a handful of remarkable experiences that Guinness will fulfill in celebration of its 250th anniversary this year.

Augmented Reality for Wifi Hotspots

If you're a road warrior or just someone who's out of the office occasionally, there are times when you need to connect your laptop to the Internet.

Locating a Wi-Fi connection can be a challenge because it's difficult to find places that offer Wi-Fi and get information about what those places are like such as whether they serve good coffee and food, and whether there are enough places to sit.

Fortunately, there are a growing number of tools and services that are making it easier - and more interesting - to find places offering Wi-Fi.

One of the most intriguing is Worksnug, which is creating technology that uses augmented reality to "find the nearest and best places to work".

Although Worksnug has yet to launch, a video on its Web site shows how you can use an iPhone app and the iPhone's camera to scan a particular location. As you scan, information about places with Wi-Fi appears on the screen. If the service works as well as Worksnug suggests, it would be truly innovative and cool.

Worksnug is slated to launch in London and San Francisco before expanding to other places around the world. Unfortunately, Toronto isn't on Worksnug's priority list but you never know what a little lobbying might do!

To see a demo of Worksnug, check out this video.

Vintage's "Taste Ontario" Event

We experienced an awesome "Taste Ontario" blogger event at the Art Gallery of Ontario. More than 40 wineries represented. A big thank you to our friends at the Ontario Wine Council for the invitation.

Veritas Communications Promotes Lynn Eastep to Senior Vice President, com.motion North America

As managing director at com.motion HQ here in Toronto, I am honoured to be the one who gets to announce the promotion of Lynn Eastep from General Manager to Senior Vice President for com.motion North America. Lynn is an absolute firecracker, as anyone who has had the fortune of meeting her will testify, and we are thrilled for her in her new position. Lynn will continue to add exponential value to all of our clients, particularly when it comes to integrating online and offline Word of Mouth. With more than 15 years of digital communications experience, Lynn has delivered award-winning and sophisticated marketing solutions for Fortune 500 corporations, major government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and household-name consumer brands.

Lynn is connected to the industry and trend and is a strategic thinker with intense curiosity. She is, without doubt, an eclectic user of information, and to call her an engaging storyteller would be doing her a disservice! She is a team player who is passionate, curious, positive, and courageous.

The full news release is below, but if you would like more information, on Lynn or on com.motion, please let me know.

You can find Lynn online on Twitter as @lynneastep or connect on LinkedIn or just peruse her excellent blog posts on our com.motion blog.

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Toronto, September 11, 2009 --- Beverley Hammond, president of Veritas Communications today announced the promotion of Lynn Eastep to the position of Senior Vice President of com.motion North America, the agency’s growing social media and online communications practice.

Eastep, whose most recent position was General Manager, will oversee the practice that offers a full spectrum of social media and digital strategies to clients. She will also be responsible for business development across North America.

Prior to joining com.motion, Eastep held the position of Senior Vice President and Partner for Fleishman-Hillard Digital, where she drove social media program development for such clients as Nestle, AT&T, and Novartis. Prior to that she worked for UK-based Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) as Director, Internet Marketing for North America, and has been Webmaster for Progressive Insurance Corporation, the third largest insurance provider in the U.S.

She is the recipient of numerous industry awards including Silver Anvils from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), ADDY^® Awards from the American Advertising Federation (AAF) and a Vision Award of Merit from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and the Shop.org Innovation award.

“In her time at com.motion, Lynn has made a real difference for our clients business and for ours. She is known as a builder in the social and digital space, having spent many years – long before its emergence into the mainstream – developing smart, results-focused digital campaigns for major brands,” said Hammond. “She is an expert at grassroots community building and transferring those communities into results for brands by bringing digital ideas to life in traditional mediums from PR to Word of Mouth (WOM) marketing.”

About com.motion NA

The North American organization, com.motion helps businesses and brands amplify their marketing messages through the effective use of online communications channels. Our in-depth, collaborative approach builds strategic, successful online programs that connect our clients with their stakeholders in the places where they convene. As a practice of Veritas Communications we are able to design strong, integrated programs for a growing list of clients including Canada Dry Motts, Diageo and SUBWAY. com.motion is Toronto-based with a satellite office in Cleveland. Veritas Communications Inc. a member of the MDC Partners network (TSX and Nasdaq: MDCA).

-30-

For more information please contact:

Ed Lee

Managing Director, com.motion

lee@causeacommotion.com

http://bloggingmebloggingyou.wordpress.com

www.twitter.com/edlee

416 482-2154

The Use of Social Media in Business

I was asked to be on Business News Network's show "Headline" last night to talk about the use of social media by businesses.

We were preceded by com.motion’s founder, Keith McArthur (now Senior Director for Social Media and Digital Communications at Rogers Communications) and ING Direct Canada’s CEO, Peter Aceto – check out their piece as well.

Here is the video, featuring Howard Green, Bob Pearson and myself having a great discussion.

Technorati Tags: bnn,howard green,bob pearson,ed lee,keith mcarthur,peter aceto

The 2009 Gartner Hype Cycle

Every year, technology research house, Gartner releases what is known as a “hype cycle” – rating the expectations behind each maturing technology against their usefulness/adoption within business. It shows how technologies move through the initial spurt (technology trigger), through the peak of inflated expectations (can anyone say “Twitter”), through the trough of disillusionment, into to the slope of enlightenment and finally, the plateau of productivity and mainstream adoption.

This year is no different (see the graphic below)and an insightful write-up of the part of this year’s Gartner Hype Cycle which focuses on social media can be found on ReadWriteWeb.

It is interesting to note that Twitter, or more generally speaking “microblogging”, is falling from the peak of inflated expectations and into the trough of disillusionment. It is great to see corporate blogging moving up the slope of enlightenment and is predicted to reach mainstream adoption in “less than two years”. Personally I am surprised to see online video on the downward slope to to the trough of disillusionment and that it is being outstripped by public virtual worlds in the “race” to mainstream adoption.

It is also interesting to see what is moving up the peak of inflated expectations. Augmented reality is a very cool technology which you can see in action below.

Mobile robots sound very cool and Internet TV could make advertising far more interactive and contextually relevant – imagine watching a Liverpool match and being flashed an ad to buy a Fernando Torres shirt after he scores another screamer…and it being one click away on your remote. You can insert your own preferred sport/team ;-)

Most importantly of all for com.motion and our clients, the “Web 2.0” or social media phenomenon is rated as moving into the slope of enlightenment and that it will be adopted by the mainstream in less than two years. Judging by the exciting and innovative technologies on the hype cycle, we are in for an exciting time!

More on the Gartner Hype Cycle for consultants and agencies.

Technorati Tags: gartner hype cycle,RreadWriteWeb,microblogging,augmented reality,Internet TV,com.motion,virtual worlds,Web 2.0

Engaging Women as “Chief Financial Officers” through WOM

By Lynn Eastep

Women, long the keeper of the household checkbook, are increasingly taking charge of the family investments as well. Increasingly, women are stepping into the role of family CFO. America is becoming a “Femocracy” with women making the key purchasing and investing decisions in millions of households – in effect, making “Mom” the chief executive officer, chief financial officer, chief purchasing officer, and chief operating officer.

Word of mouth is hugely influential among women when making financial decisions. More and more of those recommendations are coming in the form of social media engagement, particularly for financial decision-making. According to Oppenheimer, women manage 1 trillion dollars a year, yet they still often lack the knowledge and confidence to invest their money. Increasingly, women are looking to social networks for advice and information—not just on life issues but on financial decisions. A survey commissioned by Citigroup’s Women & Co. unit, which offers financial services aimed specifically at women, found that 63 percent women themselves the CFOs of their households—responsible for making the majority of financial decisions.  Additionally, women are no longer waiting for one of life's big transition events -- like divorce, widowhood -- to develop a financial plan.

Women are increasingly empowered by the abundance of financial services information online, but the onslaught of information can be overwhelming. Women are strongly influenced by word-of-mouth (WOM) and look to their friends for advice. With the rise of social networking, blogs and viral video, this group has many user-generated sources for information about financial services. The fact that women favor WOM, combined with their use of social networking, indicates they are a strong audience for financial WOM marketing efforts.

Women investors have taken to social media in big numbers, and they are listening closely to what their peers have to say. A 2008 study by Cogent Research, which examines the impact of social media on investment-related decisions, reveals the following primary trends:

• Women investors are highly engaged in social media;
• WOM influences a majority of investment decisions;
• One out of every four U.S. online adult is engaged in WOM that deals specifically with personal finance and investing;
• Social media leads investors to question the accuracy of information delivered by official sources (advisors and  investment firms)

Social media offers financial services companies the opportunity to engage online, connect with women in a personal manner and subsequently become their trusted resource. Many financial services companies are missing opportunities to an leverage  social media to educate, inform and engage women. To remain relevant,  financial services companies  need to create lasting, valuable relationships with women by responding and engaging through WOM.

Technorati Tags: word of mouth,financial services,women,marketing

Seven Words The Internet Should Live By

At com.motion, we are developing a philosophy and framework that, we believe, the Internet and indeed all communications campaigns should evolve to encompass.

The seven words which best describe this are below, thanks to Internet pioneer and venture capitalist, Fred Wilson.

• Global
• Open
• Social
• Intelligent
• Playful
• Mobile
• Instant

Why these words? Why do we believe these are important, vital tenets of the new wave of communications?

Global – because the Internet is borderless but also because campaigns must break through the clutter and speak to everyone on a personal basis.

Open – because clients which are transparent will reap the benefits of consumer trust.

Social – because the new campaign must be good enough to get people talking about it. But social because we are seeing a new era of communications where people can, and do, talk about the brands/organizations they use. More importantly, these organizations and brands can now talk back!

Intelligent – because we must not talk down to consumers any more.

Playful – because we want to have fun!

Mobile – because consumers are no longer confined to the cinema, to the TV or to their computers. Mobiles and smart phones are the fourth screen and increasingly the method of choice for users to access the Internet.

Instant – because who wants to wait? The Internet has made us impatient consumers of information and those clients who make their customers wait will be penalised for it.

What do you think? Are there any words you’d add – and why?

Technorati Tags: fred wilson,internet communications,philosophy,framework

Veritas Communications

This is the view we get when we come to work every morning at Veritas/com.motion.

Not your average PR agency. I love the energy and creativity that just jumps off the walls and out of the people in the individual offices every day!

com.motion is growing: Sean McDonald is growing with us!

I am delighted to be able to announce that com.motion and Veritas are both growing with the hiring of Sean McDonald as an Account Manager. I had heard nothing but great things about Sean over the last couple of years from various people in the agency world so it was a real pleasure to meet him and get to know him.

Clearly we liked what we saw and, despite my best efforts to soak him in beer (a long story), so did Sean. He will be starting in the next couple of weeks – exact date is still TBD as he puts the finishing touches on his Masters work, but take it from me, it can’t come soon enough.

I’ve said before that working at com.motion has been a great experience for me, and I hope the team. We are privileged to have some great clients who are willing to do interesting and thought provoking things in the online/social media space and for that I continue to be grateful.

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers (and sisters!) are doing some great work on some very cool campaigns and I will try and share them with you as appropriate.

CluetrainPlus10 Project: Most marketing programs are based on the fear that the market might see what's really going on inside the company.

In 1999, Christopher Locke, Rick Levine, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger wrote a book that was so prophetic, it arguably shaped and reinvented the way that businesses approached communicating with their key markets using the Internet. At a time when there was only a minimal amount of social networking sites and message boards were one of the only ways people were interacting with eachother online, the book was eerily ahead of its time with its theories and predictions. The above title is number 28 out of 95 theses that the authors of the bestselling book, The Cluetrain Manifesto, stated.

Today, organizations are embracing the online and social media space in two distinct ways. Some organizations that have embraced the social Web to communicate their messages with their key markets using a number of different online communications channels. Some companies have thrived to be more open in terms of allowing the public to go behind the scenes. Elements that pull the curtain back on certain organizations are being added to corporate sites more and more frequently. Corporate blogs and liberal blogging policies implemented by other organizations allow employees to share what they do on a day-to-day basis with their stakeholders. This thesis is becoming less and less relevant as organizations begin to utilize social media and social media marketing.

Even a once staid and faceless corporation like Microsoft has opened itself up with internal videos and by actively encouraging employees at all levels to blog and to share their work with the outside world.

Ten years from now, more and more organizations will follow in Microsoft’s steps. They will be open to scrutiny and will continue to win the trust of their key stakeholders once they’ve stepped into the online space. People have a human need to want to connect with each other and we are seeing more people openly and willingly interact with the organizations and brands that they are most passionate about. Facebook, for example, is a social networking site that we see vast numbers of people engaging with each other and with brands on Facebook fan pages.

Although the above thesis may not stand as strong ten years from now, this book is a must-read for all marketers looking to effectively understand why they need to change their marketing strategy and to learn how to communicate with their key audience. As Michael Wolfe puts it, “Love it or hate it, no one with a stake in the online scene can afford to ignore what this book is saying.”

Social Media Dictionary: Tweet-Up

What is a Tweet-up?

Events organized and promoted through Twitter where users meet in person to network, discuss hot topics, fundraise or socialize. Tweet-ups have sometimes been compared to a flash mob because of the short time frame from the conception to execution of an event and the huge number of people who attend. Often attendees of tweet-ups have never met face-to-face, but may have developed strong relationships online.

An interesting example of a tweet-up on a much larger scale is Twestival, which took place in 180 cities including Toronto, Ottawa, Edmonton, New York, and Los Angeles. On February 12th 2009, Twitter users and their friends gathered to raise money for Charity Water, a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. Twestival attendees met up with their local Twitter community to fundraise, network with other “tweeters” and participate in the live global “twestival” conversation happening online (and in some cases were able to see the Twitter conversation on large screens at the venue). The event promotion and conversations about the event were communicated primarily through Twitter.

We’ve seen other examples of successful Twitter meet-ups dedicated to coming together for a cause. In December, #HOHOTO, a sold out 600-person Toronto Twitter event, raised $25,000 for the Toronto Daily Bread Food Bank.

Key learning:
The Twitter community is very active online but also in person. The strength of twitter is in the large number of frequent, short updates from users. The public’s text based messages allows information about an event, a breaking news story, or a call-to-action to spring up quickly and generate buzz sometimes in a matter of minutes.

First Adventures of a Social Media Intern

I recently joined the com.motion team as the new Social Media Intern. The team at com.motion is creative, hard-working and enthusiastic - all elements that excite a “Gen Y’er” such as myself. My first days as a social media intern have been interesting, starting with first figuring out what being a Social Media Intern means!

What have I learned so far? Well, being a Social Media Intern means that as a self-declared geek, blogger and online news junkie, I get to utilize some of my favorite tools and stay on top of the current web trends. In doing so, I support the com.motion team in building relationships with the online community and establish engaging content with strong messages. When com.motion said they were looking for a “social media rockstar”, I was happy to stand up and yell “That’s me!”

Being new to the team also means that I have a legitimate excuse to “creep” (search on social networks, mostly facebook) my new colleagues. Starting a new job or project is a great time to add new connections online, which helps gain insight into your newfound team members. I am looking forward to new connections and fascinating projects that will be developed by the com.motion team, and the continued conversations that will happen right here at the com.motion blog!

If you're social media-savvy and looking for an internship, we want you!

com.motion is seeking a social media-savvy intern for our team in downtown Toronto.

We are looking for a dynamic self-starter with a passion for marketing, public relations and new media. The ideal candidate will have proven leadership experience and multi-tasking capabilities from academic and extra-curricular activities (clubs, associations, teams, etc.). A successful candidate will have experience with major social media networks. This is a three-month position with a great level of opportunity. Please apply directly to Andra Brigmohan at brigmohan@veritascanada.com.

Timing: Immediate

Watching TV while Online....

The folks at Ipsos Reid have confirmed what all parents of teenagers already know - when you are online, you are probably watching TV and listening to the radio also.

In fact, 44% of Canadians (and presumably, a similar number of multi-tasking Americans) say they are consuming other traditional forms of media while scouring the latest that the Internet has to offer. Further, a lot of folks don't bother with traditional media at all, especially quick-to-be-out-of-date categories such as magazine (40% don't bother with them).

Multi-tasking is only part of this story - the other part is that media with interactive & real-time characteristics is where the audience is. The more one-way and out-of-date the message, the less an entire generation of consumers is interested.

Recently, a lot of bleeding-edge folks have been getting their news from emerging micro-blogging sites, such as Twitter. Over here at com.motion we follow one particular Twitter-er who seems to beat CNN regularly.

Hold on to your hats, folks, media is changing.

Social Media This Week: January 23, 2009

Inauguration 2.0

The news: The inauguration made history in more ways than one. The web allowed people to connect globally to watch this historic moment take place.

According to this post, Twitter had five times the normal Tweet traffic. The word “Obama” appeared 35,000 times an hour during his speech in different Tweets. There have been over 300,000 new videos uploaded to YouTube with the tag “Obama” over the course of the week. Closely behind that number, 17,000 new videos were uploaded with the tag “Inauguration” in the last five days. Furthermore, there are 175,000 news results filed under “Inauguration” according to Google and Technorati reports nearly 18,000 blogs mention this week’s event.

Key learning: People aren’t just watching the TV anymore. When you have a newsworthy story, consider every medium that people are communicating in – and join the conversation.

If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say it over Twitter

The news: James Andrews, a PR executive from Ketchum in the States flew to Memphis to discuss social media with one of the agency’s biggest clients, FedEx. Once Andrews landed in Memphis, he posted the below message on Twitter:

“True confession but I’m in one of those towns where I scratch my head and say, ‘I would die if I hade to live here.’”

An employee of FedEx followed Andrews on Twitter (on Twitter, you have “followers” which are people who have chosen to see your updates) and saw Andrews' comment and shared it with FedEx’s corporate communications team. The below response was sent to Andrews on behalf of FedEx prior to his arrival:

“Mr. Andrews, If I interpret your post correctly, these are your comments about Memphis a few hours after arriving in the global headquarters city of one of your key and lucrative clients, and the home of arguably one of the most important entrepreneurs in the history of business, FedEx founder Fred Smith. Many of my peers and I feel this is inappropriate. We do not know the total millions of dollars FedEx Corporation pays Ketchum annually for the valuable and important work your company does for us around the globe. We are confident however, it is enough to expect a greater level of respect and awareness from someone in your position as a vice president at a major global player in your industry. A hazard of social networking is people will read what you write. Not knowing exactly what prompted your comments, I will admit the area around our airport is a bit of an eyesore, not without crime, prostitution, commercial decay, and a few potholes. But there is a major political, community, religious, and business effort underway, that includes FedEx, to transform that area. We’re hopeful that over time, our city will have a better “face” to present to visitors. James, everyone participating in today’s event, including those in the auditorium with you this morning, just received their first paycheck of 2009 containing a 5% pay cut … which we wholeheartedly support because it continued the tradition established by Mr. Smith of doing whatever it takes to protect jobs. Considering that we just entered the second year of a U.S. recession, and we are experiencing significant business loss due to the global economic downturn, many of my peers and I question the expense of paying Ketchum to produce the video open for today’s event; work that could have been achieved by internal, award-winning professionals with decades of experience in television production. Additionally Mr. Andrews, with all due respect, to continue the context of your post; true confession: many of my peers and I don’t see much relevance between your presentation this morning and the work we do in Employee Communications.”

Key learning: If you are using the online space (whether on behalf of a client or representing yourself), never say anything you wouldn’t say to someone’s face. Social media is public and always accessible.

Facebook De-Friends Burger King Application

The news: In the States last week, Burger King launched a free application over Facebook that encouraged users to “sacrifice” 10 of their Facebook friends in exchange for a free Whopper. The application convinced users to dump over 200,000 of their friends. This week, Facebook put pressure on Burger King to make some changes to the application that more closely aligned it with Facebook’s philosophy. Facebook did not take a liking to the messages that were being sent to the “sacrificed” friends stating that their friends dumped them for a beef patty. Burger King concluded the application rather than making any changes.

Key learning: Sometimes social media is an end in itself. Sometimes it drives a PR campaign. Burger King’s decision to drop the campaign rather than modify it suggests this was one of the latter.

Social Media Without Borders

The one tricky thing about marketing and PR in this digital world is the globe-hopping nature of all those little blue links on web pages. For marketeers it is a bit daunting - one minute your target American consumer is visiting your carefully crafted microsite, and the next minute he or she is reading a review of your product by an Canadian blogger. There is a tremendous amount of "marketing message leakage" as campaigns in one country inadvertently reach consumers of digital media over the border. This leakage is especially true across the American / Canadian border. The leakage is so great it takes a misplaced "u" in the word color or a detailed evaluation of a clickstream to really spot an online Canadian.

This is a big deal for many brands where product offerings and regulatory restrictions differ tremendously: Auto, pharma, consumer goods - they all have this issue.

Social media marketing campaigns are a uniquely equipped to handle the nuances of today's cross-border brand leakage. Because social media conversations are authentic, one-on-one conversations, you have the luxury of pointing individuals to the information (or messaging) that is most appropriate for them. For example, you could direct a young Canadian to US sources of Scion info in advance of the Canadian Scion launch, and notify them of the Canadian offerings when they occur. You could facilitate conversations between passionate brand Molson drinkers on both sides of the border (does it taste different, really?) to spark debate. Same for Gatorade - does Gatorade taste better in Canada because it is served colder?

It is with this opportunity in mind that today I'm excited to announce the launch of com.motion USA. And to make sure we tap the brightest minds we are setting up shop in Boulder, Colorado - the heart of Social Media USA.

com.motion USA's goal will be to offer global brands the opportunity to embrace social media and inspire authentic conversations between real people. This is marketing in the 21st century.

I've been kicking around the social media industry for a few years, and have helped some of the largest global brands think about their social media strategies. (MicroSoft, Pfizer & Chrysler, to name a few.) I'm looking forward to talking with you.

Social Media - not just a Marketing Effort

One of the best things about managing social media pro-actively is that you get feedback from your customer and prospect.

However, one of the scary things about managing social media pro-actively is that your boss and everyone else in the organization also sees this feedback. And if there's one thing that customer service people have known for a long time, it is that the loudest voices tend to be the malcontents. Ask Frank at Comcast.

So the key lesson here is that if you are a brand manager and sprinkle a little $$$ behind engaging in social media, you need to be prepared to play a new kind of corporate quarterback. You are going to get feedback that is relevant for your brand far beyond the walls of marketing and PR. Your VP of Customer Service, your VP of Product Development, your VP of R&D, your SVP of Investor Relations and your head of Operations are all going to be interested in the nuggets you uncover as you start to talk with and get to know your social media influencers.

A lot of marketeers are at least somewhat familiar with this from their market research work, but the feedback from social media is a bit less scientific, so when you go to your CEO and say "the sentiment on our brand shifted negative yesterday and the main theme appears to be Britney Spears" be ready for some raised eyebrows. Most organizations are not yet equipped to handle the kind of rapid and detailed feedback that social media relationships offer - but this is the opportunity. The social media world can be a great hub of information for myriad departments - and as the purveyor's of great, relevant and timely information, they can become a powerful group.

So embrace the feedback, share it and manage it. Helping your organization get close to your customers is a really, really good thing.