Just The Social Marketing Facts

Here's a great video with food for thought about the growth of social media.

CDC Prescribes Social Media

One would think, with all the regulation, legal and confidentiality issues in the medical field, public health entities would shun social media the way everyone else shuns ebola. The Center For Disease Control, however, has embraced the media and is using it like a stethoscope with blue tooth.

Their MDs, PHDs and MPHs have found social media to be a great way to get information out about health issues and train people all over the world. They have several programs currently running and are expanding their capabilities. As they say on their website:

Why use social marketing?

Social marketing can be thought of as a mindset used in planning and partnership development, or a structured and strategic planning process. It can be used to influence the behavior of individuals or the behavior of policymakers and influential persons for policy and environmental changes.

The structured planning process allows you to make well-informed decisions about what audiences to target, what are their specific needs, and how you can meet those needs. The development of programs or products to effectively change behavior can be accomplished by understanding your audience.

They not only use these methods but they prescribe it for other health organizations. The center’s website has several case studies for health organizations to learn from and apply.

Below, is also the start of a video about how the CDC is using social media for H1N1. Click for the full video. It’s the first emergency where social marketing is used as a health tool. It won’t be the last.

Become A Member Of My Twibe

Hello, my name is David (Hi David) and I am a Twibes addict. Yes, I’m also a Facebook, LinkedIn and Blogging addict, but Twibes is my newest obsession.

Twibes.com allows you to join and create groups of twitter users. Why is this my newest crack cocaine? I have been following interesting people for awhile, but most of their tweets don’t interest me. With Twibes, you join a group with a similar interest.

So, if you’re into running, all the tweets in the twibe have to do with those of us insane enough to count strides and collect numbered bibs.

I can read all about all my favorite subjects at 140 characters at a time. If I want more, I can use the twibe as a portal to my new friends‘ sites or blogs. Basically, it’s a fan page for people with short attention spans.

So far, I’ve joined five twibes and started three, SocialMediaMarketers, AtlantaAdClub and AtlantaMarketers. I’m also going to recommend all my clients start a Twibe for their business. It’s a great way to reach out to new Twitterers.

So, I’ll play the street corner kid with his hood up. “C’mon. Everyone is doing it. Don’t you want to be cool. This first Twibe is on me.”

Social Marketing Movie

It was date last night and I went to the Movie Tavern for a burger and a film. The movie was “Julie & Julia,” the first movie I’ve seen about blogging. I don’t think I’m spoiling it when I give away the social media part of the movie.

In the movie, Julie and Julia both try to do more with their lives by writing about the thing they love: cooking. Julie, the 2002 version of the story, the writing takes place ona blog. As Julie says, “I can write a blog. I have ideas.” That blog, based on cooking all of Julia Child's recipes in one year, goes out to thousands and gives her a spring board to fame, fortune, and a fulfilling life.

It’s a case study on the big screen.

Click here to view the trailer:

5 Creative Facebook Marketing Tips

Facebook is a great place to get your message out. There are the usual methods of using the site: fan pages, group pages, building your profile, gifting, buying advertising space.

Creativity, however can set you apart. It’s an interactive area, so the more interactive you can be the better. I’ve just come up with a couple of quick suggestions for improving your updates that are free, smart and can set you apart.

1. Give your updates brand personality. Find your brand’s sense of humor. If you’re a high end restaurant, be high-brow and witty. If you have the best dive in town, be low-brow and outrageous. If you’re an accountant, well... self-deprecating humor works too.
2. Get creative with contests. People love to win something or even just feel smart. Give them ways to do that. A travel agent might put up random streets all over the world and ask people to guess what city the picture is from. If you’re a band, people love to play name that tune.
3. Reward people with interesting facts. When I worked on the Orkin Pest Control account, we learned that people were intrigued about learning facts about bugs. I wrote songs with lyrics like “In cracks so thin/ that’s where he’s been/ instead of clothes he wears and exoskeleton / Oh, he’s an ant.” People loved them.
4. Use your fans. People need to express themselves. They may even use their talents to express their feelings for your brand. If a 6 year-old draws a great picture of your logo on his placemat, put it up as if your fan page is his grandmother’s fridge. Get your customers involved and they’ll feel more a part of a community.
5. Integrate, integrate, integrate. Don’t separate Facebook from everything else you do. Match your updates with events at your location. If you put up a funny billboard down the street, take a picture and put it on an update. Always, let your fans know about special deals.

Facebook is a great tool if you use it correctly. If you set yourself up only because “you should” then to open yourself up to disappoint your core customers. But by rewarding them, you strengthen your relationship with them.

The Voice Of McDonald’s, Dairy Queen and The Grove.

Every blog, tweet, television spot or press release speaks in “the voice of the brand.” But who is the voice of the brand? The CEO sets the vision and the tone of a company, but rarely the voice. The founder sets the heritage which is a part of the voice, but Ray Krok would be flipping his current real estate if he saw the voice of his brand today. Is it the CMO, the brand manager, the advertising/digital/PR/media agencies, or some copywriter in a cube?

The truth is, it’s none of these people and all of these people. A company or brand isn’t one person or a logo, it’s every interaction a consumer has with the company. You might have the best CEO or marketing person ever, but if the woman behind the counter is chewing gum, with dirty fingernails, and an attitude most Yankee fans would find abrasive then the voice of the company plain sucks.

Social media works mainly in the same way. Plenty of people believe the only one who can write a blog about a brand is the head of the company. I don’t believe this is true. There are plenty of great people in and out of companies that can write about the culture, the passion, the fun, the quality and the products of a company. It’s how a business handles all these voices that matters.

There are a bunch of McDonald’s blogs. The official blog is the corporate do-good, responsibility blog crmcdonalds.com. The McChronicles.com talks about the food’s nutrition or lack there of. An employee blog called McDonald’s Talk narrates the life and times of a new employee. McDonaldsblog.com has one post “Come on McDonald’s--get your act together.” As a McDonald’s fan (Mmmmm, french fries) and stock holder (oooh, dividends), I agree, get your act together.

Dairy Queen, on the other hand, seems to understand that the brand is owned by everyone that wants to be a part of the conversation. They have the fan page, the blog, the twitter page, and more. Each update gives a bit of entertainment, or deals, or good information for the customers. The result is that they have 177,000 fans, over 2,000 comments, and truckloads of tweets--almost all positive. Bravo to the CMO, the agency, the copywriter, whomever else, etc.

So, what about my favorite neighborhood mom and pop restaurant, The Grove. They’ve got a friendly crew serving lunch and dinner. The nachos and wings are fabulous. The owners are behind the bar with a smile and small talk about college football. I would love to put all that into a podcast and broadcast it. That is the voice of their brand. It’s everywhere around their restaurant and should be on twitter, facebook, YouTube and their blog.

The only one who isn’t setting the tone, diction, color and wit that makes a brand unique is a company not speaking. Two things happen to that silence, it’s either filled by someone else or it’s forgotten.

The Cops' YouTube--BluTube

Police not only have a badge, gun and ticket pad to fight crime. They now have their own video share site called BluTube.com.

A new friend, Jennifer from the Speak Media blog, recently told me about this site and I was amazed. I must admit I'm now slightly addicted. You can watch a police officer tasering a 76-year old woman, car chases, and real life police take-downs. Bad boy, bad boys, what you gonna do.