• Agency Team Leader – The visionary who can layout the communications plan to fit the overall marketing plan and make sure that any tactic (promotion, coupon, giveaway) is in line with the overall objective, and monitors the “premium-ness” of all content; they can assign tasks, create personas, etc.
• Client Team Leader – The gatekeeper to the client side. They assign internal resources, provide approvals, and add industry insight and goal-shifts
• Teamsters – Those who implement the plan through scheduling the posts, replying to comments, etc. These people can be from either the agency or client side

Overall, one big obstacle between a team member and success is having the freedom to speak in the voice of the brand and for the brand. While it is ideal for the client to maintain control of these elements, it is not always practical to assign so much to one person, unless that is their only role within the organization. That’s why we at Warren Douglas work so hard to cultivate a relationship of trust with our clients by having guidelines, responses and cultural norms discussed at the beginning of any client/agency relationship. We take it as our job to make sure our premium clients are always seen in the best light.

Question: Do you have a social media team in place? What does that look like for your organization, and what have you seen as victories and pitfalls in social media management roles?

This post is second in a series. See other posts on this topic here.

Though it may seem rudimentary, a lot of brands are unable to determine the best way to use social media to gain a positive return on investment. Or, even worse, just think of a great idea and don’t build it into the overall marketing strategic objectives of their brand. So, the best way to approach it is to concentrate on the strategies behind the actions, or tactics. Truthfully, this one streamlined marketing approach is what can separate a premium brand from the pack.

For a brand starting out in social media, it can be hard to define what kinds of strategies can be accomplished via social media channels. These often fall into one of the following categories:

• Brand Awareness – increase the awareness of your product, brand or offering
• Build Community – create a community of advocates devoted to your brand identity, values, and product offerings
• Customer Activation – engage with new users to funnel them to a sales channel to purchase a retail item
• Generate Leads – engage with new users to funnel them to a sales team to close the deal
• Customer Service – manage the existing relationship with up-to-minute responses and crises management

Social media can be overwhelming when considering it as a whole, so be sure to have strategic goals strapped tightly to any initiative to keep the creativity effectively aligned with overall objectives. While any brand can apply these principles, they are the building blocks upon which a premium brand must stand in order to execute and communicate with the premium consumer.

Social media is the easiest place for consumers to detect disorganization, fragmentation and plain lack of premiumness … for lack of a better word. But it is also a growing opportunity for premium brands to shine in these strategic categories when executed properly.

As part of the LinkedIn mentality, there comes a strict policy that only insiders to the organization are allowed to make this type of contact with a profile. When searching for connections, send one too many requests who claim they don’t know you (that would be a total of two, in actuality), and you are put on strict probation. However, now, for a price, LinkedIn will allow you to speak directly to the CEO of Kraft foods. I’m sure that PPC will be through the roof. However, it begs to leave the question as to whether the CEO of a company wants to see advertisements for agencies, new software products or accounting firms.

While this new initiative seems contradictory, we have to ask ourselves if this isn’t the latest trend in all social networking platforms, whether professional or not. Just like those clamoring to get their message in front of a higher-up to provide an opportunity to make a buck, so is LinkedIn using the opportunity to get in on the cash flow. Twitter already allows you to target profiles and inundate streams with direct messages pimping a brand, and you can’t help but wonder if that isn’t the next step in Google’s master plan of social search—integration with AdWords.

Bottom line is that while it seems we can’t get any sense of privacy even from networks that pride themselves on their privacy policies, it does seem that the age-old marketing principles of supply and demand are still at work. If you can supply me with a way to make my life easier at a click of a button, then you can demand a price for it, and should—no matter what your original point of differentiation may, might, maybe, could have been. All I have to say to LinkedIn is, good luck with this one …

One example: the major Gap debacle. After years of promoting the classic Gap logo, corporate management underwent a re-branding effort complete with new logo. As a soft launch, the logo on their e-commerce site was nonchalantly replaced. Backlash ensued! Via Gap’s Facebook Fan Page, every comment from housewives to Creative Directors bashed the logo. Apparently, Gap didn’t know that their logo was so iconic! As a result, Gap tried to defend this move, but fans would have nothing of it. They wanted the classic logo back. Gap has now decided to stick with old faithful and save themselves millions in replacing name tags and other collateral—not to mention further public humiliation.

Another example can be found within Proctor & Gamble. In a New York Times article, Marc Pritchard, global marketing and chief branding officer states,”we are at the start of one of the most exciting eras in brand-building history.” P&G, which is the world’s largest marketer by spending and known for extensive product research with branding processes envied the world-over, is taking branding and marketing cues from regular people via social media. For example, commercials that “were almost pulled” by higher-ups, were saved solely by positive comments about the spot in their social media outlets!

Social media is a great way to get your message in front of millions of consumers, but it also is a great way for consumers to get their message across to the brand. In this day and age, even after research, marketers still run the risk of alienating their consumers (Tropicana!). The value of immediate and substantial feedback from your most vocal brand advocates is almost priceless. Social media, though still very  much a buzz word, is beginning to prove that it has a place in legitimate marketing strategy—most of all among premium brands.

I believe this new invention—although it’s basically a larger iPod Touch—could revolutionize print advertising as we know it today. Truth be told, when I’m reading news online in a traditional web-browser format, ads are too often easy to ignore. Online, I don’t get the same level of marketing impact as I do when I’m flipping through the pages of the printed form of a magazine, looking at full-page ad after full-page ad. That printed form, however, makes the metrics of my intake of that marketing message tough to measure. How long did I stare at the ad? Did the pages stick together, making me miss it altogether? Did this ad’s call-to-action (visit www.companywebsite.com) prompt me to do something? Wouldn’t marketers like to know!

The middle ground the iPad could occupy between the PDA and the laptop could be just the remedy that publishers and marketers have been waiting for, especially if the technology will allow users to earn their subscriptions by agreeing to view the ads measurably. People want free content. Publishers want to sell ads AND charge for the content. Looks to me like the paradigm could soon shift to an online format where consumers could choose: view ads and let us measure your interaction for free content, or just look at everything at your leisure and pay for all the content. Either way, advertising still drives the financial model. That’s good for ad agencies, and that’s good for the publishers.

Boy, I’d hate to be Kindle right now.

No … I’m tired of marketers’ and researchers’ ploys to convince me and my clients that Social Media only applies to white female moms with HHI of $75K+. This may sound like a ridiculous thing to be fed up with, but hear me out.

1. While the fact that here 300 million users on Facebook and there are more females (55%) using the site than males is consistently parroted,  the thing that is often overlooked is that 45% of those users are going to be male. When I made a mock Facebook ad targetting males in the U.S. 25-54, 24,722,340 users came up as eligible to receive my Facebook ad. 24,722,340! How it the world is this an insignificant number to other marketers? Having just a fraction of that number for fans creates an opportunity for some of the most targeted and meaningful advertising in the world today!
2. According to a recent study by Liberty Mutual, two very interesting facts about men’s online behavior include the following:
   • With the exception of Facebook, men are generally more likely than women to use their other social media accounts at least a few times a week, particularly Twitter.
   • MySpace: 35 percent of men vs. 26 percent of women, LinkedIn: 25 percent of men vs. 16 percent of women, and Twitter: 53 percent of men vs. 38 percent of women
   • Dads are more likely than moms to have a MySpace account or a Twitter account, 43 percent vs. 29 percent and 50 percent vs. 32 percent, respectively.
3. And, lastly, simply perusing the LinkedIn site, I came across their demographic breakdown of users—51% male, HHI 100K+, 35–50+. Don’t know about your marketing experience, but the mere fact that there is a single place where this demographic comes to talk about all things corporate and business-related, where I don’t have to do any schmoozing, is the greatest gift I’ve been given in a long time. One could equate it to finding the Holy Grail.

Moral of the story: Men are on social networking sites. They have different objectives, different patterns, but are on there nonetheless. So, please, stop assuming that every online tactic has to be centered around shopping moms. Because the truth is, the great success of those campaigns is only because coupons are the big rage in the “economy today.” It’s the only reason I joined half the Fan Pages I did, and I’ve not visited again … NOT ONCE.

So, I’m begging, stop all this bleating about mom, and take a look at half the world your advertising is missing out on by making assumptions rather than looking at the facts—men use social media. Get used to it.

So, while knee-deep in indexing products within the grocery, home, software, and health & beauty categories, I began to wonder what would happen if I indexed the popular sites YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook against each other. Taking information from Mediamark Research & Intelligence® (MRI), Google analytics and other special goodness (we’ll never tell!), our system plotted these guys on a scale of 0 to 100 in what we call “premiumness.”

Not all too shockingly, MySpace came in as the least premium with a score of 5 out of 100, while Facebook ranked at 49, and YouTube at a whopping 96! Among other factors, the interesting details that surface include the knowledge that 49% less information is consumed on MySpace than it’s counterparts. Also, 45% of MySpace users also use Facebook, which, if talking about cream cheese, we’d consider to be a brand loyalty problem.

The data also reveals interesting trends in the buy styles of these media consumers—20% of YouTube users fall into the category of “Buyers of the Best.” This generally denotes that they are brand loyal and tend to be willing to spend that extra dollar to get it. YouTube users also tend to have a higher overall income and have the most loyal following in incomes of $200K+.

While all this data is wonderful, how do we apply it to marketing in the real world? It may not seem too far-fetched from our current assumptions that YouTube is pandemic, Facebook is getting there (if China will let them), and MySpace is just plain sad. However, when structuring a marketing plan for a brand that utilizes these three modes of social media transportation, it is emperical evidence that it does matter which brands advertise where.

For instance, even though my last post indicated that 18–22 year olds are now purchasing more specialty food items, a such brand should not inherently push all their efforts into a MySpace campaign. We learn in this study that not only are MySpace subscribers less loyal to brands, they also aren’t the 18–22 year olds with the cash to spend. Also, they tend to lean toward coupon purchases, which most specialty foods cannot afford to do.

So, while this exercise is not 100% fool-proof—and is done mainly as an illustration (we charge for the real thing!)—it does convey the general idea that not all entities within a category can be premium. There are definite factors determined by the consumer’s perceptions, behaviors and experiences that shape what your brand is. And doesn’t it just make you the least bit curious to find out how premium your brand is?

The other day, Mr. Bossy Boss told me a tale about this Facebook friend calling him and reiterating an interesting conversation he had with “Mr. Boss Man” on Facebook chat. Evidently, “Mr. Boss” had told this friend that he needed money for his cousin but he had been mugged while in the UK. FBfriend replies, “Are you a Nigerian Prince?” The profile hijacker immediately shuts down the chat and unfriends the witty little guy.

Needless to say, Bossy changes his password, and his status to tell everyone about the potential scammer on the loose. Later that night, his wife goes to check his Fbook, and lo and behold … he is not there.

No friends. No profile. No Farmville Animals. Mr. Bossy Boss was Facebook murdered.

Shocking tales like these are occurring more and more within the Facebook realm. Due to its international popularity, Fbook has become the #1 target for spreading viruses, hijacking information and all-around chaotic malarkey! It is an alarming powerhouse in our world today—it has the ability to connect you to anything, but also disconnect you from the world, your fans, and even worse, your consumers—all in the blink of an eye.

Premium brands that don’t engage with newer types of interactive media are like Mr. Bossy Boss and his imposter—someone out there is representing their brand, whether they like or not, and they are taking control. However, if you play the game right, those imposters won’t matter, because, like real-life friends, once you build your relationships, brand advocates will know that you’re not a “Nigerian Prince.” They’ll recognize your brand’s true voice and learn to trust it.

The bottom line to consider is this: Life is scary. And social media is just life happening online. So, learn how to interact effectively with the real world, and you’ll see that being a “victim” online isn’t as easy as it first sounded. Your brand will be able to handle it. Your brand will be better for it.

Last night, while watching my recording of Wednesday’s So You Think You Can Dance (yes, I’m one of those people), the show’s host introduced me to a group called “The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers.” While this seems like a fun name, I was hardly going to believe what a TV show produced by American Idol aficionado Nigel Lythgoe told me. Like any consumer, I had to consider the source.

But as the music began and I saw the opening moments of the performance, there was an immediate sense of pride in making the right decision to stick with the program. The time and effort put into each execution. The attention to detail! They were fantastic. Beyond excellent. They were extraordinary. And I proceeded to go online and watch the YouTube version of the performance below 5 more times that night. And then a few more today.

There were other performers on the show who were great. It’s a dance competition, for heaven’s sake! But these performers stood out because they have created this product, this “brand,” with creativity, something distinguishable, something unique, and, hopefully not to be too trite, something premium. And not every brand can play at this level, but when articulated and executed well, the consumer is hooked. And living up to your claims defines consumer retention.

So, brand managers, before settling with any creative or strategic execution, ask yourself a few things—what is it about your brand that is truly extraordinary? What is it that your product does within its category that is beyond normal? And how can you tell that story in a like fashion? Articulate and demonstrate these assets, and your customers will develop a sense of pride and belief in your brand, as well. And though it may seem basic, it works. Trust us. We at WD create such extraordinary every day.

These fond memories, however, are just that this year—memories. Because the 2009 holiday season is rife with new and larger opportunities to get the latest on Black Friday deals with minimal effort through my favorite information-sharing platform—Social Media.

From Facebook to Twitter to specialized web sites and splash pages, this thing we lovingly call the “inter-web” has revolutionized even the biggest in-store selling opportunity of the year. Some of my favorite, yet not necessarily new, uses of SM to promote Black Friday sales are below:

• Toys ‘R Us Fan Page – These geniuses have become the fastest-growing brand on Fbook simply by developing a custom Black Friday Preview application which lets Facebook fans find out what deals are available before the rest of the masses.
• Blackfriday.info – This site compiles and organizes all those pesky inserts and mini-catalogs into one place. You can also add items to a customizable list as well as check store open and closing times.
• @blackfriday on Twitter – This user lists deals, stories and tips to get the most out of your Black Friday. My favorite tip is a link to a page where JCPenney-sponsored Cindy Crawford will send you a wake-up call to get up and get shopping!
• BF Deals App – While not technically social media, and not free, this app lets you see a map of other users at stores so you can find a less crowded one, and it sends your deals to your Twitter account – there really is “an app for that,” too.

So, while these developments, and the many others like them, don’t necessarily mean greater sales or margin growth for retailers, they do provide further evidence of the power of real-time and easily accessible information, even when it comes to advertising. Because, let’s face it, Black Friday is the one day a year when people are actually CLAMORING to hear what retailers have to say and now there are a plethora of options and avenues for them to reach that information. And, in a world where the marketing dollar doesn’t quite go as far as we’d like, what could possibly be wrong with that?