Getting Real in the Virtual World

In our industry, new buzzwords pop up constantly, and lately it has been “authentic.”

Last month, I attended AdweekMedia’s Social Media Strategies conference in New York and its What Teens Want conference in L.A. In normal conference manner, professionals described how they have managed to garner enviable results within their unique market. The lesson learned for the jealous and zealous in the audience: Find an authentic brand voice and never stray from it.

In social media, Twitter handles and Facebook fan pages should be run the way you would run your own: Make frequent updates (don’t appear as though you slept all day), answer and interact with your friends and followers, and make statements that reflect your voice and are interesting to more than just you and your colleagues. From PepsiCo’s Shiv Singh to H&R Block’s Zena Weist to Threadless’s Cam Balzer, they all said the keys to success are to never underestimate the consumer’s genuine-content radar or stray from a brand’s personality. Plus, tweets, posts and viral content should never seem commercial.

Let’s talk teens. They can sense a lack of authenticity from a mile away. To this demographic, social media allows for an additional outlet of growth, one where they can experiment with their identity and find groups where they fit in best. They have hundreds of friends on Facebook and won’t waste their time “liking” a brand that doesn’t behave in a personal manner.

Musicians who spoke at each of the conferences preached this message the loudest. Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy, a keynote speaker at Social Media Strategies, credited MySpace with some of his celebrity success and said transparency is the key. Fans must know you, he said, the musician or musical brand communicating with them. At What Teens Want, Troy Carter, manager for Lady Gaga and up-and-comer tween Grayson Chance, said his stars are the only ones with the passwords to their very active Twitter accounts. The teen sensation band Honor Society further cemented this fact when commenting on their online brand presence; @WhatTeensWant tweeted, “HS: We are who u see. We talk 2 our fans the way we normally speak. So our fans just add 2 our social presence. We’re out there on display.”

As Nick Bilton of The New York Times said at Social Media Strategies, the future of media across all platforms is conversation. So when planning how to communicate a brand’s voice, remember that authentic conversation is what will prevail in the world of social media.

*Originally posted here on 11-10-10.

The New Moveable Feast/Branding Oppportunity

You’d have to live under a rock to not have been swept up by, or at least heard of, the latest culinary craze: food trucks. California has always had its taco trucks, but now you can find gourmet crepes, sophisticated meatball sandwiches and even schnitzel on a corner or curb near you. L.A., Austin and New York have legitimized the mobile food business; The New York Times even called food trucks “a staple of New York dining.” According to Zagat’s 2011 New York City Restaurant Survey, 26 percent of respondents reported eating from gourmet food trucks at least occasionally, and 11 percent said they follow food trucks on social networks such as Twitter.

When food trucks themselves figured out social media—getting involved in a space that reached more eyes than just their parking spot—that’s when they gained popularity and attention. Social media links consumers with the brands they love in a way that feels more personal than a traditional advertisement. Through social media, food trucks—brands that are local by nature—break through the cyberwall, becoming tangible to their followers. Fans read a Facebook post or tweet and are able to visit the truck in minutes, depending on its current location.

But it’s not just the novelty of better moveable feasts that’s worth talking about; it’s also what the communications industry is doing with them. Brands unrelated to these mobile restaurants are taking notice of the fan bases they have and jumping on the bandwagon to reach consumers. Advertisers are starting to see trucks as a vehicle for delivering their message directly to consumers, hoping to capitalize on the trend. Food trucks are, in essence, the new celebrity endorsement: Being paid to attend events, they deliver messages directly to an audience and were even called “a mobile billboard on steroids” by Michael Chamberlin, executive vice president and director of client services at BBDO San Francisco, which created a ski-pass promotion campaign for the Heavenly resort in Lake Tahoe that included a truck filled with snow cones. Heinz is currently on a road trip across the United States, attracting the food truck audience to its brand with free fries and ketchup.

Judging by food fests across the U.S. this summer, it seems evident that the only problem food trucks have is keeping up with the consumer demand for what they cart around. I’d say this new medium is going to be around for a while. The race is on to see which non-edible brands will cook up campaigns that consumers find the tastiest first!

*Originally posted here.

Why I am Gabs

As a PR Pro, I get requests from reporters throughout the day. A recent one was titled, "I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT!" I was immediately intrigued. I responded with the story of my name and thought I'd share it here too:

My name is Gabrielle. My mom taught me, from day one, that I should NOT, under any circumstance let anyone call me "Gabby." She HATES that name but named me Gabrielle anyway because she loved its multi-lingual ability. She named my sister Victoria, for the same reasons, with the same rule that we should never be called "Vicky." Before I could defend myself, my mom would caution others to use my full name. When I started speaking, I would quickly jump at the chance to correct people that my name was, in fact, Gabrielle and not Gabby.

This name was tough for other little kids to pronounce, but they eventually figured it out. Sometime when I was little, my dad started calling me "Gabs," then, when I was 8 I made a new friend who gave me the same nickname. My mom didn't protest and I started liking it's soft quality and uniqueness. However, this was a name reserved for my daddy and best friend and my same instinct that kept others from calling me Gabby jumped at the opportunity to let others know that they still needed to call me Gabrielle.

In high school, more people started hearing me being called "Gabs" and took the name on for me. It was either let them call me that, or take on "Schaefer" (my last name) that my history teacher insisted on. Gabs was much more feminine and personal. And who doesn't want to feel connected in high school, the way a nick name allows?

By high school graduation I was Gabs -- my mom and grandma had even transitioned. And, for my new little brother, 15 years my junior, the name Gabs was much easier to teach than Gabrielle was to teach to my sister who grew up in California with a mysterious Brooklyn accent.

So, as I entered the intern world and minimum wage world, and took off for college, I was "Gabs." Now, I had a nickname that can't stand as a name on its own and had to teach people, once again, what to call me. I was at a point where my whole world knew me as Gabs and I hardly responded to Gabrielle, except when substitute teachers were calling roll (although they normally called out "Gabriel" instead and were shocked when a girl said "here.)" I quickly had to tell people to please call me Gabs, to avoid the Gabby debacle all over again.

By the end of college, I was Gabs again, called "Gabrielle" by my best friend and college roommate who wanted to call me something "special." Then, I entered the work force. This time, Gabs clicked quickly. I have no idea why, but I'm thankful. I took on a first job out of school while I searched for my 'real job.' The day I went to interview for that job, he told me "Remember to make them call you Gabrielle, not Gabs." That shocked me a little but reminded me that the name I call my own is not, in fact, a real name.

However, people wanted my nickname again and now I even sign emails to the President of our company as "Gabs," but have to remember, when emailing clients and vendors to spell out my full name so they don't think I'm a freak with a half name.

There are a few stragglers who still call me "Gabby" but for some reason, from certain people, it's tolerable. Although, I hope those people never get caught saying it in front of my mother!

So, after 23 years, I've become my nickname, "Gabs," and don't think I'll ever be Gabrielle, and will definitely never be "Gabby" again.

So please remember, I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT!

xoxo

Gabs

All Aboard Working World

Dear Working World,

You've been given a free ticket on the Twitter train and you're not using it!!!

Twitter has over 75 Million users with growing numbers everyday. What are you so afraid of?!

What's that you say? You have five reasons?

According to socialmedia.biz, they are....

1) You're afraid you’ll lose control of your brand and open yourself up to negative feed back —

A conversation by nature is risky business, a chess game of words if you will. You say one thing and your conversational partner responds. There's no way of knowing how he or she will respond to what you say and how you will need to adjust the conversation from that point. However, you manage to have plenty of these exchanges everyday.

Some are in person, some are over the phone (or in text) and some are in email and even snail mail. Now, they are online over social media platforms. Whether they be 140 characters in each pass or pieces of a 2 hour coffee break, they are all fundamentally conversations.

That being said, your partner's response in the conversation is much the same as 'feedback' in social media. Sometimes it's hard to hear, and other times it's wonderful, and even sometimes you could take it or leave it.

Positive feedback is something that can be captured in a screenshot and count as measurable effectiveness in terms of that one person. However, what is unmeasurable, yet valuable, is the fact that the positive comment was read by anyone following that person on twitter and anyone reading the brand's profile on twitter. It's like a bug you want your consumers to catch.

Negative feedback, on the other side of the coin, is just as powerful. It is not only seen by you as a brand, but seen by all followers in this public space.

Facebook reflects on a problem such as this, "If you roll out a feature to 10 million people and 10% don't like it, that's a lot of hate mail," says Mike Schroepfer, VP of engineering.

However, it's not enough 'hate mail' to put Facebook out of business. In fact, if a company uses social media to their advantage, they will evaluate negative feedback and enhance their brand accordingly. Then, all of the observers of the 'hate mail' will see your response and actually positively respond to your care for the consumer.

2) You don’t understand it —

Social media is, by definition, social. Multiple platforms offer information sharing and conversational outlets. Whether you use Facebook(social networking), Twitter (micro-blogging), Flickr (photo sharing), etc., you are interacting wtih people you know and don't know for a common reason. All of the platforms offer search where you can turn the platform into a refined information source. (Google it)

3) The effectiveness of social media is hard to measure —

While it may be harder to measure than the already vague, yet agreed upon, impression numbers that are derived for print media; but, effectiveness can be measured through the use of hashtags (#) or hits on the website. When used correctly, social media is merely a component of a brand's promotion. It works along side advertisements, word of mouth, promotions, in store products and the corporation as a whole. However, since it is hosted online, you can relate it to visits to the brand's website. For instance, if you are having an online only sale and you promote the sale on social media sites with a link, and your website gets a lot of hits that day as well as sales, you can assume (without making anything out of you and me) that the effectiveness was, in part, due to involvement on the social media site. It's word of mouth, but sight of eyes.

A social media consultant remarked, “I think back to the ’90s with Web sites and companies that said, ‘I’ll never do that,’” said Murray Izenwasser. “I don’t know any business now that doesn’t have a Web site. It’s just for the legitimacy factor now.” Social media is called new media for a reason. It is new, and not going anywhere. It is the new logo, the new commerical, the new website -- it's the next step in maintaining a brand. (Don't miss the boat.)

4 You're afraid that employees will be on Facebook and twitter chatting all day

Some companies actually BEG employees to be on twitter all day. (Maybe not Facebook unless you're the employee responsible for programming on it for the company.)

Twitter allows the company to have a minute-to-minute voice, an approachable outlet to connect with consumers, both new and old. Twitter is a valuable way to pass around information, about the company and about what the company knows. Tweeting valuable industry news shows those watching you that you're in-the-know. You know your industry, you know your competition any you're making informed choices.

A critical perspective of this would agree with the following: We are becoming mommy penguins. We eat something, don't digest, and then pass it off to someone else hoping they will make full use of it. However, even this act is valuable.

The companies that worry about activity online disrupting the workflow, take to 'locking out.' "Locking out the sites is a common practice throughout the corporate world where managers are dually concerned about lack of productivity and the risk that someone posts something harmful or disparaging while on the clock." Sadly this practice discourages conversation, learning from others and modern growth. Block systems that do not contribute to your company, but I am unable to think of a reason why you should block Twitter. Tweets are 140-character pops of self-promotion. If your company chooses a hashtag (#) to associate with tweets (that employees should use at the end of messages) you will receive a following bigger than you may have known possible.

5) Social media is costly —

One source disagrees with, "Even traditional media do not offer such a following for free. That is the beauty of social media. They are powerful tools for communicating with millions of users for such affordable fees. In fact, Twitter and a host of other social media are free and the only investment you need to make is time, which depending on your representative can be really cheap for your business or really expensive." This is why in house communications teams may maintain a constant voice with a company name Twitter avitar while employees add to this with #'d comments - to spend time where appropriate. Companies also hire PR agencies to maintain their online persona, sending Tweets out to followers with a branded voice. So yes, social media may be costly, but it's only innappropriately costly depending on your priorities in message output.

All in all, social media can benefit, and at the very least be used by, all types of businesses. From handing out coupons over the internet, to linking to an article on your site, to telling family in waiting rooms what exactly is going on in the operation room.

For a long time, brands conducted focus groups and went undercover in their consumers element to try and find out what they are thinking and how to best reach them. However, the secrecy, unless desired by the brand, isn't necessary anymore. Now, consumers are placing themselves in portals where brands also live and are ready and able to engage in conversations with them. The best companies will see this opportunity and rather than deny themselves of it, they will strategically approach the Twitter train and ride it in a way that reflects their company correctly.

Real Time - Weekly

First it was bra colors, now it’s celebrity look-alikes, and coming up might be Urban Dictionary. What’s next?

Last week, Facebook became star-studded as people changed their profile pictures and filled in their status to read: “Change your profile picture to someone famous (actor, musician, athlete, etc.) you have been told you look like. After you update your profile with your twin or switched at birth photo then cut/paste this to your status.”

It was Facebook’s newest status update trend: Doppelgänger Week. Or maybe we should call it Facebook Social Media Case Study, Part II.

The last Facebook update uproar was about bra colors. The viral campaign—started by an unknown user—was meant to promote breast cancer awareness by having women change their status to the color of the bra they were wearing. The results are unknown, but the amount of impressions gained was impressive.

Critics such as Time suggest that “this was Internet slacktivism at its finest, a pointless gesture that raised no money and took no tangible action.” Yet it did garner hype and attention—just as the Doppelgänger campaign has been doing.

As Mashable points out, “the result is still both interesting and hilarious, depending on who your friends think they look like.” I didn’t notice the viral takeover until one of my girlfriends popped up as Kenny G. This was comical, as my friend’s curly red hair mimics, to a T, the musician’s old-school looks. Others are just plain debatable; after all, would the highest-paid actors in Hollywood really be what they are if they had hundreds of identical twins? Probably not.

Doppelgänger Week is different in two obvious ways from its bra-color predecessor: 1. AsTime notes, it does not support a viable cause. 2. Both genders can participate.

But it’s the same in one very interesting way: It proves that social media does operate in real time, and that it can create a communication phenomenon quickly—and globally. The current Facebook campaign, allegedly started by IT guy Bob Patel (a Tom Selleck look-alike), again shows the power of a simple viral campaign. With no microsite or cost factor, the campaign has wide participation on Facebook and is being cross-promoted on Twitter.

The bra bit and the celebrity look-alikes should count as ample preliminary research on which both marketers and corporations can base viral campaigns. It doesn’t take a million dollars and a dog-and-pony show to catch your audience’s attention. All it takes is a fun, participatory online event that the consumer wants to be associated with. In this case, who doesn’t love a good narcissistic moment or the opportunity to laugh at someone else’s?

In an interview on Facebook’s blog, Sam Gosling, professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, said: “So many people are on the social networking sites. And although from the outside their activities may appear frivolous, they clearly aren’t, because so many people devote so much time and psychological energy to them.”

So, although Time might think these campaigns are examples of slacker-activism, they possess immense value because of the psychological energy that consumers invest.

Ultimately, the goal of any online campaign is to create buzz around a message in order to lead to a measurable result—profit, awareness, donations, etc. The bra color campaign might not have been initiated by a breast cancer–related organization, but it did create a global conversation among many of the 325 million (and counting) people on Facebook about breast cancer awareness. Likewise, the Doppelgänger campaign might not seem to have a practical purpose, but it drove millions of users to MyHeritage.com, a family tree site with an application that allows you to find celebrities that resemble you.

It’s rumored that the next big thing is going to be Urban Dictionary Week, when people will go to Urbandictionary.com to find what their name means according to this street-lingo-wise dictionary and post the definition as their Facebook status.

This might be a trend that consumers tire of, or it could become something that people look forward to each week. If that’s the case, the pioneers of grassroots weekly status campaigns and what Time calls “Facebook groupthink” have opened up a whole new bag of social media tricks that will become a coveted tool for marketers. Facebook’s growing population and the word-of-mouth buzz that its traffic creates just might have brands and causes competing for the limelight at the start of every week.

Mine:

Mine

Tweet Me

Admittedly, I was once a Valentine's Day hater.

More than ambivalent, I often got up on my soap box and fought the anti-consumer love holiday. Why pay for a card for someone to remind them that you love them? If you truly loved them, wouldn't they already know and not need the reminder? Why buy chocolates? Hasn't it been eternally proven that woman crave chocolate every waking (and non-waking) moment? Why buy flowers? Shouldn't a blooming bit of flora compel you to bring some home to your loved one whenever the impulse strikes?

In 2009, it was stated that 70% of couples cohabitate, even before marrriage. That's a whole lotta love going around. So, if Americans are sooo lovey dovey, why the holiday?

See, I obviously have a lot of pent up aggression against the holiday. Mostly, I despise the fact that the holiday makes it "okay" to ignore your love one's need for adoration and spontaneity all year long and lets them get away with it by bringing home a cheesy heart shaped box of truffles and a corny card written by someone in a cubicle rather than written from his/her heart.

Worst of all, the holiday makes girls like me, swallow their words and succumb to typical girl mode and beg her boyfriend to participate in the holiday. Who wants to be alone watching all of the other girls stare at their BFs over candlelight through the window of a fancy restaurant, or wants to watch a chick flick that reminds you of the love you aren't feeling at the moment? Who wants to be left out of anything, ever?

And even sadder, imagine the effects on those who aren't participating by choice. Those without someone to hold onto? Imagine what this soul-sucking, consumer America holiday does in just one day to thousands of human psyches'. That's just plain inhumane.

Until the holiday is officially abolished, we will all participate, in order to prevent the ultimate letdown.

So, if I must participate (since I doubt with all that's going on in the world, I can manage to knock the holiday in a few short weeks), I choose to participate the most modern, non-old fashion way possible.

No, I'm not going to rent a flying car and hang out with the Jetsons...

I will be TWEETING my sweetheart and I encourage you to do the same. Think I'm crazy? Well, the classic sweetheart candy doesn't. They are actually jumping on board with social media and paying attention to the new communication outlet.

This year, the classic chalking candy won't only offer messages like "Love Me" and "You and Me," they will also say "TWEET ME."

Just as this candy has been an American staple for all school children and grown ups alike, they are affirming with sugar, that social media is relevant and broad enough to provide a heart with "tweet me" on it in their V-Day mix.

Another component of this addition, includes an iPhone app that allows participants to send virtual Sweethearts - Tweethearts- with personalized messages that can appear on someone's Twitter page. Fun.

As a huge supporter of social media and the relevancy of twitter, I ask, if you must, continue this money hungry holiday, do it with twitter and sweethearts. And then, Feb 15th, let's start the campaign against Valentine's Day for next year and remember to say I LOVE YOU when the feeling actually strikes (your heart, not the calendar).

Happy New Year... Now Give me Your Wallet

Dear fatties of the world, financially frustrated, semi alcoholics and chain smokers,

It's me, the New Year, and I'm here to collect on your resolutions.

New York Times writer Stuart Elliot wrote, "Every January, Madison Avenue gets into the betterment business, unleashing a flood of advertising that seeks to take advantage of the impulses among consumers at the start of a new year to improve themselves."

January, in my opinion, is the month where you are rewarded for having a bad habit and wanting to change it. It does nothing for those people who prevent that bad habit from controlling them every day of the year. For example, I like staying physically active, so when I was offered a corporate deal for the gym at my new job, I immediately signed up without shopping around for deals. The gym was important to me and so I invested in it. However, if I were lazy and didn't join a gym, yet got the urge to do so in January - when the resolution guilt month rolled around - I could have joined one of the MANY gyms now offering a reduced rate and no joining fee. THAT hardly seems fair. Coupons are abundant for the unmotivated this month.

January is also the month that reminds you that your habit is indeed a BAD habit. For example, have you noticed that nicorette is suddenly more interested in speaking to you? Or how Jenny Craig's spokescelebrities are popping up all over your morning shows? It's not a coincidence.

And finally January is the month that reminds you that your life COULD and SHOULD be better. The Lottery has introduced their "fat wallet" campaign just in time for people to start reevaluating their lives. Bus stop ads call out for people to "Get rich. Get FAT." This message clearly plays into the new year's resolution mentality and draws poor fools into stores to waste $10 on an instant win card with dreams of a brighter tomorrow. Sorry buddy, now your financial problems are even more problematic since you through away an amount equal to a month's worth of dinner or two round trips to and from work on the subway.

I am all for the advertising industry. It's my passion and a necessity in consumer America. However, ads the appeal to the weak-willed new year's resolution makers are borderline cruel. It's like taking candy from a baby or handing drugs to an addict. January should be redesigned by Madison Ave. It should be a month for them to showcase their resolutions... show the world how they aim to make it a truly better place. January should be about CSR and social responsibility, about Probono work.

Just as ridding the world of valentine's day may bring about true love every day of the week, ridding the world of new year's resolution advertisements for pills, gyms, self-help books, etc. may decrease those bad habits. Without a time of the year dedicated to changing your life, any day of the week may be good enough for a change. Imagine the possibilities.