Tag Archives: social musings

Dogfish Head, Red Cross make Twitter oops a marketing boom – Feb. 17, 2011

Link August 4, 2011 Friendly Helper

Briefly, from the Hootsuite dossier comes evidence of what made for an interesting day for Red Cross, Dog Fish Head beer and we (me and my squad at Hoot) turned into a triple win.

Dogfish Head, Red Cross make Twitter oops a marketing boom – Feb. 17, 2011 via CNN Money

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — When Gloria Huang accidentally blasted off a tweet from the Twitter account of her employer — the Red Cross — she had no idea her call for beer would turn into a blood donation drive and give a small craft brewery a boost.

On Wednesday, in a HootSuite mishap, Huang tweeted: “Ryan found two more 4 bottle packs of Dogfish Head’s Midas Touch beer…when we drink we do it right #gettngslizzerd.”

It was meant to be tweeted from her personal account, but instead went out to all 270,000 followers of @RedCross.

Misfired and ill-considered tweets can spark painful backlashes — just ask Kenneth Cole — but the Red Cross took Huang’s error in stride. It responded in jest, tweeting: “We’ve deleted the rogue tweet but rest assured the Red Cross is sober and we’ve confiscated the keys.”

And that’s where the story took a twist. Impressed by the Red Cross’ calm and humane response, other tweeters — especially @dogfishbeer’s fans — launched a fundraising and blood donation drive. Its hashtag: #gettngslizzerd.

Mariah Calagione, Dogfish’s vice president of marketing, handles social media for the Milton, Del.-based brewery. She discovered the mistweet during her daily tweet check — and immediately re-tweeted it and joined the online conversation.

Social media has played a major role in getting the local brewery’s name out there, she says: “We have a lot going on and the Internet lets us talk with our customers on a daily basis.” The company has nearly 40,000 followers on Twitter and 149,000 Facebook fans.

That community turned the Red Cross mistweet into a rallying cause. Breweries and pubs in many of the 30 states that distribute Dogfish beer launched beer-for-blood offers. A typical one, from the Flying Saucer bar in Austin: “Show us you donated a pint @redcross today & we’ll buy you a pint of @dogfishbeer #gettngslizzerd”

It’s a nice boost for the Red Cross — and an unexpected marketing bonanza for Dogfish. With a staff of 150, the company doesn’t have the budget to do much advertising and relies on word-of-mouth endorsements, Calagione says.

“Now we get to talk to a bigger pool of people online,” she says.

The Red Cross is also delighted with how a mistake that could have been disastrous instead turned into a heartwarming story.

“While we’re a 130 year old humanitarian organization, we’re also made of up human beings,” the agency wrote in a blog post. “Thanks for not only getting that but for turning our faux pas into something good.”

And for its new wave of Twitter fans, the Red Cross offered two pieces of advice. Wait a bit after donating that pint of blood before guzzling down your free beer pint.

Also: “Be careful of Hootsuite!”

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Social Mrktg Kung-fu

Charlie’s Angel – A Startup Fund – marallo’s posterous

Aside April 18, 2011 Friendly Helper

Charlie’s Angel – A Startup Fund – marallo’s posterous

To Begin….

I have lost the argument – hard fought over many months.

Can I be invisible in todays social network?

My Argument:

Why can’t I be just like Charlie? No one needs to know who I am. I am not the important one in the equation – it is the startup, the entrepreneur…always. I am just a tool, one of many, that the entrepreneur needs to achieve success.

I was happy with this situation. I was funding startups; I was providing good advice; I was introducing people to a growing list of mentors; I was a cog in the journey from idea to business. In short, I was doing what I wanted.

It is hard work to keep up a public profile. Do I ask a question on Quora or answer a question; Do I tweet my blog or blog my tweet; Do I need to find an interesting picture every time I want to write about something…. It takes time, a great deal of time.

Is it the best use of my time? I would much rather meet great people, explore interesting ideas, put together killer teams.

And – you put yourself out there. Some say – The Internet is written in ink. A potential partner, an investor or a mentor could read a post and say, ‘what an idiot, I want no part of this dude.’

Hell, I know I will read an old post and cringe at the naiveté, the incomplete thought process, the ernest writing…

Is it worth it?

The counter argument:

I can’t find you.
Who have you worked with.
Why should I take your money.
Who are you again
You are doing good work, people should know..(..I am not sure if anyone actually said that…:)
etc.

But over time the cracks started to appear in my argument.

I did get tired of explaining who I was. I was embarrassed by half completed LinkedIn profiles. Julie wanted me to quit talking about it and just do it. Mack got tired of fielding phone calls – who is this guy? Maura started to get exasperated by the thought of having to tell my story one more time.

And I was listening to guys like Dave Olson – talking about amplification.

Please click link below to pre-order book

http://bootup.ca/2240/social-marketing-kung-fu-white-belt-with-dave-olson/

It got me to thinking. How about I get my insecurities out of the way and think about the entrepreneurs and startups that I have the pleasure of working with. If even one of my posts gets noticed and aids in scoring a contract, a developer or some extra financing it will be so, so worth the effort.

So – LinkedIn is now more complete, AngelList is confirming commitments, about.me lets people know what I look like, HootSuite is set up to listen and amplify, and this blog will start to let people know how and what I think….

So, Is it worth it?

Ultimately – yes

Will it be any good? Who knows…..success is about showing up.

Whatever you think you can do or believe that you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it.

Goethe.

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Social Mrktg Kung-fu

Bootup Entrepreneurial Society » Social Marketing Kung Fu, White Belt with Dave Olson

April 18, 2011 Friendly Helper

Bootup Entrepreneurial Society » Social Marketing Kung Fu, White Belt with Dave Olson

{copied here for posterity}

If I had an all time favorite people in Vancouver list, Dave Olson, the Community Director for Hootsuite, would be on it.

He’s engaging, worldly, kind-hearted and always willing to share what he has learned with others. And so, when I asked Dave to be a Mentor for Bootup Garage,he didn’t even hesitate. However, instead of hosting regular mentor office hours, Dave wanted to put together a series of social marketing talks for startups. Yes, please!

On Wednesday, January 26 – Dave delivered his first Social Marketing (#smkf) presentation at Bootup and as expected, it was chock full of practical nuggets, steps and interesting stories to help attendees start building their own social marketing toolkit.

“Dave O’s talk was great. I have already implemented some of the strategies with my companies. Dave O is a wealth of information – entertaining with great practical application…..I can feel a book coming…” Mike Edwards, SMKF Attendee

Below are some of my notes from Dave O’s talk and you can also check out his notes over here:

Getting Started

Document everything you Do. From Day 1, Dave stressed that entrepreneurs should document everything and have one place to share all of their “collective intelligence,” such as an internal wiki. Writing everything down will help you stay focused and remind you what it is you set out to achieve.
Do not plan much farther out than 6 months.
Define the roll of each person in the company. This will help people focus on and take ownership over certain tasks

Naming Your Company/Product

Coming up with a name for your company that has an available URL is not an easy task.
Define what it is your product does first.
Start playing around with words that are easy to say, spell and remember.
Ask friends or your community for feedback or ideas. For instance, HootSuite crowdsourced their name.

Describe Your Product

Try and define your product in 3 words. For example, Hootsuite at first chose “Professional Twitter Client” as it’s 3 word description and now defines itself as a “Social Media Dashboard.”
Take those 3 words and expand on them to create a 100 word description.
Reach out to users and get feedback and watch what terms they are searching for. It is important to be using the same terms and descriptions that your users/customers are.

Start Listening

Create Lists. Start following the people who care about your product as well as watching your competitors.
By listening and asking specific questions, you will start to build relationships with your customers.
Respond and participate in the conversation.
Each community is different. For example, your customers may act differently on Facebook vs. Linked In. Watch this and communicate accordingly.
Define what you want to get out of each of the social media channels you are using.

Media Kit

The first page you should create on your website is a media kit page.
Make it easy for people to write about you and tell your story.
Your kit should include artwork, logo, colors, typeface, TM with specific guidelines on how to use.
Be sure to have multiple descriptions that writers can snag to use in articles and posts such as a 100 or 500 word description.
Colorful screenshots or infographics like this one are a great resource for writers.
Keep your kit up to date and fresh.

Be Loud

Now that you have defined who you are and what you do, start telling the world.
Don’t wait until you launch. Become an active participant in the community you are trying to reach.
If it is not on the Internet, it didn’t happen! So – Blog, Flickr, Tweet etc. starting right now.
When someone writes an article or post mentioning you or your area of expertise, COMMENT. It shows you are paying attention and care about your community and the people, who are taking the time to write about you and use your product.
Create 3-4 touchpoints to an article. For example, Dave will comment on an article, social bookmark it and add it to an RSS Feed = juicy, indexable goodness.
Hashtag everything. Topics, brands, acronyms – be creative and always remember to listen to your audience and be consistent with your message.

Dave O will be back in the Garage next month to deliver another his 2nd Social Marketing Kung Fu preso. In the meantime, please share your notes, questions and tips in the comments below for other startup founders.

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Hootsuite

I Know What You Did Last Summit – Secrets of the CBC Radio 3 Offsite Meetings! – jenny draker’s blog

Link February 23, 2011 Friendly Helper

I Know What You Did Last Summit – Secrets of the CBC Radio 3 Offsite Meetings! – jenny draker’s blog

Dave Olson from Hootsuite then gave us all a power-used tutorial which blew a lot of our minds, learning things we had no idea we could do.

Day Two

I started the day by boring everyone to tears with close to THREE HOURS of research, data, and analysis of how Canadians use music and what else is going in the competitive landscape around digital music. Seriously – by the end of it, people were begging for mercy. Lesson learned. Next time, only TWO HOURS of research, data, and analysis…
We had Ryan Holmes, the CEO of Hootsuite, come and talk to us about how they started and grew their Vancouver-based Twitter client into a world leader. Dave Olson from Hootsuite then gave us all a power-used tutorial which blew a lot of our minds, learning things we had no idea we could do.
We talked about our SECRET PROJECT. (I’m sorry – I would want to reach into cyberspace and punch me in the throat after seeing that I capitalized and bolded SECRET PROJECT. I am an arse.)
We gave everyone new CBC Radio 3 t-shirts! (Coming soon to trivia contests and other prizing opportunities very soon :-) )

And that’s it. I can only speak for myself, but it was awesome.

We’re so lucky to have such a great team here at CBC Radio 3, so it really is a blast to have everyone together in the same room at the same time. There were many, many terrific ideas generated and thoughtful insights into problems offered. And there were a lot of laughs, too.

Anything else you’d like to know? Ask about anything – EXCEPT for the SECRET PROJECT…

(I hope this is exciting like LOST secrets, and not annoying like M. Night Shyamalan secrets)

Steve

Director, CBC Radio 3

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Social + Cmty + Start-up

I Know What You Did Last Summit – Secrets of the CBC Radio 3 Offsite Meetings! – jenny draker’s blog

Link February 14, 2011 Friendly Helper

I Know What You Did Last Summit – Secrets of the CBC Radio 3 Offsite Meetings! – jenny draker’s blog

Day Two

I started the day by boring everyone to tears with close to THREE HOURS of research, data, and analysis of how Canadians use music and what else is going in the competitive landscape around digital music. Seriously – by the end of it, people were begging for mercy. Lesson learned. Next time, only TWO HOURS of research, data, and analysis…
We had Ryan Holmes, the CEO of Hootsuite, come and talk to us about how they started and grew their Vancouver-based Twitter client into a world leader. Dave Olson from Hootsuite then gave us all a power-used tutorial which blew a lot of our minds, learning things we had no idea we could do.
We talked about our SECRET PROJECT. (I’m sorry – I would want to reach into cyberspace and punch me in the throat after seeing that I capitalized and bolded SECRET PROJECT. I am an arse.)
We gave everyone new CBC Radio 3 t-shirts! (Coming soon to trivia contests and other prizing opportunities very soon :-) )

And that’s it. I can only speak for myself, but it was awesome.

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True North Media + Olympics

Olympics and Social Media – Dave + TNMH Backgrounder

December 30, 2010 Friendly Helper

After covering SLC02 as a fan, I realized that what you see on the ground is very different from the TV coverage ~ from hospitality houses to international relationships to the athletes who finish towards the back – the rights-holding media miss a lot.

I connected with some pals (@kk @scales) with similar thoughts and we covered Torino06 and Beijing08 using new media tools to creating and tactics for distribution.

In prep for Vancouver2010, we reached out to VANOC to offer assistance in our hometown to generate social coverage. After no love coming back, we launched the True North Media House campaign to inspire, educate and amplify social coverage throughout the games – no matter whether social reporters wanted to celebrate, protest or observe.

With the hoopla done, we can step back and examine the massive body of work produced and the unique ways people grab ahold of the campaign and made it something organic, successful and loads of fun.

A few tactics:

* Self accreditation badgers – sign up, add feed and handles and print a (cool) badge to declare yourself a social reporter ready to create and share
* Aggregation – pulled feeds into Yahoo pipes, fed into HootSuite for firehose Twitter feed
* Outreached to PR agencies – once they realized our ability to amplify, we were invited to many media events
* Friendly to IOC – though initially they were incommunicado, by the end, they outreached and evolved policies for photos and fan coverage
* Ad hoc events – anyone could organize an events from dog sled demos to street hockey games to photo walks
* Educate and workshop – we spoke at universities, to community groups, conferences and workshops to explain the power of tagging, creative commons and sharing
* Reach out to academics – Groups of students (including PhD candidates) chronicled our community
* Media worthy – non rights-holding media picked up on what we were doing and provided coverage in PBS, CBC, Harvard Business, LA Times among others and many MSM joined up for fun and knowledge

To learn more follow the #tnmh tag on twitter or visit truenorthmediahouse.com or the TNMH photo group on Flickr or twitter.com/tnmh – happy to talk more about how and why we did this.

Backgrounder re: TNMH etc. for un-remembered blog post

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