Social Media Workshop: 5 things you can’t afford not to know about social media

Boot Camp digital provides a number of social media seminars and workshops for businesses of all sizes.  We train marketing and PR groups on social media marketing.

One thing that I consistently find across our workshops is that many businesses have a weak understanding of social media marketing.  They leave our courses enlightened about how they can use social media.

These are probably the 5 biggest “ah-ha’s” that we hear from our training programs.  The 5 key take aways that really help businesses to get going in social media marketing.

1) I didn’t know what I didn’t know

While many of our participants are new, some already have a blog, twitter account or Facebook page.  They think that they mostly “get it” but they sign up for our course because they aren’t getting the results they wanted.

When they leave, they usually realize that they approached it all wrong.  Social media marketing isn’t as simple as creating a fan page or a twitter account.  It is about strategy and execution.  These require more thought than most businessees consider.

If you are using social media for your business, you’ve made a smart choice by reading this, but please take the time to invest in your strategy.  Read as much as you can and learn from the best.  There is lots of information available online.

2) Social Media is not about creating accounts it is about content

Many businesses focus on creating accounts across sites and not on the content that they will actually use on each site.

Social media is about content and connections.  Create meaningful content that adds value to your target audience.  That is the key to social media.  Most businesses spend almost no time focusing on the content that will actually be the substance or meat of their efforts.

Creating accounts isn’t really that hard.  The hard part is figuring out what to do with them.  We have developed specific strategies to help businesses build powerful content that drives results.

3) Don’t confuse activity with results

Many businesses confuse activity with results.

- “Is your current social media working?”

_ “yes”

- “what are your results?”
- “we have lots of fans”

- “can you tie that back to a real business result?  do people in your store say there are there because of Facebook or Twitter? Are you getting engagement?”

- “ummmm – we have lots of fans….”

The reality is that an impression is not an impression unless it makes on.  That means that you are only reaching people if they actually see and respond to your conent.  Just creating it and publishing it isn’t worth anything.

4) You Can’t Afford to Ignore Social Media

Trust me, whatever your business line you can’t afford to ignore social media.   Social media is here to stay and is growing like crazy.  If your business needs more sales and customers, social media is the way to get it.

If you don’t have the time or the money to invest in your business to make it happen you probably won’t be in business or aren’t serious about it.  This  is becoming the cost of entry.  Like having a website (and if you don’t already have one, you need one – email us and we’ll connect you with someone) it is a basic expectation.

Social media is how businesses are growing these days – if you are struggling with your business maybe it is time to re-evaluate your strategy…..

5) Social Media isn’t really Free

Many businesses are excited about social media because they think it is free.  The reality is that it takes time and effort.  To  do it right you should be prepared to invest in learning the tools of the trade.

Imagine if it was free to run TV commercials.  The  airwaves would be flooded with crappy commercials, recorded with a flipcam with no real strategy behind them. Most companies wouldn’t see results.

Since TV isn’t free brands invest a lot of money in the strategy and production to make sure that they have effective commercials that get returns.

The same is true with social media.  It is free to create an account but there is a lot of clutter.  You need to stand out and have a strategy that really connects.  You need to know your customers and commit the time and energy to learn about them.

The good news is that this is MUCH cheaper  than producing TV commercials.  Take the time and do it right.  Don’t spin your wheels not getting it right.

Social Media Training: The 5 Most Common Excuses for Not Using Social Media

I do a lot of social media training and strategic consulting to businesses of all sizes.  The funny thing is that most business have the same barriers as to why they are not using social media.  From fortune 500 countries all the way to small business owner, the excuses and barriers are the same.

The reality is that most of these barriers are only in their minds.  They don’t want to use social media because they don’t understand it, so they make excuses.  Deep down, they know that they need to use social media (or they wouldn’t be talking to me), but something in their mindset is holding them back.

The reality is that businesses that invest in learning how to properly harness social media see dramatic results.  All signs show that social media is here to stay.  You can’t afford to ignore it.

Excuse #1 – Social media is a fad

Social media is here to stay.  Social media has mass adoption and continues to grow in popularity. 

• More people check Facebook every day than read the newspaper or listen to the radio.
• Facebook has over 500 million users.
• There are over 30 million blogs in the US (that is about 1 for every 10 people)
• Twitter has millions of users including most celebrities and politicians.
• Social Media was listed as a key factor in winning the last US presidency.

Excuse #2 – Social Media is a shiny new object

Social Media isn’t really new when you think about it.  People have been social since forever.  We live in communities.  We talk about things that matter.  We give advice to our friends.  This has all been going on for centuries.

The media part is new.  Technology has allowed us to make social connections in a more powerful and scalable way.  Rather than keeping up with a few people in person we can keep up with many people by checking out their tweets or Facebook updates. 

So really, social media is an age old concept that is transformed by technology.

Excuse #3 – I can’t afford to hire someone to help me

Small business owners who hear me speak approach me afterward and ask me how they can get support to start growing their business with social media marketing.  They often then say that they can’t afford to invest.  That is a losing mindset, because if they are already struggling, they really, they can’t afford not to.

Businesses waste all sorts of money on things that don’t work any more. Yellow pages ads, newspaper ads, direct mail and coupons.  Social media works better than any of these things.  If you want to be successful make the choice to invest in something that will actually grow your business and get you results.

Excuse #4 – I don’t have the time

This is one of the most common barriers.  I don’t have the time.  Do you have about an hour a week?  That is all it takes.  10 minutes, 5 times a week.  If you are disciplined in your social media marketing approach you can manage social media without a lot of time.

Our clients that use the social marketing action program see results with just an hour a week (after  setting everything up).  The key is to use efficiency tools and be strategic in how you spend your time.

Excuse #5 – Social media doesn’t deliver business results

This one is just plain not true.  Businesses of all sizes have seen dramatic results from social media across multiple areas of their business.  Here are just a few examples:

• Lenovo reduced customer service calls  by 20% with social media.
• Vista Prints sold $25,000 from twitter alone
• Golden Tee saved development costs with a free Facebook application.
• Naked pizza had their best ever sales day from twitter.

These are just a few.  If you make the smart choice to invest in social media you will be on one of these lists one day.

Are there any other myths that you hear?

Small Business Social Media Speaker: 10 Ways Small Businesses can use Social Media

I know that a lot of small businesses are interested in social media marketing to grow their business.  I speak with thousands of small business owners a year (probably just like you) who hear about social media but don’t know exactly how they can get value from social media.

I have worked with many of these business owners to help them find success in social media, and I know that small businesses can get results using social media marketing. I know first hand that social media can provide a better ROI than traditional marketing methods.  Social Media marketing can deliver results when used strategically and with the right plan.

Here are 10 of the most common ways that small businesses can use social media to grow their business.  In no particular order, here are 10 ways that small businesses can use social media:

1) Share Deals and Promotions on Twitter

Twitter is a powerful way to share deals and promotions with your customers (and future customers)!  Big companies like Dell Outlet have sold millions of dollars through twitter, but it works for small companies too.  Naked Pizza, a small pizza store in New Orleans had their highest ever sales day from a twitter promotion.  Vista Prints sold $25,000 directly through twitter in their first year.  Find and connect with your target audience and give them irresistable offers on Twitter.

2) Share news and Updates on Facebook

Don’t have a fan page yet?  If you have fans or customers who are passionate about your business you should have a fan page.  Use it to connect with customers and  keep them up to date on your new products or services.  I was recently getting my car fixed and found that the mechanic frequents the same neighborhood bar as I do.  He told me that he checks  out their Facebook page every day to see what food and drink specials they have.  This bar has a creative new drink special for Happy Hour every day and a different free food item available.

Whether is it food and drink specials, new items in your store, new industry news or regulations a facebook fan page can be a powerful resource to keep your customers up to date.  Over 1/3 of people who are fans of companies on Facebook are fans for this reason – to stay up to date.

3) Network on LinkedIn Groups

Lots of small businesses and professionals grow their businesses by networking with people.  Meeting people and sharing helpful knowledge drives business over time.  People do business with people they know, like and trust.

LinkedIn groups allow you connect with others based on a shared interest.  You can join a group and contribute to discussions or share interesting news.  By using LinkedIn to build relationships you can earn new customers over time.

4) Connect with Prospects with a Webinar

Webinars are becoming increasingly popular ways to connect with prospects adn provide value to customers.  Webinars are virtual and web-based.  A webinar is typically hosted around a specific topic and people sign up, call in and log-in on their computer and they can watch and listen to a live session on a specific topic.

Webinars are very popular in categories that are high-information.  Most B-to-B business fall in to this categoy, but it also works for consumer products.  If people are looking for knowledge or information on your subject area, a webinar can be a powerful tool to share information with them and position yourself as a leader.

5) Be a Thought Leader with a Blog

Blogs are very popular for a variety of reasons (we’ll discuss one more of them later in this post).  One of the reasons is that a blog can establish you as an expert and thought leader  in your industry.  If people trust you and see you as knowledgeable they are more likely to do business with you.

Run a gym? Share workout tips.  Real Estate Agent? Share posts highlighting the people and events in your neighborhood.  Restaurant? Show how you make signature drinks or menu items.

6) Connect with Customers and Prospects with an email newsletter

So maybe *technically* this isn’t social media, but it is relatively simple and cheap for most businesses to create a newsletter.  Constant Contact and MailChimp offer services for under $25 a month and are easy to use.

An email newsletter can keep your customers and prospects up to speed on news, deals and promotions.  Email remains  the preferred communication method of most people (1:10 preference over social media) to stay up to date.

7) Join  an online community

There are online communities for almost everything these days.  Seek out a discussion forum or community that is specific to your business and participate!

You can connect with customers (or potential customers) and really learn about them.  What are they interested in?  What do they talk about? What do they want and need in products?  Participating and listening to communinities that are comprised of your business target can improve your product but also lead to sales as you build relationships.

Monitor and Respond to your Reviews

There are many business review sites – from product reviews on amazon to restaurant and store reviews on yelp to complaints on The Ripoff Report.  Whatever your business line, chances are there are review sites that are relevant.  Even Facebook has included reviews on fan pages.  Google has reviews in their listings.

Look for and respond to reviews (both good and bad).  Saying thanks to a good review can build an evangelist and encourage word-of-mouth.  Responding to a negative review can help clarify the situation.  Showing that you care about negative reviews and plan to take action shows your side of the situation to the hundreds of people who view the review.

9) Get Found on Search Engines with a Blog

Another great reason to start a blog is to get traffic from search engines.  Because blogs are content rich (you typically create content for them on a regular basis) search engines give traffic to sites with blogs.

In almost anything that you search for you’ll find a number of blogs show up in search results.  If people find you business through search a blog can increase the probability that you will show up in results.  This leads to traffic and (hopefully) sales.

10) Generate Awareness with a Video

Videos can be great ways to connect with your audience.  A picture is worth a thousand words and a video is worth a million!  Video is a great way to share information – whether it is a video showing how you make a dish, customers talking about their satisfaction or a video demo of your product – videos are powerful tools.

Create a video for your business to make a deeper connection with your audience.  Whatever your business there are many different creative ways to use and share videos.

This list isn’t exhaustive – it is simply a handful of the tactics and tools that are included in the Social Media Action Pack.

How are you using social media for your small business?

How are Professionals Using Social Media? Mostly for Marketing

Think social media is just a fad?  Think again.  Social Media use by business professionals is high and growing.  The vast majority of professionals across the world are using social media technologies for business purposes, according to an August 2009 survey by Mzinga and Babson Executive Education. 86% of respondents to the survey of professionals from different industries said they had adopted social technologies. This underscores that social media isn’t just a fad – business professionals are adopting social media and getting results.  Have you started leveraging social media for your organization yet?

The survey also explored which specific business areas professionals are using social media for. The most common use of social media is for Marketing, with 57% of professionals using social media for this purpose.

If your organization isn’t using social media yet, what are you waiting for?  While marketing receives a lot of hype it isn’t the only way that organizations and professionals are using social media.  In addition to marketing businesses are using social media for internal collaboration and learning, customer service and support, sales, human resources, strategy and product development.

How are you using Social Media professionally?

Twitter Ads

Twitter Launches Promoted Trends

I read an article recently about Twitter selling ad space, back in April Twitter introduced Promoted Tweets, a platform to allow businesses to promote themselves within the Twitter stream. Now it seems Twitter has launched Promoted Trends, a feature that will allow advertisers to insert their own trends into Twitter’s trending topics.

Twitter’s Value

Twitter’s value was released the other day at one billion dollars, impressive, but only one tenth of Facebook’s reported value. At some point Twitter will need to find a way to monetize their site, without

making it a pay service. I don’t have a problem with the paid placement of tweets and trends; I think it would be an excellent addition to any Internet or Social Media Marketing Plan.

How Twitter Needs to Handle Placed Trends

Here is what I want to see Twitter do with the paid placements. If they are allowing a company to pay to place an ad within the stream, call it out; make sure everyone understands someone paid to put that ad in their stream.  As far as the Promoted Trends, I want to be able to ignore this feature, because the whole point of Twitter’s trending topics it to see in real time what is happening in the “twitterverse”. You can already choose between worldwide, by country even by city. I don’t want to see the trending topics “polluted” with a paid placement.

By creating a competition for the top trending spot, with a Google AdWords type auction, it would created a nice competition and help Twitter make  money from  selling the ads. As Twitter continues to grow they have got to find a non-intrusive way to bring in advertising dollars while still being able to create enough awareness of the ads.

Mobile Application

More people are logging on to Social Media; Twitter specifically, using their mobile devices. If you use an iPhone and a free Twitter app you most likely have to deal with some sort of ad placement now, so by adding ads to the main Twitter page should be too much of a problem.

Number of Mobile Subscribers Accessing     Twitter via Mobile Browser	3 – month average ending Jan. 2010 vs. Jan. 2009	Total U.S. Age 13+
	Total Audience
	Jan-09	Jan-10	% of Change
Twitter.com	1,051,000	4,700,000	347
Source: comScore MobiLens

– brian tudor
follow @briantudor on twitter

8 Tips for Setting up Social Media Profiles to Build Your Personal Brand

Whether you are a social media enthusiast or a newbie starting out, setting up a strong profile is extremely important in how you represent yourself online.

Here are some tips for setting up strong profiles on the web:

1) Think KeyWords for Search - The point of social sites is to connect with people – in order to connect they have to be able to find you.  Recruiters search LinkedIn for keywords.  People search keywords in twitter profiles to find similar people to connect with.  Companies search the web for suppliers and business partners.  When setting up your profile on social sites, think about some of the keywords that someone looking for you may search for and be sure to include them in your profile.

2) Pick a Consistent UserName - Try to use the same user name across all sites – I use kristaneher or bootcampdigital across all sites on the web.  This will help people find you across multiple websites.

3) Set up a Personal URL – Most social sites like Facebook, LInkedin and Flickr allow you to set up your own URL.  For example on Facebook I am at www.facebook.com/kristaneher and on LinkedIn I’m www.linkedin.com/in/kristaneher.  Setting up these URLs helps build your brand positioning and also makes it easy to link to these sites.

4) Use a Picture that Looks Like You - Many connections that start online eventually lead to a face to face meeting.  Build a consistent image for yourself by using a photo that looks like you.  This will help you establish yourself as a brand and people will recognize you when they see you in person.  Also, if you have a common name people may not be sure that they are really connecting with you – your photo will help them identify that you are the correct person.

5) Complete all of the Fields – Complete as many fields as possibly when you set up your profile on a social site.  This will help you with search, but also provides a full picture of you.  If a business contact or recruiter searches for you online it is likely that your LinkedIn and Facebook accounts will show up on the first page.  Complete the profile information to make a strong first impression.

6) Manage Privacy Settings - Be sure to manage your privacy settings.  Facebook often shows up on first page search results for most people.  Make sure that your Facebook page is protected if the content might not be appropriate for all audiences.

7) Assume Everything is Public - Manage privacy settings as best as possible but remember that there is the potential for information you share to become public.  Be sure that you are comfortable with the information you share on social sites and make sure that it isn’t inappropriate for multiple audiences.

Reserve Your UserName Everywhere - If a site starts to gain traction be sure to reserve your username on it.  This will help you with #2 – using a consistent username.  In the profile mention that you aren’t active (if it isn’t a site that you are using) and provide alternate ways for people to get in touch with you.

As you can see in the image below, social media profiles are very predominant in search results, so be sure that your social media profiles are a strong reflection of you – employers, business partners, friends and even random stalkers may be looking for you online.  Be sure that your profiles are appropriate for all audiences.

Does anyone else have tips?

81% of Firms are Using Social Media for Marketing – CMO Survey

I came across this chart last week that provides insight as to what types of marketing activities brands are using social media for.

The first big A-Ha from this information is that a full 81% of firms are using social media for marketing. If you aren’t using social media to build your business yet you are definitely behind the curve.

According to an August 2009 survey of CMOs 81% of firms surveyed are using social media to build brands and drive brand awareness.  This isn’t surprising – because of the reach of social media it is a great tool for generating awareness and building positive equity.  This also highlights some of the measurement issues with social media – brand awareness and equity (i.e. sentiment, recall, etc) are difficult and expensive to measure.  Specific testing budgets need to be set aside to measure these activities correctly.

There are a number of other surprise take-aways in this chart:

• Marketing Reasearch – Almost half of companies surveyed are using social media for marketing research – and why not?  Social media is a natural fit for research since you can get quick, unfiltered responses, or just listed to what people are naturally saying.
• Brand Promos – It isn’t surprising that 42% of marketers are using social media for promos, contests and giveaways.  The issue is that as the social space continues to become cluttered with brands fighting for attention the promos will have to be more targeted and meaningful.
• Identifying New Customer Groups - Since social media allows you to connect with a wide variety of people you can actually determine new audiences for your product just by paying attention to how people are already using it.  Targeting new groups can be a HUGE driver of new sales.
• Improving Products and Services – Listening and interacting with customers and potential customers can actually help you improve your products.  Learning what they like and don’t like through direct feedback helps brands improve their products.  Not really surprising is it?
• Identifying New Product and Service Opportunities – This is an interesting use of social media.  Social Media allows brands to monitor conversations and hear what customers are really thinking in an unfiltered way, without the expense or issues of a traditional focus group.  Just by listening and monitoring brands can gain insights into their consumers.

Key Takeaway:

Social Media can be used for far more than you maybe initially thought.  Look for creative new ways to leverage the power of social media beyond marketing at people.

Measuring the Web from ad:tech San Francisco

Measurement is a hot topic in digital marketing. Over the years measurement techniques have evolved and marketers are looking beyond the click to get a full picture of measurement.

In this session at ad:tech David Smith, CEO of MediaSmith shared some insights on measurement for digital marketing.

Visitors = Audience

Unique Visitors = Net Reach

ClickThrough = Consumer interest/action (Direct Response)

ViewThrough = Consumer interest/actions (branded).

Engagement – Still fuzzy. This active involvement with communications

Key Takeaway: There is too much emphasis on clicks at the cost of other metrics.

Visitors

Audience buying on the web can be different than buying audience in traditional media. In traditional media you purchase demographics and you may have some waste to the extent that you can’t target very specifically. On the web there is very little waste because you can target more specifically. Think target audience vs. total audience – in traditional media you get the total audience and on the web you can choose to buy total audience or just your target audience. Targeting comes at a price – your CPM may be higher when you are targeting more specifically, however if there is less waste you may have a higher overall ROI. Don’t get too hung up on the CPM – focus on the overall value.

Unique Visitors

Unique Visitors is a front end metric that tells you how many people are going to a web site. You can get research from companies like comScore, Nielsen NetRatings, Quantcast and Compete. Research companies are not the same as web analytics. Web analytics derive their information from cookies (like Google Analytics and Omniture) however research companies take a more holistic approach.

ClickThrough vs. ViewThrough

Clickthrough is not a Key Performance Indicator. Over 50% of all visitors that come to a site are from viewthrough and not ClickThrough. ViewThrough is the traffic that comes to your site as a result of someone viewing your ad online (although they may not have directly clicked on it). With today’s rich media and applications, a better measure might be clickthrough, viewthrough and engagement. At the very least, look at clickthrough and viewthrough. There is a strong correlation between viewing ads and traffic – consumers may see an ad and go to the site later.

CPM (cost per thousand impressions) is not a Key Performance Indicator. Performance should be the evaluator in direct response campaigns, not the front end pricing. The front end pricing doesn’t matter – pay a premium for better targeting and response relative to the audience you want to buy. Don’t compare HouseHold CPMs with web target CPMs – the web CPMs can be more targeted and produce better result. Marketers need to focus on the actual results and quality vs. just the cost

From BlogWell: Graco: Communicating with Social Media in a Time of Crisis

This is the last of my posts from the BlogWell conference (a conference covering big brands and how they use social media, held in Cincinnati last week).  Kelly Voelker, Brand Manager, PR & Social Media at Graco shared their strategies for dealing with a PR Crisis during a recall (side note – what can Toyota learn from this?).

The Situation

On Jan 20, 2010, at 7:00am the news of the recall went out over the newswire.  Graco announced a recall of 1.5 million strollers worldwide after 7 injuries were reported.  The recall was only for a few specific models (not for the entire line-up).  The story was posted immediately on a large number of national news sites.

How Graco Responded

Being Pro-Active

Graco pro-actively shared their message with specific communication on their blog, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and a dedicated Web Page.  They created a landing page with specific information since they knew that consumers might have trouble getting through to customer care.

Reaching out to Influencers

They also reached out to top influencers to help share information.  They sent an email prior to the news release to a variety of brand ambassadors who also have blogs.  The bloggers appreciated getting the news first and helped to share information.

Dealing with Negativity

There was a lot of negative feedback.  Here are some of the tips to deal with negativity:

• First, get ahead of the news and pro-actively search for and respond to conversations.
• Second, work closely with customer service; prepare them in advance and loop them in with a senior person who can approve appropriate real time responses.
• Deal with responses on a case-by-case basis and get permission to act.
• Start building the relationships before the problem exists.  Nurture a community of positive advocates who will help in a crisis situation.
• Finally, if there is something that the community can benefit from then keep it online, otherwise move it offline.

One specific example was a woman named “Michelle” – she tweeted to the Chicago Sun Times, was responding to other consumers on the Graco Facebook page and actively shared negativity.  Graco had a senior person respond to her personally and it turned her around.  She then shared positive experiences across all of the same channels.  She was happy that Graco wanted to help and reached out to her.

This is consistent with what we hear time and again.  Often those who complain the loudest can become your biggest advocates with a little time and attention.

Key Learnings

• Legal collaboration – Become a legal go-to inside your organization as the communications team.  Prepare messages in advance.  Make sure that your legal team understands social media.
• Executive Communication – Graco held twice a day calls with leadership leading up to and during the announcement.  They sent a daily email with the coverage and red-flags.  This helped build consensus.
• Global Integration – Clarify the meaning of a recall outside of the US and treat all customers the same.

The way that the social media team is structured at Graco helps.  There is a social media team that is made up of multi-functional people who are passionate about the brand (they don’t have communications backgrounds).  They were all briefed in advance and were told how to respond to issues.

How did you work with your social media agency during this recall?

Graco really used their agency as a tool to listen.  They were keeping an eye on the conversation to help us comb through the conversation and respond when needed.  They don’t respond directly – they provide council and listening.  Graco owned the communications.

What do you do about the crazies, nutjobs and wackos and people in that category?

Set expectations with your executives that this will happen.  Reach out and let them know that you are there to talk to them.  Ask them what they want — be there to talk to them about their issues and deal with it on a case by case basis.

How General Mills creates conversations with influencers through social media

Last week I was at the BlogWell conference in Cincinnati where David Witt, Manager of Brand Public Relations for General Mills shared how General Mills is creating conversations with influencers through social media.

David shared some specific insights from the launch of the Fiber One 50-Calorie Yogurt from April 2009 – March 2010.

Conversations Work at Driving Sales

The Fiber One snack bars launch showed that online conversations were the second most important driver of sales (after being on shelf).  Generating and encouraging online conversations worked better than any other marketing tool (other than of course, having the product available to buy).  While David couldn’t share a specific ROI from the conversations, they know with certainty that conversations drive sales.

David also shared a chart that shows that conversations and sales are highly correlated – sales grew when there were more conversations and declined when there were fewer.

Getting Set Up For Success

David said that having clear objectives & strategies was important to be able to measure success.  For Fiber One the objective was to build awareness and position the Yogurt as a great dieting tool.  They planned to leverage Hungry Girl (a well known weight management blogger) as the spokesperson.  The goal was to drive trial and conversation.

Tying your metrics to your goals and strategies is important so that you know what success looks like.  You can also develop more strategic campaigns.

What Fiber One Did

Fiber One used a lot of different social media tools in different ways to create a comprehensive social media strategy.

• Hungry Girl, a blogger who sends a daily email, and said that Fiber One bars taste better than Snickers.  She has over 1 million subscribers to her email.  Fiber One brought her on as a “celebrity” endorser and even has Hungry Girl featured on the package.
• General Mills has a program called “Pssst…” that provides “insiders” with special information about the company and a preview of news.  The newsletter included Fiber One Yogurt messaging with a coupon.  They also featured a video message from Hungry Girl and a Hungry Girl book giveaway.  They also did a personal mailing to people in the “Psst…” community who were active dieters and sent them free product.  They got very positive feedback from the people in their community who they sent the mailer to.
• To launch the product they also worked with Bloggers in a program called My Blog Spark.  They send bloggers product on a relationship basis to let them know about new products.  They created a “snack attack” video featuring Hungry Girl and her staff and did some early product seeding – bloggers had the opportunity to try the product first and share a product review.
• They also connected to Facebook and Twitter where consumers like to talk about Yogurt, and through key partners like SparkPeople (a diet/fitness site).
• Part of the key is to find tools that the bloggers want to use.  Fiber One created a Embeddable Micro site that provided blog readers with coupons and free product.  This makes it easier for bloggers to share their opinions.  As a part of a live taste-testing the brand recorded consumer testimonials that were then available to bloggers.
• Consumers are willing to participate and be included with brands.
• There is a natural gravitational pull towards a niche (like a weight management community).  Leverage the community.
• Provide meaningful and relevant brand experiences for consumers.
• Provide content in a format and in a location that they find useful and familiar.
• Be respectful and treat consumers as friends.  Be respectful.  Don’t lie to or embarrass your consumers or “friends”.
• The brand experience must be remarkable.  Set clear objectives upfront but test and learn as you go.

Key Learnings

A Note on Blogger Disclosures

When General Mills created the blogging network of My Blog Spark one of their key elements was disclosure.  My Blog Spark already had guidelines similar to the new FTC guidelines. My Blog Spark requires bloggers to disclose that they get product for free and if they get a free flipcam.  They also request that bloggers do not make product claims that can not be substantiated.

The key to working with legal is to ask them “what is needed for you to say yes?” and engage them.  The two key areas are product claim liability and disclosure.

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