Social Media Maven Gary Vaynerchuk's Advice For Scaredy Cat Corporations

"On Wednesday night Wine Library TV's Gary Vaynerchuk stopped by Fast Company headquarters for a panel discussion about online influence. In this clip he explains how he moved more bottles than uber-wine critic Robert Parker, how he took the NHL from 500 Twitter followers to 500,000, and how caring more than your competitors is the most effective weapon in building influence on the internet"

A few of his statements really stuck with me, most notably "You always hear that content is king(in regards to social media). If content is King, then Context is about to become God."

How McDonald's Uses Twitter

"Rick Wion, Director of Social Media for McDonald's Corp, discusses why the company uses Twitter, how it staffs it and how it deals with the legal hoops. The following clip was filmed durring the National Restaurant Association's Marketing Executives fall gathering Oct. 14 in Scottsdale, Ariz."

Microsoft Bing 'Friends' Facebook

In a news conference today at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington, Microsoft Bing and Facebook announced that they will be partnering to provide Bing with a search experience where your Facebook network helps inform your every query.

"Lets say your searching for Toyota Prius. Not only will you get the standard news and product links, there'll be a module near the top of your search that includes any Prius activity among your Facebook friends - articles they've liked, comments they've made, etc."

Expect huge privacy concerns with this new innovation..

Social Media Revolution

Thanks Kerry!

Checking In with Facebook Places

Facebook Positions Itself for Future Growth

In recent months, Facebook has moved to position itself as more than just a way for its users to interact with other people and brands, but now also as a venue for users to interact with and discuss places and activities.

Community Pages

The first addition we have seen is Community Pages, and Facebook is calling them “the best collection of shared knowledge on a topic”. Think Wikipedia, minus the user editing capabilities. Facebook populates the walls of these pages by pulling posts from other user’s profiles that contain the particular term that the Community Page is based on. We can help them collect other information to add to our client's Community Page by submitting website URL's and Wikipedia page links (if applicable). Facebook is also currently inviting users to apply to add content to these pages later on. From what I have read, Facebook intends to eventually allow users to upload their photos to the page. At this point, though, it seems like Communities have a long way to go before they feel anything like an actual community.

Facebook Places:

Much like Foursquare, a Facebook Places page shows FB users a map of where the Place is located, a list of friends who are currently checked in at the Place (if any), and a Friend Activity stream of other friends who have visited the Place in the past. By claiming your FB Place, you can manage your Place’s address, contact information, business hours, profile picture, admins and other settings. Right now, Facebook Place pages exists completely independent of the Facebook Fan page that we’re using to engage and connect with our business’s followers.

I am getting word that we will be able to merge Fan Page listings with Facebook Place pages at a later date. There’s quite a hefty claiming process to set the stage for the eventual merger, but once it’s done, the new Place Page as your business’s identity on Facebook. You will eventually have one page that users can interact with and check in at.

Thoughts and resources:

• One of the issues I can see Community Pages facing in the future is when a product/brand/place/interest does not have a unique name. Facebook may populate the community page with recents posts pertaining to another topic of the same name.

Loyalty 2.0

Over the course of the last few months, my rants on the subject of social media have become something of a norm on the blog. Much of my enthusiasm is invoked by what I see as unlimited potential for brands to benefit from these emerging platforms. As an advertiser, I believe we have the most opportunity to reach consumers through location-based social networks (LBS) like Foursquare, Gowalla, and the newly released Facebook Places.

Initially, I wasn’t sure that platforms like 4sq would ever be utilized outside of metropolitan cities. As LBS have evolved, it has become evident that I was way off with my initial evaluation. I was looking at these applications as a consumer, when I should have been looking for the opportunities in location-based services as an advertiser.

Having joined 4sq early in its early stages, the infrastructure was not yet in place outside of cities like New York or San Francisco. Each of these LBS platforms are rendered useless unless they are adopted by the masses. The sub shop around the corner.. The bookstore a block over.. Until a user creates each of them as a venue in the LBS platform, we don’t have the ability to check-in there.

Initially it was just a game. A fun way to see where my friends were, and what bars/restaurants were “trending” with the most active users currently checked in. Then, in an instance, everything changed.

One day I was checking in to a burger joint when a notification in the platform jumped out at me, “Local Special Nearby” -My light bulb moment. Remember the days when you would need 9 whole punches on a frequent buyer card to receive your 10^th sub free at your local sub shop? The ability to leverage location based social networks will take loyalty programs to new heights. If Facebook socialized the internet, Foursquare will socialize loyalty.

A few of the creative ways retailers have leveraged location-based social networks:

• Miss Shirley's in Baltimore has seen a 427% increase in the number of check-in's at the restaurant since they have offered to let their Foursquare "mayor" jump to the head of the line. http://bit.ly/a0kHc4
• A Princeton, New Jersey mall offers a free, close up parking spot to the Foursquare mayor: http://bit.ly/awmYV3

The Geosocial Universe in 2010

For a larger view, click here: http://bit.ly/bVGAWZ

The State of the Internet:

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from JESS3 on Vimeo.

-Thanks Matt E.

Game-Changer: A Real-Time Social Media News Magazine

"Check out Flipboard, an elegant new iPad app that aggregates content that your Facebook and Twitter friends are reading and linking to. Adding something to the stream is easy with one click "like" buttons. The app also recommends content from various prominent sites and genres on the web. The Palo Alto start-up also announced that it has acquired web intelligence company Ellerdale to help improve its recommendation engine. Ellerdale indexes data from the social web to the tune of 70 million messages/day to determine relevancy."

Digital Couponing- Key to Starbucks Online Success

Starbucks has surpassed 10 million fans on Facebook, notes Mediapost - passing Coke as the most popular corporate brand on the social network. The coffee chain has added scores of followers by launching promotions such as coupons for free pastries that can be redeemed at local stores.

-Cynthia Turner

MUST SEE: A Race Across the Internet

Google Chrome strikes again with this incredibly creative, interactive viral video/trivia game/Rube Goldberg machine/Google service showcase.. Honestly, there aren't enough slashes or adjectives for me to really describe it. You must experience this for yourself:

• http://bit.ly/Googly1

Thoughts and resources:

• As with any type of advertising, i suppose, we are trained to wear blinders. When I came across A Race Across the Internet, my eyes lit up. Chrome's ad is so brilliant because is engages by allowing users to participate in the storyline, while at the same time spurring our competitive human nature to help deliver the brands message.
• This ad was created by BBH: http://www.bartleboglehegarty.com/
• I have a prize for the first person that's beats my time of 2:21 on their first try! Email me with a screen shot! UPDATE: Congrats to Betsy King in the Cleveland office, killing it with a time of 1:46!

Google poised to take on Facebook

Rumors are swirling this week about the potential of Google releasing a Facebook competitor. Sources say Google's "Mobile Me" will utilize (micro-blogging, twitter-like Google service)Google Buzz, but still strive for a first class, full social networking platform. As it stands, Google will have an uphill battle, trailing Facebook by 400 million + users. The questions remains, what will Google Me offer to bridge the seemingly insurmountable gap? I have a few ideas..

1. More privacy options, first and foremost.
2. The ability to integrate and leverage a myriad of Google's other platforms. Platforms that a Facebook wouldn't have access to: Google Search at the core to enable the transition and sharing of information. Buzz, combined with Google Maps/Latitude to offer location-based services on the go. Google Me could leverage Google Talk and Google Voice to offer a skype-like communication tool. Me could tap into Google owned Picassa or YouTube to seamlessly upload media to the social network.
3. An open app platform modeled after Google's Android

Another Facebook- yeah.. wont work. Google has the infrastructure in place to offer some really interesting features that other social networks can not. They will need to differentiate themselves, and get it right the first time for users to adopt Google Me.

Thoughts and resources:

• As an advertiser, I am extremely excited about the targeting possibilities. Google has perfected the search engine marketing model through AdWords- I cant wait to see what granular levels of targeting Google offers us through Google Me.
• TechCrunch thinks that Google needs to clone Facebook to be successful. This article also brings up some valid points about how Google shouldn't try to tie the service to other Google products for the wrong reasons: http://tcrn.ch/aRMkvT

The World's Most Interesting Intern

I am not saying I have anything against our interns here at Stern.. BUT, Cisco Systems social media intern, Greg Justice, is gaining some serious viral buzz and setting a new bar for interns across the country.

"What are some of Greg's qualifications? Well, he's an impressive 6'7" tall, he planned an event with the president of Russia, he raps pretty well for a networking geek and he rocks an ergonomic desk chair. There's a lot more, too, but it's more fun in rap form, so check out the video."

Thoughts and resources:

• Cisco has been "pimping" out their creative intern through every social media avenue possible. We saw them strive for "geek-chic" with indie superstar Ellen Page in recent ads. Greg is the next in line to attempt to make the somewhat dry, dorky brand cool again. I say why not, the kid's got some talent!
• Follow Cisco Systems intern, Greg Justice on Twitter: http://twitter.com/flexitarian23/
• Greg's Cisco blog: http://bit.ly/drX9TG

The Marmarati Social Media Experiment

View more presentations from We Are Social .

Overnight Stardom in The Digital Age

This week I came across a very interesting case study from AdAge on how the digital age can make someone a superstar overnight. Greyson Chance posted his clip on YouTube three weeks ago and already has 18,000,000 video views. From average 12 year old kid one month ago, Grayson is now larger than the Jonas Brothers and Lady Gaga.

• http://bit.ly/GreysonC

Let’s take a quick step back. Stories like Greyson’s are so fascinating because they weren't possible a decade ago. This week, YouTube hit its 5th birthday. From a single one-minute long video posted 5 years ago, there is now enough content on the site to watch for 1500 years straight.**

When the Internet (and the rise of AOL in particular) was gaining steam in the mid 90’s, experts proclaimed that the information age had arrived. With the growth of micro-blogging and social media, the new ways we share information in real-time, and how the digital space has evolved over the last year or two, I would argue that only now are we reaching the true potential of the information era. A few years from now, Greyson’s story may not be such an anomaly after all.

Thoughts and resources:

• With the increasingly diminishing privacy barriers, I wonder if we will see a social media/online privacy backlash in the very near future.
• The first ever clip posted on YouTube, titled “Me at the zoo” http://bit.ly/MeZoo1
• **Business daily May 20, 2010

How much is a Facebook page worth to a brand?

Social media-focused ad agency Virtue has launched a Social Page Evaluator designed to provide an assessment of a brand's Facebook Page value and the effectiveness of its social media efforts. Enter the URL of any Facebook page and the Evaluator will examine its fan count, post frequency and various fan interactions within the page and crunch the data to measure fan valuation and "engagement."

• http://bit.ly/SMEval

Twitter No Longer Operating in the Red

Microblogging service Twitter took a step towards crushing the 'when are you going to get a business model?' question yesterday, introducing ads in the form of Google-style "Promoted Tweets" to appear among search results. The ads are based on keywords, with Twitter charging clients per thousand impressions. Best Buy, Bravo, Starbucks and Virgin America are among 10 initial advertisers to test the service.

The mother of all social media lists

The people over at GraphicSEO.com put together a list of 250 social media sites along with their Alexa.com traffic rankings. The 250 sites are split up into categories dealing with everything from fashion/clothing based social networks to health and wellness social media websites.

• http://bit.ly/b1JBBm

Links and Resources:

• Alexa.com is the leading traffic-measurement company on the net (like the Nielsen TV ratings, except for the Web). It is an Amazon-owned service that measures traffic-popularity based on a sample of millions of users who are tracked as they surf, providing comprehensive traffic ranking figures.

Social Media 101

You can find a copy of the Social Media 101 deck at: http://bit.ly/9rsyr2

Although I wasn't able to include the interactive LiveWeb portions of the presentation, I replaced those slides with screenshots. Thanks again for such a great turnout! After the success of this event, we are already planning our next talk- Search Engine Marketing 101. Stay tuned for more information!