Bigelow Tea, our client, has been featured in John C. Havens’ and Shel Holtz’s book Tactical Transparency.  It’s not out yet but the two authors spoke about it at the most recent New Media Expo in Las Vegas.  Attendees were more fired up than ever to get their clients or themselves into the social media mix.

Read more from the Trafcomm News blog by Donna Papacosta here.

We were recently meeting with a potential client who has a strong consumer base, a solid history and great products.  They approached us because we know how to guide corporate through the social media maze and we can help build community with their most valued present and future consumers.

They were excited to get going, they had already worked with an agency that said they could build up MySpace, Facebook and a blog but couldn’t and they seemed pretty savy about social media and their need to use these tools to help broaden their reach.

We got into the meeting, presented all that we could do and the value that social media brings to any company and suddenly and without warning the conversation turned to ROI.  Now I love ROI and believe in trying to track ROI and I appreciate the conversation.  We have amazing reports that we have built that can show the story of these online channels so the client can understand what is working and what isn’t.  Couple our reports with their website and sales stats and you have the whole picture. 

Somehow, the message was lost, though, and the fear set in that these efforts won’t help their bottom line numbers.  I hope and believe that despite their fears, they will take a chance and jump in (or fear more in the not so distant future that they will be left behind)! 

Social media is an amazing tool that every company can and should utilize.  Not every moment may be linked to a sale but the last phone call with your client where you asked them about their family may not be tracked either but it has great value! 

Mashable also talks about the ROI of social media for business here.

Nothing better than a well done interview! 

Nothing better than a well done interview featuring our client (Bigelow Tea)! 

Nothing better than a well done interview featuring our client who talks about having a ball with social media (where we at Creative Concepts support all of their efforts!)!

Interview here.

Have a great weekend!

I have been waiting for this week to arrive for about 2-3 years. Over 3 years ago, I went to a blogging conference where I learned, for the first time what a blog was (Robert Scoble, among others, was speaking…had no idea who he was).

About 6 months later I had a vision of how business could use blogs and how we could provide a service guiding clients through the blogging process. Soon after I learned about other cool things like podcasts and videos and began to pitch my clients who gave me the stare of death….the “what are you talking” about look with the thought of “why would I want to play around with blogs and podcasts when I am so busy.”

Frustrated, I decided to put together a conference where the innovators, including us, of social media came together in one room to teach the business community that new media is about to become the necessary media. That was 2 1/2 years ago.

This week it seems the vision of using social media as a business tool has bloomed into a full blown all out cry for joy or help by business people worldwide and we are answering the call and/or celebrating.

We sent out a search engine optimized press release for a travel client which drove visitors to their blog (which we created) and website, met with a client to go over the stats of their blog and their myspace and facebook pages, launched a very cool video on 7 different channels with a teaser on YES Network along with a live-linked flash banner ad below it which drives visitors back to the main website, we met with a new start up/client that uses social networking to reach out to her community and needs help with PR and general promotion (how will we do that? through myspace and facebook of course), helped a client with their wine blog that we helped them create and made sure their pictures were formatted properly, had lunch with a associate where I met another contact who is a top notch branding consultant whose only link missing in her services is the social media factor which she wants to learn more about from Creative Concepts, talked with one of my staff who loves working for Creative Concepts because she can do all of her online work when her kids are in bed (she said she loves what she does so much she would do it for free…should I take her up on it?), and finally, I heard from one of the judges (from a Fortune 500 company) from the Business Smart Tools Angel Award, he wanted to connect to one of my contacts on Linkedin and wants to hear more about our long string of online services.

Now, are we living the social media dream? The vision from over 3 years ago?

Happily, the answer is yes!

Video, as you may have heard, is a very hot property these days! Everyone wants in on the YouTube power of exposure, especially companies. Unfortunately not many deliver it on a regular basis. Videos either seem too much like an ad similar to those on TV (which doesn’t have the same pull online) or the videos are a glimpse into our neighbors backyard which initially makes us curious but bores us quickly too.

In an online video we just produced and distributed for Bigelow Tea, I believe we found the right mix of human interest and honest (important!) statements about the product. Joe Torre and Phil Simms have been drinking Bigelow Green Tea for quite some time and for personal reasons. Cindi Bigelow has been living the Green Tea dream at her families’ company, Bigelow Tea. When these three inviting personalities got together and chatted on a park bench in NYC, magic happened.

Take a look for yourself and see:

Ok, I know it is Labor Day and that I should have been spending every minute with my beautiful family but they were tired from our trip to Southhampton (beautiful weather, great food and wonderful family made it the perfect trip) and I was drawn to my computer, more specifically to Facebook. I am so excited, I just had to share.

We as a company entered Facebook about a month ago well after we had a presence on MySpace for one of our clients. Myspace was a bit of a wild frontier and seemed to move quickly but once we were on there for awhile, we only had the same venues to work with: the one very active group we joined which linked closely to our clients’ product and our “friends” who seem to listen more than interact. Please note that while many agencies create digital ads for these spaces, we believe in creating communities and talking to people while growing the business so we are out there making friends and joining groups on behalf of our clients.

Well when we entered Facebook, it was different. First, it took awhile to become familiar with all that was going on (new apps created literally every minute in addition to a different interface from MySpace slowed us down temporarily). Robert Scoble, famous blogger and vlogger and one of our first friends, was making updates and additions on a regular basis which we could see on our mini feed which updates us about our friends, so I started to follow his path just like I did 4 years ago when I heard him speak live in NYC where he talked about blogging which, at that time, was a new and very strange thing to most of the world including myself.

I slowly have gotten into the swing of things by creating a profile page for myself/Creative Concepts and have uploaded a direct feed for this blog, a neighborhoods app so I can see who my actual neighbors are that are using Facebook (not many), I added a fun wall where I can post video, pictures, slides and more, plus I created a new group for the Business Smart Tools Conference which promotes the conference but more importantly, keeps a new/social media conversation going throughout the year.

I do believe that my intuition about blogging 4 years ago was on the money…I feel the same way about Facebook! Join the fun and let me know so we can be “friends!”

Just got an email from adoptasky.org. It looked like spam but the subject line interested me, Adopt A Sky Project, so I kept it in my follow up folder only to open it up just recently. The point of the site is to bring attention to saving our environment, more specifically, our air. Startling stats, strong visuals and the possiblity to buy a piece of the sky (on the website) is an unusual and pointed way to bring interest and visitors to the site. Take a look and buy, buy buy (it’s free) so you can save our skies.

Speaking of websites, one of our clients has put out an RFP to redo their website. Instead of creating a website for them, we are working as consultants (our choice) to help them weed through the process. Because of our work, the new (or old, may the best agency win) web developers must provide video capability, a blog (which is already up and running), SEO, and other interactive elements for now and for the future. Nothing too crazy here…you would think this is pretty common stuff at this point but you would also be amazed at how many web developers say they can do it all yet they can’t. Some only know flash so SEO is compromised, some do a great design but the backend is dated the minute the site is live, some know web development and think the blog application is the same but it isn’t…the list goes on and on (trust me, I have experienced this firsthand). With all of the options available on the web, the designers are falling behind (not all of course) and relying on old platforms and non existent stat packages which is not OK.

When shopping for your new website, you must ask for SEO (search engine optimization) in all of its forms, a blog if you have the time, video if you can make it happen and an eccommerce element that is designed well and easy to navigate. The world moves quickly so you have to catch up…that is what our clients are paying us for. Advice, choices that have room to grow and a design that is streamlined with the corporate branding! This is what we provide for our clients!

We are very happy to bring on our newest client Sweet Rexies which is a small candy store with big ambitions.

Sweet Rexies, with a floor-to-ceiling wall of sweet delights, is much more than a sweet shop. Nanci Lewis, owner, has made this family destination in Norwalk, CT into the #1 Birthday party venue for kids (the numerous awards speak for themselves). Nanci has also provided us with funky high quality gifts and clothes for our children in addition to expanding into the corporate sector as well as weddings by providing clients with everything from favors to gift baskets that are over the top fun.

Big plans are in the works for Sweet Rexies that include online adventures and cross country hikes so stay tuned and see what is next for this candy store that is so much more!

Ever produced a corporate video that has a consumer pull? We have and it’s on the Bigelow Tea blog here.

Well, I would like to say that for this very brief moment, we at Creative Concepts can take a breath. We have caught up from the Business Smart Tools Conference which was very exciting, we have reached out to many present and future clients, and we are sitting back and watching a bit to see where we are going and how we are getting there…summer is good for that.

One trend or direction for us started with blogging and is now moving towards social networks. In my mind, they are one in the same with a slight technical difference. I am a huge fan of blogging as many of your know. It is a place where the corporate sector can provide solid content for their fans, they can control the messaging which is a big deal for the more dated mind set of managing the image every step of the way, and the walls are removed between management and the customer through the comment section. So cool…a web tool with legs to stand on!

I believe social networks have the similiar mindset. Now when I say social networks, I mean like myspace, facebook, linkedin and such and when I refer to “working” social networks, I don’t mean posting an ad on the homepage and hoping people get it although many ads on the homepage of myspace are pretty cool. What I mean by “working” social networks, I mean reaching out to new friends/contacts, I mean entering the forums and speaking for the company we represent (with full disclosure of course). We submit questions and answers in a low key way, we are part of the group…we aren’t out selling, we are truly making friends. It takes a lot of work and attention to detail but in my mind, it is the best way to reach out to a whole new generation and a whole new group of people period.

Many of the conferences I have attended don’t talk about this stuff (I have heard a lot about viral marketing and digital ads) but our clients are very interested in the concept of online communities. Business wants to talk to their people, and our clients (and potential clients) want to be a part of a group much like the people on the social networks already.

It’s all very interesting and it keeps us on our toes.

I am off now to visit with TheNewsMarket which is a video distribution channel that in my mind, so far anyway, makes sense!

Until next time!!