Creative Concepts

When you’re the top specialty tea company in the United States, you reach a lot of tea lovers.  Our client Bigelow Tea is using social media — from Bigelow Tea’s Facebook (and, yes, MySpace) pages to their YouTube channel, Bigelow loves to share their tea knowledge with the world.  (After 65 years in busiess, they know a thing or two about tea.)

But how often do their customers have a chance to share what they know with each other?  Normally, it’s not easy.  Fortunately, we at Creative Concepts are helping Bigelow Tea bridge that gap.

Last month, the Bigelow Tea Twitter account asked its followers if they had any tea tips worth sharing.  The results were instructive, and they formed the basis of a helpful blog post that allowed Bigelow’s fans to learn from one another.

This isn’t Bigelow’s first foray into customer connectivity.  Earlier this year, they hosted their first Bigelow Tea Social in New York City, where bloggers and foodies alike came together to talk tea (and get their fill of free samples).  How was that live event conceived of and managed?  Why, on Bigelow’s blog and Twitter account, of course!

And while tea is obviously a communal drink to begin with, Bigelow Tea isn’t the only company finding new ways to bring their customers together.  Our client Ecover celebrated their 30th anniversary of creating ecological cleaning products with a live event that united green bloggers, media-makers and innovators, all of whom swapped stories and tips until the party ended.  How did we at Creative Concepts help Ecover organize this event?  With a Facebook contest hosted on Ecover’s blog!

Social media: bringing companies and customers together — with the emphasis on together.

In the past week, we’ve been hearing a lot about “New Digg” and “New Twitter” as both tools aim to become more robust and versatile.

Soon, you’ll be able to view more information about Twitter users and see their shared photos and videos without ever clicking away from Twitter itself.

Soon, you’ll be able to see which Digg stories are popular among the subset of Digg users you’ve chosen to follow, rather than just relying on the community as a whole.

To us, this sounds like both services are finding reasons to keep visitors more engaged and not losing them when they click away.

Or, in other words, Twitter and Digg are becoming Facebook.

Add to that the evolution of Google Instant and the announcement that Google plans to offer more social tools and it becomes clear that Facebook’s formula of being everything to everyone, all in the same place, is too hard for most rivals to compete against without adopting the same tactics.

What does this mean for your business?  Simple.

Focus on the Experience, Not the Tools.

In 2005, everyone thought the future would look like MySpace.  And everyone was wrong.

Today, agencies and brands are almost definitely scrambling to figure out how to get “good at Facebook,” since that seems to be the skill set that will drive social communication for the foreseeable future, regardless of the platform.

But they’ll probably be wrong too.

It’s not about Facebook.  It’s about being a good communicator and having a story worth telling.  Because if your brand can connect in a meaningful way, it won’t matter if your customers are using print, Facebook or mental telepathy.

Need help telling your story? Find us on Twitter or Facebook!

I say this blog entry is Part 2 because this is really a continuation from my previous blog on how not to use the internet to find a job.  Here is the story:  Heather finally found the previous blog entry and the  following then occurred: 

1. there was an anonymous comment made which was posted at the same time Heather emailed me personally (which lead me to believe that it was actually Heather posting the comment based on tone and timing).
2. Heather stated her case or fought her battle via email instead of on the blog.
3. Heather then sent me an additional email asking for me to take her name off the previous blog entry. 

For the sake of argument, let’s replace Heather now with Company A  but still use Heather’s actions to demonstrate how a company should not approach social media.

First, you must know that any content you put up on a blog, a social network, video or more is now public domain.  You as a company are now subject to scrutiny and people can now voice their opinions, positive or negative, about your product or service.  Always think about how you want your customers to perceive your company…are you a solid company that your customers can rely on?  Do you provide entertainment for your customers?  Who is your target audience and what is their voice?  These are a few questions to ask yourself when you think about posting your content along with your company messaging/branding.

Second, let’s say your company has a blog, you posted your content and another blogger criticized you either for your message or your product or service.  Never, never, never work in stealth mode and leave an anonymous comment.  Anyone who has any kind of experience can track down who left a comment via ISP or sheer deduction like I did.  If you as a company leave an anonymous comment, all credibility is lost and you now look like the guilty party who has done something wrong. 

Having said all of this, use the comment section of the blog to state your case.  If a blogger has something negative to say about a service, for example, use the comment section to thank them for their insights and address the problem.  This allows you, in a public forum, to redeem your company.  You want to show everyone interested that you care and will resolve the problem quickly.  By sending an email to the blogger, you are only addressing that one indivdual (vs. all who read their blog) and can only hope that the blogger will say something positive or even mention your company at all.  If you take action in the comments section, you can be proactive and control your messaging.

And finally, asking a blogger to take your company name off of their blog shows your lack of experience in the blogosphere and shows you are doing the old corporate thing by trying to hide in times of trouble.  The internet tracks everything.  Even if a blogger took your company name off of their blog, you could still find a previous entry on other blogs who may have quoted the original entry and of course through RSS feeds.

So, lessons learned on how to blog for any company:

1. Always be aware that once you put out your message, it is on the internet to stay.
2. Welcome criticism and learn from it!
3. Transparency is key for surviving all social media efforts.  Always let everyone know who you are and what company you represent.
4. If a blogger makes a comment, positive or negative, repsond on their blog…the same goes for Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and all other social media sites.
5. Never ask for your company name to be taken off a site.  Your company will be destined for more scrutiny and more comments or another negative blog entry!

Happy Blogging!

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.