Archive for June, 2009
All Things Social Media – Upcoming Events
Monday, June 29th, 2009In response to our many readers, followers, fans and friends asking us what must-go-to social media events are in store for the upcoming week, we have decided to put together a weekly blog post delivering this information to you in a nice, neat and organized fashion.
Networking has always been important, but in this day and age building relationships and contacts (both online and in person) has never been as imperative. We understand that as Social Media professionals, marketers and enthusiasts, often our tendency and comfort zone lies behind the monitor, maintaining an identity in the shape of an avatar or preceded with an ‘@’.
But there comes a time when you need to meet your online followers, fans and friends in person and put a face with a username. SCG’s compiled list of social media events will help you do just that. These gatherings are also great places to meet new contacts and possibly even learn something interesting about our ever-changing industry. At the very least you might get some decent appetizers and drinks out of it. . .
Here’s what’s going on this week in the Seattle area:
SMC Seattle Meetup, featuring Allyis
When: Tue, June 30, 6pm – 9pm
Where: Pyramid Alehouse, 1201 1st Ave S, Seattle (map)
Description, Info + Tickets: http://smcjuneevent.eventbrite.com/
Online Marketing Summit
When: Wed, July 1, 8am – 7pm
Where: The W Hotel, 1112 4th Ave, Seattle, WA (map)
Description and Registration: http://bit.ly/PM9Nx
Agenda: http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/seattle.php
*If you’re hosting/attending a social media event that’s not on the list, drop us a line (or just post it in the comments) and we will be sure to add it to our calendar.
Everything in Moderation
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
Remember when our nerd president totally rocked social media, masterfully utilized it as a powerful organizational tool during his campaign, and then promised that the openness inherent in social media interaction would find its way into the everyday operations of our federal government? Well, transparency is here, and it’s occasionally hilarious.
There’s a piece in New York Times right now that talks about this “openness” idea, an idea that we think is an important aspect of any successful brand’s social media campaign. It also brings up a question that any brand jumping into social media needs to ask: how do you allow for an open dialogue between brand and consumer while ensuring the conversation still remains relevant? Or to rephrase our old go-to Clay Shirky’s comments from the article– how do you protect the majority from the loudmouthed tyranny of the minority?
So far, it looks like the government is approaching things with a proper social media mindset:
CrowdEye Searches Twitter So You Don’t Have To
Thursday, June 18th, 2009
The Twitter API might get thrown around like a hacky sack at a Phish concert, but useful tools are always welcome at the SCG World Headquarters. When we heard that 20-year Microsoft vet Ken Moss (and wife Becca) was about to launch a beta Twitter search tool- we admit, we got a little excited.
After visiting the site the other day and seeing an old-school “under construction” icon, we had a bit of déjà vu, but seeing the site in action today has snapped us back to 2009 and the year of the Twitter-based application.
CrowdEye takes a step beyond Twitter’s integrated search creating a great tool for monitoring real-time feedback that allows users to drill deeper than before.
Say you search for “Seattle.” You not only get a snapshot of the latest popular links and tweets around that search term, but CrowdEye also offers up the top words associated with tweets containing “Seattle” in a word cloud (Rain, Vancouver, Sounders, Alehouse, Urban, and Mariners top the list in a 2:32 p.m. search). The filter function allows you to dive even deeper looking for tweets by either clicking the word in the word cloud, or adding it in the filter box.
Look for more chatter about this tool in the coming weeks as businesses, groups, and marketers alike start realizing its potential – or you can just search for @crowdeye at http://www.crowdeye.com.
Yeah, What That Guy Said
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009We were going to sit down today and write a giant post about how what’s currently going on in Iran right now is indicative of something we’ve felt for a long time: social media is changing the way the world works. Regardless of how you may feel about the situation politically, you simply can’t ignore the importance of social media’s role in this thing.
However, since earlier this month at TED, NYU Professor Clay Shirky gave a lecture addressing this very issue, and has since followed up with a Q&A session that addresses some of the more recent events in greater detail than we have space for, we suggest checking that out instead. It’s definitely worth your time.
Silos Are For Grain
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009
With its somewhat shaky feet planted dead in the middle of PR, advertising, and other traditionally “old-school” offshoots of the marketing mix mothership, social media is causing quite a stir.
We’ve talked about this before a bit, but a recent article in AdAge about silos brought this back to the front of our mind (and RSS feeds).
Here’s a quote from the article that struck us as a bit old guard-ish:
But the social-media experts need to live among the experts in all the other marketing tools rather than in a new nation that adland will spend the next 20 years trying to reintegrate.
Of course the silo idea of social media marketing isn’t conducive to creating client wins – no area of marketing works in a vacuum; they play off the other pieces. Even beginning to look at social media marketing as this out-there, spinning in the darkness realm of marketing is already putting your agency (and, more importantly your clients) behind the eight ball.
SCG-TV: WOMMA Webinar, June 17
Friday, June 12th, 2009Following up on a great experience at WOMM-U 2009, Spring Creek Group principal and co-founder Clay McDaniel and Xavier Jimenez, SCG principal and director of analytics, will present a webinar with WOMMA detailing some of the essential technologies every word of mouth marketer should know.
You know there are conversations about your brand happening outside of those typical Twitter and Facebook channels that everyone knows about, but what’s the best way for you to find them? How do you monitor them most effectively? What tools are worth paying for? Which ones can you get for free?
If these are the types of questions that are on the forefront of your mind, you’ll want to tune in to this: a shoot-from-the-hip, no-sales-included webinar focused on helping marketers help themselves – and their clients.
Is Facebook Telling SMBs to Take a Hike?
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009The Twittersphere has been blowing up with stories about the username shift that happens just after midnight Eastern time this Friday.
The thing that few people, if any, are talking about is the fact that the new rules leave small and medium businesses out in the cold with the strings of numbers attached to their Facebook pages.
According to Facebook, only pages with 1k + fans will be eligible to create their vanity URL. This leaves small and medium businesses who are relying on the relatively do-it-yourselfness of low-level social media marketing in the dust as 13 and 14 year-old kids can snatch up any vanity URL they want.
This means that the only alternative for these small and medium businesses is to make ad buys from Facebook in order to nail down their vanity URL. In a time where social media is an accessible alternative to much more costly forms of marketing, wouldn’t it be nice to offer these small and medium businesses a chance at being part of the party?
Spring Creek Group Partners With Radian6
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
A big week for news here at Spring Creek Group, as today we announced our partnership with Radian6 Technologies. Adding Radian6 to the already robust platforms in our technology partner program is our way of program is our way of ensuring that we will be able to provide our clients with the most comprehensive social media monitoring and analysis experience possible.
The presence of Radian6 simply adds one more option to our ever-expanding arsenal of social media tools, something that is never a bad thing. For more info on the announcement, you can check out the press release here.
New Principal at Spring Creek Group
Monday, June 8th, 2009Spring Creek Group’s ever-expanding stable of savvy social media marketers just got a little bigger- we’re pleased to announce that Xavier Jiménez, a leading digital marketing and web analytics professional (not to be confused with this Xavier Jiménez, although we’re sure he’s a fine actor) has joined up with Spring Creek Group as our new Principal and Practice Lead for Web Analytics and Measurement.
Welcome to the team, Xavier. We’re glad to have you.
To see the full press release, you check out the rest of the details here.
Time, Meet Twitter. Twitter, Time.
Friday, June 5th, 2009
In a move that plays out like Gutenberg’s press meeting a Netbook, TIME magazine dedicated its most-coveted spot (the front page – which, for those of you who grew up in the digital age is like the front page of TMZ or HuffPo) and some subsequent inside pieces of paper (sort of like subpages, people – stay with me here) to the newest kid on the block – Twitter.
Mashable already had a bang-up piece on this, so we’ll spare you our recap.
What is important here, though, is the fact that the very pieces of media which countless prognosticators are prematurely writing obituaries for are openly embracing the technologies hailed as the Brutus to their Caesar. Sure, they may be uttering “Et tu Twitter?” in months or years, but for now they’re using and learning from the community tools just like – gasp – normal people.
After all, tools like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and the thousands of other countless hopefuls weren’t designed (for the most part) as a replacement for traditional media; they evolved to take on some of the roles. These communities, while not built from brick and mortar are just that – communities of people with a connection.
Realizing that and realizing that these communities, as great as they seem, may someday pass the way of the area grange hall socials is part of being a smart communicator. So, while things may be going at a break-neck speed now, take a lesson from TIME and learn from the change.
