Archive for October, 2009
SCG Principals Don Tweed Jackets for Entrepreneur University
Thursday, October 29th, 2009
When entrepreneurs in the area want to learn, grow, and connect, they turn to the Northwest Entrepreneur Network. Since 1985, NWEN has offered a community environment where entrepreneurs can come together and learn from each other while furthering their own ambitions. As a part of that community, NWEN holds the annual Entrepreneur University – a day-long event aimed at bringing together the best and brightest.
On Nov. 5, Spring Creek Group principals Clay McDaniel and Andy Boyer will take part in the event which will be headlined by Obama for America staffer and Deputy COO Jennifer Mintz Clark.
Clay will talk about the effects of “Living in a Fishbowl” in today’s social-media saturated environment. The talk will center on how brands can leverage social media in a sustained and effective way, while continually strengthening the brand.
Andy will be heading up a lunchtime Table Topics discussion about social media where attendees can ask the questions that have been burning in their minds. Every business needs to know how much time to spend and where to spend it when dealing with social media channels, and they’ll have the chance to have their questions answered over lunch.
The great thing about these events is that the audience participation in the panels and discussions is makes for a great learning opportunity– so register today.
See Seattle Green Innovation in Full Bloom at Bloom! Seattle
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 
This Wednesday, October 28, you have the chance to be part of the fast-paced, idea-riddled green event of the year as Pravda plays host to Bloom! Seattle. The event is almost Ignite-styled in its quickness with a two hour session split up into a number of different talks.
We learned about the event through our friends at the newly-hatched EnergySavvy.com, a portal for homeowners that educates them on home energy topics. The site has a rage of information aimed at helping homeowners wrap their heads around their home energy consumption, including tax rebates for greening your home ad listings of area contractors who specialize in green building.
So, get out your planners, iPhones, Palm Pilots, or whatever it is you use to run your life and pencil this event in.
Event Info:
What: Bloom! Seattle
When: Wednesday October 28, 7:00 p.m.
Where: Pravda – 1406 10th Ave. Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98122 MAP
How much: $13 online here or $15 at the door
SCG Out on the Town – TechFlash LIVE: Women in Tech
Monday, October 26th, 2009
A few SCG team members will be attending the first of its kind TechFlash LIVE: Women in Tech event this Wednesday evening at the W Hotel in Seattle. We’re looking forward to hearing a great line-up of panelists coming from a variety of technology fields, as well as meeting other women and leaders in the tech community.
We also can’t wait to see some of our friends and partners, including panel presenter Trish Dziko, executive director of the Technology Access Foundation – one of our key not-for-profit partners here at SCG, and several more women with whom we have worked closely in our marketing programs.
The Women in Tech initiative is something we strongly support, and we always enjoy attending local industry-related events. We hope to see you there!
For additional details visit http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/event/9691.
Facebook’s Legitimacy Problems: Are You Who We Thought You Were?
Thursday, October 15th, 2009
A recent post outlined steps Facebook is taking in requiring page owners to prove their connections with the brands they represent on the ever-growing social networking site. What does this mean for agencies? What are the short-term and long-term impacts? How will this affect your brand? Let’s take a look.
Prove It
Facebook essentially is providing page owners three ways to verify that they in fact have rights to develop and maintain a brand page and they can be found here:
- Add a badge or Fan Box widget to your Website – This is simple, really and can be done by sending a bit of code to whoever is code monkeying your site. It also provides a great focal point for driving traffic to your Fan Page.
- Add an official e-mail address to your personal Facebook account that can be used to verify your affiliation with the brand (this can also be that of an authorized outside entity like PR, marketing, advertising agency, etc.) – This is easy if you’re a recognized agency, but a little harder if your roles are mostly behind the scenes.
- Add another admin who has a legit e-mail address – This is probably the easiest thing to do. Simply add your client contact to the admins of the page, giving you instant legitimacy.
The Agency
For agencies that are building and maintaining Fan Pages for brands in the Facebook environment, this could be a bit of a sticking point as they have to work out, with their client, the level of visibility they want to have as to who is actually doing the legwork. However, in most cases, a client contact is already (or should be) and admin of the page so they can not only lend their legitimate e-mail address, but also their watchful eye to the account.
The Short Term
In the short term, proving the authenticity of these pages is going to create a bit of extra work, but the short-term rewards greatly outweigh the time needed to get your stamp of approval (is there actually a stamp of approval?). Like with Twitter, brands have always been able to make a case for deleting unauthorized accounts based on copyright law, but now Facebook is taking that a step further and actually making it easier to drive out those pages which might be representing brands in a less-than-authentic fashion.
By simply claiming your brand pages and legitimizing them, you’re essentially eliminating those other pages and, in some cases, Facebook may fold those pages’ fans into your fan base, giving them a legitimate source of interaction on Facebook— and you a broader fan base— in one fell swoop.
The Long Term
Long term, this seems like a strategy by Facebook to not only cut down on clutter and misinformation within the Facebook environment, but also a move toward offering brands added benefits for operating within Facebook. Don’t be surprised if these Facebook Fan Pages start developing multiple levels of functionality and complexity based on dollars spent on Facebook Advertising and direct buys. The team at Facebook is smart enough to make a move when they see an opportunity like this.
Unanswered Questions
While this is still a new(ish) issue, Facebook needs to provide a bit more information around the topic of what this actually means for brands. Will verified pages show up higher in search results, regardless of fan base and searchability? What’s the lag time between reporting a brand page and action being taken to remove that page? What are the criteria for moving fans from a page that might not be verified to the verified Fan Page?
Hopefully we’ll have answers to those, as well as the mounting pile of questions that will undoubtedly come out of this shift.
SCG at Mashable.com: 18 Essential Tools for Word-of-Mouth Marketers
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
SCG Principal Clay McDaniel is feeling a little listy (and not in a nautical sense) these days, which explains his latest post on Mashable.com, where he provides his list of 18 Essential Tools for Every Word-of-Mouth Marketer. It’s a handy guide, and we think that both gurus and beginners in the space alike will be able to find something of interest. Make sure you check it out.
The Half-Life of a Tweet
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009Spring Creek Group Principal Clay McDaniel’s recent article, “The Half-Life of a Tweet,” describes the message durability of different online channels, from those that span a few hours, to those that last several months, and even those that sometimes last years. The published article is now live on MediaPost: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=114829.
For those interested, below is the longer version of the white paper Clay wrote:
Wanted: SCG Viceroy of Analytics
Thursday, October 1st, 2009
Do you excel at Excel? Do numbers tremble at the mere mention of your name? Do you know what a viceroy is? (if you do, please tell us) Can you make data dance and graphs appear out of thin air? If your answers to these semi-rhetorical questions are a resounding “yes,” please read on.
Analytics Operations Lead
Spring Creek Group is looking for an Analytics Operations Lead. In this position you will be responsible delivering cutting edge web 2.0 analytical frameworks, social media measurement models and BI Technology solutions. As part of a high energy “Type A” Analytics team and you will focus on multiple Client engagements (B2B, B2C, US and international) and support all facets of the data-driven decision making platform (Paid Media Analysis, Earned Media Analysis, Community Management Analytics, Audience Research, Quantitative and Qualitative Brand Analytics).
The Analytics Operations Lead will:
- Support the analytic needs of the Client Services team by building scalable processes for collecting and analyzing social media data using licensed and free active Listening tools such as Visible Technologies TruVoice, Techrigy SM2, Radian6, Nielsen Buzz Metrics, etc.
- Use standard Business Intelligence tools, such as Business Objects, Micro Strategy, SQL, and Access/Excel to automate report production and deliver insights that relating to and drive business outcomes for both internal and external data clients.
- Create holistic dashboards by pulling data from different data sources, technology platforms and social media websites for presentations to senior management team.
- Collaborate with external partners such as Agencies to assist with data Analysis and Lead driving core insights from the data to suggest, create and execute Data learning experiments and facilitate inter-agency knowledge management.
- Exhibit a high level of expertise in driving the data strategy across multiple “listening posts” (websites, buzz monitoring tools, web analytics tools, CRM systems, market research etc).
Typical Deliverables:
- Weekly, monthly reports (excel, BI tools, click stream analytics)
- Lead ongoing development of client dashboards.
- Social Network behavior, LTV and customer experience analysis.
- Data consolidation and validation.
- Manage the production of effective and persuasive presentations (verbal and written) for project and business leads.
Knowledge / Background / Experience:
- Bachelor’s degree
- 5 years of business analysis experience in large size companies with multiple functions / business units preferred.
- 3 years of experience in advanced analytics methodologies such as direct response experimentation and testing, competitive analysis, predictive modeling and market research.
- 2 years experience working with one or more of the following standard Web Analytics tools: Omniture, WebTrends, and Google Analytics.
Please direct info requests and viceregal inquiries to xavier@springcreekgroup.com.
