Archive for November, 2009
How To: Launch an Online Contest
Monday, November 30th, 2009Your business may already have a Facebook Page or a Twitter account. Perhaps you’ve even posted some videos to YouTube and launched a company blog. But few small businesses have experimented with another social marketing strategy: contests. Launching a contest online can be fairly simple—and cost you only your time. The best contests are fun, exchange value for participation (such as a gift certificate or discount), and can result in positive reviews, new customer leads, or other beneficial content for your company.
Read the rest of Clay’s tips for running a successful online contest in BusinessWeek’s Small Business tip section.
What are some of your favorite online contests from the past? What made you want to participate in them (or not)?
Drop your thoughts in the comments or tweet them at @springcreekgrp
Did You RT Me?
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
Did you RT me? I RTd you. We’re all RT-ing each other.
If you’ve been living anywhere but under a rock these past couple weeks you’ve no doubt heard the retweet news and have probably also thought “what does this mean for me and my brand?”
While we’ve talked about our ideas on this a bit, University of Washington professor Kathy Gill (@kegill) took the time and effort to write a great piece about the retweet changes and what they mean for Twitter users.
She also pulled a great screenshot, if we do say so ourselves…
For Rent
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009As you might have noticed, we recently got a bit too big for our britches—and by britches; we mean “office space.”
Yep, we’ve moved down to Pioneer Square (if you couldn’t tell from our Twitter feed) and now we’re looking for a roving band of entrepreneurs or a startup to sub-let the 2,000 square feet of creative space we were recently forced to leave behind.
The centrally-located Lake Union Building offers bright office space (and sweet lake views) thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows in the main office area, as well as in the two private offices and large conference room. There also is the added bonus of a built-in kitchen with sink, storage and GFI outlets.
Think you fit the bill? Got some more questions? Contact us for more information at RentMe@springcreekgroup.com
Congratulations Trish Millines Dziko and The Technology Access Foundation
Monday, November 23rd, 2009Last week Trish Millines Dziko, executive director of SCG’s key not-for-profit partner, The Technology Access Foundation (TAF) was recognized with an “Integral Fellows” award at the Microsoft Alumni Foundation 2009 Founders’ Gala. Bill and Melinda Gates recognized a total of three award winners along with other nominees and finalists.
“Integral Fellows” is a new program honoring Microsoft Alumni who have made a meaningful difference in the daily lives of others by using their talents, time and resources to contribute to the community. The Integral Fellows program awarded the Microsoft alumni winners with an unrestricted $25,000 grant for their nonprofit organizations, additional funds raised at the gala, as well as access to the talents and skills of alumni to help support their ongoing efforts.
Congratulations Trish and TAF, you deserve it!
To learn more about TAF visit http://www.techaccess.org/
SCG to Present “Running a Successful Social Media Contest” at WOMMA 2009
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009Some folks from Spring Creek Group set off early this morning to attend the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) Annual Summit in Las Vegas. SCG Principal Clay McDaniel along with Lynn Rowe Girotto, Senior Director of Marketing at Microsoft, will be presenting a session regarding best practices for creating and running a social media contest. The session, “Running a Successful Social Media Contest,” is November 19th from 3:45 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. and will highlight Microsoft’s “Bing Jingle” contest.
So for any of you in the area – we’d love for you to stop by, ask some questions, share your thoughts or just say “hi.”
Read the full release here: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/11/prweb3225644.htm
Get more info on the WOMMA Summit here: http://www.womma.org/summit09/
SMM for SMBs: Five Tips to Get You Started
Friday, November 13th, 2009In a recent article, the NYT outlined the ways small businesses are using Facebook to bolster business in a time when every dollar counts and each invoice can make or break these businesses that are, essentially, the backbone of the American economy.
Now, there are many out there that will charge $5,000 or more to simply set up a Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace page for your business that is guaranteed (in their words at least) to increase sales and generally turn the world into unicorns and rainbows. By taking a holistic approach to your social media campaigns and looking at the long-tail effects, you’ll ultimately bring more of that magical “ROI” everyone keeps talking about. We always tell our friends that they need a data and a plan if they want to be successful in social media – and we stand behind that.
To help out our SMB friends, we came up with five tips for the small business to think about when they start using social media:
1. Free doesn’t mean it won’t cost you anything – While it’s free to start a Facebook Fan Page, Twitter account and many other social networking accounts the cost isn’t incurred when starting these properties. Creating and maintaining a presence on these sites can become a time-consuming task. When your time is money you need to think about how much time you can devote to these tasks and how much you expect to gain in return and find the happy medium.
2. Target, analyze, repeat – Facebook engagement ads offer a relatively easy way for small businesses to target their ads. Geographically specific targeting might not yield a high number of impressions, but if you’re a fly fishing company in eastern Washington, you can focus on winning the hearts and reels of your target audience. These ads’ simplicity also allows for easy A/B testing that helps you maximize your dollars.
3. Social media presence doesn’t make up for bad customer service – Social media sites aren’t a replacement for good products and great service. While having a presence in the social space can allow you to monitor and even provide a place for discussion about your brand, your online presence needs to amplify the values of your company, not act in place of them.
4. You can’t please everyone – The social Web isn’t a nice-fest, that’s for sure. You can expect to see some comments and feedback that isn’t represented on your in-store comment cards – that’s OK. Use everything you get back from your online experiences to change the way your company acts in the real world. You’ll be glad for that feedback when your customers keep coming through your door.
5. Make friends – Small businesses on the social Web can create a mighty thunder when they team up with friends and like-minded companies. Mutual referrals and post-trading make for a better ecosystem and can only help in the long run. It’s like the chamber of commerce in the digital space, but without the awkward brunches.
Those are just a few of our tips, but we’re always willing to hear more. What would you say to the small and medium business owners looking to get into social media?
Social Shopping Trends Continued
Thursday, November 12th, 2009Needless to say, dozens of online social shopping sites exist and new social shopping trends are continuously emerging – many which are extremely effective and offer something unique to the buyer. In our recent article on Mashable about the 5 Hot Social Shopping Trends that we will be seeing this season, we named a few of these popular platforms.
In the feedback, many readers’ generously shared additional and equally significant social shopping sites. Other online shopping communities include Kaboodle, JustBought.it and Wishpot (based here in Seattle). There are also a number of Group- gifting sites out there in addition to the ones mentioned in the article, for example, DreamBank and edivvy.com . Social shopping also involves many new and growing aspects as Quorus, another Seattle-based company, focuses on.
Again, there are multiple social shopping sites and companies as well as dimensions of this topic that can be covered, so please feel free to add any more sites, tools, platforms and trends you think may be of value.
Trust: Build It or Lose It
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009Trust. How do we define it? How do we earn it? How do we keep it? In these times when it’s just as easy to click to one site as it is another, trust in the online space is the single factor that continues to breed loyalty and create relationships. Jonathon Hensley, CEO and founder of Emerge Interactive knows this and he’s walking the talk with his Portland-based group of interactive content specialists.
At today’s PRSA Puget Sound luncheon, Hensley dissected areas where trust can be built in the online space and for the entire time tied each and every decision (design, usability, etc.) back to this core idea of “building trust.”
While we here at Spring Creek Group most definitely consider ourselves very much in the business of building and maintaining trust, it’s important to take a step back and see how that thread is woven throughout an entire brand. Whether it’s the usability of your site as it pertains to flow or the actual information in your copy, each part plays a role in developing and maintaining those levels of trust that create loyal audiences.
So thanks to PRSA Puget Sound for bringing Jonathon along for a great session, and thanks to Jonathon and the rest of the Emerge Interactive team for shining a light on this “trust” aspect of the world we all work and live in. We look forward to continuing this discussion with our marketing colleagues in the future.
Facebook Changes Promotion Guidelines: What Does This Mean for Your Brand?
Monday, November 9th, 2009Before you launch your next online contest or sweepstakes, be sure to check out the newest set of promotional guidelines Facebook recently released. While third parties can still run contests, a few significant changes concerning company promotions on Facebook have been made. Specifically, the location of promotions and contests is restricted to application canvas pages or the application box in a tab on a Facebook Page, and therefore, no longer allowed in the Facebook stream. Facebook also wants better control of how companies use its name, giving specific, approved ways that the name ‘Facebook’ can be used and referenced in a promotion and clarifying that a promotion is not endorsed or sponsored by Facebook – This is much the same as they have done for their ads.
The new guidelines also state that any promotion must go through an approval process, and therefore can only be administered through a Facebook Platform with prior written approval from a Facebook representative.
Other changes include things you can’t do, such as conduct promotions and entries through photo contests which require profile photo manipulation, status update contests which require posting status updates for entry or contest entries once a user has become a fan.
To ensure that you’re not in violation, read the entire Facebook Promotion Guidelines here: http://www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php
We’re Hiring…
Thursday, November 5th, 2009Spring Creek Group is looking to add a Social Media Engagement Lead to our team.
Ideal candidates have 1-3 years experience, with some functional experience in online marketing. More importantly, you love Blogs, YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and some social networks that most people have not heard of. You are also fascinated by the business side of Social Media, quickly evaluate opportunities, converse fluently in the online world, and understand how this channel fits into a larger marketing campaign.
This job is perfect for people who have built large or small blogs and/or web sites and tried to get them a larger audience. You see potential in this industry, and want to get in early. And, you are looking for a new job where you get to work with a team of like-minded, hungry, entrepreneurial types, to build large and small social media campaigns for major corporations and underfunded start-ups.
Please send along your resume, but also send along links where we can see your skills. Please reply to jobs@springcreekgroup.com.
