Archive for the ‘Microsoft’ Category
BlogWell Seattle 2010 Takeaways – Board Game Edition
Thursday, May 6th, 2010
Have you ever played the game Taboo? Your partner picks a card with a specific word on it. They try to get you to guess the word without using five “taboo” words, which would likely give away the answer, while an hourglass quickly empties.
BlogWell may be the “Taboo” of social media conferences. In a series of “lightning round” case study presentations, speakers had 20 minutes to boil down multi-million-dollar global integrated marketing campaigns into actionable takeaways for an audience comprised of marcom consultants, agencies and brand managers from companies like Cisco, McDonald’s, TiVo and Kraft. Each presenter shared their success stories, all without giving away the secret sauce (those “taboo” words). After 20 minutes, the audience left feeling like either winners or losers, depending on their ability to guess the key takeaways from all the content.
For those with “140-character” attention spans, the model was likely a refreshing change of pace compared to conferences where PowerPoints feel more like Monopoly than War. I left the conference wondering what key messages attendees would bring back to their companies. Here’s what I heard:
- Read the directions to everyone. Whether you like it or not, your social media presence is touching every person at your company in some fashion, turning everyone into a potential spokesperson, evangelist or fire-starter. So, while social media is often “owned” by some sort of marketing team, infusing best practices into the broader culture is key. At one end of the spectrum, Frank Shaw from Microsoft discussed the simple advice his company gives employees: “Be smart.” On the other end, Bryan Rhoads from Intel described a robust employee training program with a series of 100-400-level course videos followed by a formal certification. Regardless, instituting a social media policy and sharing it company-wide is imperative.
- Decide how to keep score. Todd Blecher from Boeing noted that while he has no idea whether they should have 800 or 800,000 Twitter followers, he does know that Boeing’s overall reputation is what he needs to measure success against. On the other side, Molly Schonthal from Nokia said they have more than 10 metrics that they break into categories of success: 1) Fostering Dialogue, 2) Promoting Advocacy, 3) Facilitating Support, and 4) Spurring Innovation. You can make up your own scoring system, but at least make sure everyone on your team knows it.
- Don’t play Solitaire. Integration across the marketing mix is key. We all talk about it, but getting multiple business groups, agencies and a cross-section of paid-owned-earned media marketers at one table is as easy as guessing the killer-weapon-room combo during a rousing game of Clue. Alex Wheeler’s presentation of Starbucks’ social media efforts demonstrated a uniquely integrated approach, which Alex attributed to two critical things: 1) integration among senior executives and their buy-in that an integrated approach is imperative, and 2) putting the customer at the center and looking at social media from their point of view, vs. planning and making decisions based on an org chart.
- Win at a losing game. Viral videos! Likes! Deals! Mayors! Don’t forget about the not-so-fun online conversations that are impacting your brand perception. Audiences have taken the customer service issues away from the call center and plastered them all over the internet – and away from your owned properties, no less! These conversations have changed the customer service game entirely, because now the whole world can watch the issue unfold (if they care). Suddenly, a small issue has evolved into a Jenga tower, teetering on the verge of collapse. Nestor Portillo of Microsoft’s customer service org described how they have a team of social media agents, escalation processes and listening tools in place to track customer service issues across the internet.
Surprisingly, common hot topics at most recent social media conferences like mobile, geo-location, and measurement tools weren’t really discussed at BlogWell…perhaps because of time limitations?
Thanks to GasPedal, the Social Media Business Council and Microsoft for putting on an interesting and unique conference.
What did you think of BlogWell?
Attend BlogWell Seattle Series, Get 20% off with the SCG Coupon Code
Monday, April 26th, 2010
The BlogWell series, presented by GasPedal and the Social Media Business Council, is coming to the Microsoft Headquarters on May 5th. The event will feature corporate social media case study presentations from major brands including Microsoft, Starbucks, Xerox, Nokia, PEMCO, ExOfficio, Boeing and Intel.
The conference will focus on practical, how-to advice on creating great content, getting management buy-in, educating employees, keeping lawyers and regulators happy, simple and ethical disclosure, and engaging fans.
Learn how to get started, get past roadblocks, and make your social media program phenomenal — in one afternoon.
For more details visit: http://www.gaspedal.com/blogwell/seattle. Apply the coupon code SCGSENTME to get 20% off registration.
Windows 7 Launch Rides the Wave of Social Engagement
Thursday, February 25th, 2010
When you’re Microsoft drumming up buzz about your biggest product launch in recent history isn’t all that hard. The challenge, even to one of the largest, most-known brands in the world comes when you look at that buzz and decide what to do with it. In this latest case, the Windows 7 OS launch, Microsoft and the Windows team linked their goals of creating awareness with new consumers, engaging existing consumers, and building advocacy and empowering champions by monitoring and engaging in the online communities where today’s consumers live out their lives: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, and forums specifically.
Laying the Groundwork
While the excitement around the campaign drove large quantities of engagements, the Windows Team was out for months before launch, building support and creating lines of communication in the communities. The study lends weight to the practice by noting that the Windows Outreach Team was able to scale to fit needs during the natural product lifecycle.
Through the LookingGlass
With the addition of Microsoft’s own tool, LookingGlass, the group was able to not only monitor volume and sentiment around the launch, but also create an information loop as the chunks of info from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, blogs, and forums were streamed to their tool for all to see on their Social Media Hub. For the first time during a major product launch, Microsoft fans and critics alike had a near real-time look at the information their fellow Web colleagues were discussing and were able to jump into the conversation themselves.
The Case Study
Wrapping Up
For more information, visit Marty Collins’ blog – Marketing Today.
*Full Disclosure: Microsoft Corporation is a client of Spring Creek Group
Visible Technologies and Spring Creek Group Partner to Deliver Robust Social Media Management and Engagement Solutions to Fortune 100 Clients
Wednesday, January 14th, 2009By BusinessWire
SEATTLE, BUSINESS WIRE –
Visible Technologies:
- Visible Technologies, an industry-leading provider of social media monitoring and engagement solutions, today announced a partnership with Spring Creek Group, an innovative online marketing agency. Spring Creek will offer its customers Visible Technologies’ social media analysis and engagement software platform, TruCast.
- The strategic alliance allows Spring Creek to extend the capabilities of its social media management (SMM) services by enabling clients to more accurately measure their online brand awareness and the effectiveness of their social media marketing programs.
- By deploying proven SMM methodologies and leveraging robust technology tools like TruCast, Spring Creek gives clients such as Microsoft the ability to track relevant brand conversations online, gain actionable marketing intelligence and engage with the social media communities that matter most to their brand.
- Spring Creek Group is an innovative online marketing agency that helps companies of all sizes improve brand awareness and increase site traffic through social media-based online marketing methods. Spring Creek helps brands connect with their customers via innovative social media marketing programs such as branded online communities, blogs and social networks that result in higher brand awareness, increased sales and deeper customer loyalty.
- Visible Technologies provides brands, including Microsoft, Panasonic and Hormel, the ability to bolster brand reputation, build revenue and measure the success of social media engagement. The company’s TruCast2.0 social media monitoring and engagement platform launched in May 2008.
QUOTES
- ‘Engaging with social media is not an option for marketers today ‘ it’s an imperative. Consumers are using social media like blogs, consumer-generated reviews and social networks to compare our products and determine what other people are saying about them. Working with Spring Creek Group and using Visible Technologies’ TruCast platform, we’re able to create social media marketing programs that actively engage customers in a dialogue with one another, and then track and measure the effectiveness of these programs to drive sales and build brand value.’ – Marty Collins, Microsoft Group Marketing Manager, Windows Interactive and Digital Marketing
- ‘Over the past 18 months we have been building our relationship with Spring Creek Group, working in concert with them to help industry-leading clients like Microsoft achieve their marketing objectives through effective social media monitoring, measurement and engagement.We look forward to replicating this success with current and future clients.’ ‘ Blake Cahill, senior vice president of marketing, Visible Technologies
- ‘Our partnership with Visible Technologies has proven to be a huge success helping companies like Microsoft launch, measure and optimize social marketing programs to achieve real business results. The TruCast software platform strengthens our established social media management methodology by allowing brands to easily monitor and track millions of simultaneous online conversations, articles and posts.’ ‘ Clay McDaniel, co-founder and principal of Spring Creek Group
SUPPORTING RESOURCES
- Listen to Marty Collins, Microsoft Group Marketing Manager, comment on TruCast
- Spring Creek Group
- Spring Creek Group Blog
- Visible Technologies
- TruCast
- VisInsightsBlog
About Visible Technologies
Visible Technologies helps companies listen and learn what consumers are saying about them online, and it enables brands to participate in the right conversations with the right influencers at the right time. With this real-time business insight and response, companies build relationships with customers, bolster their brands and grow revenue. Its innovative TruCast platform is the industry’s first complete solution for social media analysis and participation. Visible Technologies also helps brands and individuals manage and protect their online reputations with the powerful TruView’ search engine solution. For more information, go to http://www.visibletechnologies.com, or follow the blog at http://www.visinsights.com.
About Spring Creek Group
Spring Creek Group is an innovative online marketing agency that helps companies of all sizes improve brand awareness, increase sales, and drive site traffic through social media-based online marketing. Spring Creek Group is made up of experienced, skilled, and results-oriented online marketers with a passion for using the most innovative marketing tactics ‘ including branded communities, interactive content, and next-generation social networking’ to drive measurable business results. Members of Spring Creek Group draw on deep e-commerce and online marketing experience at companies such as RealNetworks, Microsoft, Amazon, Judy’s Book.com, Salton, and Disney Internet Group. The company’s clients include both local growing companies and nationally established industry leaders like Microsoft, Corbis and Paramount Farms. For more information, visit www.springcreekgroup.com www.springcreekgroup.com.
