Posts Tagged ‘blogs’
The Blogging Battle Royale: A Closer Look
Wednesday, October 26th, 2011Here at Spring Creek Group, we’re big fans of Tumblr and we’ve been driving out clients to evaluate the platform in their social media programs. We love the platform not just for its crazy/wonderful memes (like Selleck Waterfall Sandwich, Garfield Minus Garfield and Teenage Mutant Ninja Noses) but for how straightforward it is to use, and for how quickly you realize the point of Tumblr is as much about exploring others’ content as it is about sharing your own.
With over 30 million blogs to date, it’s only in the past year that we’ve seen big brands make a foray onto the platform. Publishing and broadcast media brands like The Economist, LIFE, Sesame Street and the Travel Channel were quick to embrace the platform’s multimedia-friendly design and to share behind the scenes or bonus content with followers. Recent Tumblr blogs from companies like IBM, Bungie and Huggies have showcased the platform’s flexibility in creating a blog right for each brand.
It was big news this week for Tumblr when President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign launched its own Tumblr blog, but the article that piqued our interest was this quick blog post from Compete.com’s Damian Roskill: “Tumblr vs. WordPress vs. Blogger: Fight!” To kick it off, Damian illustrates that when it comes to unique visitor rates, WordPress is head and shoulders above the rest while Tumblr is ascending and Blogger is seeing steady drop-off.
According to Compete.com’s data, 2011 has seen huge gains for Tumblr, with the platform tying WordPress for overall blog visits. The most compelling (and frankly, astounding) chart Damian shared outlined page view trends:
While Tumblr trails WordPress in unique visitors, Tumblr’s visitors are viewing a dramatically larger number of pages. This illustrates Tumblr’s true potential: it encourages visitors not just stop by, but to stay and explore.
We agree wholeheartedly with Damian’s assertions that Tumblr’s success is likely tied to the platform’s emphasis on reducing barriers to publish content and making it easy to tag content across blogs, while also encouraging users to build a network of bloggers with whom you mutually share content. Make sure to check out the rest of Damian’s post for some other interesting tidbits about the three platforms.
We’re excited to see how Tumblr’s future plays out and what brands create using the platform. In the meantime, make sure to sneak a peek at two of our Tumblr guilty pleasures: Barack and Gary, BFFs and Scanwiches.
Strategy
Monday, March 30th, 2009Our Services
Channel Guidance
and Strategy
- Your brand’s opportunity identification: Where you could – and should – invest in a managed brand presence across the social media web.
- Collaborative strategic marketing plan development.
- Resource, budget, channel strategy, marketing plan deliverables.
- Content. Technology and editorial plan development.
Culling through the options to develop an efficient multi-channel brand marketing campaign – Now more than ever, large and small companies are forced with the decision of how to introduce Social Media into their Marketing, Customer Service or Product Development organizations. Executives face difficult questions around how to staff the team, what attributes to measure, how to provide content, who should own the responsibility and how to communicate this new philosophy to the organization. If your organization is tackling these issues, Spring Creek Group can help you with answers to these questions.
Once you are ready to implement your program, Spring Creek Group is ready to help you build a cogent and effective strategic one. The Social Media Web offers a sometimes confusing array of options, including the latest ‘white hot stars’ like Twitter and an endless ‘long tail’ of potentially valuable but difficult-to-target specialty blogs and forums. Social Media is more than just deciding when you focus your brand marketing and engagement efforts on Facebook, YouTube, or other key sites. Should you invest the time in building out your own blog or publishing comments to other blogs? How could you use Twitter for your business? We’ve developed a sophisticated social media marketing methodology that answers these questions and more. The outcome is a data-driven, strategic, and targeted social media marketing strategy custom-built for your brand and business goals.
Social Media Spending is Up
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009As things have progressively gone from bad to even more bad in regards to our country’s current ecomonic climate, more and more marketers have begun to take notice. Less value is being placed on the benefits of a high-powered advertising buy, and more emphasis and resources are being directed toward building lasting and effective relationships with one’s customers.
Forrester recently acknowledged this trend in a post that focused on social media’s ability to remain “recession resistant” in spite of the fact that most other current economic news and spending trends have been less than stellar. Included in that report is this following pie chart, which is a great representation of the post’s main point: 
These survey results, taken from the responses of 114 marketing professionals, help us confirm that more and more people are starting to grasp an idea that we’ve felt strongly about all along– the idea that social media is a great place to invest time and resources for a big impact at the bottom of the customer funnel, as it helps brands better connect with, understand, and engage their target customers for the long term.
Apparently, it’s becoming a pretty popular idea.
Comcast COO Talks Twitter
Friday, March 13th, 2009In a recent interview with TechFlash’s John Cook, Comcast COO Steven Burke talked about the future of Comcast. Reaching out via the comments on the TechFlash site, Cook asked readers to submit questions for Burke, of which one (submitted by yours truly) focused on the company’s use of Twitter as an outreach and engagement tool.
Here’s the good stuff from Cook’s interview:
What have you learned from using Twitter and other social media tools to respond to customer complaints?
“It is an interesting question. We have 24 million customers, and even when you do things right 99.9 percent of the time, when you have 24 million customers, you get a lot of phone calls and lot of repair issues and things you need to do. One of the things we noticed was these social media sites like Twitter were places where people would go and they would tell their friends what they thought was good or bad about a particular company.
So, we hired a group of people who do nothing all day long but go into blogs. And their primary mission is to go in and figure out if someone is unhappy with their service and if there is anything we can do to fix it and rectify the problems. We’ve been doing it now about 18 months and it has been fantastic.”
On lessons from that:
“When you contact somebody and you admit that you made a mistake and then you fix the mistake, they become some of your biggest supporters. We took the lead and we are ahead of a lot of companies in America doing it…. I think it is a fact that that’s the way that people are communicating now, and I think if you want to serve your customers you have to go to where they are.”
“I think cable companies traditionally have gotten a wrap — and some of its justified — for doing what they do one-sized-fits-all and not being responsive to customers about complaints. And we have never liked to think of ourselves that way, but the fact of the matter is at times we are that way. This is a way to really connect one-on-one with people in a really intimate way. So, it has been a big success.”
Looks like someone has been reading our blog. In all seriousness, though, Burke’s answers speak true to a well-aimed outreach plan involving Twitter (and blogs in their case).
We all know of other companies out there “doing it right,” which ones do you think get it?
Hot Off the Digital Press:
www.springcreekgroup.com goes live
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009
If you’re reading this post, you probably have noticed there’s something different about the Spring Creek Group site. Perhaps the fact that you can see all recent Spring Creek Twitter feeds– not to mention this blog– on the SCG homepage, gave it away. Or maybe it was the large hand and marker circles in the middle of the screen, or our revamped logo that did it.
No matter what your clue was, Spring Creek Group would like to officially announce that our new site is up and running. We felt it was time for a www.springcreekgroup.com makeover, and with that came a new look and feel, as well as improved features and content.
Now you can instantly see all recent activity including feeds and blogs right on the homepage, as well as view current SCG news and upcoming events and browse through archived blog posts dating back to more than a year ago.
By implementing some of these features into your own site, a small business can significantly benefit from social media. If you’re already using social media channels, be sure they are included on your website and easily accessible for new users to join and current followers to keep updated with all the happenings of your business. And of course you can always contact us for more social media marketing guidance.
SCG’s goal was to create a site that functions as an example of social media, as well as provides an in-depth explanation of what we do and the unique services we provide including Brand Analysis & Measurement, Social Media Marketing Strategy & Planning, and Social Media Channel Outreach & Engagement Services.
So feel free to comment and let us know what you think about our new digs.
Services
Thursday, February 19th, 2009Our Services
Social Intelligence
and Analytics
- Social media channel brand listening and monitoring tools. Deployment and analysis across the entire social media web.
- Brand frequency, sentiment, and ‘Share of Voice’ analysis and reporting.
- Key influencer/top domain indentification.
- Benchmarking reports and custom dashboards
Channel Guidance
and Strategy
- Your brand’s opportunity identification: Where you could – and should – invest in a managed brand presence across the social media web.
- Collaborative strategic marketing plan development.
- Resource, budget, channel strategy, marketing plan deliverables.
- Content. Technology and editorial plan development.
Social Engagement
and Campaigns
- Experienced “Social Media Marketing Engagement Leads” team.
- Social media outreach, content syndication, and marketing campaign social graph promotion.
- Personal, direct, conversational marketing to complement your existing media buying.
- Identification and outreach to key strategic communities.
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.
The 5 Cs of Savvy Social Marketers
Monday, January 5th, 2009Commitment:
Don’t just post a profile—social media is not a set-it-and-forget-it realm. Get involved in your network, and make it a part of your routine.
Connections:
The more connections you can forge, the more powerful you’ll be online. This is true for corporate and personal brands.
Content:
Share helpful, useful, and interesting information as much as possible. People will better understand you and your goals this way.
Commentary:
Applaud others. Thank those who help you. Give hat tips and re-tweets and leave comments on blogs. Critic carefully. Question things that puzzle you. You’ll further integrate yourself into the fabric of the conversation(s).
Character:
Remember that Google never forgets, and use that to you advantage to shape your reputation.
Predictions in Social Media for 2009
Wednesday, December 31st, 20081
As the economy continues to frantically zig and zag, LinkedIn usage will accelerate.
2
Twitter will be forced to monetize or it will be eaten and digested by the Fail Whale.
3
More and more businesses will realize that social media is an effective way to retain customers.
4
Sites that use black-hat SEO will start to look extremely dated as people catch on to more effective ways to get their content indexed by the search engines.
5
Newspapers will embrace blogs more fully. This arranged marriage of old and new media will creative dozens of Gawker-like networks slanted toward local content.
6
iPhone App Designer will be the next hot job title.
7
Effective market research will mean more lurking online and less lurking behind two-way mirrors.
8
Successful Mom & Pop shops will tend to be international, online businesses more than local, brick and mortar businesses.
9
YouTube comments will continue to make us doubt our faith in humanity.
10
It will be a very interesting year.
Irony in social media.
Tuesday, December 16th, 2008If you’re addicted to the internet, here’s a site to bookmark.
While you’re there, go ahead and put the blog to put in your reader, too.
