Recently, there have been some brands that have been lableed as being the ones to look at in terms of best practices in social media – whether it is with Foursquare (Starbucks) to Twitter (Dell and Best Buy) to Facebook (Coca-Cola). However, another brand is showing all of these brands that there is a new social media leader in the online community, and it is Old Spice.
Numerous social media sites like Mashable and Wired have discussed how Old Spice and their Old Spice Man commercials are setting the standard on how corporations can successfully implement a strategic social media campaign. These commercials first were introduced to the public back in the Super Bowl. In the commercials, the Old Spice Man appears in various settings fluidly with witty comments and creates a sense of engagement and interaction with the audience. The spokesperson in the commercial provides humor and makes you remember the commercial because you are laughing at some of the phrases used in the commercial.
With this being said, the reaction online to this campaign has been very positive – and you can see why. Old Spice is creating a campaign that is engaging with audiences, and they are sharing information about their product, but they are also listening to their customers online – which is key. In addition, they are thinking about the long-term relationships with the audiences and not the bottom line in their commercials – and this is what people are looking for today.
Presently, there are so many stories that appear in the national and international press that are either negative or down – and I do believe that people are looking for humor and avenues where they can laugh. Old Spice has created a very integrated and strategic social media campaign – and it is setting a very high standard for other brands to follow. This will be an interesting PR / Marketing case study to look at in the next few years – it is always nice to see a corporation doing something right for a change. 
Hope you all are having a great day.
Best Wishes,
Karen
As many of my friends and family know – there are certain things that definitely make me happy and feel absolutely fabulous. I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, travel to new places, cooking, and photography. But, there are two things that my friends and family associate with me: coffee (a major food group!) and social media. Now, if you have coffee AND social media together – it is indeed a beautiful thing! That is why Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts are definitely leaders in social media and evolutionizing their brands online. Starbucks has clearly been a leader in social media for years.
From jumping on board with Facebook and Twitter – they have grown their online presence to amazing heights. Starbucks has also been ranked as one of the top brands on engagement with their customers and other stakeholders in 2009. Now, Starbucks has been considered to be one of the companies that is really taking advantage and setting the tone for businesses on Foursquare. Starbucks is offering their mayors at various locations (people that check in the most on Foursquare and the specific Starbucks) discounts on Starbucks products as well as having their own barista badge.
While Starbucks is setting the stage for other brands to follow on Foursquare and other social media platforms, Dunkin Donuts also is making a mark for themselves on social media as well. Dunkin Donuts has utilized social media to definitely create engagement and interaction with their customers through specific campaigns, such as the one where they asked their customers to design a donut that they would like to have through a specific website. They also rewarded their Facebook fans who changed their profile picture to feature a Dunkin donuts product (ex. coffee or donut). This is an interesting way to create engagement that is unique and utilizing these various social media platforms differently.
In summary, both Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts are both leading the way with their brands on social media – both in their innovation and application of social media in their traditional marketing and public relations campaigns to using the new medium in engaging with their audiences. Plus, both companies have fabulous coffee! When I go to Starbucks – I get myself a non-fat cafe misto (my friend Angela got me into these!) and an extra large coffee at Dunkin Donuts (HEART!) Both companies have great coffee and are indeed leaders in implementing and using social media – more companies should look at what these two brands are doing and use them as case studies.
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
It appears that people are really getting on board with the mobile applications and using them for various reasons. A recent post by Mashable discusses a study that was conducted by Flurry that discusses what are some of the activities people are using their smartphones and applications for. The top results included applications for entertainment, news, games, lifestyle, and social networking. The two leading mobile products that were looked at in this research study included the iPhone and the Android.
Flurry Study Results on Mobile Application Use (2010)
Another trend that we are seeing is more integration with traditional media and non-traditional media for events and campaigns. We are also seeing more mobile applications and web site tools for these events as well. For example, Yahoo! recently established a mobile site for the Winter Olympics so people can get the latest information, statistics, and news stories regarding about the different sports.
What will be interesting to see is how people will be using these applications when dealing with a crisis situation. Are companies going to have applications set up in place just in case of a crisis situation. What will be included in these applications? How will these applications be designed? These are some things that I think that public relations professionals need to consider and possibly recommend for their clients and agencies.
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
Social media measurement is indeed a hot topic among the public relations community. Professionals and researchers are actively searching for ways to collect and observe what is occuring in the social media realm in terms of key messages, tweets, sharing information and visual communications (ex. videos and pictures) with others. But what is the best way to approach this task? Should public relations researchers focus on looking at just quantitative research methods in looking at social media? Or should we look more towards the social construction of the messages online and interview those that are actively on social media to create specific interactions (more qualitative research)?
Well, there are some professionals that advocate using the scientific method to their approach in looking at social media. This is indeed a good start – we as researchers need to observe what is happening in our environment and separate ourselves from what is going on and our own bias regarding social media. There are other quantitative tools for researchers to use to track and monitor social media effectively – but these usually come with a price, but there are some that are free. However, what we as public relations professionals need to do is to take a moment away from keyboard and our social media research platform – look at the level of engagement between individuals and listen. There are certain steps that you can actively take that can accomplish this and do effective social media research.
For social media research to evolve and help the public relations field, we need scholars and professionals who want to actively observe what is going on in the online community and be able to detect the relationships between specific variables (quantitative research) and having the open mind to look at the impact of the messages and meaning behind these online interactions (qualitative research). So basically, we need to have an integrated perspective towards research and looking at it from different perspectives in a systematic way.
Hope you all are having a great day.
Best Wishes,
Karen
Why can’t we all work together and be friends? We are all dealing with the same challenges and situations in both this tough economy and job situation, and what we are seeing is not only an increase in cause-related marketing campaigns, but strategic partnerships of two or more entities that are collaborating together for a win-win situation. For example, it was just recently announced that Target has teamed up with YouTube to create the integrated site “Holiday Solutions.” This site will be providing videos of how-to do specific holiday recipes and party ideas, as well as featuring gift ideas that are specifically related to Target.
My analysis of this social media campaign? Well, I have to say that it is very strategic and cutting edge. First, it brings up the importance of establishing these public partnerships to go towards the common good that is beneficial for everyone involved. Creating these long term relationships with key social media influencers like YouTube will definitely help Target and separate themselves from their competitors and other retailers. Plus, it also helps YouTube in the minds of customers and business professionals as being a significant medium to target to create these partnernships to get exposure and presence in the minds of their key stakeholders.
Second, these are two different companies – one is a video sharing site and the other is a retail store – but this new form of collaboration shows that this will be a growing trend and strategy that public relations professionals need to be aware of.
And lastly, this shows the stride and significance of social media for businesses. I have heard from several professionals and others that they believe that social media is “just a fad” and that it will go away. Well, I think not – I believe that this is just the beginning and we will definitely see more strategic and integrated partnerships between the traditional businesses and the businesses made household names thanks to the Internet.
These are just a few of my thoughts on this issue. I hope that you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
