JitterJam® Social CRM

In this day and age, staying organized can be very difficult. To maintain productivity and organization, many have turned to Evernote, a multi-platform application that allows users to create and categorize notes in Evernote notebooks. The application’s expanding user base has led to an increasing number of application add-ons and new social capabilities. Here are three features that will help you get the most out of Evernote.

Twitter and Email Integration – By following @myEN, you can setup Evernote to capture all of your tweets with “@myEN” in the body as well as direct messages to the @myEN account. This integration helps users deal with the here one second, gone the next nature of social media. If you see a tweet/link in your stream that you’d like to save, simply copy the text, send a quick DM, and view it later in Evernote. The email integration works similarly. The application assigns each user an Evernote specific email address, and all mail sent to it is converted to notes. Now when you get an important email, forward it to your Evernote address, and you are more likely to remember to respond.

Sharing Notes – Another way to take advantage of social media with Evernote is sharing notes to Facebook. This can be particularly effective within groups because you can target a specific friend segment that the note or task is relevant to (i.e. “Cycling Club”). The greatest value in sharing notes however, is that sharing also creates a public copy of a note with a specific URL. For convenience, you do not have to post on Facebook to share notes publicly, and you can always stop publicly sharing a note from the Evernote interface at any time.

Public Notebooks – Several companies now offer Evernote notebooks that you can download and add on to with your own notes. The content of these notebooks is usually both a resource and a source of inspiration. Examples include recipe books, photography guides, and art collections. Adding your own recipe to a notebook and then sharing it is just one way brand and consumer co-creation can be facilitated by public notebooks.

These three features may help you stay organized, but hopefully they also add some fun to your social experience! Whether discovering new pieces of art from a public notebook, creating grocery lists, or sharing your grandmother’s famous blueberry pie recipe with relatives on Facebook, Evernote has something for almost everyone.

Do you have any experience with Evernote? Let us know how you use it? What are your favorite features, we’d love to hear your thoughts!

Many people have already acknowledged that the 2012 elections will be the first time social media plays a large role in presidential campaigns. While Barack Obama was able to harness its power in the 2008 election, use and adoption of social media was not what it is today. Since 2008 the number of tweets sent per day has increased from 300 thousand to 200 million, and the number of Facebook users has jumped from 100 million to 750 million.

This growth has led to a similar rise in social media’s public influence, and has made a social presence necessary for political campaign success. This marriage has proved particularly effective because social users are more inclined to share and engage when they are passionate about something. Politics are an area where strong beliefs and opinions create passion, which sparks social activity. Facebook and Twitter profiles are used to capture this activity, but social media is now also being used in more innovative ways in politics. Here are two recent examples:

Politicians on Plus – As of now, Newt Gingrich is one of only two presidential candidates to have a profile on Google+ (the other being Gary Johnson). While both politicians generally post the same content to their Facebook pages and Google+ profiles, Gingrich is also taking advantage of the hangout feature. He has hosted two hangouts so far, and even posted the video to the first here. These group video chats could help candidates create more personal connections with supporters, and should increase candidate transparency as well. More candidates will probably try this approach in the future, and Johnson has already indicated that he will host a Google+ hangout soon.

First Presidential Debate on Twitter – Following the massive participation in Barack Obama’s town hall, conservatives hosted a presidential debate for Republican candidates with the Twitter handle @140townhall. The debate followed a traditional format with opening statements and time limits for questions dictated by moderators. Twitter has proved to be a great platform to host town hall style events because of the digestibility of 140 character messages, and its ability to reach and participate with an audience. Like Google+ hangouts, we will likely see more of these Twitter events in the future.

What do you think of the way social media has influenced the 2012 elections so far? Have you seen other innovative uses of social media in politics? Comment here and let us know, we’d love to hear about them!

Photo Credit: Twitter

When most people hear the words “music sharing,” copyright violations and lawsuits are the first things that come to mind. But today’s music sharing is not about sharing files and downloads; it’s about sharing what you are listening to and discovering new music through your social connections. Two of the most prominent social music services today are iLike and Grooveshark. Both services enable you to socially share your music preferences through your social networks.

Grooveshark – This service allows users to add songs from Grooveshark’s massive database to a personal library, akin to an online iTunes interface. Personal libraries are accessible through almost any Internet browser and allow you to play your library of songs from their platform. However, you can’t download songs or transfer them to an iPod/mp3 player. One of the most appealing aspects of Grooveshark is the ability to follow your friends and discover new music from their listening habits. Clicking on a “Community” tab provides a news feed depicting what music your friends are listening to and what new music they’ve added to their libraries. Users can also view a friend’s library and any saved playlists they may have. Like most online services, Grooveshark will become more valuable as the number of your friends using the service increases.

iLike – The aim of this service is not in creating an online version of iTunes, but in aggregating music content that iLike determines is relevant to your tastes. It provides an accessory sidebar to iTunes or Windows Media Player that helps you discover new, free music from your favorite artists. If you download the sidebar, iLike will extract information about your most played music and upload it to your iLike profile. Socially, iLike friends can be added via email, Facebook, or MySpace. Another key functionality of this service is alerting you to concerts in your region by your favorite artists. This information can be found on your profile on the iLike website or through the Facebook version of your profile, where the iLike service is seamlessly integrated and simply referred to as the “Music” application.

Both of these social music services are designed to help you discover new music, but the differences lie in how they strive to accomplish that. iLike will alert you when new music from your favorite artists becomes available, while Grooveshark relies on your social community of friends to discover new music. Most importantly, both services allow you to share and celebrate your favorite music with your friends, legally!

Have you used either of these services? Tell us about your experiences with each! Which service do you ultimately like best? Why?

This Idea Spark blog post is the result of the discussion during our Friday morning Creativity Coffee. If you’d like to join us (in person or via web/phone conference), please sign up here. There’s no charge or obligation. We just love ideas and open discussion!

In our past discussions, we have talked about how individual initiatives are the genesis of the use of social media / social marketing within a business or a brand, and that these initiatives are usually driven by a single purpose—a use case. We identified a number of use cases that drive ownership and implementation of social marketing within a business. The third use case in our Creativity Coffee series, Customer Service, focuses on how businesses can utilize social networks to improve the customer service experience for consumers.

Comcast’s @comcastcares is the “poster child” for the successful use of social networks to provide customer service. Frank Eliason (@FrankEliason), who has since moved on to Citi, led a team of 17 people to provide customer care over Twitter. While some companies have followed suit, others are reluctant to provide “public” customer service. What’s clear from today’s Idea Spark Creativity Coffee discussion is that regardless of whether companies address brand issues and sentiment publicly, people will talk. So what should companies do—and expect—from customer service as a use case for social marketing? Here are the ideas and points from our discussion.

1. There are three core customer service opportunities.
• Reactive: Response to a direct customer complaint, comment or inquiry. For instance, a customer sends @ComcastCares a message stating, “I can’t figure out how to work this new interactive guide on my DVR.” @ComcastCares responds with a link to their online user guide.
• Proctive: Engaging a customer who has posted a complaint, question or comment about the company, brand or product on the real-time web. For instance, if a consumer Tweets, “I can’t figure out how to work this new Comcast interactive guide on my DVR.” While the remark wasn’t directed at the Comcast customer service group, they respond with an @ message to the consumer with the same link. This proactive approach shows the consumer that they are keenly interested in ensuring a positive user experience.
• Progressive: Engaging a consumer who is is having issues finding a solution to a problem or even having a problem with a competitor’s product and engaging them with the brand. For instance, a consumer Tweets “I can’t get more than 1Mbps of speed on my DSL.” @ComcastCares could respond with, “We’d love to help you solve your issue. What’s your zip code? Perhaps we have a better solution.” This could be a Sales or a Customer Care function.
2. The main barriers for companies to enact socially-focused customer care are fear and “lack” of resources.
• Fear. Fear of “airing dirty laundry” in public could be a significant barrier for a company or brand to enact real-time customer service. However, remember that consumers are going to talk about your brand regardless of whether you are listening and responding to those comments. Wouldn’t you rather have the opportunity to turn a negative experience into a positive one?
• Resources and Planning. Taking a reasoned approach to providing customer service via social networks takes some planning and coordination. How many hours a day will be covered? Who is responsible for coverage? Do those people cover social networks exclusively? Does this effort require additional resources, or can the business start with existing personnel? How does this overlap with sales/marketing? These questions are asked and answers for other customer service channels and should be addressed for social as well. Current escalation procedures, PLUS procedures for escalating critical public issues, should be known and in place.
3. Customer service is a form of Marketing.
• How does thinking of customer service as a Marketing function change the scope of the role of customer service for your brand?
• There is a huge opportunity for brands to enhance their relationships with their customers and develop advocacy through customer service. Comcast was able to change public perception of their brand through the positive public customer service experience. No all problems CAN be solved to a customer’s satisfaction; but the willingness of a brand to show they care about the customer’s experience is half the battle.
4. What can brands do to offer live social customer service?
• Test the waters. It’s more than likely that brands that are socially active are already fielding customer service questions and issues through their social accounts. Brands can begin by actively listening for customer needs, questions, issues, etc. and involving the customer service organization as part of the social marketing process. Those key individuals can be tasked with responding (in a timely manner) to the real-time customer inquiry and problem resolution. There needs to be a mechanism in place for coordination and assignment of social conversations and responses to make this a viable first step.
• Measure value. How does this shift in activity improve customer satisfaction? How has call/email volume decreased since enacting real-time customer service? Has the sentiment about the brand improved? Make sure that you have Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to measure the effectiveness of the effort. But also make sure that you give the effort enough time TO have an effect.
• Pick the right people. Make sure that you select the right people to provide this type of support. The people chosen should be well-versed in social media as well as your brand/product. The make-up of your work force can drive or kill the opportunity. choose wisely!
• Dedicate. Brands who have successfully tested the waters can take the next step—dedicating resources (personnel, procedures, social accounts) to customer service. But don’t forget that it’s just one avenue for customers to connect with the brand and have issues resolved. Don’t lose sight of the overall value of customer service and satisfaction.
• Be first. Brands that take this step to provide real-time service set the bar for their competitors. They are seen as forward-thinking leaders rather than playing catch-up. Being first in a brand category provides significant competitive advantage (press coverage, brand buzz, etc).
• Crowdsource. Part of the advantage of “public” customer service over social networks is the ability to crowdsource. Publishing useful information and great content to support the customer experience is a great way to have your customers spread the word through their own personal social networks. It’s a mind shift away from traditional customer service towards the development of a customer community. Your customers can help others, and you can point your customers to the community as a resource.

 
Customer service is never an “easy” function, and selling social media as a channel for customer service may be difficult in your organization. While saving money may be one goal, make sure you also think about customer satisfaction (and extending customer lifetime value), retention, developing advocacy and community, reducing the cost of customer acquisition, crowdsourcing and other benefits of good customer service (and good marketing) when pitching a plan to your company. And don’t forget that ALL your employees are your brand ambassadors. Even though they may be home and surfing through Facebook, it’s likely that they are still “on the clock” when it comes to advocating your brand or company. Customer service is every employee’s responsibility, whatever their job.
 
Has your company or brand engaged in real-time customer service? How has the experience changed your company?
 
Photo Credit: thadz

This Idea Spark blog post is the result of the discussion during our Friday morning Creativity Coffee. If you’d like to join us (in person or via web/phone conference), please sign up here. There’s no charge or obligation. We just love ideas and open discussion!

In our past discussions, we have talked about how individual initiatives are the genesis of the use of social media / social marketing within a business or a brand, and that these initiatives are usually driven by a single purpose—a use case. We identified a number of use cases hat drive ownership and implementation of social marketing within a business. Our last Creativity Coffee topic—Using Social Marketing for Lead Generation—was the first in a series of roundtable discussions focusing on use cases. We talked about how Lead Generation is a very B2B (or high-ticket B2C) concept that centers around having a sales force or team, and how companies can utilize social marketing to accomplish this task.

This week’s discussion centers around Building Brand Awareness. Many companies jumping on the social marketing bandwagon are doing so with the goal to build brand awareness. From local businesses to multi-national brands, social marketing can provide new ways for the brand to get closer to their current customers and to reach new consumers otherwise unaware of or disengaged from their business. Today’s discussion surrounded how businesses go about developing brand awareness with social marketing. Here are the ideas sparked during our discussion.

1. The initial Brand Awareness use case is to get out there!
• Many brands just jump in with a Twitter account and a Facebook page. But without some sort of ongoing commitment, policies and goals, the accounts become dormant and whatever effort was put into the accounts turn into negative impressions. It’s estimated that only 25% of brands with Twitter accounts are active!
• Some brands who haven’t jumped in may be suffering from analysis/paralysis—the need to get every policy and procedure in place before embarking on social marketing. Policies NEED to be in place; you don’t want employees representing your company or brand’s voice in an unfavorable way; but you also need to not let fear keep you from getting engaged in social marketing.
2. Brand awareness, impressions and mentions are used as core metrics.
• Brand awareness is a metric that has grown out of traditional media and has been applied to new/digital media. Brand impressions are a key metric and is usually equated to predicted sales based upon prior campaign performance. For example, X media will provide Y impressions and will generate (on average) Z sales.
• Companies use brand mentions on social networks as a core metric not only for measuring social media but general brand awareness. Counting brand mentions over time shows how much buzz there is about a brand and how that buzz changes over time, correlates with other media buys, etc.
• Brand mentions are often used to see how new messaging has spread through the social public. For instance, brands may track how many people have been using their old messaging to discuss or describe their product, how many are using the new messaging and how the conversation shifts over time.
• In some cases, agencies are driving these metrics as part of their overall branding strategy for a company. But are agencies prohibiting companies from doing more? Traditional agencies AND their brand customers know and rely upon standard metrics; how can they move towards using new media metrics to show value? And SHOULD they manage their clients’ social “voice;” does it matter to consumers that an agency is the “man behind the curtain” for a brand’s social account? Food for thought.
3. The use case for Building Brand Awareness = Consumer Engagement.
• Social marketing should be about engaging people; the ‘awareness’ starts with that initial light touch; for instance, following someone on Twitter who mentions an interest that pertains to your market, a competitive brand, the use of a product in your category, etc.
• Brands can take that initial awareness further and engage consumers more deeply. Social networks provide so much more opportunity than just brand awareness and impressions. Brand awareness is a good start as a use case, but social marketing affords so much more. We’ll talk about other use cases in driving consumer engagement in a later discussion.
4. There ARE solid proof points, but direct ROI is still elusive.
• Bank example: An agency’s bank customer saw the average age of their customer drop by 4 years after they launched their Facebook page. Since there was no way to track “clicks” through to account sign-ups, there was little direct ROI data. But that demographic data was very telling.
• How do you measure goodwill? Social marketing helps to build goodwill between the brand and current and potential customers. Sentiment analysis and brand mentions can help showcase more positive attitudes amongst consumers…but can a business measure the ROI for goodwill?
• Engagement CAN be viral. Traditionally, if a consumer had a positive experience with a brand, he/she would tell people on a one-to-one basis. With social media, that positive experience can turn into a viral brand bonanza. If brands are NOT engaged in social marketing to build/monitor brand awareness (and conversation) that can turn into a brand nightmare as well (look at United Breaks Guitars, for example).
5. Social marketing is not a lone channel. The use of social marketing for brand awareness works in conjunction with all other channels, media and messaging.
• Social marketing should be used in coordinated way to drive brand awareness. It is not the only available method to drive awareness, nor is it the RIGHT channel for EVERY situation. E.g. email is a primary preferred channel for receiving deals/offers/promotions today while social is seen as “conversational”. Both have their value–and their place in a brand strategy.
• One last thought: Make sure you understand individual consumer preferences for communication with your brand and strictly adhere to them!

How is your brand using social marketing to drive awareness? Let us know!

This Idea Spark blog post is the result of the discussion during our Friday morning Creativity Coffee. If you’d like to join us (in person or via web/phone conference), please sign up here. There’s no charge or obligation. We just love ideas and open discussion!

During our previous Creativity Coffee, we continued the discussion about online communities by drilling down into the Voice of the Brand—Who is Talking to determine whether or not it matters if the actual person behind a brand’s social account(s) matters to the consumers who are interacting with the brand.

In this week’s discussion, we continued the conversation by going even deeper and discussing what the voice of the brand should be. What is the tone and personality of a brand’s social “voice” via their Twitter, Facebook and other social accounts? How do they determine that voice? Here are the ideas that came out of our discussion.

1. The brand’s voice is not necessarily a reflection of the company culture—but it could be.
• A brand is trying to appeal to the demographic of its target customer. That demographic may not be reflected in the demographics of the company’s employees or its environment and culture.
• However, some brands are very tied to their corporate culture (e.g. Zappos). The voice of the brand is very personal to that culture (Tony) and therefore is driven by that culture.
2. Brand voice is closely tied to social strategy.
• Is the social strategy tied to a particular campaign? A brand image that already exists (mascot, spokesperson)? The social marketing strategy for the brand and the purpose of the particular social account should drive the way the brand approaches its voice. Is the strategy to drive content? Is it to engage in social discussion? Provide customer service? All these approaches may require a different voice—informative, friendly, professional, funny, helpful, provocative, evocative—and a different account for the particular purpose/use.
3. Personalizing the brand versus personifying a brand.
• Personalizing. Brands that are the most successful on the social web are speaking TO individuals. They are humanizing the brand and bringing the discussion to a one to one conversation. They are making consumers feel, “They care about me…they listen to me…they make me feel special.”
• Personifying. This is very different to attaching a personna to the brand; that is, identifying a specific person to a brand’s social identity (Dunkin’ Dave). As we discussed in Part 1 of this conversation, this can be disadvantageous to a brand if/when that employee leaves the company; the social equity that the particular employee has created walks with that employee.
4. How should a brand determine their voice and tone?
• Marketing Strategy. The brand voice should support the mission of the company and/or the brand marketing strategy.
• Social Role and Strategy. The brand voice for each social account should reflect the role and goals of the account (customer support, deals only, specific product, etc.) as well as the social and marketing strategy for the brand. Is the point to inform (e.g @breakingnews)? Engage individuals (e.g. @starbucks)? Provide better service (e.g. @comcastcares)? The voice used to communicate needs to reflect that strategy and role of the account to the brand as well as the voice of the consumers the brand is trying to engage. @comcastcares will have a different voice than @burtonsnowboard.
• Brand Identity. The tone of the brand’s social voice also needs to be in line with the overall brand identity. It can be driven by a particular marketing campaign (e.g. @crunchiscalling) to promote brand messaging and overall brand impressions. But how does this impact the brand in the long term? Is brand impression enough?

Our next Idea Spark Creativity Coffee covers the larger issue of Who Owns Social Marketing in a Company? Is it Marketing? PR? Customer Service? If there are multiple accounts and owners, how do they interact? Who drives the strategy? Please join the conversation!

In social media, personal connections inspire trust whether in an individual or in a brand. Connecting personally helps brands to develop relationships with consumers and promote advocacy. The challenge is identifying potential advocates. One effective solution is utilizing user-generated content, which allows willing advocates to step forward and help promote your brand. This can be much cheaper for your business, and it will be fun for your customers.

The most common method for gathering user-generated content is asking users to share brand testimonials or a specific brand experience through a video. Consumers are inclined to trust the opinion of customers more than the voice of the company, because consumers are unpaid and don’t have their own agenda. A consumer taking time out of their day to share their positive experience with others is an endorsement of the brand in itself.

A recent video campaign using this strategy was the Ten Second Challenge from Aflac, which asked fans to explain what the company does in only ten seconds through a creative video. While these videos are funny, they also communicate the brand’s message through the credible voice of a consumer. This is a main strength of brand advocacy, and user-generated content accomplishes this and more.

Another campaign leveraging user-generated videos is Tillamook Cheese, who gathered similar videos and used them as the basis of a TV advertising campaign. Since the video campaign, they have expanded their efforts and are now asking their fans for notes that  “Share the Loaf.” This new campaign builds upon existing relationships and fosters new connections through engagement.

User-generated content is beneficial to businesses because the value it adds to a company far exceeds its cost. This campaign strategy can be implemented on social networks like Facebook for almost no cost, while simultaneously identifying the best potential brand advocates. The connections formed with these users give your brand the opportunity to build loyal customer relationships through engagement, which is the first step towards developing brand advocacy.

If you have time, spend a few minutes of your Friday watching these videos or checking out Toyota’s campaign, and see how user-generated content campaigns can be successful and fun at the same time! If your company has used this strategy before what were the results, what worked and what didn’t? And how would you recommend other companies implement their own campaigns?

This Idea Spark blog post is the result of the discussion during our Friday morning Creativity Coffee. If you’d like to join us (in person or via web/phone conference), please sign up here. There’s no charge or obligation. We just love ideas and open discussion!

The last Creativity Coffee discussion centered around Social Etiquette. What rules do businesses and brands need to follow to ensure that they are not creating social SPAM? We had far too little time to fully cover the topic, so we continued the conversation by focusing on social etiquette for a single social channel—Facebook. Here are the highlights of the discussion.

1. A Facebook “fan” is like an annuity—a gift that keeps on giving.
• A Facebook fan provides an ongoing value stream.
• Your wall posts/updates are seen by all your fans, but also potentially by all your fans’ friends. One fan can fuel hundreds of brand impressions.
• The real “value” of a Facebook fan is an unknown. That is, until you begin to drive engagement with your fans.
2. Facebook outreach to non-fans is tricky. When is it okay? How do you do it without “freaking out” the consumer?
• As we discussed in our last session, Facebook’s closed networks and less-than-public personal updates make it a difficult platform to use for “discovery” of new brand fans. Search results are limited to those who choose to make all their status updates open to everyone.
• When you do come across a public (everyone) status update that is associated with your brand/market/product, what do you do?
• Use the context of the person’s update (and prior updates). Be respectful. If it’s a negative comment or a complaint, identify yourself and ask if you can be of assistance in resolving the situation. Remember that your posts/comments to a person’s wall is from YOU, the page admin, not BrandX, so identifying yourself is important.
• Offer value. If the status update is a positive comment, identify yourself (Facebook manager for BrandX), thank them enthusiastically for the comment, and invite them to “like” your page and opt-in for future offers. If the person tends to like offers (you can tell via their news stream), you might take the risk to provide a coupon or offer as well. This is really discretionary and should be used only when clearly appropriate.
3. There are coupon fans and non-fans. And they’re both on Facebook.
• Sometimes, it seems to be black or white, love or hate for “offers”. Listen before you engage. View the status updates from a person to see if they are amenable to receiving an offer before sending one to them. Make sure you have a plan, and a respectful one at that, for what triggers your brand to engage with a consumer on Facebook, BASED ON something they said from status update.
• Context is king. At times, people post on Facebook to be social and aren’t interested in potential “offers.” Other times, they are shopping, researching, chatting about brands and products, and it IS appropriate to engage them in your brand even further and even incent them to try your product. Use the info you know about a user, and offer them something targeted that will be meaningful to them. Send the appropriate message.
• While it’s fine to post incentive offers like coupon links, promotion codes and special “Facebook-only” deals on your fan page, make sure that these are NOT the only pieces of content you share on your Fan page. You want to draw people to engage, communicate and deepen the love of your brand. Don’t forget to be social, have discussions with fans, ask them questions, make them smile, provide them with a fun and lively place they want to visit often.
4. Let them opt-in.
• Facebook is a social network. While your fan page is a primary channel for your brand’s consumer engagement, it’s always good give your fans other ways to connect with you.
• Give your fans a way to opt-in to other communication channels (email, Twitter, mobile) and to other communication types (newsletter, coupons, events, etc.) JitterJam’s Make Me Happy™ permission marketing Facebook app works well here!
5. You don’t know what a fan is worth until you know.
• A fan or like you make today may not produce for months….stay the course, be patient, give to get.
• Example: Gary Vaynerchuk – the gift economy. If you don’t know someone, how to you get in their good graces..bring a gift. The same holds true for digital/Facebook etiquette. Come with a gift.
6. Make sure you’re ready for negative comments.
• Whether it’s about your product or about how you’re marketing via Facebook, make sure you’re ready to publicly handle negative comments in a positive way.
• Making decisions on what to say and how to handle potentially sensitive and explosive issues (e.g. the Capri Sun moldy drink debacle) shouldn’t be in the hands of an intern. Make sure you have a fast and effective process for escalation and resolution.
• Not everyone is going to love being contacted by your brand. Be respectful and always make sure you follow any requests to disengage swiftly. Don’t make a lost connection a bad connection.

How are you handling Facebook outreach and engagement? What have resulted in higher engagement by your fans? Please let us know!

This Idea Spark blog post is the result of the discussion during our Friday morning Creativity Coffee. If you’d like to join us (in person or via web/phone conference), please sign up here. There’s no charge or obligation. We just love ideas and open discussion!

Don’t Create Social SPAM

For businesses and brands, interacting on the social web isn’t easy. While individuals see social networks as a place to voice their opinions, post random thoughts, hold conversations or shout and rant, businesses who are trying to engage current and potential customers must tread carefully. Social networks are public venues, and any public communication could become a PR coup or a quickly escalating PR nightmare.

Given the thin ice that businesses and brands skate on in the public space, what rules do they follow to ensure that they are not creating social SPAM? Here are a few ideas that came out of our Creativity Coffee.

1. There’s a different expectation of privacy on Twitter versus on Facebook.
• People on Facebook have a greater perception of privacy even though their settings might make them more public than they desire. They believe that what they post is accessible by their friends (or network) but is not in the public domain.
• On Twitter, unless your tweets are protected, there is no expectation of privacy. The service in itself is a public forum for social commentary and communications.
• Brand outreach and engagement on Twitter is going to be a bit easier for “new” contacts due to the public nature of Twitter and the open environment. Facebook’s closed networks and less-than-public updates make it a difficult platform to use for “discovery” of new brand fans.
2. Example: A brand mention on Twitter vs. Facebook and the brand outreach possibilities
• A consumer, Mary, updates both her Twitter and Facebook status with “I love my Mazda.” Mazda does not have a prior social relationship with Mary. What can Mazda do to engage her?
• Twitter
• Mary’s tweet shows up on Mazda’s social search. Mazda is not following her and she’s not following Mazda.
• Mazda follows Mary. This is generally acceptable.
• Mazda retweets Mary’s comment. This is generally acceptable. The consumer may even notice the retweet and start following Mazda on Twitter.
• Mazda @ messages Mary with a “thank you”. This is generally acceptable.
• Mazda @ messages Mary with a promotional offer. This is very questionable. Mary has no prior relationship with Mazda, and she might see this as social SPAM and block Mazda from future communications.
• Mazda Direct Messages (DMs) Mary with a promotional offer. This is unacceptable. Mary has no prior relationship with Mazda and has not opted to receive promotional messages from them. This is social SPAM. Don’t do it.
• Facebook
• Mary’s Facebook status update shows up on Mazda’s social search. Mary is not a fan of Mazda’s Facebook page.
• There’s not much that Mazda can do from an outreach standpoint here. Any message sent directly to Mary (assuming that she is open to non-friends sending her messages) could be construed as SPAM. Messages sent by Mazda would actually be sent by the Mazda page administrator’s Facebook account to Mary, not by the Mazda page. Facebook was not created as a business-focused network, and the ability for brands to market TO Facebook members is limited to their page fans (I can’t say “likers” without snickering).
• The Mazda page administrator could try to “friend” Mary, but Mary would most likely not know this person and have no reason to friend the page admin.
• Mazda CAN use sophisticated tools to find out Mary’s social profile and try to contact her in a manner that is acceptable to her (perhaps Mary is on the Mazda email list and is open to offers). The best Mazda can do at this point is to understand what Mary is saying about them on Facebook and try to get Mary to Like their Facebook page in another way.
• Twitter is a much more friendly network for brands to discover new voices. However, Facebook DOES have advantages over Twitter as a gathering place for engaged consumers.
3. Permission is the key.
• You need to use the same kind of opt-ins for social marketing as you do for email marketing.
• You want to ensure that you don’t alienate a current/potential customer. It’s critical that you ask them to opt-in to receive promotional messages from you. If they don’t, do not send them promotional messages (DMs, Facebook messages).
• DMs are self-regulating. If you blow trust with your contact, they will sever their connection with you.
4. You need to be mindful of not only WHAT you say, but how often you speak.
• With Facebook, a your wall posts/updates will show up on your fans’ walls and will create a brand impression to all those who are friends with your fan. However, if you post to Facebook constantly, your fans may tire of the constant chatter and “unlike” your page. Make sure your content is valuable and not annoyingly frequent.
• Twitter is a little more forgiving, but your brand impressions may be less frequent due to the higher instance of chatter.
• In both cases, note that your status updates are fleeting; they pass by your fans and friends and may not register at all.

Facebook has lots of advantages for the brand once you get consumers to engage (“Like” your brand’s page). In this coming Friday’s Creativity Coffee, we’ll talk about Facebook Etiquette. Please join the conversation!

Do you have policies and procedures in place for your public social networks? What are you rules for social etiquette? Have you had an instance where your social outreach backfired? How did you handle it?

Launches a Host of New Facebook Marketing Capabilities

(PRWEB) Bedford, NH — July 13, 2010 — JitterJam™, a leader in Social Marketing software, today announced the availability of a group of Facebook marketing features and an embedded JitterJam Facebook application all aimed at helping brands and businesses develop close relationships with their Facebook contacts. JitterJam’s unique Facebook capabilities enable businesses to drive deeper engagement with consumers, originate and manage their content and communications, create and execute marketing campaigns to their contacts, and generate a measurable return on their Facebook marketing efforts.

JitterJam’s Facebook capabilities are centered around five core areas:

• Facebook App for Consumer Opt-In. JitterJam’s Facebook app creates a Connect tab on a brand’s page that integrates with JitterJam’s Make Me Happy™ permission marketing system. Page visitors can specify what kind of information they’d like to receive, their preferred contact channels and addresses (including email, mobile, Facebook and Twitter), and their desired frequency of communications.
• Facebook Marketing Database. In addition to the Facebook app, JitterJam uniquely captures data and builds intelligence on each contact that posts to or comments on a brand’s Facebook wall. The intelligence helps the brand determine which contacts are most engaged with the brand, segment the database and market to targeted segments of their contacts.
• Consumer Engagement. JitterJam makes it easy to find or originate content and post it on the brand’s Facebook wall as well as respond to comments and wall posts by contacts—all from the JitterJam platform.
• Marketing Campaigns. Businesses can easily post and track special offers to their Facebook wall or create targeted campaigns to individual contacts. Cross-channel campaigns can help determine which communications channel drives the highest response and revenue.
• Measurement and ROI. Track the growth and engagement of your audience, the effectiveness of your offers and messages and see how Facebook is enhancing your brand and driving new business.

“Businesses and brands are flocking to Facebook to deepen their connection to their customers, but they have limited data about their Facebook contacts and few ways move beyond light relationships with those contacts,” said Ric Pratte, President and CEO of JitterJam. “JitterJam paves the way for brands to strengthen their relationships, develop connections within and outside of the Facebook channel, and directly connect and market to those people. JitterJam is a game-changer for Facebook Marketing.”

“We were thrilled to see JitterJam’s new Facebook features and put them into immediate use with our client National Fix and Flip Network,” said Alex Gebhardt, Chief Social Strategist with Inside Media Networks. “JitterJam has allowed us to put real intelligence behind our client’s database and extend that into our social networks. Now, not only can we integrate our social, email, and mobile marketing with our outbound efforts, we can also better learn how our contacts would like to stay in touch. The Facebook app was easy to setup, and better yet we can use the same form on our website and all our contact data and preferences are instantly stored in our JitterJam database.”

“We are proud to be one of the early adopters of JitterJam and were happy to provide insight and feedback from our clients to make the product absolutely unmatched,” said Walter Elly, Director of Internet Marketing at MicroArts Creative Agency. “We see JitterJam—especially the new Facebook features—as a huge competitive advantage for our firm.”

JitterJam’s Facebook app and capabilities are commercially available as part of the overall JitterJam service. Packages start at $290 per month.

About JitterJam
JitterJam is a comprehensive web-based Social CRM system that integrates social media, e-mail, and mobile marketing with an intelligent contact database and the tools needed to turn social conversations into trusted customer relationships. Consumer-facing businesses, brands, agencies and consultants are using JitterJam to develop their social contact database and drive return on investment for their integrated marketing efforts. JitterJam is headquartered in Bedford, NH. For more information on JitterJam and to sign-up for a free trial, visit www.jitterjam.com.