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Being Social - 6 Brands Doing It Right

Good article in iMedia Connection by Kent Lewis, President of Anvil Media today.  He touts 6 well-known brands (ok...5 of 6 are well known) that are using social media in effective ways.  Top 6 include:

1. Blackberry on My Space - sure My Space has taken it's knocks but it's still a big play in social and Blackberry uses a custom-skinned profile page, interactive banner with promotions, free wallpaper and a discussion board on My Space to better and engage with its fans

2. Hewlett Packard on Linked In - HP taps Linked In to post jobs, as questions and create groups which helps to not just promote the company but connect with it's members

3. Kodak on it's own Blog - a number of Kodak employees write on the blog, update content, post interesting photos and drive interaction via contests 

4. Lion Brand Yarn on Facebook - gotta admit I've never heard of this company but Lewis' agency helped LBY create a presence on Facebook in all the regular ways - industry info, status updates, q&a, getting fans to share knitting patterns, etc.  And believe it or not LBY has over 41,000 fans!

5. Zappos on Twitter - it's tough for corporations to find a good fit on Twitter so Zappos encourages all its employees to use Twitter and engage in the social media experience, even Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh has over 1.5MM followers and that's gotta be good for business

6. Nike on YouTube - Nike has created its own SB (skateboard) channel on YouTube and the 9 videos posted there have already generated over 1.4MM views, plus the channel has north of 14,000 subscribers, great way to allow consumers to interact with the brand

Although I think Lewis plays it safe with the social media properties listed these are all good examples of brands using social media to boost customer engagement and interaction.  

  

Chirp...Chirp...Chirp...

Research from the Pew Internet Project came out earlier today measuring the growth of micro-blogging platforms like Twitter.  Turns out 19% of US Internet users are now engaging with these services, up 8 percentage points from April.  Some interesting stats coming out of the survey include:

- social networks users, mobile users and younger users (18-44) are responsible for most of the growth

- median age of a Twitter user is 31 (no change over past year)

- usage for the 18-24 demo jumped to 37% 

Most folks I speak to in and outside the online industry aren't that surprised by this growth since Twitter remains the "new shiny toy" of the day.  But I wonder about the following:

- How are people using Twitter today and has it changed over the past 6 months? (I use it mostly for research when I am prepping for interviews and sales calls)

- Has Twitter turned into one big celebrity tracking service? (anyone can follow Ashton, Britney, and MC Hammer...full disclosure - I do)

- When will Twitter get more serious (enough already with the "heading out to lunch" and "not feeling well" tweets)

- What is the current churn/abandon rate? (back in April Nielsen research said that 60% of US Twitter users bail after 1 month)

- Will Twitter be around in 5 years? (most CEOs I've talked to in the past 3 months say "no"...hmmm)

Time will tell what happens to Twitter.  In the meantime happy chirping.

FTC, IAB, Bloggers OH MY...

The FTC handed down new rules of the road for bloggers who write about and post online reviews of products.  Starting on December 1 bloggers must disclose when they receive free product, merchandise or payment and write/post about it. Not surprising this has caused great debate among bloggers, social media pundits, traditional media folk, and even the IAB.

Some bloggers believe this is a good thing.  They say it will help "professionalize" blogging and raise the profile of the more well-established bloggers, while getting rid of some of the players who are just in it for the free stuff.

Others say this is a complete double standard since newspaper and magazine reporters/editors receive loads of free product every year but don't have to abide by the same policy.

Randall Rothenberg, President & CEO of the IAB (Internet Advertising Bureau), blasted the FTC for its position and even wrote an "open letter" to Chairman Jon Leibowitz on Thursday.  He strongly urged the FTC to "retract the current set of Guides" and states that "...the implication that online social media represent a separate class of communications channels with less Constitutional protection than corporate-owned newspapers, radio stations, or cable television networks is of particularly grave concern."  Clearly Rothenberg believes there is a double standard.

I see both sides of this debate.  I do think having this new policy in place will help weed out the good bloggers from the bad and raise the bar for all involved.  But...if the policy is enforced online it should be enforced offline, too.  I don't see why "traditional" journalists should be treated any differently.