Anyone who works in a social media role for a company would be lying if they said they didn’t keep tabs on their counterparts at other companies and what they are doing. To me, some brands make more sense to be in the social space than others. I really get inspired when I see brands that would not seem like a fit do really cool things and just get it and I love to get an insight into their heads and see what makes them tick.

The latest case came from Chobani Greek Yogurt. My first insight into their work came reading an article on Fast Company on their work with Pinterest. I Tweeted out the article. Not even five minutes passed when boom, I got a Tweet thanking me for sharing their post. A few follow ups and I was in contact with Chobani’s Communications Manager, Emily Schildt, who granted me the interview below:

One of the things I always find interesting is why companies got into the social space. Chobani is not something that I would immediately associate with social. What was the deciding factor to get into the space?

Social media and food are very closely connected. When you eat at a delicious restaurant, what’s the first thing you do? Tell your friends! Now, that’s amplified by posting on Facebook or checking in on Foursquare. So naturally, as a packaged good, social media became the very heart of our company. It’s where our fans go to share their love for our products, and first and foremost, we go to listen. Our CEO reads each of our Facebook walls every day, likely before he checks the morning news or grabs a cup of tea.

It looks like your company has a lot of super fans. What has been the most interesting conversation that you have had with a customer?

Oh! There are so many, I don’t think I can choose just one. But, I think what’s interesting is just that. We haven’t let these conversations become one-off; rather, we’ve built real relationships. Yes, we tweet about yogurt. But, we also tweet about other things that matter to our community: food, technology, philanthropy, pop culture. We use all of these things combined as the foundation for relevant, ongoing communications.

What was the first network that your team started on and what is your strategy for adding new networks to the mix?

We began on Facebook, followed closely by Twitter. We simply joined the conversation our fans had jumpstarted for us. That’s pretty simply how we choose what networks we’ll add to the mix. Instagram, for example, was an obvious choice for us because we saw that people were sharing photos of their Chobani cups. We thought, hey, there’s value here in hosting the conversation ourselves. On Pinterest, we took it a bit deeper. On average, we see 7 recipes a day online using Chobani as an ingredient. Pinterest is a great way to visually display this creative talent our fans have.

My wife and I are looking to try one of the recipes on your Pinterest out any suggestions?

Have you seen the 3 ingredient Peanut Butter Pie?! Or the Baked Potato Bread Bowl? We can’t pretend to be the geniuses here- our fans are our inspiration.

What is next for Chobani in the social space?

The world of social is an unknown. I would never even attempt to be an expert! How can you in an ever-changing space? But, we know we’ll be a part of whatever space our fans live in, or we see value in asking them to join us in.

Last question – how do you manage/balance your work/personal time on social networks?

Ha! I literally laughed out loud at this one. I’m not sure you can have a balance in this field. I think you have to adjust to the fact that we don’t live in a 9-5 world and we have to find a way to make work and personal life one in the same. I’m fortunate that I’m crazy passionate about what I do, and same goes for my colleagues. We all work together in figuring it all out… and consoling each other.

Hey folks! How was your week? Mine was busy but I am really glad today is Friday. Any of you have plans for Sunday? I hear something big is going down but have no clue what it is <sarcasm>. Hopefully you have a good one and I’ll catch you next week.

Changes to the Way Customers Buy – raise your hand if you use recommendations to make a purchase. I know I do and am sure 80% of you reading this blog do as well. In this post from Valeria Maltoni, she sheds some light on Google’s new privacy policy and how it will make trusted recommendations out of the data we share with Google.

In Facebook IPO, color this graffiti artist richly rewarded – say someone were to offer you cash for your work or an equivalent in stock in a start-up? Chances are you would say that cash is king, but if you would choose to gamble on the stock you, well you could have wound up like this graffiti artist who did just that. The start-up that the artist took the stock in? Facebook and now he looks to make roughly 200 million in the IPO on those shares from a few years earlier.

Personal Data’s Value? Facebook Is Set to Find Out – how much is the data that Facebook holds worth? Some say 75-100 billion dollars and we will all find out soon as the social network has its IPO on the horizon.

Social Love: Take THAT Writer’s Block! – writer’s block blows. We all get it from time to time and we all deal with it in our own ways. This post offers some crowd-sourced advice that really can help you out too should you find yourself in a rut.

PUMA Adds Instagram and Tumblr To The Blogger Outreach Mix – a behind the scenes look at PUMA’s approach to social PR. Not sure that this would be worth it for all brands but comes across as interesting to me. What say you?

Image - jm3

It has been a long season and now only one game remains for the NFL to crown a champion. Like many folks, I am excited for Sunday to watch the Giants and the Patriots duke it out for the Lombardi Trophy and will lay out a prediction out there.

Unlike many picks I am going away from my gut or stats and choose the winner of the Super Bowl based on social media buzz. All season long, I relied on a series of formulas that were run with social data pulled from Lithium’s Social Media Monitoring. The series of formulas (click here for a full breakdown) look at conversation share, NPS, positive/negative conversation share and SIM scores that each has an assigned number of points. While it may sound hair brained the methodology produced a 132-123 record in the regular season and a 6-4 postseason record including picking the Giants and Pats to represent their respective conferences two weeks ago.

To get the best result for the game, I looked at the teams; buzz numbers over the past week as well as the course of the entire playoffs and in both cases, social media picked Eli Manning to top Tom Brady in this super rematch:

• 7-Day Metrics: NY Giants 6, New England 3
• Playoff-Long Metrics: NY Giants 22, New England -6

Who are you picking this weekend?

I am not going to lie, but Groundhog Day makes me smile and giggle like a

schoolboy. Seriously who has the time to go out and watch a guy grab a pampered groundhog that “predicts” the end of or extended winter. That and it always reminds me of Bill Murray who also makes me laugh.

For the second straight year, you can celebrate the day with a foursquare
badge. What, What, What you say?

You heard me you can get your hands on your very own Groundhog Day badge. All you have to do is follow VisitPA on foursquare and then according to Aboutfoursquare, check into any venue with the word “groundhog” in it and you will get the swanky badge commemorating the day.

Badgewhores, geeks and people with too much time on their hands rejoice!

You never get a second chance at a first impression. And perception is reality. We all know this but often miss opportunities to capitalize on them as do companies. One of the reasons for this is that at times, we cannot communicate with everyone successfully.

For businesses this is where logos come in. A lot of money is spent to identify the heart and soul of what the business is. So it is safe to say that everyone gets what these logos represent right? Well not always as we can see in this video with a 5-year old.

What does your logo say about you?

This post contains video, click here if you cannot view it.

I like to read, a lot and learn a lot via reading books. With that said, I really wish that Christopher Barger had written The Social Media Strategist four years ago when I was getting into the space. What took you so long Barger?

Not only does the book offer things that you should be doing out of the gate, but also offers what you should be doing as you look to expand your program.

If you are a college student or someone getting into the social media space, you should read this book. If you’d like to get a copy for less, click here (Amazon affiliate link) where a new copy is under $16.