This is post is part of the Institutionalizing Social Media series. To see previous installments or to learn more about the series, click here.

More often than not, social media within companies both large and small is run by a designated team or person. Many of these teams took on the role in their companies because they were passionate and interested in the space and are very territorial over what was once a pet project.

Creating a social media program is kind of like birthing a child and watching it mature into something to be proud of. It is, however, the root of what is wrong with social media in many companies as many of these tiger teams feel that since they created it, the program should be theirs and theirs alone.

Now there is nothing wrong with pride or having ownership over something. The big problem with having a dictatorship over social media is that it creates a silo.

And you know what, silos suck. They hinder cross-functional progress and breed fiefdoms.

Social media has touch points throughout a corporate organization and there are countless groups or individuals who could utilize it to better the overall customer experience.

Problem is that this progress can’t be seen unless the bubble around social media programs is popped. Deep breaths, it is something that we can get through together.

The first step in breaking the mold is for the social team to throw pride aside. Easier said than done, but it can be done efficiently if the social team looks at its role as one of an educator.

The social media team as an educator?

Sure the notion that social media is not rocket science is fun to say, but to people entrenched in their roles, change is something that does not come easy. And to be frank, not everyone is a natural born communicator and being open and transparent is scary so the team has to also be nurturing and supportive in this phase of the process.

While this is the first in a long line of steps towards institutionalization, it is a start. By showing teams what the networks can do and how these technologies can best augment and improve their areas of expertise, these folks will be more likely to listen and share experiences that can help improve the workflow and growth of the social media efforts.

Heeding the old saying that two heads are better than one and in incorporating additional voices and experiences into the social brain trust will only help growth. Keeping a single mind, on the other hand, will do the converse as it can blind teams to only thinking one way.

This cross-pollination and sharing  can not only help remove the silo surrounding social media, but also degrading them across the organization as everyone is working in unison as opposed to sequestered teams.

When you think of target marketing to impressionable audiences or children, what companies come to mind?

Up until a few days ago, I would have easily rattled off a number of tobacco, fast and junk food companies and noted that the practice was pretty damn sleazy as well.

If you asked me that same question today, I would say that the practice of marketing to this demographic is actually pretty genius for a number of companies.

Why the shift in my opinion?

Well you see, last week Mrs. Espo and I welcomed our first child into the world – a beautiful baby boy. During our stay in the hospital, I couldn’t help but notice that we were being marketed to from the minute the baby came into our room.

While the scenario is opportunistic and almost vulturistic, it is actually genius for the companies that gave the fine people at Beth Israel “samples” to pass out parents. Some of the major players included Johnson & Johnson, Similac, Pampers and the Boston Red Sox.

As first time parents who were looking for all the help that we could get, some things were just simple things to latch onto. I will admit that we fell into the marketing push of some of these companies. For example, Baby Espo was hooked on his Soothie pacifier (given to him in the nursery) so we went out and purchased two packages of the teal nipples for him to rotate through. We also grabbed some Pampers -well, mostly because we knew that they fit him. And when he turns the ripe old age of five, we’ll take him for a complimentary tour of the 104 year old Fenway Park.

We didn’t take full advantage of the formula sample due to our feeding preferences, but can see how parents who do can fall prey to the companies offering the free samples. Nurses told us that babies get addicted to a particular brand and have trouble changing over, sounds eerily familiar to the tobacco companies I mentioned above.

At the end of the day it is up to the consumer to make the decisions and get options from sources you trust. We asked a lot of questions to experienced parents and hospital staff and used our friend Google to inform our decisions. In some cases we were told, I wouldn’t use X product, we just use it because company X gives it to us from hospital staff.

Those reviews were few and far between, but it does make you wonder how much the “sample” marketing game costs these companies to get in with certain hospitals. This is a very impressionable audience with money to spend on their new baby. How much would you guess these companies spend on these partnerships?

A few years ago, social media was a niche cocktail party that was populated mostly by people who would categorize themselves as geeks. If companies were aware of the space, it was often from a communications perspective. Fast forward to today and the space is littered with case studies of company X, Y or Z making some serious coin off their community.  Marketers are chomping at the bit to gain ownership or decision rights within the space.

In many cases, these overtures may turn into hostile takeovers from a marketer with no intimate knowledge of the space (I have had friends have this happen to them). The marketer gets wind of  an agency known to work wonders and he’s eager to jump at the opportunity  without taking advice from the communications people who have been managing the company’s presence.

Social media is something that no one can truly own.  It should be managed like a ship with a captain and  crew.  Since the channel is generally social and conversational in nature, the captain’s role should be played by someone with a communications background who will not hit the panic (read sell, sell, sell) button when the money isn’t flowing in. The crew varies by organization but typically will encompass the functions of marketing, CRM, research, product teams, legal folks, etc.

With the conversational aspect out of the way, marketers can really do what they do best – market. The major networks offer the ability to insert marketing messages into the mix. So with some education on the space, their expertise in things like direct response can really blow out a social campaign. Don’t believe me? Think about these three examples:

Turning online to offline – Conversations are great in principle, but if they don’t translate to sales companies are going to lose interest. So if you have a great online presence in the social space, augmenting it with an “asses to the seats” mentality makes it an overall corporate win. Boston’s Boloco does a great job of this using Twitter and foursquare.  They interact with everyone on Twitter plus they offer a “Mayor’s Special”- free products to the mayor and two friends on Mondays. The community is drawn in to try to get a freebie for connecting with the brand while giving Boloco the ability to track the effectiveness of their campaign.

Building an empire – Sure conversation is king, but marketing owns the masses. By incorporating social media into marketing campaigns and collateral, companies are able to increase awareness of their social profiles to existing customers (a good example is Planters Peanuts). By connecting them with the company, potential customers gain more of a personal relationship and brand affinity.

Measurement – Marketing folks are much better than us communications pros at running numbers and measuring things. It’s true in my case at least.  At the end of the day, social media is nothing more than a novelty if you can’t measure anything.  People in marketing tend to be numbers driven so it’s a good idea to tap into their knowledge bank to see if there is anything that you can utilize in terms of measuring success. You may be surprised at what you find out.

What do you think about marketing in the social space?  Should they be leaders, followers, shiftmen or out of the picture?

A few weeks ago I went on vacation to Florida. The first stop of the trip was in Orlando where we spent the day in Disney and, in addition to having a blast, saw firsthand why the Walt Disney Company is so successful. They often say that the devil is in the details, and Disney, hits on all the little things keeps people extremely happy and engaged.

It was truly inspirational and businesses of all sizes can learn from it.

Hook ‘em early

Disney does a great job of hooking visitors early in two major ways.  The first is that once you land in the Orlando airport there are no fewer than three Disney-themed stores and character statues to take pictures with. Plus, they offer discounted park tickets in the airport. For anyone heading to town without a pre-planned package this can be a steal.  Second, the theme park is geared around famous movies and cartoon characters which children love. With that audience, Disney is able to do something that was banned for companies like Marlboro – they directly market to kids. Think about it, how geeked out is a seven-year old girl when she hears she can have breakfast with the princesses?

Live the brand

The staff at the parks makes sure to give visitors an experience that is truly magical. It may be the one place where you won’t see a pissed off employee. I Interaction with patrons is encouraged. I am a big fan of the pin trade program where kids can trade pins with a staff member with a sash of flair that would make the Bobs blush. When we were there we also saw staff members making a hopscotch game with some kids who were looking bored. During our trip, the park was celebrating Halloween. Even though it was well before the actual pagan holiday, characters and staff lived the day as if it were time to yell trick or treat.

Soup to nuts merchandising

One thing that stood out more than anything to me was that every ride was merchandised from start to finish. When you go into a ride, even the line is an experience so you don’t realize that you are waiting as long as you are. I really wish that the lighting was better and there was less noise because it ruined the video post that I had planned.

Perhaps the best ride experience is the Haunted Mansion where riders are taken through a mini-theatrical performance before going on the five minute ride. Now, while tricking people into thinking the wait was 10 minutes rather than 70 minutes is one thing, the real genius of the Disney effect comes at the tail end of the ride where visitors are sold to twice. The first is immediately getting off the ride where you can purchase a picture of your group followed up by exiting through the gift shop. Now I was with a group of three other adults so we didn’t buy anything, but we sure as hell played around with things. (Disclosure: I love gift shops)

End on a high-note

On any given night, you can literally expect to end your Disney experience with a bang. Each night, the parks offer a fireworks extravaganza that wraps up the magical experience for kids and kids-at-heart. During our trip, we were pleasantly surprised to know that Disney was hosting a wine and food festival in Epcot. So instead of ending our day with the fireworks show, we decided to partake in foods and sprits from around the world. So while we didn’t experience the fireworks, our group still left on a high note and a great Disney experience.

At the end of the day there is only one Disney. I am not expecting a company to replicate what they do, but their methodology is something that all companies can take a look at and borrow some tactics for a better overall customer experience.

Do you think that you could see your brand or favorite company adopting some of Walt’s magic?

I recently read a blog post from Dave Fleet that really put words to
something that I had been pondering for a bit. The piece was entitled Are you creating social media scorched earth? It focused on companies that burn bridges with customers with one-off social media accounts.

There is no question that social media is the hotness for the 2010-2011 fiscal years for companies. Communications and customer service folks have been utilizing tools and building communities and brand awareness while driving revenue as a secondary benefit. The dollars brought in from people who are generally not seen as revenue drivers has given marketers a set of green blinders. You know the ones, where money clouds one’s thoughts, especially when the entry point into a medium is virtually free and is a direct outlet to customers.

Common Misconceptions

When many marketers look at social media platforms, they are immediately drawn towards the audience of the site. Facebook for example, has over 500 million users on the site. These users can be targeted with pay per click ads and if a person becomes a fan you can directly market to them without fear of the CAN-SPAM act.

As Fleet mentions in his article many companies are also making one time use accounts for specific campaigns. The thought process is that fan page for product X can be tested against product Z as to who generated more fans or followers. The sheer focus of these campaigns is acquisition and does not factor in the long-term connection with these people or other areas of the customer lifecycle.

How do we fix this?

In general social media is a lot like public relations and customer service – a support for the business channel. Much like the previously mentioned established mediums, social media touches every nook and cranny of the business.

So with that in mind, companies should aim to build a lasting impact and relationship with customers using social media. Instead of looking at the shot-term wins, the focus should be on building lifetime value and keeping customers in the company’s loop.

Doing so takes everyone’s help starting with the initial transaction or contact with the company. After the sale, offer customers ways to keep in touch with the company that they are comfortable with – email, blog, text, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.  From there it is about keeping lines of communication open and pumping out great content.

Sounds easy right?

Like all forms of communication, social media requires a two-way conversation to be sustainable and mutually beneficial for customers and brands. This is a shift away from the old guard of positioning offers through tried and true marketing efforts and passing news via press release, which was the classics one-way street. Brands should not abandon these methods, but will need to evolve and create a more holistic customer cycle to thrive in the social Web that we currently live and play in.

Instead of treating customers like an anonymous mass that are bulk marketed to, companies need to look at customers in a different light and segment them by their preferred platform.

For example, CoTweet recently put out a research report, Twitter X-Factors, which showed some pretty interesting numbers when comparing regular Twitters users to all other consumers. Seventy-two percent of Twitter users blog compared to 14 percent of the rest of consumers and 61 percent of these users comment on blogs forty points higher than the rest of consumers.

Given the audience’s pension to blog and to rate and review companies and products, this is a perfect group to pool for product reviews or a refer-a-friend or loyalty program. On the flip side, if you anger this group be ready to hear about it in your Google Alerts.

Tapping into these active users on your social accounts also builds a personal connection with the brand along with offering your company real-time insight into customer behavior, likes, dislikes and potential customer issues. The only commitment is committing time to building the bridges.

But then again you can stay the status quo with a bridge to nowhere.

For a short week, it seemed like this week lasted forever. Despite being in meetings and away from my desk, I feel like the week was a very productive one. I am also glad to say that Scott Stratten‘s book Unmarketing came out this week and I am featured in it talking about Vistaprint’s social media strategy. A book review is coming in the next few weeks, but if you want to check it out for yourself, click here to get it for less (Amazon affiliate link). How about you? How was your week?

Here’s this week’s edition of Five for Friday:

Bengals WR Chad Ochocinco fined $25,000 for using Twitter during game – Say it with me, No Fun League. Chad Ochocinco has probably been the number one poster boy for fines relating to on-field antics. This fine breaks the commissioner’s no social media rule. Despite being fined 25K, the talented wide-out gave great responses to the fine. My favorite was this one:

The Most Hated Man on Twitter – Everyone always wonders the power of social media. This campaign against Alabama gubernatorial candidate Tim James from Daniel Tosh shows how much of an impact a Twitter mob can have after a segment titled Is it Racist?, focusing on this video. The candidate’s Twitter account was bombarded with venom and taken down after Tosh urged his audience to tweet their thoughts to the account of James.

How Social Media Is Helping Public-Relations Sector Not Just Survive, but Thrive – I love how AdAge highlights another benefit of hiring a PR agency. Social media is something that an entire organization hold stake in. It is a support the business channel and needs a communicator to lead the way. Hopefully this trend continues in the future.

Android Mobile Web Use Up 400% in Q2, Outpacing Apple & BlackBerry – I find these numbers interesting, but it makes sense as the iPhone is only on AT&T. What is interesting is developers gambling on excluding the medium for applications. While there are fewer applications for the platform, its growth can’t be ignored.

How Much Can ‘Jersey Shore’ Cast Really Do for Marketers? – Now this one makes the list to show how far our culture has degraded. While the $5M that these reality stars can gain per year is great for them, think about the damage that one fist-bump to the face could cost a major brand?

Now when I saw this commercial yesterday online, it didn’t really come across as all that appealing. However when vegging out in front of the tube, I could see the real beauty behind the commercial.

Like most e-retailers 1-800 Contacts relies on the Web to sell their products.  There are many products that can get away with the lack of personality of the Internet. Buying glasses and contacts is a personal transaction. You need these things to see so there has to be a level of trust to make the transaction.

This over-dramatization of the guy being special, the commercial brings a personality to the brand. It says hey, we care about you and hey – you’re special. It’s so cheesy that you can’t help but feel warm and fuzzy.

For a brand this is a good connotation, because at the end of the day, the vendor is being trusted with your sight. I don’t wear contacts and don’t plan on wearing them, but my wife orders from them so I generally have a good opinion of the company.

While the commercial gives me that good feeling, I also wonder if it tries too hard. It kind of seems like they are trying too hard. Does this over-compensation for being special hide something about the online contact vendor? Or is it just my cynical nature kicking in?

I saw this video yesterday on Mashable and was immediately drawn into the synchronized dancing of the Flash Mob.  Heck if I didn’t know that it was an H&M video, I would have been floored when the only branding was at the very end.

Now while I like the video’s embrace of the Flash Mob, I wonder if it is a sustainable marketing tool. For starters, other competing brands are seen in the video – Macy’s and Sacks – in a natural setting. Do you want to give the competition more face time?  I would also  assume that the kids were wearing H&M gear – but I can’t be sure.

While those questions center on the brand, I also wonder about the validity of the Flash Mob. Since there were multiple camera angles, you have to wonder if the audience was in on the event or if they were innocent bystanders. Also since it’s an ad do they need to sign waivers?

If the group was in on the secret does this remove the essence of the Flash Mob and become just another catchy advertising ploy? What do you think?

If you’ve read this blog for any period of time, it’s safe to say that you know my stance on who should be running a company’s Twitter account. If this is your first time on the site, hopefully you find something that you enjoy and maybe you’ll consider following me on Twitter or signing up for the blog’s RSS feed or subscribing by email.

While I have played the mantra of PR helming the social media ship, the record is broken. The reasoning is flawed in a sense because I am a flack and am somewhat biased. However I have recently been looking at clearance and sidewalk sales (when it’s not raining), and have come to have a new appreciation for my original stance. I call it the ugly sweater theory.

Now we aren’t talking a literal ugly sweater, but rather using sales and other marketese to sell unwanted inventory and last season’s line. Take a minute and look into your inbox – how many sales are sitting in there. Are any of the products something that you must have? No, but they sure sound cool and may trigger an impulse buy.

This window dressing is very similar to someone rocking an ugly sweater to a holiday cocktail party. They know that the sweater is ugly, but it is a way to draw attention to them. It makes them more interesting and the sweater masks the fact that they are very uninteresting. In a nutshell it’s a classic bait and switch.

Whether they like it or not, it’s a plight that most marketers will get into if left steering the SS Social Steamer. A nearly free medium with no filter and pure ROI mixed with the Look at Me mentality is the recipe for a disaster.  While I don’t think that all marketers are snakes in the grass, I do think they would go into a SM channel for all the wrong reasons. Instead of looking for engagement, the goal would be transactions.

Do you want that to happen to your brand? Will you let the green blinders alter the way that your company looks at social media?

Now don’t get me wrong, PR folks are not perfect – we spin, sometimes as much as a washing machine. However, the brand reputation and public perception is our main goal. With that in mind, it makes us perfect for building up the community. Communications pros will also have an eye on driving revenue as well, but instead of the fancy window dressing the sale will be conversational and a soft sell.

How are you going to engage in the cocktail party, will you be the conversationalist, or are you dusting off the fugazi sweater?

Image – Signal Blog

Last night I was watching this video from Vayner Media front man Gary Vaynerchuck and it really hit home with me and seemed like a no brainer for brands to be looking to expand their reach.

The thought of adding a call to action after a commercial – to a micro-site, Facebook page, Twitter page, YouTube channel, etc. seems too easy. Sharing the commercials on video sharing sites would seem to make sense too, but oftentimes is not the case. Folks seem reluctant to change because they have a system that works.  For every auto company that is embracing this, there are two McDonalds or Stop & Shop’s that are ignoring the free call out. Chances are, unless you are on the Home Shopping Network or hawking a ShamWOW, your product isn’t being sold on the boob tube.

While Gary focuses on commercials in his videos, I would also suggest that companies are missing the boat with their offline and radio ads as well. Radio has the same limitations as TV in selling products, but you could gauge the reach on top of the metrics the stations offer by offering a specific Facebook page with a survey that asks where they heard the commercial along with some interesting content. You could also add the URL to magazine and other print ads because it puts something tangible and actionable on an ad that won’t immediately garner a sale on the john. By adding a link you could also get someone heading to the site if they happen to have a BlackBerry or iPhone handy in their *ahem* office. What could it hurt? A tiny URL or Facebook call out in the corner of the ad won’t hurt anyone, but will add some more bang to your buck and some additional metrics to track.

Before tossing this to ya’ll to see what you think about the proposition, I wanted to share an oddity that I got from a few of the folks I spoke with during the #soxup for the book release party of Steve Garfield’s Get Seen (my review). Now the event was about using video to get seen, so it took me by surprise talking to some folks only to find out that they were terrified of getting in front of the camera or opening their company up to user generated video. I wonder if that has anything to do with the hesitancy of adding new media to traditional media pieces. What do you think?

A quick glance at this post’s title might have you thinking that I have lost it; reality is I haven’t, but had an ah ha moment. Anyone that is a practitioner of social media or SMPR, has faced some kind of obstacle on describing what the value of a Tweet, post or plug on a social network is worth. My friend Keith Trivitt wrote up a two-part post (part 1, part 2) on this subject over at the PR Breakfast Club that got me thinking both times.  While sitting in a bank conference room over the weekend I was thinking about it some more.  While looking for words do verbalize my thoughts, I got a chuckle looking at a fortune that was sitting in my wallet that summed it up for me:

Theories get you thinking. Sweat gets you results.

Now take a minute to look at those words and digest them. When looking at social media and looking for a way to define it for a manager or an executive break it into two separate areas that they can visualize.

Theory – Now there are a number of theories and schools of thought that you can go with, but at the end of the day they are just that. Pick the metric that you want to move the needle whether its sentiment, Retweets, link views (use a shortener to track clicks) or some other metrics – own it and live and die with it. While you might be tempted to look at doing everything, keep it simple and towards a metric that your boss understands very well. Do this even if the metric means little to you; this will help you gain a champion with some weight behind them.

Sweat – This doesn’t mean to break out your headband from high school basketball, but rather showing your manager that the only way to make a dent in social media is by getting your hands dirty. Rome wasn’t built overnight and neither was your company’s brand, so why should your presence in social media? Strong communities are built over time so the toughest battle here is showing your superior that you can’t just throw a bucket of money at it to make it work. For marketers, it is a hard pill to swallow, but as a flack your tool box has some tricks to help the medicine go down smoother. The battle won’t be easy, but its another way that you’ll have to put in the sweat to get the job done.

Have you had a fortune cookie that clicked with you in a similar way?

A six pack of Boston Beer Works' Fenway Ale

On one of my first trips up to Boston to visit my wife four years ago, I was introduced to Boston Beer Works, a microbrew pub with two locations in Boston. They are also home of the best chicken tenders in the city as well. Couple that with my love for craft beers and you have a very happy Jeff.

One of the things that always struck me about Beer Works was that their advertising was always bleh at best, but the locations always had people in them. Their Facebook group was also created by customers not the staff. Seasonally they have the Red Sox (across the street from Fenway Park), Bruins and Celtics (Canal Street location) to thank for putting fannies in the seats, while word of mouth and the previously mentioned lackluster ads take care of the rest of the year.

Being a fan of the restaurant, I was ecstatic for them when it was announced that they were expanding with two locations in Logan Airport. All signs pointed to business being good and that my belly would continue to be filled with chicken tenders. On Saturday afternoon, I made a purchase that made my weekend – a six-pack of their beer from the local liquor store. Granted you could have purchased the beer in Growlers or in a sixer at one of the pubs, but this meant that I could now pick it up on my time and without having to head into the restaurant. It goes to show you that reputation goes a long way. In the case of BBW it overcomes any marketing shortcomings.

So at that I will end my rant on how excited I am for the Boston Beer Works company and that I can get their beers without having to jump on a T. Cheers!

If you can’t view the video, click here.

I don’t want this post to come across as a me being uber-green or a tree hugger, because I am not either of them. It is rather my frustration with the phone company and YellowBook delivering phone books twice a year. Seriously it is a waste – It is 2010 people have the Internet and can instantly get numbers. No need to skim through pages to see the number for Frank’s House of Tacos.

After wrapping up the video, I counted the books and noticed that there were more books than units in the condominium.  The pile is up to my waist and will probably sit there for a month or so when Bernard our building’s facilities guy (who is getting up there in years) has to throw them away. To me it’s just a waste of marketing spend and resources.

I have seen this mural, from Adult Swim,  on the side of a deli for close to a month now in Boston, but finally got a chance to stop and grab a picture in daylight today. The mural is interesting in a number of ways.

The first asking the obvious that in today’s uber-PC world, is there a place for Santa Claus and do you believe in the season.  To that I say the hell with PC – it’s Christmas time.

The second connotation could be a jab at Boston and asking whether they still believe in the terrorist threat that Adult Swim (and Comedy Central) posed to the city while promoting the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie. Don’t know what I am talking about, check out the PR stunt gone awry here.

What do you think? Do you still believe that this is the season of giving and in Santa? or is this just another let’s stick it to the man moment from the cartoon juggernaut?