Memorial Day LUV: Get Social with U.S. Army and National Guard!

 In honor of Memorial Day, I'm highlighting of some social media sites that show the lifestyles of U.S. Army and National Guard troops in today's social world.

The U.S. Army is invading Pinterest!

LOVE THIS PIN! Source: http://pinterest.com/pin/157837161910914462/

According to a recent article from The Atlantic Wire, the U.S. Army seeks to reach a broader audience via Pinterest. Below is a quote from the article explaining the intent:

"We saw that would be a way that we could potentially reach an audience that we don't normally reach with our other platforms," Major Juanita Chang, Director of Online and Social Media for the U.S. Army told The Atlantic Wire. "We know pinterest is highly dominated by women... A lot of people that follow the military are men because that's the majority of the military. We want to connect and reach out to the female population and maybe the Army spouses and family members -- the people who wouldn't have any other reason to follow the military otherwise."

I'm honored to live in a country where our military leaders not only serve and protect our country, but have a pretty awesome social media strategy.

Yo Mama's So Social…

It's mother's day in Nashville, Music City and there are a lot of "mom" tributes on the social networks today from Facebook wishes to Instragram pics to FourSquare check-ins with moms…and guess what? Most of the moms are on the networks are commenting back!

I would have to point out as a disclaimer, that it depends on how old your mom is and what your lifestyle is like. Not all moms are using social media, but the numbers are pretty big, especially for younger moms with children under eighteen.

#HASHTAGS: Teachers hate them, Marketers love them

With the rise of social media usage has come the popularity of hashtags. If you do not know what a hashtag is, you have probably at least seen it in an ad campaign, on a Facebook post, or even in a text or email (by the way, they don’t work in text or email).

Hashtags originated as a way to group conversations, topics, or events within searchable streams in social media. They are most commonly used on Twitter and Google +. I’ve seen hashtags on everything from TV shows (#madmen, #TrueBlood) to general slang (#swagg, #ohsnap) and the ever popular #FF – FollowFriday.

I recently had an interesting conversation with a teacher about how her 8th grade students are using hashtags. She told me students use them everywhere: on homework assignments, in general conversations, and even requested she accompany the lesson plans on the chalkboard each day with hashtags. She hates them because they are overused and misused. This could be a translation issue with youth. Her frustration is understandable.

A True Twitter Story

Here’s a true story to demonstrate how Twitter works as a networking tool:

I posted a link to my company's blog on Twitter, using a hashtag (means search-able keyword on Twitter) with the initials of an industry association conference that one of our corporate leaders is attending.   A Hashtag looks like this: #ABC.

I did a search on Twitter for #ABC to see who was tweeting from the conference and noticed that one of my social media Twitter friends from Nashville was Tweeting using that hashtag, too. She and I got into a Twitter conversation, and as it turns out-she is at the conference and works for a supplier to my company's industry.

She Tweeted to everyone at the conference (using the hashtag #ABC), mentioning my company and how we’re doing a good job using social media! This is great recognition and awareness for our brand AT the conference---and I'm not even there!

She and I plan to connect when she gets back to Nashville. I realize I may be speaking “geek”, but trust me…this is really cool to make these kinds of connections online and take them offline via networking! Gotta love Twitter!

Know when to kill the Beast

Social networking can become overwhelming with all the different social sites available. I personally have profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Blip.fm, Flickr, AAF Nashville’s ning, Digital Nashville’s ning, and a few more that I have signed up for in the past. That’s a lot of socializing to keep up with! I try to remain active on all of them. The frequency varies- some multiple times a day, some once a day, some weekly or monthly.

Have you ever played The Sims video game? The Sims are characters that you control through the game, but in order to keep them “alive” you have to feed them, make them talk to friends and neighbors, you even have to make them go to the bathroom- or they will “die”. There is usually a prompt in the game that tells you what they are lacking and allows you to manage their “health”. Unfortunately, our social networking profiles do not have prompts to let us know when our social networking skills are dying.

Interaction and frequent activity are essential to building your successful online networking community, no matter what social networking platform you choose. You must feed the monster that you created, or it will die.

Is your brand like Pinocchio?

Brands should strive to be “real” in social media, just like Pinocchio wanted to be a real boy. Social media enthusiasts call this being transparent. Webster’s dictionary defines transparency as free from pretense or deceit, easily detected or seen through, readily understood, and characterized by visibility or accessibility of information.

Some companies are totally transparent with who is managing their social media sites, For example, Scott Monty [@scottmonty] tweets for Ford Motor Company and Frank Eliason is the voice behind Comcast Cares [@comcastcares]. On the other hand, some companies are not transparent. This leaves an even larger responsibility on them: managing consumer expectations of the brand.

When I follow Doritos on Twitter [@DoritosUSA], I know there is not an actual chip tweeting from a bag in the back of the factory. I connect because I am familiar with the brand through other forms of advertising and my own product experiences. A couple of commercials, featuring model, Ali Landry, come to mind. I remember that Doritos had a contest for consumers to create their own commercial- that was aired during Super Bowl XLI. I expect edginess, creativity, and a youthful tone with this brand in how they communicate with me socially. I expect the brand to be consistent whether on TV, a print ad, their website, or Facebook fan page. I was pleasantly surprised to find that their Twitter bio describes their brand to a tee: “Not only are our chips packed with serious crunch and crave-able flavors, the DORITOS brand is all about intense experiences in snacking and beyond.”

How do companies manage consumer expectations through social marketing? Take a look at the brand’s marketing materials, website, and advertising in other media. If the brand were a person, what kind of person would it be? How would it speak with a consumer on a peer to peer level? Would the brand and its consumer be friends in a real-life situation? If you are not true to your brand, then your nose will grow and consumers will be turned off.

Want to learn more?
Read BusinessWeek’s article about Frank Eliason.

Read BrandWeek’s article, mentioning Scott Monty.

things to ponder... I tweet, therefore I am or I am what I tweet?

Yes, it’s true- I get a little “high” from the flattering retweets and likes on Facebook. It makes me smile to see comments from my friends and followers when I have posted something I think is hilarious. I even feel encouraged when I make a status update about something I am pondering and want a second opinion about. So, does this mean that I am addicted to generating a response? Children act out to get attention. Could social media be the platform for adults to get the same effect? Everyone has a human desire to be liked and accepted. How much is too much, though? There is a fine line between too much information and social networking for amusement.