That Time I Hashtaged a Hot Dog in Nashville…

I gotta say, there’s nothing I love more than a good hotdog on a sunny day in Nashville. (I hear you chuckling! Let’s just get those dirty thoughts cleared away right away.)

I recently frequented Nashville’s beloved Hot Diggity Dog, and was pleased by not only their amazing menu, but by their social media suaveness. I Instagram’d a hot dog sign pic proclaiming my love with a #hotdog emoji (Thank you, Apple iOS 9.3!).

Later, I discovered @HotDiggityDog reposted my pic, giving me some love in return. They also followed me and “liked” my post. Just that little bit of social affection from them makes me love them even more. So of course, I had to tell you all about it! ‘Cause that’s how social media strategy works ;)

Here’s what they are doing right:

Social Signage:
In addition to all of their hot dog themed signage, Hot Diggity Dog has signs displayed throughout their location (on the wall, table tents, everywhere!), listing all their social media profiles and encouraging follows.

Marketing Cast of Wizard of Oz Characters

This is my version of the classic Wizard of Oz cast with a marketing-style remix.

The Cast:

Starring Dorothy, THE WIDE-EYED MARKETER, always up for an adventure and on an ever-changing journey.

"I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too" - Toto, YOUR COMPANY, can't be left behind. You must bring all of your colleagues with you, coaching, training, education along the way.

The Lion  as CONTENT, the heart of marketing. You must be brave, put yourself out there with original content. It isn't easy and you may fail a time or two. You will never succeed until you try.

#SF Social Media Visitors Guide

The social media savvy way to travel, connect, and save in San Francisco!
I wanted to get as much leisure and sight seeing in as possible on my recent work related trip to San Francisco, CA. Once my hotel was booked, I took to the web and Tweets to plan and navigate my way around the city's famous attractions.

First, I started with the hotel's website for a list of all the complementary perks (there were quite a few! My favs: complementary bicycles, daily complimentary happy hours, and a companion goldfish for my stay). I connected Hotel Palomar SF on Twitter.  They were very welcoming and social, tweeting with me during my stay.

I also checked out a travel blogger's review via a RT find from Kimpton San Francisco's Twitter account. This gave me a real perspective of what the hotel is like as well as a few tips that were handy in my stay.

Marketers: Get Your Head Out of the Sand and Into the Digital Age!

Throughout this Summer, I have been networking and interviewing with several Nashville-based companies only to find that I seem to be “on another level” than the typical corporate marketer in my approach to an integrated marketing strategy that uses technological trends to deliver relevant content to customers.

Forgive me while I step onto my soapbox and shout for a second:

If you are a “Marketing Director” or “Marketing Manager” in today’s technology, consumer-driven marketplace, it’s your freakin’ job to understand how digital and social media marketing fit into the landscape of who you are marketing to and how your marketing messages are being communicated.  It’s just another part of the marketing mix.

Connecting the Dots for "Social Business" Growth

Communications + Integrated Strategy + Technology / Measurements = Growth

 I see the need, I envision the potential, and I'm seeking an opportunity to make a difference. I've done my research through my journey over the past several weeks of networking with marketing consultants, meeting with corporate executives, and interviewing for a variety of marketing/ communications positions. The conclusion I've come to is that technology, brand strategy, and internal corporate communications need to be aligned within an organization.

Companies that take advantage of emerging technology to connect the dots with streamlined communication within their departmental silos, incorporate an integrated (mix of traditional, digital, and social media marketing) brand strategy, and analyze digital and social media metrics will be light years ahead of their industry competitors.

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.

#Nashville's #TechVille 2012 Social Media Cheat Sheet

Tuesday, May 15th is #TechVille 2012 in #Nashville! 

If you are attending Nashville Technology Council's 2012 annual conference, TechVille than you are about to find out why Nashville, TN has been named by Forbes Magazine as #3 on the list of the "Next Big Boom Towns in the U.S.". It's not because of our booming music scene, but because we have some of the brightest companies and minds in technology.

If you haven't already figured it out, we're kinda a big deal! (As if Google coming to town wasn't a clue.)

I am honored to be covering the TechVille conference as a "SocialITe", along with a few fellow Nashville marketers and fellow Social Media Club Nashville Members. We will put all the good content coming from the event onto the social networks for the world to follow along.

Here's a little social media cheat sheet of some of the topics, speakers, companies, and presenters we'll be tweeting about throughout the day:

Conference Hashtag:  #TechVille

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.

Google me- how search & social media have changed relationships

I was just chatting with a friend when the topic of "Google Me" came up. We joked for a minute, before admitting we had each "Googled" each other. That made me wonder, what does my searchable profile tell people about me? What content is public? Social Media and search have changed the "first impression" for most people.

I am often curious before meeting a new business associate or when interviewing for a job, for example. I even Google as a screening effort for potential dates. So if I am using search to learn about people, I would only assume that others are doing it as well. And why not? The more social media sites out there, the larger a person's digital footprint.

Your digital footprint is kinda like how much real estate you have on the web. Every time you create a profile on a website, that info can be traced and is searchable. That is why there are so many privacy setting options on social sites such as Facebook.

Connect Four! My Unofficial Explanation of @Foursquare

A Facebook friend asked me what Foursquare is and my reply was so long and detailed that I thought it would make for a good blog post. So...here it is...my unofficial explanation: 

Foursquare is a location-based social media platform that connects your friends with your busy life. You can "check in" on the mobile version of foursquare anywhere you go. Foursquare has the capability of updating your Facebook and Twitter at the same time. Just sign up, add friends, and tell it where you are.

Foursquare is also a game: It works off of a point system. As you "check in" to more and more places, Foursquare will unlock "badges"- kinda like game tokens for using the service. If you are competitive at all- you may enjoy FourSquare's Mayorships- Whoever has "checked in" at a particular location the most times is the "mayor" of that place.

Spotlight on Social Fresh’s, Jason Keath

Who is Jason Keath, what is Social Fresh, and why should you care?

I first heard about Social Fresh a few months ago. As part of Social Media Club Nashville, I wanted to get involved in this social media conference that was announced to be coming to Nashville, TN January 11, 2010. I volunteered to help out with the event and promoted it through Facebook and Twitter. 

It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I really did a double-take on the magnitude of national connections to the social media and advertising industries Social Fresh’s founder, Jason Keath, has. I was reading ADRANTS, a popular ad industry pop-culture bog, created by Steve Hall- that I’ve been following for at least five years. There was Jason Keath, Chris Brogan (who I met when he came to Nashville to talk about his social media book, Trust Agents), and Steve Hall in a feature article about a Social Fresh Cruise for the who’s who of social media. That put Jason Keath on my radar, so I called him up to get more info about Social Fresh and what he hopes to bring to Nashville's advertising and marketing community.

NASHVILLE’S Ones to Watch (and learn from): Companies who “get” Social Marketing

> Paramore|Redd
Masters of online marketing and social media, this company practices what it preaches. Lead by a preacher’s daughter, no less! Paramore|Redd is a one stop shop for online marketing- from websites to web banners, online media buying, social media, e-mail newsletters, SEO, and more. They don’t just get it, they share it. Hannah Paramore’s team of marketers provide frequent and relevant company and client updates, and marketing tips.  The company’s smart and spunky personality shines through in their e-newsletter and frequent blog, Twitter, and Facebook fan page posts. Hannah is a frequent speaker on the topic of online and social marketing. In the past year, Paramore|Redd consulted with both American Advertising Federation Nashville and Nashville American Marketing Association in developing online communication plans to connect and grow Nashville's advertising and marketing communities.

Check out Paramore|Redd’s Website | Blog  | Twitter | Facebook

> Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce
Yes, the city of Nashville can tout that we have the best chamber of commerce in the US. The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce was named 2009 Chamber of the Year by the American Chamber of Commerce Executives. The Nashville Chamber is a strong supporter of the technology and marketing communities in Nashville, supporting events like BarCamp Nashville 2009. Through the Chamber’s  Informed and Inspired Speaker Series, Nashville’s business community got to learn firsthand about social media from Paula Berg [@paulaberg], Manager of Emerging Media for Southwest Airlines. The Nashville Chamber regularly Tweets, updates its Facebook fan page, YouTube Channel, and has huge support from its members in promoting the value of membership in their own e-mail newsletters. The Chamber also hosts a member-only Social Media Marketing Special Interest Group (SIG).

Check out Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce’s Website | Twitter | YouTube | Facebook

 Watch Paula Berg's Presentation at The Nashville Chamber

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.

Welcome!

This blog has been established to provide simple, sometimes humorous explanations and information about marketing on social platforms. I will share experiences from my background in traditional, digital, and social marketing as well as case studies from my personal contacts in the marketing, advertising, and digital technology industries.

Social Media is not a big, bad, wolf.