Guest Posts

TV Shows & Social Media

October 14, 2011 By Alex 3 Comments

The following is a guest post written by Lisa Skrezec, a Social Media Specialist and Account Manager at tcg. Her background in marketing has sparked her interest in the entertainment, fashion and social media world.

The only thing I love more than Facebook stalking and tweeting all sorts of outlandish hashtags, is television. When my two favorite things overlap, well, I couldn’t be any happier! Between the hours of 8pm-11pm you can find me sitting on the couch with my laptop tweeting away – but apparently I’m not alone.

Live-tweeting television shows is not only fun to partake in and track, but it has a proven positive impact on the ratings. The best way to reach your audience is to do what they’re doing, and they sure as hell are tweeting and Facebooking! Below are five examples of television shows that have adopted the live-tweeting trend and engage with their fans on a weekly basis:

#JerseyShore: Oh yes, our favorite fist pumping “juice heads” have without a doubt adopted social media. They dominate the trending topics every Thursday at 10pm EST and each cast member live tweets and asks questions to their fans. 9 our of 10 times @itsthesituation WILL retweet you!
#TheVoice: This past summer, NBC’s hit new show “The Voice” not only had its 3 judges live tweeting each show, but they even had a social media room! Fans would tweet questions for the contestants using #TheVoice and they would all be answered in the exclusive, state-of-the-art social media room. How cool is that? Needless to say, #TheVoice was always the number one trending topic.
#Bachelorette: @ChrisBHarrison hosts the long running show “The Bachelor”/”The Bachelorette”, and as the seasons progress, Chris gets more and more involved with connecting his show’s fan base through social media. Throughout the entire 2 hour show, Chris is actively tweeting and answering questions, many of which reveal “behind-the-scenes” fun facts. (For example, did you ever want to know if the contestants pick out their own clothes? Well someone asked, and Chris said nope!)
#Survivor: @JeffProbst, the host of Survivor, is a social media guru! He too live-tweets each show, but he has recently joined Tout. Tout is a video status update — essentially Twitter meets YouTube. Fans tweet him questions during the show, and he answers them in a Tout. Not only do I look forward each week to his video responses, but I’m excited to see how Tout is perceived by social media users…
#SonsofAnarchy: Last, but most certainly not least, is @SutterInk. Kurt Sutter, the creator, writer and producer of Sons of Anarchy has explored ALL aspects of Social media, including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and blogspot. Kurt is quite possibly the most honest and uncensored person on Twitter. He constantly stays connected with his fans, which certainly helped him achieve a 20% bump in viewers from season 3 to the season 4 premier.

Below is a graph that demonstrates the relationship between online buzz and TV ratings. Clearly social media has it’s biggest impact prior to a show’s premiere, which is expected, but it also does hold a great deal of value throughout the season (source):

Social media gives fans and followers the opportunity to connect to these shows/contestants/creators on a more personal level. I look forward each week to tweeting all those mentioned above, and nothing makes me happier than getting a response! I am very glad to see television shows taking part of new age media – keep it up!

Do you follow television shows in the social media universe – have you gotten an EPIC retweet? I’d love to hear all about it!

Filed Under: Guest Posts, Social Media Tagged With: audience, fun, impact, partake, positive, proven, ratings, real time web, Social Media, televisions, the bachelor, tv shows, tweet, Twitter, web 2.0, world wide web

Social Media as a Weapon Against Disease Outbreaks

October 7, 2011 By Alex 3 Comments

The following is a guest post written by David Marcus, a Social Media Specialist and Account Manager at tcg. His background in economics has sparked his interest in applying social media to solve real world problems.

Social media moves fast. It can even move faster than nature itself, as evidenced by the 5.8 earthquake that occurred on the east coast. With fiber optic lines connecting Washington D.C. and New York City, New Yorkers were able to hear news of the rumblings in D.C. even before the shock waves travelled up the coast. The tweets were able to outpace the earthquake and acted as an advanced warning. Scientists are looking at other areas such as disease outbreak where this speed will work as an asset to help curb their spread.

Currently, more people in the world have mobile platforms than Internet connection on a computer. As of a 2010 study by Wilson Electronics, Inc. there are at least 4.6 billion cell phones in use today. Often times, epidemics start in areas where sub-standard qualities of life are the norm. Traditional methods of detecting the spread of disease become inadequate and it is unfortunately normal for there to be a shortage of doctors. Where can epidemiologists turn for accurate and relevant data?

The answer may lie in social media and crowdsourcing. These scientists can learn where diseases originate and how they spread by measuring the movement of pandemics through the rise of specific keywords in different locales. This is aided by the addition of locational tagging (or geotagging) to messages. When there is enough relevant data to aggregate, a map can be created where these terms are mentioned. For example, when people in a specific area start talking about cholera, it is possible to discern that is becoming an issue that is affecting the people in that area. Scientists will use this data to try to discern the direction that diseases are spreading and to try to cut them off before they reach dense and large population centers.

Intelligence Systems Laboratories in the United Kingdom tested this methodology of tracking pandemics during the H1N1 flu pandemic over a period of 24 weeks. What they found was that these results were statistically relevant when compared with similar data from the Health Protection Agency. A linear correlation of 95% between the two data sets means that this method of detecting the pathology of outbreaks may gain wider spread adoption in the future. In many ways, the people who are affected by diseases will be the first ones to see the potential for an outbreak. Recognizing problems directly from the source – via social media and crowdsourcing – will lead to faster response times an increased efficiency of combative medical efforts.

In this way, ever evolving technology can keep up with the rapid spread of disaster and disease like never before.

Filed Under: Guest Posts, Social Media Tagged With: against, as a, cell phones, curbing, disease, life threatening, natural disaster, new york city, new yorker, outbreaks, Social Media, spreads, weapon

Two Clients, One Company and Managing All Three

October 3, 2011 By Alex 1 Comment

The following is a guest post written by Katherine Payne, one of tcg: agency’s best Social Media Specialists and Account Managers.

Working with a client as an agency, and within the department of another company, is always educational, but they are always looking for one thing above all else: respect. Whether that means having an agency that respects their wishes, their time, or their product, they want to make sure you value them before they return the favor. That should be self-explanatory even if your only experience in business has been working a lemonade stand.

But what do you do when the client you’ve been working with turns into two – with two different sets of client goals and two different ways they demand respect?

That happened to me once. I had been working with the public relations department of a company when the marketing department had begun to get involved. We ended up working with both. Normally, you would expect that the rhythm of this sort of relationship would have been established long before we showed up: the public relations people and the marketing people would understand what boundaries ought not to be crossed.

Instead, we found ourselves suddenly working in conjunction with a group with similar if not conflicting goals, and with a department who was not entirely pleased to have another set of digital marketing initiatives to approve. We had to establish an entirely new set of relationships and an entirely new understanding of what was now within our boundaries of control. After all, we now had two clients to please…one of which we hadn’t even met before!

Ultimately, the relationship has worked out in the best interest of all three of us because we remembered a few simple rules:

Treat every party with respect.

Know that no one is an enemy. It’s important not to take sides.

Err on the side of humbleness i.e. ask for the right to post on a blog rather than assuming you can. This will make the whole process a lot smoother.

Understand the history of the relationships you’re walking into. If there is tension between two decision makers, take this into account as you mediate between them.

Rest assured that if you are liked by both parties, you are just that much more valuable to each. And how can that ever be a bad thing?

Filed Under: Guest Posts Tagged With: client, company, demand, department, goals, lemonade stands, managing, Marketing, marketing department, public relations, public relations department, sets, thin client

Managing a Digital Footprint

June 28, 2011 By Alex 2 Comments

This is a guest post written by Alex Shippee, and reproduced from the website for #SMchat.

A “digital footprint” is what your presence on the Internet communicates to those who find it. Google is the usual starting point, but more and more people are using monitoring services or going straight to the big social platforms, like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, your blog, etc. All of this is becoming a necessity because of one inescapable truth about the Internet Age:

You will be Googled. In fact, you most likely already have been. Family members, co-workers, friends, and employers will all be interested in how you show up on a search engine. And if you are a brand, or have a client who is, then you can add “customers” to that list as well.

© Clare Munn 2008-2011

This isn’t a bad thing. Instead of seeing it as “work,” try to think of it as an “opportunity.” It is common for our clients, some of whom are new to social media, to be concerned about “opening themselves up.” They fear negative comments, or being the victim of a smear campaign by their competitors. The truth is, people are already talking online and it’s not possible to curb it. Choosing not to participate hands all the power to the consumers, or competitors. Instead, you want to fan those flames in the right direction.

One of the most valuable and rewarding elements of the work tcg does is provide their clients with real-time, contextual intelligence by monitoring and analyzing their digital footprint before we start our work. We take it a step further than wanting to know what people are saying about you and reputation management; we turn a digital footprint into a valuable asset.

Managing a digital footprint means taking responsibility and ownership of your brand. You start with the simple steps first and sign up for Twitter or start a blog. Then, you go one step further and decide you want to attach your name, or brand, to good content. From there begins the hustle of growing an audience now that you’re easy for them to find.

Filed Under: Guest Posts Tagged With: #smchat, blogs, branding, digital footprint, facebook, Google, linkedin, Marketing, SEO, Social Media, social-networking, tcgagency, Twitter

Crowdsourcing Lauren Spierer

June 8, 2011 By ajmunn 2 Comments

Post Written by Matt Freedman

It has now been five days since 20-year-old Indiana University student Lauren Spierer was last seen, and the panic surrounding her disappearance seems to escalate each moment. How can I tell? Not from news outlets, who have done an admirable job covering the story but cannot possibly devote themselves to minute-by-minute updates. Instead, I’ve been rabidly clicking refresh on my tabs for Twitter and Facebook. With the account @NewsOnLaurenS, the hashtag #FindLauren, the event ‘Urgent! Please help spread the word about Lauren Spierer’s disappearance!’ and the page ‘Help Find Lauren Spierer, an enormous community has sprung up overnight in support of finding this missing girl.

The response has been overwhelming: With over 6,500 followers on Twitter and another 71,802 attending the event on Facebook, news of the student’s disappearance has traveled quickly. It makes you wonder what is possible in the real-time far-reaching world of social media, and how effective this type of crowdsourcing can be.

The primary purpose of this campaign, at least in the beginning, was to crowdsource individuals for participation in three-times-daily searches in and around Bloomington. To this end, and many others, it has been successful. Hundreds of people, acquaintances and strangers alike, have volunteered in droves for the search parties. And though hope may be slipping through the public’s fingers, they also refuse to give up.

Despite being a grassroots effort, the campaign’s momentum is in no way random: the strategic targeting of influencers, from celebrities to news outlets, has dispersed the news swiftly and in staggering numbers. With users pleading celebrities to retweet their message, the hashtag #FindLauren has earned over 20 million hits. It has been retweeted by celebrities Ryan Seacrest, Scott Baio, and Donnie Wahlerg, as well as other public figures, such as NFL star Desean Jackson. With Lauren’s photograph now appearing in millions of tweet streams, and a ‘flyer-tagging’ movement on Facebook, in which users are encouraged to change their profile picture to Lauren’s “missing” flyer and tag friends in order to spread the word, the campaign feels like a real movement. It’s a cry for help that people are listening to. And although not everyone can grab a flashlight and upend Bloomington, IN, the support must provide an emotional uplift for Lauren’s friends and family.

The content that appears on these outlets varies from downloadable flyers to words of encouragement, and even includes a video of Lauren’s parents addressing the media. Some examples of tweets are:

ofarevolution O.A.R.

Let’s help find missing 20 yr old Lauren Spierer, last seen at Indiana U. Photo: yfrog.com/h2c8x9j #FindLauren

CollegeTownLife CollegeTownLife

Lauren needs our help! Someone knows something. Make her picture go viral! TOGETHER WE CAN #FINDLAUREN! http://bit.ly/kzMSgW #CTL

DeseanJackson10 Desean Jackson

RT @jkalmus please RT to help find missing indiana university student. one person who knows something can help #FindLauren @NewsOnLaurenS

The campaign surrounding Lauren Spierer is proof that social media can be used in significant and positive ways. This may be old news, as most people are aware of the role Facebook played in the Egyption revolution, but it doesn’t cease to inspire me. In what other ways have you seen social media inspire community outreach? And, at the end of the day, what tangible effect does it have on people’s lives? Please leave your opinion below, and don’t give up on Lauren Spierer.

Filed Under: Guest Posts, Social Media Tagged With: Clare Munn, Crisis, Crowdsource, facebook, Lauren Spierer, Matt Freedman, Social Media, tcgagency, Twiiter

Dancing into the Cloud

June 2, 2011 By ajmunn 6 Comments

Guest Post: Author Matthew Freedman

The music industry’s adaptation to the Internet has been a struggle for survival. Hampered by a change in format, then cut out of the equation by piracy and peer-to-peer file sharing (90% of all downloads are unauthorized), the recording industry watched slack-jawed as sales dropped 64% from 1999-2009. Now, Artists rely on grueling tour schedules to stay afloat, and record companies are desperate for a new source of revenue. With all of the industry despair, it’s no wonder cloud computing is being heralded as the future of music.

The idea is this: users would be able to access enormous libraries of music, at any time, without restriction and from any internet-capable device, presumably with a subscription fee.

Why download music when you can stream anything you want instantly? For record companies, it is at least a glimmer of hope. By licensing music for online-streaming services, they are finally edging into the action. And like a swarm of moths near a shining porch-light in the summer, everyone is throwing themselves heedlessly at the glow.

Is the hype real, or are the hopefuls going to get burned?

Cloud computing itself is not a new concept (it was first coined in 1997), but as mobile devices develop and tablets continue to take off, the ability to access the Internet on the go is increasingly common. And each day mobile technologies advance the Cloud becomes more enticing, more valuable, and more of a necessity than a luxury. I see the effects every day when exasperated commuters in the subway can’t access their email or twitter feeds.

As someone who works in digital media, and more importantly, as a music lover, I’m extremely curious as to how ‘the cloud’ will evolve with music. All the major players are in on the game: Apple announced today that they will reveal iCloud in one week, and Google has already shared an early version of their aptly-titled cloud platform, ‘Music Beta.’ Now Amazon has Cloud Player and Cloud Drive, and even LaLa, a website that was bought by Apple in December of 2009 and dismantled four months later, allowed users to upload their entire music collections to the Cloud.

Still, there are a couple of big questions: will cloud computing live up to its hype as the future of music, or merely provide convenient but unremarkable online storage? And will the record companies really be able to turn a profit? It all depends on whether or not streaming becomes the new norm, and if membership can take the place of ownership.

For the music industry, the trouble will always be that subscription fees are more expensive and less permanent than free peer-to-peer music swapping. As a user, my biggest concern with Cloud streaming would be my own lack of control: having no palpable ownership over my favorite music would mean the possibility of disappearance or altercation, however unlikely that may be. I want to be able to say “my music” and mean it, to have it with me at all times, connected or not.

Apples new iCloud has taken some steps to address these questions. Instead of having to upload your music library for you to stream on your portable devices, Apple has been reported to have secured deals with the major record labels, that will allow iCloud to recognize the music files on your iTunes and use your past purchasing history. This would seamlessly allow you access to your music library wherever you are, as long as you are connected to iCloud.

iCloud will also bring more than just streaming music libraries. The connotations for syncing devices, sharing documents a la Google Docs and seeding sales of productivity apps are huge. But I digress.

The Cloud will certainly be a wonderful addition to the way we listen to music, but I don’t think it will change our need for tangible ownership. And if that’s true, will services like iCloud be enough to change the fortunes of the record industry?

Photo by Alasdair Munn

Filed Under: Guest Posts, Social Media Tagged With: Apple, Clare Munn, Cloud Computing, iCloud, MAtthew Freedman, music, Social Media, tcg, tcgagency

Hotspotting: A New Era for the Interactive Advert

May 25, 2011 By ajmunn 6 Comments

Guest Post: By Alexandra Beard

Although Hotspotting, or Clickable Video Technology has been around since the early 2000’s it has only now started to attract the attention of big brands. Fuelled by our increasing accessiblilty to digital video content, Hotspotting is steathly encroaching on new domains and a larger audience.

Hotspotting technology makes it possible to place an interactive layer of ‘clickable hotspots’ on top of video. This software is primarily used by advertisers on their online videos. Whilst watching the video you can hover your mouse over the on-screen ‘ clickable hotspots’ and this allows for customers to shop directly from the video. The hotspots can be anything from the clothes the actors are wearing, to their accessories, the cars they drive, and the furniture on set. Once you click on an item that interests you you are taken directly to the check-out page of the online store where you can purchase the item.

These videos are being touted as the imminent future of advertising. By using interactive video online retailers can increase traffic and customer time on site, convert video to sale, have a higher average order value and reduce marketing spend through social media sharing. Hotspotting can be powerful as it harnesses the impulse buy. Impulsive buying has always been a crucial element for advertisers; most people generally buy with their emotions. Later, they justify their purchases with logic. In other words, people buy impulsively. With Hotspoting, an impulse is given a call to action as they did not go into the store or go online planning to buy what they ended up buying. Consumer durables bought on impulse are likely to be items that boost someones self esteem and self image. Film can have a profound imact on viewers. When attractive, youthful and charasmatic actors are using or wearing certain items this can be projected onto viewers as something that they can buy into/become. Advertisers have always fought for product placement in films for this very reason; consumer durables bought on impulse are especially likely to be those goods that project a person’s self-image.

A recent example of hotspotting can be seen in an advert featuring Manchester United’s star of the moment Christiano Ronaldo. In the ad he runs around the pitch and strips off after a match, as he does this fans can click on his shirt, shorts and shoes to buy them instantly.

Go Viral, based in Bristol England, created the ad and their internal research has shown that up to 30 per cent of people who see the Hotspot ads click through to find out more about the product.

However Hotspotting is being developed and used for far more than e-commerce and advertising purposes. For example; It has been used to create an interactive sing-a-long to The Jonas Brother’s track LoveBug and it has been used on video footage of fashion shows so that you can find out about and purchase any of the items being modelled. Pokeware, one of the leading innovators in Hotspotting has designed a new revolutionary system which highlights the enormous breadth this technology can cover. Teaming with Guestlogix they are developing a new interactive e-commerce video for those travelling by aeroplane. Another company, ClikThrough, uses Hotspotting as a fun and interactive experience for music videos. Not only can you purchase the items on your idol’s video but you can discover band and individual member information, links to buy their songs, concert information to see event dates and locations to buy tickets, song lyrics from the video, fun facts about the band members and latest band news.

Nearly all of the Hotspotting videos, for whichever purpose, have similar features and capabilities such as face-to-face live video chat, wish lists, options to view similar products and rating and sharing features which mean customers believe they have the personal attention and interaction of a real live store while shopping from home.. In the UK, it is expected that once the switchover from the analogue to digital TV signal is complete by 2012, the technology will be utilised on television as well.

Although much of the innovation impetus for Hotspotting is coming from servicing big brands and commerce, the implications for cause marketing, education or training are exciting.This technology would prove invaluable when used for Health & Safety tutorials at the workplace, First Aid services, education or even cause marketing. Indeed, there are as many possibilities as there are ideas.

What do you make of Hotsotting? What will the future bring?

Filed Under: Guest Posts Tagged With: Alexandra Beard, Clare Munn, Digital, Hotspotting, Interactive, Pokeware, Social Media, tcg, tcgagency, Video

IN AFRICA, IT IS NO LONGER BUSINESS AS USUAL – It is about doing business with heart

July 1, 2010 By ajmunn 3 Comments

With Africa Gathering London this weekend, I wanted to share with you some thoughts on development in Southern Africa from Charlene Hewat CEO of Environment Africa. Environment Africa is a 100% African owned and operated NGO operating in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique and Malawi. I am truly humbled by the work they have done over the last 20 years.

IT IS NO LONGER BUSINESS AS USUAL - It is about doing business with heart. By Charlene Hewat, CEO, Environment Africa

Our world, our planet is changing and the time has come for Zimbabwe thinkers and policy makers to think of new innovative, environmentally and sustainable ways of doing business, business is no longer based on ‘business as usual’.

When public systems breakdown, governments often look to the private sector to save the day. In many developing countries such as India, a range of services that were in the public domain – housing, water, energy, transportation and communication have been or are being privatized. This may lead to greater efficiency, but even the most die-hard neo-classical economist understands that it can also spell environmental and social disasters.

Public-private partnerships are a good way to divide responsibilities among different sectors of society. But they are fraught with danger, since they can become another way for the private sector to internalize benefits and externalize costs.

If we are to reorient the economy’s path to sustainability, what we really need is a totally new sector, perhaps termed the Community Sector, which would combine public sector objectives with private sector strategies. We need to create businesses that have a heart. Environment Africa (EAfrica), a truly African non-for-profit, private voluntary organisation (PVO) has developed a concept called (PPCP) meaning Public, Private, and Community Partnerships. EAfrica believes that this is future for businesses in Africa and that this approach, PPCP, would contribute not only toward sustainable development but also to poverty alleviation.

PPCP is not about an NGO, private sector, public sector coalition or a once off partnership, it is about corporate social responsibility and sustainable development in practice. EAfrica, through it’s not-for-profit company, is seeking to become a social, environmental investor in companies and take out a shareholding which it will hold in trust for communities and social and environmental development projects. The not-for-profit company, is looking at an alternative to the typical donor route of one off grants and handouts and aims, through the PPCP approach to uplift the livelihoods of communities in a sustainable business like manner. The PPCP concept has now been included in the Medium Term Plan for Zimbabwe as well as the Zambezi Transfronter National Parks document. EAfrica is also in the process of establishing a PPCP Forum and if you are interested in assisting in any way, please do not hesitate to contact EAfrica’s CEO, Charlene Hewat: charlie@eafrica.utande.co.zw

What is Corporate Social Responsibility then?

The International Standards Body ISO, are developing a Social Responsibility guideline called ISO26000. This is a guide for all types of organisations to follow. The Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) is the ISO representatives here in Zimbabwe and has an ISO26000 working group, which organisations have been participating in. Environment Africa has played a key role in the development of this standard not only in Zimbabwe but Internationally, under the banner of SAZ and as an NGO representative from a developing country. EAfrica is also working closely with the Business Council For Sustainable Development Zimbabwe (BCSDZ), on CSR. The ISO26000 Standard Guidance document is due to be released this year.

Social responsibility has continued to become a topical issue for all sectors, the private, the public and the government sectors as it is considered one of the key drivers to sustainable development. Social responsibility despite the name is not inclined to social development alone; it spans the operations of organizations internally all the way to the community or consumer level. Being socially responsible is considered a sustainable way of doing business and most often it boils down to trust. How can the various sectors trust each other? Can business trust communities? and can communities trust business to address their concerns in a manner that is beneficial for both. When looking at the corporate sector, it is important to examine the extent to which they are integrating social and environmental concerns throughout their business.

Some of the social concerns currently being experienced in Zimbabwe, as is the case in developing countries, include poverty, HIV/ AIDS; gender inequality; limited access to health, sanitation and education facilities and food security. Its is evident that the developing countries have serious social concerns in comparison to the developed world and the question in the developing countries is how to include these concerns within the business frame work and still make a profit at the end of the day.

Internationally Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is being mainstreamed by many corporates and is now considered the key component to long-term survival. There are several companies now in Zimbabwe who have adopted CSR and have partnered with Environment Africa to implement some of the 7 core areas of SR. Some of the activities include:

Development and implementation of a CSR Policy
Looking at a companies carbon footprint and offsetting carbon emissions
Partnerships on CSR projects and programmes

CSR is more than just business, it is a part of your business and remember, it is not philanthropy or cheque book PR, it is about commitment, involvement and action. Get involved today and help rebuild our beautiful country Zimbabwe.

Filed Under: Africa, Guest Posts, Sustainability Tagged With: Africa, Africa Gathering, Charlene Hewat, Development, Environment Africa, PPCP. Corporate social responsibility, Tree Africa, Zimbabwe

Protected: Colwall, St James

December 22, 2009 By ajmunn 2 Comments

Filed Under: Guest Posts Tagged With: Colwall, December 2009, Nativity play, St James

Two Clients, One Company and Managing All Three

Protected: Colwall, St James

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