social media « Metropolis Creative on Branding and Marketing

Social Media: Competition On and Off the Field January 24th, 2011

In a day and age when just about anything and everything regarding our favorite celebrities and professional athletes is accessible with a click of the mouse, it’s no wonder Twitter is at the center of all the buzz. The easy to use microblogging site has seen a huge increase in “verified” professional athlete accounts in the past year. The site Tweeting-Athletes.com categorizes the athletes using twitter by sport and team with a direct feed to each players’ tweets. We now know when they wake up, what video games they are “dominating” and how much they spent on their latest Bentley, or two. With this running commentary on the sporting world at everyone’s finger tips, of course we would see some controversy when it comes to the innate competition that these athletes seem to eat, sleep and tweet.

Back in September, David Price of the Tampa Bay Rays was ridiculed for speaking out on Twitter about the Ray’s lack of fan support. “Had a chance to clinch a post season spot tonight with about 10,000 fans in the stands… embarrassing” Fans and critics alike bashed Price on his “rude” statement, who later apologized writing “If I offended anyone I apologize I did not think it was gonna turn into this…” Price was right — who knew that one statement could cause such an adverse reaction. This was when the social media tool really caught my attention in a different light.

Fast forward to this past week’s NFL playoff “trash taking” fiasco. The Patriots and Jets went back and forth for days with “clever” instigations in press conferences and bold statements on twitter. It is the first time we, as spectators, have a more than direct insight into the thoughts, feelings and actions of these athletes on a minute to minute basis. Players were accused of abusing their 5th amendment rights in press conferences and on twitter. What could have once been seen as “private” personal thoughts in 180 characters or less, are now public statements permanently stamped into the the archives of Twitter.

Twitter has been seen as a distraction for many athletes. The NFL has been known to fine players for using electronics near game time out of fear of cheating. NFL player Chad Ochocinco was fined $25,000 for tweeting too close to the start and finish of a game. Shaquille O’Neil even tweeted during halftime while playing for the Suns… thankfully the Suns won that game. Boise State’s head football coach Chris Peterson banned his team from using Twitter during their latest season. “It’s just a distraction that we don’t really need to have right now. There’s plenty of time in their lifetime for Twitter” Peterson said. Much of Peterson’s concern revolved around his team and their relationship with the press. Many times collegiate coaches keep certain players, often freshman, from talking to the media all year. Twitter has blurred the lines of public statements into a more casual “from-the-couch” press conference.

Coaches, such as Jet’s coach Rex Ryan, have come into press conferences unaware of the comments “tweeted” minutes before by his players and are already on-deck questions from reporters. Coaches are also concerned with spending weeks and months working on formations and plays just to have players reveal these intentions in their comments on Twitter. Even though Twitter has not lead to any consequences like that of the fine for a helmet-to-helmet hit, it still unknown how the site will effect the future of professional sports, on and off the field. I mean let’s face it, we all saw how Wes Welker’s comments in a press conference probably cost New England the Super Bowl.

Tags: social media, twitter
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5 Website Design tips for Nonprofits January 4th, 2011

Many nonprofits suffer from low budgets. But there are many things you can do incrementally to quickly improve your website’s effectiveness.

Make the site User-Friendly

Just as with any site, nonprofits should follow the basic guidelines for web design. Ease of access and navigation are as important as visual aesthetics. It is also important to make the site media friendly, an easy information site for journalists. Contact information should be accessible and downloadable images can help with cohesive media coverage.

Good Content Informs and Energizes

The organization’s main purpose should be immediately apparent. Why should the user be donating or volunteering? It is important to list out the goals of the organization ahead of time and work with these priorities as guidelines. Some organizations have different departments and people heading those departments. Have each write the content for their respective department so that the best description is captured. Great images will always enhance your message. Every image should help tell your story to get the most emotional connection for your cause. Videos are an even better way to show programs in action. Even simple image animations can be informative and engaging.

Ask and You Shall Receive

The most common goal for nonprofits is to raise money for their respective causes by appealing to donors. Tastefully but directly show how easy it is to make a donation with a button or donation area in plain sight on every page. Using direct messages like “DONATE NOW” will be more effective than passive language asking for donations. Other Calls to action can include applying for a grant, attending an event, opting in to various communications channels (Facebook, Newsletters, Emails).

Mobilize Your Army of Volunteers

Another target to keep in mind are the volunteers. Use call to action terminology like “Take Action” or “Ways You Can Help” to prompt users to act.

Social Media Was Made for Nonprofits

Social media users are always looking for good content to share.
People are more likely to respond (donate, volunteer) if they know you.
Viral social communication can reach exponential numbers.

Maximize your social network by incorporating social tools everywhere. Let users promote your content via “likes”, “tweets”, and “shares”. Banners, and widgets that link back to your site can be made available for others to install on their own sites. Letting users comment on content also creates a strong engagement bond.

Quick Takeaways

Create a newsletter to keep people up to date with your organization. Be sure that signing up for a newsletter is easy and accessible.
Include a news/blog section to show that the organization is a living, breathing thing. It will keep people up to date with stories and news directly from the people volunteering and projects being put in place. Updating this often will help keep the site alive and people interested in what you are doing as an organization.
It is important to “keep it real” and not come off as a business. Yes, nonprofits are businesses in themselves, but they are in the business of making a difference. People want to know that their money is going to something meaningful.

What web design tricks have most helped your nonprofit business?

Tags: boston website design, call to action, content marketing, social media, Web design, website design
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Cause Marketing — Inspired To Do More December 16th, 2010

This morning a few of us from Metropolis attended the 21st Social Media Breakfast in Watertown. The theme of the breakfast was Social Media for Social Change with a concentration on mobility. Scott Henderson of causeshift, Laura Fitton of oneforty.com, Joe Waters from Boston Medical Center and Steve Krom of AT&T all spoke on how easy it can be to get involved with social change through social media channels. Through the use of twitter and growing technologies such as micropayments, anyone can get involved to support nonprofits, charities and help in building communities to aid organizations and social movements.

I was especially inspired by Laura Fitton, who began a movement (@wellwishes) two years ago in conjunction with Charity Water. Her goal of raising $25,000 began with blog posts, tweets and video messages that, within only a few months, turned monumentally successful. We love what she has done with her work for Charity Water and recent work with her start up oneforty.com. Laura’s comment “I do not have my act together, don’t let that stop you from changing the world”, really resonated with us.

Metropolis has been involved with non-profits such as Boston World Partnerships and their Global Tweet-up, helping to put Boston on the map in the world of social media; as well as supporting MITX in a variety of roles including designing their Facebook page and producing promotional videos. Recently, we have taken on the task of designing a website and marketing plan for a charity out of Uganda that specializes in helping orphans receive the medical attention, education, nutrition and capacity building skills that will create a complete and holistic approach to improving their lives immensely.

We are looking forward to applying this and other knowledge we learn from events such as the Social Media Breakfast to our 3rd annual website makeover next year. Stay tuned to see how you can become a part of it all.

Tags: Boston, cause marketing, non-profit, social media, Social Media Breakfast
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Brand Ambassadors — Build Your Army October 20th, 2010

It doesn’t take much effort to get noticed, but it does take some.

Your last experience with a brand is your last impression of that brand. How friendly is that UPS driver? How helpful was the phone support person from Verizon? Was the Apple store sales rep helpful and genuine? I used to work for a print shop that made deliveries. The delivery guy didn’t really know his way around town, but he had the biggest smile and was always upbeat. Consequently, the customers loved him.

Brand Differentiation

Most people know that differentiating your brand is extremely important, but some may overlook customer service as the vehicle for achieving this. When I experience great customer service, I remember it. Don’t you? I tell my friends, I tell strangers via Twitter, and my brand perception is affected. This weekend, I had a wonderful experience with The Hawthorne Hotel in Salem, MA. On Saturday, I tweeted that I was looking for restaurant suggestions in Salem for that night. Someone under the hotel’s name tweeted me back. The conversation resumed over the phone and even though they were booked solid that night, she said she would get us a table. She even gave me the phone number of the hostess’ station and the hostess’ name. When we got into town, I called the station. Sure enough, she said she knew I was coming. We had maybe a 10-minute wait in their comfortable lobby before we were seated. Keep in mind, October is Salem’s busiest month of the year. The atmosphere and food were excellent, but more importantly, I felt like a movie star — getting into a packed restaurant all because someone cared enough to reach out to me on Twitter. Was it a lot of work on her part? Not really, but the Hawthorne Hotel has made me a fan for life.

Toot Your Own Horn

It is important to let people know the great things that you and your team are doing. Companies do amazing things all the time and I don’t think they talk about it enough. Twitter, Facebook, company blogs and news pages are perfect vehicles to tell these brief but relatable stories. Years ago, when we were rebranding Holly Cleaners in Newton, a “high-end” dry cleaning company, we started digging for some news (desperately hoping that a dry cleaner would have something interesting to say). They brought up a story about a customer’s wedding dress. About a week before the wedding, they had the customer’s dress laid out on a table to be dry cleaned and a ceiling fixture crashed down on top of the dress. They called the bride-to-be and explained the catastrophe, but assured her that she would have a new dress on her wedding day. They then proceeded to hire a well-known dress designer to rebuild the dress using much nicer materials than the original. The customer ended up with an amazing dress in time for her wedding – at no charge of course. Our jaws dropped — why hadn’t they broadcast this story before?

You Don’t Ask, You Don’t Get

Ask your customers for recommendations or to participate in your online discussions. At Metropolis, we use the launch of a project as a perfect way to recap with the client. We write a press release and ask for the client’s input. We also ask for some kind of quote to put in the release. Point existing and potential customers to your blog posts and ask for their input. Engage with them on their own blogs and other social media sites too.

Reach Out, Grow Your Network

Once you identify who you should be marketing to, talk with them. Join discussion groups on LinkedIn and offer helpful advice. Network in person and connect people. As long as you’re personable and genuinely helpful, you’ll be remembered in a positive light. The more active you are, the more memorable you become (simple advertising — right?) The larger your network, the more valuable it will be when you need it. You may not have a newsletter that you’re sending out right now, but you should still be collecting names for your database. Don’t wait until you actually need a network to start growing it.

Communication and networking takes time, but it’s worth it. Spend some time with your online community and start building your army of brand advocates now!

Tags: boston branding, brand identity, branding stretegies, social media, twitter
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Think you know Facebook and Twitter? Think deeper. March 25th, 2010

I guess I’m a technologist because I love technology and have a bottomless appetite for it.

The glamour of new products no longer dazzles me. The underlying technology behind a new platform is definitely more interesting than the platform itself. But dig a little deeper, and you’ll see the reason behind the underlying technology. Now that’s where the excitement is.

Take Twitter for example. On the surface, it is a social communication vehicle. Kind of like an evolution of text messages that you can share with the world. But why would you want to share your text messages with the world? Where’s the value in that? Dig a little deeper.

The technology behind Twitter is really a two-way communications channel (although I think most people use only as a one-way broadcasting channel.) But the really amazing thing about Twitter is what else it can do for you, especially when you combine it with other technologies. There is an incredibly powerful network running wild right now and it is just waiting to be harnessed. How?

1) Use it as a listening tool. Real-time conversations are happening about your brand, or asking questions you can answer. Beat your competition to the punch and engage with your audience immediately.

2) Like it or not, recognize that Twitter has HUGE adoption. That means access to a huge audience — if you have something relevant to say.

3) Imagine if you could combine short quick messages with say — a home appliance. You could know exactly when your ice maker is overflowing in your fridge, when your clothes are dry, or when the oven is preheated. Combine Twitter with a moisture sensor in your plants and you’ll be reminded to water them. How about car maintenance needs, library book reminders, or even a daily tweet of the lowest gas price within 3 miles of your home?

My point is, if you think past the conventional uses, unexpected and innovative solutions will emerge. I still love the fact that the Typewriter was developed to allow the blind to write. Who knew it would be required in every business office for decades to come?

We’re seeing innovation on all platforms with the rapid adoption of location-awareness, text-to-speech, and cross-application sharing of information. Where will the technology take us next?

Tags: emerging technology, innovation, social media
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“Social” Isn’t a Tool June 29th, 2009

One question I’ve been asked a lot recently is “what’s going to be the next Twitter?” The quick answer is, it doesn’t matter. I know that sounds flip but hear me out before you think I’m just another social media basher (you’ll know this is not the case if you read my blog). I say “it doesn’t matter,” not because I don’t love Twitter and all the other social networks but because it assumes that the concept of “social” can be limited to a single tool.

To that end, comparing the phenomenon of “social” to a tool is somewhat akin to thinking that a good website is strictly about a great logo or a slick header graphic. Obviously those things help but they aren’t the end all to be all. It’s the concept of great usability and design coming together meeting the needs of a stated business objective that makes a site great. Oh yeah, the site damn well better meet the needs of the customer too. Otherwise, you’re dead in the water.

Getting back to my rant about Twitter and why limiting “social” to the category of a “tool” is such a pet peeve of mine… Well, it’s not dissimilar to thinking that the discipline of marketing could be confined to just e-mail or advertising. While some companies might concentrate their efforts on a particular tactic, most good businesses also leverage other tactics to help accomplish their goals. They also realize that at the end of the day, “marketing” isn’t limited to one tool because it’s a more about a philosophy and a thought process than it is a bunch of tools.

The difference between good marketing or even site design is that while “social” can be important to helping a company get in touch with its customers, it can also be a transformative power within an organization helping companies:

Share ideas — both internally and externally
Co-create with its customers
Energize its customer base by creating a launch pad for word of mouth marketing
Deepen loyalty and increase referrals by giving customers something of value

I guess the next time someone asks me what the next “Twitter” is, I’m going to tell them that it’s the wheel, or the printing press. Or a turbine engine. Or the Internet. Maybe then they’ll start to think about this brave new world of “social” as something more than just a tool.

So how does your company describe “social?” Let us know in the comments — just do me a favor and don’t use the “T” word.

Tags: online marketing, social media, the next twitter, transformative, twitter, Web design
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Expose Your Brand and Reap the Benefits of Social Media June 17th, 2009

It’s very trendy. Companies of varying size and type are exposing their brand and messaging via social media marketing. These organizations are having cocktail parties online! They are establishing and maintaining real-time conversations with customers, colleagues, industry peers, thought leaders and management. Throughout the conversations, brand loyalty is being garnered. Messaging is being spread. Stories are being told. The exposure is immediate, smart, savvy and contagious. “Social media creates a solar system for a brand with multiple satellites of interaction channels, some large, some small.” – Derek Showerman, Director of Social Media, Authority Domains.

Use your website to first explain your message/brand and then have direct links to your social media sites (i.e. Facebook, twitter, online community, etc). But be sure to keep the design of your messaging, and overall identity consistent!

Expose your brand to social media and reap these benefits:

Online conversations and increased SEO
Thought provoking and news worthy content is contagious. People tell people. Conversations will build a community of loyal followers (customers).

Immediacy
Hitting a front page of major social video, news and bookmark sites will send you large amounts of instant traffic while simultaneously building your keyword optimization.

SEO
Conversations and linking will dramatically boost your rankings in search engines.

Peer Power
Gain peer recommendations, attract influencers, comments from bloggers, etc. Initiators and influencers decidedly play an important role in decision making.

All Natural
Receive natural links without any discernible pattern! Your website will be exposed to large groups of people in a spontaneous fashion. This differs from paid advertising which can be conceived as commercial efforts.

Quite Complimentary
Social media optimization and marketing is usually community-specific. It doesn’t interfere with any other methods of getting traffic to your website. It can and will fit perfectly with an advertising campaign targeting other websites or search engines.

The bottom line is social media has created a way for people and businesses to become transparent. Social media can be a great way to find and establish followers, but like in real life, friendships require time, understanding, honesty, and the occasional greeting card. Before exposing your brand via social media, step back and take a look at all of your marketing components (logo, website, calls-to-action, etc). Make sure that all of your messaging is consistent and accurate before you expose your identity. Ask for help.

In the spirit of being social, join us for a live presentation about social media communities. A complimentary and informative networking event with appetizers, drinks and even pool. June 30, 2009, FELT Boston, 6-8:30PM. Sign up here.

Tags: bad branding, facebook, SEM, social media, social networking, twitter, Web Strategy in Search Dominated Environments
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Extreme Marketing through Social Media May 11th, 2009

Everyone knows social media tools like Twitter, Facebook and blogs can drive traffic to your site and help build your brand. And nowadays, every marketing conversation has some component of social media. Last month, my team stepped away from the fodder and physically DID something – face to face.

On April 29th, Metropolis Creative engaged hundreds of marketers through social media by having an Extreme Website Makeover party . This was our most successful marketing effort to date (I founded the company in 1999). We harnessed the power of social media, partnerships, networking and free booze into one brand building and socially engaging campaign that stirred a contagious buzz (before, during and after the event). Nearly 150 marketing professionals came off-line to shake hands and interact by using more than 140 characters.

The campaign served its purpose of strengthening the Metropolis brand, engaging face to face interaction, and also was a helpful experiment in demonstrating how to plan, deliver and measure a social marketing campaign.

Social Media Reach

The campaign’s impact, influence and reach were measured by these tools:

Google Analytics: Site-side analytics measured the traffic back to Metropolis’ site and the referring social media properties

WordStream: Keyword analytics and organic visits

RatePoint: Outreach to their network (and email marketing tool)

Twitter: Followers, tweets, retweets, frequency and interaction

Facebook: Extreme Website Makeover and Metropolis Creative pages (become a fan!)

SHIFT Communications: Outreach to their clients and prospects via twitter

Social Media Breakfast group and Bob Collins socialized the invite via twitter and facebook

Groupon: Email to Boston opt-in database

STUFF@Night/Boston Phoenix: Multiple emails to opt-in database

MA High Tech News, Galen Moore article

Congrats to American Public Television for being awarded the Website Makeover winner and props co-sponsors SHIFT Communications and RatePoint.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiMvdt4OvKE]
Ready for Extreme Website Makeover 2010! But how can Metropolis make it more extreme…?

Tags: extreme marketing, social media, twitter marketing, web site design, website design, website redesign
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