Blog Consulting, LLC.

REI - A Social Media Case Study

Blog Consulting, LLC - as is becoming more, and more normal, I was busy working at my desk when up pops a notification that REI had just sent me an e-mail.

Being a member, and a fan of REI, I was curious to see what they might trying to communicate to me.

Here is a copy of the e-mail that they sent me, which, as you might expect, was full of ideas for fall outdoor gear.

The pleasant surprise, if you look down to the very bottom of the e-mail, was an invitation, through the use of social media icons, to their social media sites.

Here you will find their Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and flickr outposts.

If you poke around in these outposts, you will find that they have collected quit an active, and passionate audience.

The social media outpost that most captured my attention, and therefore about 20 minutes of my time, was their YouTube site.

REI is famous for teaching its patrons how to safely enjoy the outdoors, and how to properly use the right equipment to aid in that enjoyment.

To that end, they have uploaded over 105 videos to bring that information right to your home computer.  What a marvelous use of technology.  It makes me appreciate them more, and it also makes me more inclined to tell others about them, which I am doing right now.

Clearly they have determined that instructional video is a powerful, and valuable tool for them.

Marketing take-away:  might your organization bring great value to your patrons through short, instructional videos?  Take a peek through REI's social media sights, and glean what you might learn from them. 

Here is a sample video, from REI, on Geocaching:

Allen Edmonds - A Social Media Study

Blog Consulting, LLC - I was busy at my desk today when I received an e-mail that Allen Edmonds had subscribed to my Twitter feed.

Having been a Midwestern business owner, for many years, I am well familiar with Allen Edmonds shoes. 

I would say that I am more a raving fan, of Allen Edmond shoes, than a mere acquaintance.  In fact, I have five pair of their shoes in my closet right now, with matching belts to boot.

Now that we have sold our business, and relocated to Arizona, I sometimes find myself pining for the days of pressed shirts, french cuffs, cuff links (I have quite a collection), tab collars, nice suits, all accented with my Allen Edmonds shoes, and belt. 

OK!  I admit it.  I was a clothes hound.  Is there a 12 step program for that?

Anyway, back to the present, I thought I would take a peek at their social media strategy.  Here is what I found:

• a very nice website highlighting their products, the special quality of their products, their company heritage, and I even found a few videos to help me better understand.  Nicely done!  At the bottom of their website, I also found links to:
• • Allen Edmonds on Twitter - here they are predominantly promoting their wares, events, etc.
  • Allen Edmonds on Facebook - here they are promoting their wares, and making attempts to create a dialog with their fans.  (Note: you really should secure your Facebook vanity URL for your fan page)
  • Allen Edmonds on YouTube - here you will find 4  videos that create heart, and pull for the brand. 
  • Allen Edmonds CEO, Paul Grangaard, also has a Blogger blog, replete with the ugly blogspot URL.  (Consider buying the URL allenedmondsblog, and domain mapping the URL.  It is difficult for people to remember www.allenedmondsblog.blogspot.com)

All in all, a nice on-line presence, and not untypical for what I see companies doing.

Here is my only caution:  don't allow Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube become the crack cocaine of your social media strategy.

Before you lynch me, let me explain.  

Every organization with a web site is witnessing the hullabaloo over social media, and certainly they want to participate.  Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have collected massive streams of people.  It is certainly not wrong to desire to play in their sandbox.  Indeed, you should.

But, do not allow these channels to possess your relationships.  This is all very new, and we are certain to see change.  The most likely change is the monetization of these channels. 

What if you spent three years building a community in Facebook, and then Facebook announced that you were going to have to pay them $10,000/year to continue playing in their sandbox?  What would you do then?  Well, perhaps gladly pay.  It depends.

But what if, for example, Facebook dreamed up a policy that was simply offensive to your organization?  Then what?

Here's my point:  Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter should be considered outposts for your organization, and you should be building your own social media channel. 

Certainly set stakes out in the massive streams of Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, but with the objective of driving those relationships back to your mother-ship, your own social media channel (blog), complete with your own RSS Feeds.

This way, 10 years from now, you will have many thousands of people in your own community, driving down outposts in whatever new-fangled, who knows what, might be replacing Facebook in the future.  

Don't forget, it was just a very short time ago that MySpace was all the rage.  And wasn't it...what was it called...oh...remember when America Online was all the rage?

Please hear me people, build your own social media channels!

Phew!  Now that I got that rant out of my system.  Nice job Allen Edmonds!  Keep up the good work, and oh...build your own social media channel.  :)

Harness the power of Web Commercials in your Social Media Strategy

Blog Consulting, LLC - for a great many companies, and organizations, a professionally produced commercial, integrated into their social media strategy, makes all the sense in the world.

Consider Lonny Carmichael's Little Tykes Pediatric Dentistry.  What could be more frightening than the dentist for a small child.  Why, even most adults are frightened of the dentist.

Dr. Carmichael has created a very unique atmosphere, in his dental practice, to make a trip to the dentist fun for children.  Is that possible?

Take a look at his video, and see if you don't feel compelled to tell someone about this very unique dental practice.

Marketing take-away:  How might you use a video commercial, combined with your social media strategy, to share with the world your unique value proposition?

We are busily building relationships with professionals who can inexpensively help you build such a commercial.  Although you would reserve this type of approach for your organization's main message, it is crystal clear that video commercials work.  Right?  Consider the millions spent in advertising at the Super Bowl.  You too can now harness that power for yourself.

Click here to learn how Blog Consulting, LLC can help your organization build, and manage your own social media site.

Note:  Dr. Carmichael is not a client of our firm.  We merely present his website as a wonderful example of a powerful web commercial.  In my humble opinion, he should now add a social media strategy to his wonderful practice.

Desert Botanical Gardens - An Arizona Social Media Case Study

Blog Consulting, LLC - as an amateur photographer, the Desert Botanical Garden has been a magnet for me.  However, as you will see, this Phoenix, Arizona landmark has quite an active social media strategy as well.

From an Internet perspective, it is likely that your relationship with the Desert Botanical Gardens will begin at their website, which is rich with desert gardening helps, educational opportunities, a thriving research department, and much more.

This from their "about us" page:

"Nestled amid the red buttes of Papago Park, the Desert Botanical Garden hosts one of the world’s finest collections of desert plants. One of only
44 botanical gardens accredited by the American Association of Museums, this one-of-a-kind museum showcases 50 acres of beautiful outdoor exhibits. Home to 139 rare, threatened and endangered plant species from around the world, the Garden offers interesting and inspiring experiences to more than 300,000 visitors each year."

As with most organizations of this type, my ongoing relationship with the Desert Botanical Garden (DBG) began as a member of their e-mail list.  Each e-mail was full of inviting information welcoming me back to another visit to the botanical collection, and along the way, deepening my relationship, and passion for the organization.

Further still, the DBG has invested in various other social media channels to create exposure, and deeper relationships with their patrons.

Here are samples of their social media outposts:

• Facebook Page - it appears as they are using this as a blog of sorts.  Currently they have 891 fans.
• Flickr site - there isn't a whole lot of activity here.  I think they have huge opportunity here to build community with the valley's photographers.  A walk through the gardens will quickly reveal that this is a favorite spot for photographers.  Simply create a way for photographers to show off their works, and they will come!
• MySpace - they have one, but in my opinion, a waste of time.  They must agree, there isn't much happening there.
• Twitter - they are building a community on Twitter with garden events, contests, and more.
• YouTube - they are also building an entertaining, and informative collection of short videos that bring a wonderful human element to the gardens.  A recent favorite of mine is Can You Fry an Egg on Pavement?  I recently had my own "Myth Busters" video on my personal Facebook page concerning the same subject.

All in all, I would say that the Desert Botanical Gardens has a very nice beginning to their social media strategy.  If I had any encouragements, it would be these:

• Keep the name of your organization consistent across all social media platforms, if possible.  Although all social platforms offer search, it is much easier for your patrons to communicate one easily remembered address.
• Consider building a blog as the "mother-ship" of your social media strategy.  Currently your relationships are subject to the whims of the social media world.  If, for example, Facebook were to ever attempt to charge an annual fee to its 250 million members, there would be a mass exodus, and your labors would have been in vain.  With your own social media channel (blog) this can't happen.  You should consider Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc., as outposts, and not primary properties.
• Be careful with simple social media icons in your social media invitations.  I suspect a great many of your patrons are not savvy enough to understand that the little blue "f" is an invitation to your Facebook page.  The simple addition of a little text, with the icon, will remove this confusion.  I would recommend that your website, for example, have a drop down list, at the top, inviting people to your social media outposts, rather than relying on the small icons, at the bottom of your website.

It has been fun watching the Desert Botanical Garden experiment with social media.  I have been a huge fan of theirs, have been subscribed to all their various channels, and love to visit whenever I can.

Marketing Take-away:   I recommend that you spend a few minutes and poke around all their various channels.  Be on the lookout for ideas about how you can use social media to better communicate with your patrons to deepen the relationship, earn their referrals, and share the story of your organization.

Just to help you understand my passion for the Desert Botanical Garden, here is a slide-show with a sample of a few of my personal photographs from the garden:

The Phoenix Symphony - A Social Media Case Study

Blog Consulting, LLC - social media case studies are a regular feature on this blog, as we can learn a great deal as we peek into the heart and soul of an organization, through their on-line presence.

Today we will turn our attention to The Phoenix Symphony.

The Phoenix Symphony, like many organizations, primarily uses e-mail to make its patrons aware of its various events.  However, a close peek at their most recent e-mail reveals an invitation to a far more personal relationship.

If you look closely, and you happen to know what they are, those six buttons, at the bottom of the e-mail, are an invitation to join them in their social media channels.

Here we find the Phoenix Symphony is communicating in 8 different channels

• snail mail - I will likely get a very nice (expensive) brochure shortly.
• website - they have a very functional website to inform, and transact ticket sales.
• SoundPost blog - I subscribed immediately, after reading only a few posts.  I also noticed that they have been blogging since May of 2006.  It shows!  There is a LOT of heart in this blog.  I felt an immediate, deeper connection with them, and as a result subscribed. 
• a Facebook page - although it appears that they haven't applied for their shortened vanity URL.
• they are dabbling with Twitter.
• still maintain a MySpace page.
• they provide a wonderful YouTube page.
• and finally a video page on Vimeo.

In the business world, we used to talk about "buying brain cells" when we communicated with our clients.  That is, communicate in a way that would leave us parked, permanently in their brains.

It is glaringly apparent that the Phoenix Symphony desires a heart relationship with their patrons.  They have gone way above, and beyond, the call of duty to this end.  When I received their e-mail, I clicked on one of the buttons, and for the next 30 minutes I was whisked away into all that is the Phoenix Symphony.

Congratulations Phoenix Symphony!  You grabbed my heart, a few brain cells, and left me clearly with a deeper desire to participate in all that you do!  Mission accomplished.  Social media rules!

For those of you who may be doubters in the crowd, watch this very tender, and loving remembrance to one of their fallen members, Ioana Dumitriu:

If I Owned it: How I would change Gannett's Arizona Republic Newspaper

Scottsdale, Arizona - Before I launch off into my thoughts here, I desire to make one thing perfectly clear.  I am not here to disparage Gannett, or the Arizona Republic newspaper.

Furthermore, I do not hold myself out to be the savior of the whole world of communications.  I do, however, have some pretty firm beliefs, based on many years of business experience.  Fair enough?

If I owned Gannett's Arizona Republic newspaper, I would turn the whole thing upside down.

Newspapers, magazines, and many forms of mass print communications have been with us since the Gutenberg press.  This form of communication held supreme until society was presented with television, and the radio.

In all three of the above mediums, society would rely on "the few"  to deliver communications down through these channels.

The great problem with this reliance is that the messages might be slanted with the view of the few.

With the advent of the Internet, and in particular the emergence of social media, the whole landscape has significantly changed.

Here are two epoch-making, paradigm shifting things that we all must understand: 

• Why would I listen to a reporter telling me what is happening (in some, but not all cases), when I can get the information directly from the source. 
• With the inherent costs associated, and the substantial time lag inherent with print media, I am likely, with the Internet, to already know the news, and I have already likely chosen who I would like to get that news from.  The classic case is President Obama.  I can get the news directly from his social media site.  Furthermore, if I want to have someone interpret his actions, I can further subscribe to a political analyst of my liking.  I do not need the newspaper for this type of news.

Now, I grant you that "what's going on" is not the complete mission of the press.  The press further gives us investigative reporting, but that is also easily accomplished on the web.  The current press also has someone to run take pictures of a burning house, but the Internet can do that as well.  Nowadays, it is generally someone with a cell phone that is capturing this type of news as it happens.

So...if I owned the Arizona Republic Newspaper, here is what I would do...

Whole Foods Market - A First Impression Social Media Case Study

As I mentioned before, a regular feature on this blog will be first impression social media case studies.  We can learn a tremendous amount simply studying the social media marketplace.

Our first social media case study was Nordstrom.  My review of their current social media presence was not very flattering, and a little disappointing.  However, I did receive a tweet, from @Nordstrom, and they are diligently working on their social media strategy.

This week's social media case study installment is going to be all gushy!  Let us proudly gaze upon Whole Foods, and look at the relationship they are inviting their patrons to participate in.

Social media is so present, in their on-line presence, I don't even know where to begin.  I will list a few things here, but I beg you, go to their site, and learn from social media masters.

Unlike Nordstrom's on-line catalog site, and the typical coupons being thrown in your face, this is so much more.  Consider:

• not only is the corporate site on Twitter, but they have segmented Twitter accounts, as well as individual stores are Twittering.  I can build a Twitter relationship with my local Whole Foods Market.
• Their individual stores have their own social media sites, underneath the mother ship.  The photograph above is from my local Scottsdale Whole Foods Market.
• Whole foods has a blog, a facebook presence, as well as a flickr site.
• They have thought out and displayed their value proposition,  provide in-store lectures & tastings, publish a weekly sale brochure,  and simply too much more to  add to this post.

Simply put, Whole Foods has made it clear that they are not your typical food market, and they are working very hard to prove that to you in their site.  I am most impressed, and feel a strong desire to go visit my local store.

Marketing take-away - visit the Nordstrom site, and visit the Whole Foods site.  Which site feels more inviting, and why?  Allow yourself to dream of how you might tell your story, as well as Whole Foods Market has.  If you like, we would love to help you.

For the icing on the cake, I leave you with a video from the Whole Foods Blog:

What went wrong with MyCommunityArts.Org?

MyArtsCoummunity.org, and its sister blog, were started as a six-week web-based pilot fund-raising campaign based on the concept that many small donations add up to big dollars. It launched on  May 1 to raise money for the Valley’s 16 largest arts and cultural organizations.

According to an article in Sunday's Arizona Republic, the venture started with a capitol investment of $100,000, but has only returned a "scant" $22,000 in community donations.

So, what went wrong?

The article speaks of timing, the economy, and presents a good deal of head scratching, and bewilderment.  The article also mentions that "the social-networking component failed to live up to its billing."

Before I put forth my thoughts in the matter,  please allow me to make one thing perfectly clear.  I am not here to throw stones, point fingers, or hold myself out to be "all that", as it pertains to this situation.

I do, however, have 20 successful years under my belt as small business owner, and a few things immediately jumped out at me. I simply desire to share them with our community, and the founders of this organization, in case they determine to make another run at this.

Also, please note that my style of communication is fairly direct, but again, with a heart toward being helpful, and not condescending. 

Fair enough?  Then let get started...

Nordstrom - A First Impression Social Media Study

One of the regular features, on this blog, will be to study the first impressions of well known organizations, and their use of social media.

Please understand, I am not here to criticize, merely to make observations.  I believe the world is moving to a more relational interaction, and I desire to see how various organizations might be accomplishing this.

First up to bat is:  Nordstrom

I was a little surprised to see that this world class organization isn't inviting me to a deeper relationship.  After all, I have a large collection of Allen Edmund shoes from Nordstrom.

At first blush, my impression of their site was that of an on-line catalog.  Certainly there is nothing wrong with that, they exist to bring the world first class, and quality fashions.

But I was surprised to see that the depth of the relationship is seemingly the sale.  I did notice that @nordstrom is using Twitter, but in a very brief glimpse, it seemed to be more about customer service, than relationship building.  I also found no evidence, on their website, that they are even using Twitter. 

I would have liked to have seen a blog, complete with RSS Feeds, where I could subscribe.  They must have an incredible amount of very interesting, behind the scenes stories to tell.  I presume their buyers are flying all over the world buying fashions.  Certainly there must be some excitement in the things that they find, and bring back to their customers.  I would love to see, and hear those stories. 

What if they were to bring along a Flip Video and shoot some behind the scenes live action, and let us see how these fashions make it to the shelf?  What if they told us about their #1 sales associate, and shared with us the remarkable service that he/she provides for his/her clients.  After all, Nordstrom is world famous for their customer service.

Well, that's my first impression, five minute low-down, on Nordstrom, and social media.  At first blush, it appears to be all out-bound marketing, and no in-bound relationship building.

Perhaps it is on their to-do list!

Stay tuned for further adventures, in coming days.