Archive for the ‘B2B’ Category

Ford's Fusion 41 Challenge – What Are We Missing?

Monday, October 26th, 2009

Sit down and buckle in (literally), this week we are taking the #SocialMedia discussion in a very different direction.  Instead of learning during these chats, we have been asked by Ford Motor Company’s Scott Monty to helpford-logo-big teach.  If you are not aware, Scott is on a tear of late with the tremendous success of the Ford Fiesta Movement, he is now going for the equivalent of an encore with the Fusion 41 challenge.  Their newest challenge asks for:

  • Current 2010 model Ford Fusion owners/leasees to apply for the challenge
  • Eight (8) teams (to include the owner and four (4) team members each) will be selected
  • Ford will provide a 2010 Fusion model to each team to compete with
  • Teams will perform a series of challenges taking place over a 3 week period.
  • To coincide with the Fusion Hybrid’s 41 mpg rating, the challenges will take place every 41 hours
  • Team members will complete a task and “hand-off” like a baton to the next member
  • All the while, team members are required to post content and updates across their social networks online

The winning team’s leader will get their new 2010 Fusion paid off and the team members will get free gas for a year.  If you want all the rules check here.

So how can all of us help Scott Monty and Ford Motor?  Well, hang on a second and we’ll get to that.  First, it’s important that you understand where they have come from and where they are going.  This deck from Scott’s recent keynote at OMMA Global 2009 provides a good overview and some insight into Ford Motor’s social media marketing strategy.

Zero to 60: Social Media Strategy via Ford [Keynote - OMMA Global 2009]
View more presentations from Scott Monty.

If you notice, the last content slide lists “Listening to our community for suggestions”  and that, my friends, is why we are all here.  Scott has asked for input regarding Ford Motor’s latest social media marketing project, the Fusion 41 challenge.  The format will be similar to prior weeks with 3 questions, a new question every 20 minutes.  The difference is the questions.  Scott will be providing insight into the planning of the campaign and we will be providing recommendations in how to think differently and possibly add a new dimension to the initiative.

Yes that’s right, for an hour we will all be honorary social marketing consultants for one of the hottest social media brands out there.  Please note: any suggestions made by you during this one hour +/- event are provided for Ford Motor and Ford Motor may use your suggestions at will.

Topic: Ford’s Fusion 41 Challenge – What Are We Missing?

Q1: Evaluate the WOM/Influence strategy

Q2: Evaluate the online marketing strategy

Q3: What are we missing to make this truly exceptional?

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Posted in B2B, Branding, social media | 4 Comments »

Social Media in a Regulated Industry

Sunday, September 13th, 2009

Sex, Drugs, alcoholDrugs, Booze, Insurance, and Cash.  Sound like a lot of fun? It could be, I guess, if you are not a social media practitioner in any of those regulated industries.  While we talk about being open, transparent & immediate in our social media marketing, that same approach could wind you up in in a whole lot of trouble if you are marketing a new pharma drug.  In regulated industries like pharma and banking, the government regulates how these companies can market their products.  In industries like spirits, there are some guidelines, however most of the regulation is self-administered both domestically and internationally.  Here are some industries and the guidelines they have to follow. 

  • Healthcare- Follows most guidelines set forth in the Pharma industry and also has very stringent HIPPAAlaws that protect patient information.  Hospitals must also be cautious in providing healthcare recommendations or certainly diagnosing via the web or mobile.
  • Pharmaceuticals - led by the Food & Drug Administration covering everything from Drugs, Acts, Rules to Drug Registration & Listing.
  • Banking – Led by Federal, State and Local regulations on everything from Truth-in-Lending to Securities to Foreclosures. 
  • Insurance – Life, Auto, Home and Flood are some of the areas heavily regulated by federal and state regulators.  For brokers, they are only allowed to provide recommendations for states where they are licensed which eliminates many general websites.
  • Spirits – In the states the self governing body for the alcohol, wine & spirits industry is the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States or DISCUS. 
  • Public Traded Companies – of course, the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) monitors all publicly traded companies in their disclosure of information that might influence modifications in stock prices.

For as much as this industry likes to talk, there is very little information available for understanding guidelines in regulated industries.  An excerpt from a post from StartupMarketingDiva clearly depicts the regulators view of web and mobile communications as simply another medium where the message still must be the same:

Dr. Jean-Ah Kang, who is the Special Assistant to DDMAC Director Tom Abrams.  Although I recommend that you listen to the podcast, the script is nicely transcribed at MM&M.  Basically, right now the FDA has no formal policy on the use of Web 2.0 social media.  The key message from Dr. Kang was:  “it’s not the medium, it’s the message.”  As long as the message is fair and balanced, it doesn’t matter what medium it is conveyed in, whether it be Twitter, YouTube, website, or other traditional medium such as print.  But even so, as a company with a drug or other product in a regulated industry, you still need to cover your a%#.  How?  Dr. Kang says:  “follow the law” by submitting two copies of the final promotional materials using the FDA form 2253 under the guidance of 21 CFR 314.81(b)(3)(i) to DDMAC.  If you think your marketing materials require advisory comments on the draft proposal, you can certainly solicit the DDMAC for assistance in advance via their CDER page.   What this does is covers you from a third party wrongly reprocessing and misrepresenting your product and brand.

Another reference is from Jason Falls who did a talk in London for a group where he went into a good introductory of the challenges in the regulatory industry. His post and slide deck are attached.

This is certainly a big subject so we decided to bring out the big guns for this one.  Scott Hepburn runs Media Emergingthat engages with companies of all types.  He will lead us through the discussion on Tuesday September 15th at noon EST.  The questions will start at noon and have a new one every 20 minutes.  We look forward to your POV in heloing us tackle this topic.

Social Media in Regulated Industries

Q1:  How can regulated companies prepare themselves to be social? (Policies, training, hiring, planning)

Q2:  Should anyone at a regulated company be able to participate in a regulated industry or only a select few? (consider both internal and external)

Q3:  Where are areas of opportunity for social media strategists in regulated companies that can add much needed value to those companies?

Posted in B2B, corporate | 3 Comments »

Does Social Engagement Increase Company's Financial Performance?

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

Recently, Charlene Li from the Altimeter Group, did a research report called ENGAGEMENTdb  that looked at the financial performance of the most socially active companies on the web.  The report measured not only breadth of involvement across sites but also the depth of such engagment. 

Based on this premise, the #socialmedia chat this week will take a look at social engagement across all types of companies (not just the largest) and see where any company can have the highest impact back to its’ bottom line.  Leading the conversation this week is Michael Brito (aka @Btitopian) who is the social media strategist for Intel. 

Does Social Engagement Increase Company’s Financial Performance?

Q1:  What does it mean for a company to have depth in Social Media?

Q2:  How can companys use social media to make money today?

Q3:  Do socially engaged companies perform better financially or do strong companies simply use social media better?

Posted in B2B, Measurement, ROI in Social Media, corporate | Comments Off

Sponsored Conversations & What It Means for Businesses

Monday, August 24th, 2009

Sponsored ConversationsThis has certainly been the year for discussions around sponsored conversations in social media.  The term of a sponsored conversation is mostly described as paid for blog posts.  While this is certainly one piece of it, it certainly is not the entire scope of paid-for PR/advertising and limiting the conversation to only bloggers does not provide for a well-educated perspective by which to make reasonable business decisions. 

So what does the scope of sponsored conversations look like? Jeremiah does a good job of referencing lists of sponsored initiatives and the companies doing them but still this list is mostly focused on bloggers either being paid or getting free products to “blog” (review, rate, create content, post, etc) about them.  What is often over-looked is when companies hire other companies to create content, product releases, buzz, etc on the client’s behalf.  Finally, out of all of this do we need regulations in the form of government intervention (ala FTC) or a governing body to be the gatekeepers?

For companies paying individuals, the discussion is quite mature but still scattered (IZEA sponsored a report from Forrester).  How much should companies be allowed to pay? Should bloggers be able to make money for producing quality content and garnering a faithful following?  What’s the difference between paying Cris Brogan to stay at your hotel chain and hiring Kevin Garnett to wear your shoes? Heck, I eat entire meals for free every time I hit Costco with the free samples there.

For companies paying other companies it seems that this is either completely acceptable or it simply is not talked about much.  Sure there are examples of some intermediary screw-ups like Edelman with Wal-mart but surely there is more than this re-hashed story from 3 years ago.  Right?  Of course, PR firms are hired all the time to create content on behalf of their client and ghost-write posts.  Interactive agencies are always “taking care” of the content needs of their clients and passing it off as the client’s work.  Then you have Analysts who create reports using paying clients (intentionally left un-hyperlinked ;-) and socially connected Lobbyists influencing entire governing bodies.  Think about the newspaper industry using expert opinions from companies who advertise with them.

This week’s moderator, Shannon Paul certainly has her hands full with this topic but also has the hands on experience to lead us through it.  Working on the corporate side with the Detroit RedWings and now with PEAK6, she has practical experience that is invaluable and being a social media Rock Star in her own right certainly doesn’t hurt either.  This week’s discussion will be:

Sponsored Conversations & What It Means for Businesses

Q:1  What are the challenges / benefits from paying individuals to create conversations?

Q2:  What are the challenges / benefits from paying other companies to create conversations?

Q3:  What type of disclosure is needed and does it require a governing body?

This chat will start Tuesday 12 noon EST and last for 1 hour.  To participate simply use the #socialmedia on Twitter from anywhere.  To follow along more easily simply goto our LIVE page.

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Posted in B2B, Content | Comments Off

Is social media right for B2B?

Monday, June 8th, 2009

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As more and more organizations struggle to stay relevant in the B2B marketplace, some are jumping into the fray of what is commonly called social media marketing. The assumption being that it could hold the key to organizational success. With increasing pressure and longer sales cycles in the B2B space, it seems many social media tools would be ideal for fostering stronger relationships with customers. So, why aren’t more B2B organizations engaging more regularly?

PR and social media veteran, Arik Hanson holds our hands as we tread into the somewhat murky waters of B2B marketing and social media, and try to figure out if social media tools really open up meaningful discussions between these entities. Surely we can hope to answer the burning question of… Can B2B social media interactions, conversations and discussions lead directly to business?

We’ll find out. As well, we’ll also try to answer these 3 red hot questions:

1) Is there a generation gap in social media for B2B orgs?
2) Can social media reach the C-suite in B2B orgs?
3) Give us some examples of B2B success in the social media space, and what makes them good examples?

Be sure to join us June 9th at 12 noon EST at #socialmedia to find out!

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Posted in B2B | 2 Comments »