Lessons from the Chapstick Social Media Fiasco

What do “butts,” “ChapStick,” and “social” have in common?  They are all part of a recent huge—and very public – series of poor choices that have seriously impacted the reputation of a major brand. I actually pulled those three words from the categories assigned to Tim Nudd’s recent AdWeek article, ChapStick Gets Itself in A Social Media Death Spiral.

So what happened?  Long story short (read the article for full details), ChapStick posted an ad that was offensive to some people, and when those people voiced their opinions on ChapStick’s Facebook Fan Page, ChapStick deleted those comments… and kept deleting them as they were posted.

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Marketing Integration – The Number 1 Thing B2B And B2C Marketers Want To And Need To Learn

Not Search Engine Marketing. Not PPC. Not even Social Media Marketing. No, the #1 thing B2B Marketers and B2C Marketers alike want to learn more about is marketing integration and creating a true integrated marketing strategy.

This not-shocking-to-me finding came from a report released by Webmarketing123, who surveyed over 500 marketing professionals. There are other findings which I will share with you, but after reading the report and reading it over, I knew right away the one finding that stood out from all others and it happened to be the very last chart in the report.

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Return on Relationship, ROR (#RonR) – Implications for Global Impact

We are at an incredibly important time in the evolution of “relationship commerce” (buying from people you know and trust).  This is the time when our actions will decide if “relationship commerce” ends up as simply a phrase on a list of buzz words, or becomes an effective – and meaningful — way of doing business worldwide.

The deciding factor will be whether or not enough brands and marketers are willing to go beyond just talking about relationships … to actually building and sustaining those relationships with consumers, peers, employees, and others in their social graph.

How many of us believe in the business value of relationships enough to put in the effort required to turn a one-time contact into an ongoing meaningful interaction?  How many of us even believe that “business value” and “authentic relationships” even belong in the same sentence??  I do, because I have seen this play out time and time again.

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The Next Wave of Social: Curated Integration

The promise of true and deep social media integration is not new. In fact, many of our favorite social experts have been envisioning and forecasting this evolution for some time (see Five Themes for Succeeding in the Validation Era).

What Blog World Expo Taught Me About the Future of Social Media

I recently spent three days in LA at Blog World (Blog World and New Media Expo #bwela), with some of my favorite people (bloggers and those connected to them), saturating myself with information while starting new and building on old relationships.  As you probably know by now, I love connecting with people online, but I love even more connecting the old-fashioned way – face-to-face!

Other than stronger connections and new relationships, the most important takeaway from the conference, IMHO, is that we all need to stop worrying about “where it’s going” in Social and start concentrating on “where it is.”

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Fashion with Compassion: #Cashmere BT Couture for #SocialGood

The perfect intersection of PR meets Social Media and Social Good, The White Cashmere Collection showcases the power of PR to build an awesome brand platform and a campaign with legs strong enough to thrive for eight consecutive years and form the centrepiece for a brand’s fully integrated marketing program.

Strategic Objectives created the White Cashmere Collection for Kruger Products back in 2004 as a unique showcase for Canada’s top design talent and to launch new Cashmere Bathroom Tissue. Pure, soft and luxurious, it’s the softest feeling next to your skin.  Unique in the world, the White Cashmere Collection is entirely crafted in Cashmere Bathroom Tissue (BT), Canada’s best-selling brand.  More than 87 top Canadian fashion designers have participated in our first-of-its-kind collection to date.

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Make it a “Social Thanksgiving”

Thanksgiving, the time when we give thanks not just FOR, but TO those who have been an important part of our lives:  our friends and family, our customers, shoppers, advocates, and critics.  Yes, I give thanks for ALL of them because they all provide a possibility for a relationship, which is really what it is all about. 

This year, I propose we all try a Social Thanksgiving – one where we focus on the true meaning and value of relationships, and take the time to pay attention to others first (and ourselves next).

Let’s make this Social Thanksgiving a time to make sure everyone remembers two of the most important rules of a relationship:

#1: More important than finding your own light, help others to find theirs.

 When we help others find their lights, we enter into a relationship with them – collaborating with them, giving of ourselves, and experiencing the gift of seeing life for a while through their eyes.  We can always use a chance to and a fresh perspective on our own lives (and who knows, that could be the way that we end up finding our own light!).

 #2: Build people up, don’t tear them down. 

This is one of my rules and it should be one of yours too… no matter who you are interacting with.  When we tear others down, it is only because we feel small and inadequate and are taking it out on someone else.  Take that energy and put it into BUILDING the relationship and supporting others instead of trying to make them small enough that you seem more powerful, wise, or successful.

All people deserve your respect and genuine caring, and what really makes you shine is when you accept them, and build them up so they can see their own light and shine it on the path for others.

Why not take this Social Thanksgiving idea one step further, and going forward, use those two rules of relationship to inspire campaigns and consumer outreach that leads to deeper emotional connections with customers/shoppers?  I have tried it – it is the way I do business – and I can tell you, IT WORKS.

So this Thanksgiving, I thank each of you for building me up and helping me shine my light, and I hope I have the chance to do the same for you!  May you and your loved ones have a Happy and Social Thanksgiving! 

Ted Rubin

Originally posted at TedRubin.com

 

The Inevitability of Google+ for the Enterprise

Every evolution of Web technologies, applications and devices has seen businesses try to leverage the platforms to fatten their bottom line. While visionary early adopters are quick to see and jump on new trends, conservative businesses eventually – maybe reluctantly – join the fray.

As devices and technologies continue to morph and evolve at a faster and faster pace, reluctantly joining in is no longer an option. The ability to ride what my friend Steve Woodruff calls “Trend Currents” will make or break businesses.

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‘Rocket Fuel’ and Marketo’s $50M Funding News

This morning, we had some great news here at Marketo. We announced a large round of primary capital funding – $50 million – led by new investors Battery Ventures. We’re delighted to welcome Battery, and General Partner Neeraj Agrawal, to the Marketo journey.

The media have been enthusiastic about our news, but today’s announcement is just the tip of the iceberg of a truly breakout year for Marketo. The broader business economy is hungry for ways to grow, especially given the current economic climate (I recently wrote on Forbes about the ways turmoil breeds opportunity). Indeed, there’s a new class of cloud technology that is transforming the enterprise, and business overall. Marketo is right in the thick of that transformative shift.

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Listen. Do You Want To Know A Secret?

For anyone of a certain age (we won’t be any more specific) those words most likely prompt a mind’s earful of a catchy tune as recorded by the Fab Four.  (If “Fab Four” is meaningless to you, skip to paragraph 2.)  The lyrics of the song, simplistic as they might be, belie one of the key — maybe even THE key criteria to successful relationship: be quiet; listen up; and you are likely to hear something of value.

Makes for a nice song.  But practically speaking, we don’t much care for the discipline that is required to really listen.

Don’t believe this?  Look around, and consider the precipitous decline in the art of conversation.  E-mail, texting, social updates (in as few as 140 characters, to boot) — all make it infinitely more easy to browse, skim, filter and create shortcuts for messaging.  Key words and optimized phrases have become the shorthand of ideas.  Seems like this used to be thought of as “hearing only what we want to hear.”

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