Social TIS

http://www.socialtis.net/ - I have a new home

2009-07-27T18:59:00.001-07:00

Hey Folks,

I know it has been awhile, but I hope you to take a look at the project that has kept me from posting the last six weeks. Drum role please...my new blog: http://www.socialtis.net/

I look forward to your comments!

Is Bing the New Thing?

2009-06-08T17:16:00.000-07:00

True Confessions: I know very little about Bing!

However, I am finding it extremely important to get into the know now. A couple of great articles for those on the same journey:

3 Tools to Compare Google and Bing Search Results, by Ann Smarty, June 8th, 2009
Bing - Decision Engine, Search Portal or Search Engine with Benefits? by Sabrina Gallier, June 5, 2009
Did Bing Just Leapfrog Yahoo Search?, by Robin Wauters, June 5, 2009

Should we divert our Google budget now? I think I will wait it out a bit, but I am curious if others

SAP Gets How To Use Facebook

2009-05-01T10:34:00.000-07:00

Props for SAP's Facebook Presence...
SAP's Facebook Utilization has been extremely impressive. Check out a few of SAP's active Facebook fan pages: SAP; SAP CRM; SAP Developer Network . A couple of noteworthy features worth discussion:

SAP redirects fans to event promotions and customer surveys; SAP CRM provides obvious social networking links: Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, SAPCommunity Page; All sites provide linking back to SAP Communities.

Just for fun read "Adobe Flash Platform Diversity From SAP to Facebook" by By: Andrew Shorten

RSS and Oracle - User Driven Feeds, Great Idea!

2009-04-22T17:38:00.000-07:00

RSS ...

RSS provides the ability for you to syndicate your company's content and it enables subscribers to read content without actually visiting your website. Not a bad approach in today’s world of online marketing. Letting people consume content they way they prefer is always the best approach.

The B2B company to follow is Oracle. Their content organization and volume by user type is amazing.

Cisco Twitter Tirade - Juniper Rising

2009-04-15T12:52:00.000-07:00

...okay, this couldn't be helped. As you can see, quite a few customers are very unhappy with Cisco in Twitterverse. Do you think this this has an impact on their brand? Being an employee I am pretty thrilled to see Juniper on the rise, and an an opportunity to insert our sales team into buying discussions.

I wonder how many other business examples like this are available in Twitterverse?

A World Without The Social Web ...

2009-04-09T15:47:00.000-07:00

...or cell phones ... or land lines ... or television.

It's true! Santa Cruz is officially back to basics, just like it was when the Mission of Santa Cruz was founded, September 25, 1791 by Father Fermin Lasuen.

The facts according to KSBW.com :

-- An outage knocked out a Verizon land line, cell phone and 911 emergency services to thousands at about 2 a.m. last night.
-- Fiber optic lines were cut at Monterey Highway and N. Blossom Hill Road.
-- The event is being treated as a criminal investigation.
-- 50,000 Verizon phone and cell service customers are without service.
-- 36 Verizoncellsites went down, causing the biggest outage to date.
-- My BB was non-functional during my Santa Cruz to Sunnyvale commute.

Question? Did I miss being connected...hmmm, no, I enjoyed my eclectic mix of iTune downloads via my rockin' car stereo system.

Okay, not exactly like 1791.

Anyone else affected?

Web 2.0 SF - Releasing Content Control

2009-04-02T08:26:00.000-07:00

The most used quote of the day at Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco: "If you love something, set it free." Of course, "it" means content. Certainly the phrase is a bit hokey, but both Scott Monty, Social Media man of Ford, and Bob Buch, Digg executive, thought it relevent enough to share in their 50 minute sessions yesterday.

This isn't a revolutionary thought, but still seems to be a big stumbling block for many corporate communication and legal departments. Sage advice to consider about the company brand from Maggie of the Social Media Group: "You are what your customers say you are." ... And as we all now know, they will say it whether your company engages or not.

check out thefordstory.com ... Another noteworthy fact: Ford is the only big three automotive makers that DIDN'T take bailout money. That's pretty cool.

MTS Best Practice Session - Thumbs Up!

2009-03-25T14:56:00.000-07:00

Last night I attended an invitation-only gathering for business and Marketing executives to here about social media and marketing-sales alignment bests practices. I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical about whether the content would "really" be useful. I was extremely impressed. The event was hosted by MTS, Inc., and the business and marketing executives on the panels where truly first class.

Panel participants came from top tier B2B technology companies, as well as insightful marketing vendors and consumer-focused organization including: Oracle, Polycom, Spark Media Solutions, Mountain Travel, Nortel, Knight Vision Marketing, Sybase, Heidrick & Struggles, Tiny Prints, Logical Marketing, and moderated by Stanford Professor and business owner Sheryl Root.

MTS plans to make these meetings a quarterly tradition, and I hope to be invited to the the next one!

Below is a social media minute with one of the attendees.

Does New Facebook Design Bode Well for B2B?

2009-03-19T12:13:00.000-07:00

Facebook’s redesign has stimulated a bit more interest in users (not all good), but one good feature is the ability to track and B2B obviously lags in Facebook popularity according to Inside Facebook’s new network called PageData.

Just look at the results. If the “Leaderboards” for Thursday, March 19, 2009 are accurate, there are no B2Bs listed in the Top 30.

However, Microsoft is noted in the dubious position of being in the one Top 15 Losers of the day. Bummer. Okay, Microsoft is a B2C business too, but that just suggests the IBMs, Oracles, and Juniper’s of the world need to get moving!

But there is hope. B2B can at least now gauge the success of Facebook activity by awareness and not just counting the members in groups or networks.

Curious to hear your views.

Juniper.net New Site Delivered Today!

2009-02-24T06:11:00.000-08:00

Today is a really great day for Juniper Networks. New Brand, New Voice, New Platform to Engage with our Customers.

www.juniper.net - A global site delivered. I look forward to comments

Yeah!

In The Know With RSS

2009-02-16T15:42:00.000-08:00

J Social Module 4 RSS

View more presentations from SocialTIS. (tags: juniper networs)

I've been working with the Juniper online team over the past few months on a series of 10 modules focused on the benefits of using social media in the marketing mix.

Take a look at one of the modified decks and let me know what you think.

Trends in Digital Media Investment - Online Community

2009-02-03T09:51:00.000-08:00

In many ways, 2008 was a year of digital media investment evolution. Many companies are scaling back traditional media investments in favor of more community-oriented approaches. Companies like Intel and Oracle have seen significant increases in participation. According to Oracle, the their community "Oracle Mix" launched in 2007 has grown from null to over 30,000 members worldwide.

Although not the only digital investment for B2B companies to consider, there is definitely significant value to be gained as part of the marketing program mix.

Where have you seen other significant digital media investments?

Twitter - Is It Really A Sales Channel?

2009-01-30T13:52:00.000-08:00

Using Twitter for product promotions is definitely taking off. Check out AdPulp to learn more about how coffee sales are increasing for a local barista.

How about a Twitterfeed for Routers and Switches?

Global Internet Ad Spending on The Rise

2009-01-05T10:16:00.000-08:00

Global AD spend for the Internet is forecast to increase greater than 15% in 2009 at $58.7 billion, according to ZenithOptimedia. This is a significant increase amid drops in both Newspaper and Radio ADs of greater than 6% globally. This is pretty exciting news for the social media budgets.

And with online polling and advertising innovations from sites such as Linkedin, I'm not surprised in the projected increases at all.

So the internet is safe, alive and well thanks to the savvy online consumers and businesses.

My next post will explore "Podless Podcasts" which are effectively Podcasts sent directly to telephones. If anyone has any insights or experience I love to learn more.

Thx! Happy New Year!

More Social/Interactive Holidays

2008-12-11T11:22:00.000-08:00

Yes, everyone is in the holiday spirit. I just received a couple of great multimedia pieces from Babcock & Jenkins, HQ in Portland,Oregon.

http://www.bnjholiday.com -- B&J's holiday eCard
http://www.punchomatic.com -- And a holiday campaign for Getty Images/Punchstock

Hopefully I get a few more to share.

I wonder if they will go viral? Hmmm, how do you define viral: 1,000; 10,000; 100,000 views? Any thoughts on the definition of viral?

Happy Holidays!

Great Charlie Brown Spoof on Big 10 Ad Agencies

2008-12-10T11:50:00.000-08:00

Although nothing to do with Social Media, this is way too much fun to pass up.

To all my advertising agency advocates

Facebook for Events - Great idea or not?

2008-12-04T15:13:00.000-08:00

Facebook is an amazing tool for both personal and professional events.

Unfortunatley, the response for a schoolgirl’s 16th birthday party may be greater than anyone might expect. And yes, a lot of damage can result.

However, Facebook Events can be a great resource to inform professional business groups about interesting seminars in their community. Try it out and see the results.

Social Networking vs. Professional Networking

2008-12-02T13:00:00.000-08:00

Facebook vs. Linkedin vs. Myspace.

Which do you choose? Do you seperate your personal and professional online persona? I get a headache just thinking about my split personality.

Today's Top 10 Alexa Global Traffic Rankings suggests professional networks aren't as enticing as YouTube, Facebook and Myspace.
1. Yahoo!
2. Google
3. YouTube
4. Windows Live
5. Facebook
6. Microsoft Network (MSN)
7. Myspace
8. Wikipedia
9. Blogger.com
10. Yahoo!カテゴリ

I would offer that people are no longer defined by their employer or professional status, and that the boundries are becoming increasly more complex. Given the opportunity to run a program on Linked in OR Facebook, I would have to say both.

At the time of this post Linkedin.com has a traffic rank of: 196 from Alexa.

Where are you running your social media campaigns today and in 2009?

Car or Router. You be the judge.

2008-11-21T16:57:00.000-08:00

Who is Cisco really trying to reach with this Cisco ASR 9000 demo/advertisement?

Is it a lot of hype? Will the hype work with CTO-types in the Service provider market. Who would really identify with a router demo that feels like a car ad? I have to admit I think it's pretty cool, but I'm guessing I wouldn't exactly fit the right purchasing profile.

Network World suggests, "All hat, no cattle."

Gotta love big budgets.

More Social Media, Less Sales Events.

2008-11-17T17:57:00.000-08:00

According to Chris Koch, "you’re going to be doing more social media marketing, whether you like it or not. "

Although I totally agree that doing more social media is inevitable, I can hardly believe we won't have live sales events such as seminars and round tables. The in-person events will just be a bit more targeted and regional.

In fact, I wonder if a bit more of "what worked well in the past" kind of attitude may be more prevalent than social media. If the economy is getting tougher then a clear path tied to lead generation will make marketers a bit more anxious not to try new things out.

A prudent approach for marketing is the alignment between the traditional marketing machine and the online/social media marketing machine. Yes, full integration between all the go-to-market activities. Too obvious? Probably.

See the whole article: Seven Reasons to Get Over Your Fear of Social Media Marketing

B2B Brand Building: Online Communities - Pt.2

2008-11-12T15:11:00.000-08:00

Yes, the internet is changing the way B2B marketing connects with their partners, sell to their customers and engage with the experts, and as part of B2B brand building, it is an important new element in the marketing mix.

But what is a B2B enterprise online community meant to do?

There are three different types of enterprise communities and there are often significant differences in their goals and behaviors. The three community types are:

Support communities
Engagement communities
Employee communities

Support Communities
A support community focuses on technical support issues and provides a place for customers to ask and answer questions. The forums are often supported by technical experts from the company who answer some of the most difficult questions, moderate conversations, and manage the overall health of the converstation

Companies engage in communties to reduce technical support call volume and thus reduce total cost of support.

Partner Communities are very similar but are intended to support a select, entitled user base, which is generally part of a partner or reseller program.

Tip #2 – Join in! – Don’t forget to comment, encourage and give genuine feedback. It helps everyone. Great B2B industry examples include:

Intel Leap Ahead
Juniper J-Net Communities
Oracle Forum
Symantec Technology Network

An interesting Article by Gartner: Yes, “What is the Business Value

Are there others B2B examples or links to share?

My next post will discuss online engagement communities.

B2B Brand Building in a Digital World - Pt.1

2008-11-07T10:57:00.000-08:00

Not so long ago, marketing professionals got the message out through a variety of mediums including direct mail, events, print ads, press releases, radio, television, telemarketing, bill boards, and a bit of online afterthought.

Each approach still has its place in the B2B marketing mix, but an online, techno-driven strategy and vision is now absolutely vital to global brand-building.

These new online outlets have the ability to change public opinion rapidly. So how can a B2B company define, and engage, in the world of social media?

Although the social media universe is constantly evolving, post by post by post by post by post by post (okay, you get it!), the B2B categories I’ve used to guide my online and social media approach include:

Online forums & blogs
Content and reputation aggregators
Social media networks
Search – natural and paid
Rich media

With a well-designed and functional B2B website (I know, I’m making assumptions here), understanding these five areas and implementing a “focused few” to begin with will make an immediate impact on your business.

Tip #1 -- Link Often! – It’s good to connect and hear from others around the world …
Partners – IBM – A Smarter World is Resourceful … Love it!
Industry Experts – Webguild – Top 10 Social Media Lessons
Customers – SingTel – MioTV – Extremely cool!
Colleagues – J-Net Tawnee AKA Social Media Socialist
Company – Juniper Networks, J-Net Community
Gallery – Shock, Adobe showcases extraordinary work