Social Media Report: Scorpion Sting Facebook, Google+, Twitter

Social media platforms are constantly put in head to head comparisons. So when Mat Siltala from Dream Systems Media did a post about his scorpion sting on all 3 social media platforms simultaneously, the intuitive nature of Mat kicked in. Between Facebook, Google+, and twitter, which platform would be most responsive to a post about scorpion stings? What would be your guess? The results may surprise you a bit.

Google+ Count

Have Matt in circles (2158) – That is a fairly good audience. Google+ is fresh. It’s the new upbeat social hang out. One could speculate that it has more real users… or not. But Google didn’t take the cake for Mat’s scorpion sting post.

Twitter Count

3,618 Followers – That is a healthy twitter following. Mat Siltala has been a very busy busy body on twitter. His follower to follow ratio is fantastic. He puts out a steady stream of useful content. And he laughs out loud some funny infographics. But can twitter compete with the socialness of facebook?

Facebook Social Weight

Friends (602) – Clearly Mat is more selective with his Facebook audience. With a count of 602 the facebook audience is a fraction of Mat’s Google+ and Twitter following. But honestly, Facebook seems to be more intimate. Mat’s lower friend count is because Mat is selective about who views his Facebook stream. And in Mat’s case, he shares things that are bit more private. So I naturally believed that Facebook would be the best setting for a conversation about scorpion stings. Regular life happens on facebook.

And the Scorpion Sting Survey Says…

Twitter wins!

So wait… twitter isn’t just about news and high-tech stuff? You can actually have a conversation on twitter about life? Do you want to know what I had for breakfast?

Okay… I will keep the meal tweets to a minimum. But I was shocked that twitter got the bulk of the interaction. Granted, this wasn’t a planned out scientific test so there are a number of variables that alter this example. But even still, a pest control guy can pick up a conversation on twitter about bugs. And if you know how to converse then you can effectively communicate with twitter. If you can communicate then you can market.

What are your thoughts on operation Scorpion Sting?

Related Articles

• What does a scorpion sting feel like? (bulwark pest control .com)
• FDA approves Scorpion Anti Venom for scorpion stings (blogpestcontrol.com)
• Video: Personal story of Anascorp saving young boy’s life.  (youtube.com)

Taco Bell’s Lawsuit Promoted Tweet

Taco Bell is the first ever to use a promoted tweet to make an official statement about their lawsuit.

Taco Bell promoted tweet about lawsuit

I arrived to work exceptionally early today.  I got my tabs and windows up and running and noticed something that looked completely normal.  Taco Bell was promoting a tweet.  Sweet!  I was hoping for a free taco.  Or, better yet, a free Nachos Bell Grande!

Turned out that this promoted tweet was much different than any other I had ever seen.  Taco Bell was using their promoted tweet to release an official company legal statement regarding a class action lawsuit from a California woman regarding the quality of their beef.  No free tacos.  No half off discounts.  Rather, a one page statement of legal jargon and adamant statements by Taco Bell’s President and Chief Concept Officer.

Should Taco Bell Promote a Tweet about their Lawsuit?

I’m not here to argue the validity or falsehoods of this lawsuit.  In all honestly, its not even going to detour me from eating there.  I love their food.  In fact, this has prompted my co-workers and I to go there later today for lunch.  And we’ll all probably check in on Foursquare from there.

To me, the debate at hand, from a marketing and public relations standpoint, is whether or not using a tool like a promoted tweet is the appropriate or effective way to issue such a statement.  This was the first I had even heard that Taco Bell was being sued over such a claim.  Would I have even found out about it had they, themselves, not pushed the issue in front of me?  When I notified my boss of the tweet and apparent lawsuit, he knew nothing either.  However, my other two co-workers did have knowledge of the lawsuit.  They had heard about it on the radio before today.

At first I thought it was an ill-advised move.  Why go around broadcasting your controversies?  And why would you pay a platform like Twitter to do so?

Then my public relations degree kicked in (Yeah! BYU, class of ’06).  The more I thought about it I have only one word:  Brilliant!  Yeah, Taco Bell is going to inform more people about the lawsuit than probably would’ve found out about it in the end, but it’s better that you be the one informing them than a bunch of angry customers, and bloggers, and Twitter users, and news achors, and Facebook updates and aspiring writers.

Just consider the speed at which Twitter and Facebook function?  It takes literally minutes for someone or something to be a national trend for all the wrong reasons.  With today’s social media boom, wrong reports and ill-speaking travels like wildfire in windy conditions.  If the history of public relations and publicity has taught us anything, it’s better to get out in front of an issue before you have to chase it down.

Still a bold move? Yes.  I had never seen anything like it.  Was it a wise, bold move?  Only time will really tell.  But for now, I say definitely.

Social Media Arizona – SMAZ Panel – Social Media Strategy

#SMAZ Panel w/

Elise Redlin Cook, Fiona Downhill, Cindy Kim, Sarah Marie

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Mike Corak as Moderator,

& Thomas Ballantyne ( Thos003 ) as Narrator.

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So what is Social Media strategy?

Fionn : Since I have been doing this for a long time, everything is SEO. Sorry, but being found in the search engine is what really matters. Social media is just an arm of SEO.

( Thos003 thoughts… Probably not what people want to hear, that marketers are just gaming social media…. Microphone distractions… Don‘t know who is talking…)

….. People don’t look at it like a social media strategy they look at it as your brand. What do you want to say? What is your audience/customer looking for from you?

Cindy : You need an editorial calendar that matches your goals, time of year, product promos, new releases….

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Uh.. Someone on the Panel… Ebooks are the new whitepapers.

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Redlin: Is content appropriate for ____(Blank)________ Channel. Fill in the blank. Twitter, Facebook, Youtube…

(In Thos003 head …Need Name Tags on Table to be able to follow.. Okay FOCUS…)

Sara – Content needs more attention not just on how, but who. Who is managing it? Bring together all the individuals that are publishing content. Consistent message. Work with the various departments of the organization.

Elise – When I begin, I start with what mediums are appropriate. Ask, “How does content differ and frequency based on network?” Pay attention to the tone of the social media as well.

Fionn- I want my content on Google. Whether on twitter, or blogs, I want it found on Google. I want to rank for Keywords. One of the enemies is corporation silos. Client story… Marketing fought with IT and with operations.

Cindy – Research is key. Where are people going to search for content. You don’t deliver information, readers find it. Where are people researching, reading. If you had an ideal list, a golden list, where are they going to go, where are they looking, where are they asking. Where is your prospect base communicating.

Elise- Lot of tools out there to conduct research. Social content ground swell. If you have demographic information then you can find out where they go. Flowtown current customer list. Connect with existing customers in their online communities.

Sara- Silos happen in research as well. How will research in social help you in other ways? Segment your audiences. Social listening is also a good way to find your audience.

( Thos003, note to self… Create an overall customer persona for each of your target markets. Create a message that speaks to them.)

Cindy – After listening and understanding audience ask yourself if they fit your golden customer profile.

Elise – Specific keywords that the consumer uses, and adapting to the way they speak. Jargon that is industry related works for an industry audience, but it may not work for your customer audience.

Fionn – Social as a marketing campaign, there is audience. You don’t need focus groups. You don’t need secret shoppers. The information is there online. Getting long tail search is a great way to get audience. Find all the “how to… ”s and put together a spreadsheet then blog it.

Mike- TV is related to reviews and shows while television is not really in their vernacular.

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Content Audit?

[Content Audit is looking at all the existing content and digital assets, on the web and off, that a client already has.]

Sara – Get a sense of your landscape ahead of time so that it can help you down the road.

Elise – Use already made content and re-purpose it. Make a slide show. Make a podcast. Lot of great ways to re-purpose it.

Mike – Do you feel like a librarian at times?

Sara – Yes.. Some of my co-workers didn’t think they would see me again during my last content audit.

( Thos003 head… Nope haven’t seen her since she stepped off into that black and green character flowing abyss… the content audit matrix is real!)

Cindy – When your communication team gets a hold of it, when you start building on the good content you find, you can get some good marketing, just by sharing. Take what’s good from you audit and breath new life into it!

Fionn- We help clients to control the top 10 for their name. Did you ever do any TV ads? Real cool ads. TV ads all on one micro site and they get awesome traffic on it. There is no content, text, on that site at all. We built some good links for it and they get a ton of traffic from it.

Cindy – Webinar with CEOs. We got five pieces of coverage from it.

Sara – When you do an audit you can see relationships between content, marry them and get new content. Show the relations and link back to the old content.

Mike: Kinda like content curation.
[ Content Curation =Archiving and preserving digital assets. ]

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Content Plan?

Fionn – Dominate search by following all the search engine rules.

Cindy – Some companies are getting to a stage where their main site is their blog and their traditional site becomes a … “if you want to learn more click here”

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Editorial Calender–

Elise – I kinda play a Community manager role. The editorial calendar is shared through out the entire staff. If they have something related that they are excited about then they can add to that when the time is right. But I get the final say and they have to contact me for approval.

( Serious note Thos003 to self… Make sure your editorial calendar is internal. Don’t let your competitors scoop you on it… if you have that great of information… probably not applicable to pest control.)

Sara – If you are an agency you must have people on the day to day operations. You are not entrenched in the company. Accept that you are an outsider. You will need an insiders voice. Social media is more difficult. You need more updates.

Cindy – Social media with out content is just chatter. Social media all content is just broadcasting. Editorial calendar, every company should be planning. Does your content resonate? Are you on track with the company? What is your goal? Awareness, thought leadership, brand sales,… At a buyer level it’s all educational.

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How do you measure success?

Elise – Return on objective. What was your objective? Awareness, sharing a voice, finding out info from audience, or pure link building? Return on objective.

Fionn – Nothing matters if its not driving sells. How many RTs, Followers, …. Customer satisfaction, customer retention, up sales, resells, …it all comes back to the bottom line. In social medial, ROI isn’t there for my clients. My social media is for personal brand.

Sara – Web analytics can show you how social is driving traffic, but it’s hard to tell what actually converts customers.

( Flash back from earlier session with Matt – “Let’s draw a line in the sand so from here on out this is your ROI.”)

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Who do you need to have as best friends within your organization?

Cindy – Everybody has to be your best friends. Janitor, CEO. Who is going to be my content providers?

Sara – Get people talking together and pull/pool the information together.

Question from audience: Reputation management, which social media platforms do you recommend for reputation management?

Fionn – Take over top ten with mircosites. Facebook, Youtube, linkedin. You need 20 digital assets to take over the top 10.

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Question from Audience…

I’ve got the Social Media content rolling… I’ve got the branding principles down, messaging down, I know exactly what to post. But then audience doesn’t respond. When do you step back and say we need a new strategy. Or when do you give the audience the opportunity to decided?

Sara – If you have not been listening to the audience along the way then you are not ready to publish.

Cindy – Client side, look at the content and set expectations. Agencies come in handy by saying this is dated or too product focused.

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Audience… How long do you give them to set up content strategy… listen, and plan?

Mike – At least 30 days of listening.

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Thank you for a great panel! … roll credits…

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FIONN DOWNHILL – PRESIDENT- ELIXIR INTERACTIVE Internet Marketing professional, consultant, speaker and CEO of Elixir Interactive

Cindy Kim

@CindyKimPR– Marketing director for JDA Software. SM Marketing Blogger. Heart security, software and technology. Co-founder of Women of Web 3.0 Group. http://cindykimblog.wordpress.com

@sara_ann_marie

@RedlinCook with Vertical Measures.

Super Mom, Wife,& Animal lover by night and Content Strategist, SEM, ORM, SMO wannabe Photog by day who believes there is a reason to celebrate EVERY day!

And since he got so little attention above…

@MikeCorak

Tempe, AZ
Husband, father, digital professional who loves music, strategy, St. Patrick’s Day, and fun with friends. http://www.digitalmarketingstrategy.com

….Just helping a brother out. =)

Related Article:

5 Things I learned at #SMAZ- Social Media AZ

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