Weekly Fail Whale: Something that Social Media should NOT be used for…..A Pink Slip.

The weekly fail whale is something new to Geary Fresh.  We will be posting a poor use of social media/marketing/general existence/did they really once a week.  A company or person will receive the honor of being the “Fail Whale” of the week.  We will also give some suggestions to ways that the winner could have handled the situation in a better manner
Our first “Fail Whale” honoree: Tesla Motors.

What they Did wrong:

Electric automaker Tesla recently announced the layoff of 90% of its Detroit office through….a BLOG post.  The blog post states “there will be some headcount reduction due to consolidation of operations” and also informs that the Detroit office will be closing.  The brand new HQ in San Jose will remain open and the 10% that did not loose their jobs will be allowed to relocate and work there.  Which makes sense because the cost of living in San Jose is extremely comparable to Detroit?

What they should have known:

Social media is about communication, connection and relationship building.  Using it as the first communication of a sad occurrence like this does not fit the bill of proper uses.  Maybe Tesla will take the stance that the economy and their “green” nature forced them to communicate this news through a public online portal versus an actual pink slip.

What they could have done better:

We would suggest that a company never use a public forum as a way to announce a lay off/closure before they address the employees.  If a personal session by the company (be it in person or in a webcast) cannot happen an email is still a widely accepted form of business communication that is private.  Addressing the employees in this manner will help to support internal morale (as much as possible in a lay off) and also work to minimize Online Reputation Management issues.

Are you Promoting or Diluting your Company Brand and Culture in the online space?

Do you have a Facebook profile? A MySpace page? A Twitter Account? A blog? A YouTube Channel? A personal Wiki?  Chances are that almost every person can answer yes to at least one of, if not all, of the previous questions.

The internet has become a haven for personal publishing and information sharing.  People freely offer opinions, ideas, photos, videos, likes, dislikes, and everything in-between.  However, how cautious are people about the lasting effect their information may have on the company they work for?

This question is something I ponder and am reminded of daily with the things I find online.  Using Twitter as an example, I follow roughly 125 people that are affiliated with SEO or Social Media Marketing.  Numerous people use this site to push out content they have written or are reading that help to show them as industry thought leaders.  When these type of people are free with their company affiliation this can positively effect how the industry views the person and their company.  Yet, some people are not as strategic with the information they share.  When people that associate themselves with their company tweet information about “giving the finger to a client” or “our blog is run by suits” or “my boss doesn’t know bleep” I have to question if these people really care about the work they are doing, who they are doing it for, or what external people think of them?  My opinion has been changed about numerous companies this way, be it fair or not.

To some extent, freedom of speech has to be protected and people should be able to post whatever type of content they please.  Yet, at some point common sense should kick in and say maybe I shouldn’t tell the world that “i hate ABC co-worker” in an open forum setting.

Does it seem fair to judge a company based upon the actions of the people who work there?  Can this really be patrolled?  Should it be?  What are your thoughts?

Microsoft, Google, Abundance, Scarcity.

Of course, there’s been a lot of discussion of Microsoft’s ‘cash rebate’ plan for search ( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24760487/) over here at GearyI. A few comments in Kim’s innovation session down here in San Diego today made me ponder it’s wider implications. We were briefly discussing marketing cultures of scarcity vs. abundance. (i.e., the scarcity model says “there are (x) many customers, and we MUST COMPLETE LIKE CRAZY for them.” Abundance model says “customers come to great ideas – and the entire customer pie grows beyond expectation when we create a good ecosystem to attract them. We do not focus as much on competition as we do on creating great ideas that attract customers.”)

Now if that doesn’t sound like Microsoft and Google going at it, I’m not sure what does.

One interesting post in the blogsphere commenting on all this: machinist blog on salon.com:

http://www.salon.com/tech/machinist/blog/2008/05/23/microsoft_books_search/index.html

It’s an excellent example of the scarcity model (Microsoft) vs the abundance model (Google) at work. As Farhad points out – some monetary effects are less obvious than others. To paraphrase: “If you were a programmer, do you want to work for the visionary company . . . or the one who’s stated focus is their revenue goals?”

If markets are ecosystems, so are companies. And having goals that keep employees inspired – and attract ones with inspiration – is a competitive advantage. Believing that advantage translates to revenue? Well, that’s the whole abundance model, isn’t it? It goes a little outside the spreadsheet.

Sarah

Out of the box, heck, out of the box the box comes in

Anybody a Batman fan?

At the intersection of community and cult lies the treasure hunt marketing tactic.

Warner Bros. been running a highly complex – and awfully cool – experiential web campaign based largely around ‘treasure hunt’ ideas: directing users on through a series of strange-looking and totally experiential (i.e., YOU figure it out, we’re not giving you any stinkin’ nav) sites:

For the best examples, check out: whysoserious.com (and http://www.whysoserious.com/itsallpartoftheplan/) and clowntravelagency.com

To quote AdAge:

in December . . . Instructions (on whysoserious.com) directed users to 35 bakeries in 25 cities across the nation. After asking for an order left for “Robin Banks” (the Joker’s favorite activity), they received a cake with a Nokia cellphone in it, which was used to send them more clues, prizes and, of course, garner scads of local media attention. Clowntravelagency.com directed people to bowling-alley lockers throughout the U.S. and in cities around the world. Those who got there first discovered limited-edition Joker bowlingball bags containing a ball with a telephone number scratched into it and, again, a Nokia phone with a note saying to call the number immediately.

Also see:

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=22292 , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7c_RiV7OQY&feature=related

In terms of ‘crazy & high-involvement digital marketing’, ‘LOST’ has been leading the pack. But I’m wondering if this complex series of ‘trails’ for the new Batman movie may take the virtual crown?

There are benefits to getting a little crazy. Most brands who go here will already enjoy a high awareness - they’re just looking for a memorable campaign. (Dove, anyone?) But while cult drives community, community creates cult. Approaching community as a principal driver rather than a follow-along budget item way down on the priority list offers a unique opportunity to the brand that does it well- and online, new cults emerge every day around the brand experiences that really deliver. Creating excitement, urgency, curiosity, competition, emotional appeal, a chance to engage in play - those are the treasure hunt factors every brand needs to think about.

Because I am a fan, more Batman sites:

http://www.ibelieveinharveydent.com/

And even better . . . http://ibelieveinharveydenttoo.com/ (you have to play with this one)

The official site: http://thedarkknight.warnerbros.com/ (beware the load . . . oh flash, you are such a mixed blessing sometimes)

Sarah

The iPhone Price Cut: Is it Fair?

Wednesday, at the recent Apple’s “The Beat Goes On” event in San Francisco, Apple announced several things that were news worthy. The most controversial has to be the price drop of the 8GB Apple iPhone by $200 to $399 and the 4GB drop of $200 to $299. Now several of the “Early Adopters” to this technology are at a loss.

The price drop is also said to be a driving force to increase sales over the next 3 weeks to hit the previously stated goal of over 1 million phones by the end of September. Price cuts will also increase sales over the holiday season at which time several other devises will inevitably hit the market and increase competition for Apple.

With many people in an uproar regarding the drastic price adjustment, Apple CEO Steve Jobs apologized on the Apple website and is offering a $100 credit to those who spent $599. So that’s great, right? There’s a catch…the credit is good only for those who aren’t eligible for a rebate.

So, what do you think? Does being an early adopter come with a price?

SearchWikia to Challenge Google

Over the weekend, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales provided further insight into his company’s community-developed, open source search engine. Wikia purchased a web crawler platform called Grub and released it under an open source license.

According to Wales, the combination of wiki and open-source web crawler will provide an even better search experience than current search engines. His aim is no less than to unseat both Google and Yahoo.

The real challenge is that a user-driven search engine will be a constant target for spammers and search engine optimization hackers looking to improve their results. Both Google and Yahoo are constantly tweaking their search engines to keep search spammers from being able to achieve rankings that are not relevant to searchers. It is not clear how SearchWikia will deal with this issue.

Mr Wales has commented that, in contrast to Google and Yahoo, open and transparent searches are the “model of the future”. That seems like a bold statement, but only time will tell if Mr. Wales can deliver again.

A public version of this search engine is slated to launch by the end of the year.

What is Ambient Findability?

A new book has become must read in the world of search

Many of us already deal with information overload, and the trend clearly is pointing to even more of the same. So, how do we filter constant streams of complex data to be able to pull out that which is relevant to each of us? Peter Morville’s new book Ambient Findability begins to address this issue. It examines the convergence of information and connectivity and how things are “findable” to us now (think Google) and how will we find them in the future.

We often assume that search engines in their current form are final manifestation of online search. Morville shows us that it is just the beginning. Ambient Findability doesn’t pretend to know all the answers, but presents and supports some novel ideas. The book also puts SEM into a broader context and provides deeper insights into human behavior.

So, if you are interested in how Search will impact us in the not-to-distant future, I would recommend that you take a look at Morville’s book and see how the evolution of findability will impact your world.

Behavioral Targeting Boom

AOL has announced its plan to acquire Tacoda, one of the leading behavioral targeting firms that allows marketers to serve ads to online users based on their search behavior. This acquisition may not be as large in scale as Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick for over $3 billion, but it does reflect an emerging trend in the online advertising industry.

According to eMarketer, the behavioral targeting market is expected to increase to $3.8 billion by 2011, indicating the rapid growth of this necessary technology. More and more publishers are utilizing this form of targeting to reach their audiences in a direct and personal approach. As more and more publishers adopt this technology, marketers will request that they practice greater transparency with reporting to allow them to better gauge their users’ search behaviors in order to better serve targeted ads.

Other companies now under the Time-Warner/AOL umbrella include advertising.com, Tacoda, AOL and 3rd Screen Media, showing that AOL is trying to become a one-stop shop for interactive advertising.

A Facebook Revolution

Venture capitalists are jumping on the social network bandwagon, causing a recent spike in Facebook’s membership count. Facebook was originally started as a way for students to connect, but according to Reuters is now used by 29 million users of all ages and backgrounds.

Companies are continually adding Facebook features and software, including Rodney Rumford, a blogger and corporate business consultant, who launched FaceReviews, a software evaluation site. Freelance developer Craig Ulliott’s travel map application, “Where I’ve Been,” was adding several users every second, overwhelming his ability to pay for computers to support the increase in traffic.

With this influx of everyone from high school students to Fortune 500 businessmen joining, reviewing and contributing to Facebook, we will see how other social networks will compare.

The Simpsons Meet Reality

“The Simpsons” is already a popular television show amongst people of all ages, but with the looming Simpsons movie opening in theaters July 27, promotional efforts have caused quite a stir. Starting July 2 and continuing through the end of the month, a dozen 7-Eleven stores have been re-decorated to mirror the cartoon show’s convenience store, the Kwik-E-Mart.

In addition to re-designing the stores’ appearance, Simpsons characters, store products and even a comic book from the show will be added and available for purchase in all the locations where the promotions are taking place. The question marketers are asking, though, is whether this is a risky move or a way to have fun with a big opportunity.