A blog — ‘all the way up here’ — written by Marina promotes the introduction of the Missoni brand at Target. The doll writes about her porcelain skin and hollowed body. However, it seems as though the savvy social media minds at Target are behind this fashionable “it” girl who promoted the September 13^th launch of Missoni at Target.

The Tumblr account, which popped up in the blogosphere on April 5^th, is primarily devoted to sharing information about the Target- Missoni collaboration. However, Marina also blogs about her home country of Italy, her excitement in moving to the big city of New York and her favorite fashion trends (particularly stripes, the pattern which adorns a majority of the Missoni lines) –all seen from the eyes of a doll. These random “personal” blog posts, sprinkled throughout those promoting the new collection, are no accident. Rather, these fashionista- inspired, whimsical posts are a way for Target to promote and grow its desired image for the line.

On August 10^th, Marina received a gift from her new BFF Margarihta— better known as Margarihta Missoni, the brand champion and heir to the Missoni throne. The Tumblr account unveiled a number of pieces she had received in this “sneak peak” at the Missoni line. These looks were immediately shared by readers in the subsequent hours through Twitter accounts, Tumblr accounts and blogs.

Further, Margarihta Missoni, the face of the brand, has continued to keep the story alive by tweeting back and forth with her new best doll’s Twitter account (@marinawithstyle) and sharing Tumblr links.

During New York Fashion Week, Marina’s followers finally got a peek at the blogger, as the 25-foot doll, decked out in Missoni for Target merchandise with a giant smart phone in hand, made its way from venue to venue. As Fashion Week go-ers snapped pictures to upload to Twitter, Marina communicated back and re-tweeted images, further increasing followers’ excitement and engagement with the brand.

It only takes a little digging to learn Marina’s tweets don’t come from a “real doll,” but from Target’s marketing department, as a number of links utilize Target’s custom URL shortener, Tgt.bz. Some have commented on the shadiness in tricking consumers to believe Marina is a passionate fashion blogger. But we think that is taking things rather too seriously. As a consumer who anxiously awaited the launch, I can admit that even I have exchanged tweets with Marina about my excitement, knowing the marketing tactic is all in good- fun. Many readers either think giant, porcelain dolls can talk or, more than likely, of course, seem willing to suspend disbelief.

Either way, it’s working. With bloggers utilizing the “re-blog” feature of Tumblr and the real-time aspect of Twitter, Missoni for Target has spread like wild fire through the fashion, lifestyle and culture blogs on the internet. Target’s creation of a fictional fashionista to promote the brand through Tumblr has, thus far, proved strong. The highly anticipated collection created quite a buzz for the mass retailer/luxury brand collaboration – enough to crash its website with a clamoring mob of online shoppers.

Post-a-video-and-vote promotions can generate huge traffic and engagement. But they can fizzle when the passion for the promotion is just not there. For example, a recent post-a-video promotion by Dunkin Donuts, all about the coffee with no co-op tie-in, triggered a dismal video entry rate of just 2 out of every 100,000 DD likers. FYE on the other hand generated 2 video entries for every 1,000 likers – that’s 100x better than DD. And those videos pulled in more than 7,000 total visits to vote.

What does it all mean in terms of ROI?
Conservatively, the “Make Me The FYE VIP” contest generated 500,000 media impressions at a cost of .06¢ per impression. And that’s before adding in the long-term media value of the nearly 8,000 new likers FYE attributes to the promotion.

Three factors driving success – design, design and conversation management
The outstanding performance of the “Make Me The FYE VIP” is the result of three related factors: strong promotion design, solid application design (the agency created a simple entry from that included an easy to mimic “for example” video) and a proactive influencer outreach program.

Media Logic’s FYE Conversation Manager really pulled out the stops on this one. She made great influencer contacts and drove a huge number of RTs and status updates across the Facebook ecosystem, including two promotion-focused updates on the popular Lollapalooza Facebook fan page.

Congratulations Wade Shields, and enjoy your days at beautiful Grant Park in Chicago, courtesy of FYE.

Under a deadline of less than 48 hours, we concepted, developed and executed a regionally focused promotion for the WWE in support of their flagship event: Wrestlemania XVII.

To help amp up the excitement and get people engaged, we put together a ticket giveaway that capitalized on wrestling fans’ own passion for the event as a way to spread the message. We also took advantage of some cleverly targeted Facebook ads to help get the word out – limiting exposure to only the most influential members of the community.

The question was whether the tight timeframe would impact the ability to create a groundswell. Within 24 hours we had our answer. Response was great. People were excited. The client was impressed. And one very happy contest winner was on his way to the biggest night in professional wrestling.

But for social media efforts to attract attention and gain momentum, companies must stick with what they know about the original meaning of the lingo. Both retailers and B2B companies must avoid tossing around jargon and ensure their intentions are genuine reflections of the words that hold their places.

Take a look at how personal knowledge of these words informs social marketing campaigns and social promotions:

• Relationship
  What do you know about building relationships IRL? It takes time. You have to establish trust. You must earn credibility.

• Conversation
  It’s easy to attach this label to text inside a series of fields on a screen, but just as in face-to-face meetings, good conversation isn’t a bland exchange of information. Your social media conversation should be interesting and collaborative. If it is, more people will want to join in, and people will look forward to talking with you again at the very next opportunity.

• Engagement
  IRL people engage when their emotions and interests are invited to the interaction. Make people feel good about spending time with you. That’s where the connection is. That’s what makes people want to repeat the experience they had with you and share it with their friends.

It took a bit of work to separate wheat from chaff for the January-to-March update to the Media Logic Retail Marketing Report. Most tracked brands experienced a slowdown in fan acquisition after the holidays.

But 15 retailers defied the general trend and posted continued fan base growth into the first months of 2011. What did they do? And what can we learn?

Gain access to the full article to discover what retail sectors and social marketing strategies are yielding the greatest growth on Facebook. Plus, view the complete Liker growth chart for the 100 surveyed retail brands.

Get the Full Article »

When an individual representing Chrysler tweeted a derogatory remark about Detroit, a city Chrysler is invested in promoting, there was someone to fire, and there was an agency to let go.

Still, at the end of the day, the public holds the brand itself responsible for its social media streams. Chrysler will take the brunt of the impact.

As a result of the controversy, social media marketing takes a bit of a beating, as well.

Many CEO’s remain unconvinced about the power of social media. When their fears are played out by another brand, they feel justified in remaining on the sidelines. They may permit a defensive posture in their efforts – fielding customer complaints, responding to product criticisms – but they also may believe they have good reason not to engage fully.

Unfortunately, if brands fail to claim their spaces now in social media networks, they will regret it. Their competitors will become skilled with owned media while they remain inept. Instead of allowing fear to limit opportunities in social media, we believe the right processes and tools can help companies not only survive current trends but flourish in them.

At Media Logic, we use Zeitgeist & Coffee, a real-time marketing collaboration and management platform to develop ideas, assign, approve and publish content and engage in sincere two-way conversations with audiences in social media networks. It positions companies to deliver marketing for a social world.

Much of the talk surrounding the Chrysler gaffe focuses on policy. While guidelines are very important, they mean little without the processes and tools to support them. Zeitgeist & Coffee folds our input as an agency into the workflow of the company, while integrating the company’s own marketing protocol.

Yesterday’s AdvertisingAge article, “What Lurks Behind Chrysler’s F-bomb? Social-Media Turf War,” describes battles behind the scenes at many companies: Which department is responsible for social media? A collaborative process gives everyone ownership.

No longer.

Technological changes, specifically in mobile devices and social media, have driven a rapid evolution of our marketing culture. Today, in addition to up-to-the-second information, consumers expect sincere two-way communication between themselves and the businesses and organizations with which they would like to have relationships. Owned media – websites, social sites, stores, etc. – must now take the strategic point, ahead of traditional advertising and public relations, in branding and promotions.

It’s all very exciting. But the time and resource demands of real-time engagement through owned media is stressing – and often breaking – established marketing budgets, protocols … and relationships.

To meet the challenges and take advantage of the incredible communication opportunities now available, Media Logic created Zeitgeist & Coffee, a real-time marketing collaboration and management platform.

Zeitgeist & Coffee is a complete social ecosystem – idea exchange, content development environment, assignment and approval dashboard, posting hub, and monitoring and an analysis tool – designed to deliver marketing for a social world.

But Zeitgeist & Coffee is much more than a technology.

Zeitgeist & Coffee manages the new marketing protocol, the new way clients, agencies and customers must work together. It is the tool our Conversation Managers use to connect and collaborate with our clients in real-time and is the tool that allows Media Logic to deliver our innovative social marketing services: Influencer Marketing, Managed Community Marketing and Social Promotions and Social Stream Marketing.

Zeitgeist & Coffee comes bundled with every Media Logic relationship and undergoes routine enhancements to meet the evolving demands of marketing for a social world.

For more information and to request a custom demo, contact us.

On NBC Nightly News on January 13^th, I learned of a national promotional effort surrounding the launch of JFK50.org – an innovative community website launching on January 20^th, as a forum for scientists, politicians and activists and everyday citizens around the globe to connect and engage in carrying on the vision of JFK’s administration. Immediately after Brian Williams announced the details, I was online looking into it – I thought that using the newly-digitized JFK library materials available at jfklibrary.org as a hook was brilliant. Ever the forager for JFK footage and inspirational sound clips, I was pulled right in. I found that a mere six hours after posting the story on Facebook there were 6994 Likers for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Facebook Page – and I became number 6995.

I also registered my email for updates and announcements surrounding the 50^th Anniversary celebration and the official launch of the JFK50 community.  As an enthusiast and marketer, this early opt-in tactic struck me as a great way to build excitement and engagement around a cause, and it illustrated the need for tapping into what your brand’s audience will care about.

I am very excited about today’s launch of JFK50.org, and am eager to join the community (despite the fact that I am typically reluctant to join such online forums). For me, this campaign is a good example of how a well-executed cause-related marketing effort can garner involvement from new, and sometimes unlikely, sources. I hope there is a new groundswell of “get involved” initiatives that stem from this effort… You can talk about legacy, you can talk about basic human rights, you can stand for something and you can share how you feel about all of this while connecting with like-minded people all around the globe in real-time.

More to come.

While we cheer this growing acknowledgement of social media as a marketing tool, we wonder about the effectiveness of most hospitals’ efforts as they “dip their toes into the water.” Are they building engagement? Are they forming communities? Are they advancing their brand and differentiating?

Social media without a social media marketing strategy may help us develop Facebook “likers” or Twitter followers, but we’ll never get the kind of engagement that will build an engaged audience and meet our objectives.

So what do we do? Let’s look at what Media Logic is doing for one of its medical clients, a large multi-site radiology practice in New Jersey, Altantic Medical Imaging or AMI. Radiology is a highly competitive field with private specialty practices jousting for patients with large medical institutions and multi-specialty physician groups.

To position AMI as a technological forerunner and thought leader, Media Logic focused their social media efforts on building awareness of one of the hottest issues in radiology — potentially excessive exposure to radiation. Dr. David Dow, an AMI radiologist and an ardent spokesperson for low dose radiologic techniques, became a spokesperson for the practice through topical blog posts, supported by Twitter and Facebook submissions.  Through a carefully planned content marketing strategy, link-building and traffic generation, AMI now appears at the top of the list for local Google searches and has developed a growing community of loyal and engaged followers.

So what does this mean for larger, more diverse institutions? Most importantly, this is your opportunity to shine – but you’ll likely never find the spotlight with an all encompassing hospital effort. It will be too broad and, frankly, too “institutional.” Focus on one of your “centers of excellence” as a beginning. Then, while it may be politically difficult, you’re going to need to have a “voice” or “voices” — real, live people to spearhead the conversation and create engagement. Finally, you’re going to need to develop an ongoing source of fresh and relevant content. For AMI, Media Logic’s Zeitgeist & Coffee^SM process has helped scour the landscape for up-to-the minute topics, trends and commentary. On the backend, precise tracking and analysis will help you determine which topics and discussion items are doing the “heavy lifting.”

It’s taken medical marketers 10 years to realize the promise of the Web. The smart ones won’t wait so long this time around.

Even though the effort has just recently launched, we have used “best practice” social marketing techniques we have learned through our work with highly regulated industries such as banking and insurance to build-in security while optimizing engagement. Here are three key elements we believe are important in using social media as a marketing tool for medical practices.

Dealing with Risk

Medical providers are (rightfully) concerned about the risk of HIPAA violations on social media sites. Medical providers are also concerned about expectations that they will furnish diagnoses and treatment advice in response to fan queries. The safest way round these issues is to have a clearly stated policy (published as part of a bio or “about” section on all social media platforms) that outlines what may and may not be discussed in a public forum. For AMI, we also crafted a library of physician-approved responses to some expected (and potentially problematic) questions that would, for example, refer the fan back to his/her personal physician.

We also knew that we should be prepared to the “airing” of patient-service issues (for example, long waiting times, billing concerns, etc.). These types of issues need to be addressed quickly in the public space to show the practice’s concern and then moved offline for resolution.

Perhaps most importantly, Media Logic (via its Zeitgeist & Coffee social media management service) established a rigid approval protocol for all social media postings, including responses to fan queries and blog comments.

Establishing a Voice

One of the most critical aspects of establishing an effective social media presence is to differentiate your practice from the sea of medical information available online and in the social space. For AMI, we looked to do two things. First, we needed a persona (or a “voice”) that would speak for the practice. No one wants to have a conversation with an institution or a faceless practice. At AMI, this voice was the voice of Dr. David Dowe, an eminent radiologist and a rather forthright persona in his own right. Dr. Dowe’s voice personalizes AMI and makes it distinctive in the social space.

Second, we needed a point-of-view. Why should anyone care to read AMI’s blog or to follow the practice on Facebook or twitter? We found the answer in AMI’s adoption of an important new approach to CT-scans using low doses of radiation. It allowed us to position AMI as a thought leader and champion of an important cause – beyond being “just another imaging center.”

Being Committed

Finally, participating in social media requires a commitment. “In & out” attempts fail to build followers and can, in fact, produce a negative response. AMI, working with Media Logic, established firm expectations for participation (for example, number of Facebook posts per weeks, number of blog posts per month, etc.) to make sure that we were actively conversing with our target audiences. Using Media Logic’s Zeitgeist & Coffee dashboard as control central, a Media Logic conversation manager tracks the schedule, promotes topics of conversation, encourages client participation and handles the details of posting and follow up. Most social media efforts fail because they are just not anybody’s “real” job.