Summer has arrived in the Baltimore area with its 80 degree mornings and high humidity. Kids are out of school, the pool is crowded and it now stays light outside until 9pm. Isn’t summer lovely?

As a kid I always enjoyed spending days outside by the pool and playing games with the neighborhood kids, I remember hating when my mom would call us in for dinner… that meant the day was over. Wow, am I making myself sound old…seems these days the only thing kids want to do over the summer is hang out inside and use the latest technology.

According to eMarketer, kids will spend their summer indoors entertaining themselves “traditionally”. “Traditionally” meaning playing video games, using social networking sites, and watching videos online…sounds traditional to me?

The internet is endless and kids are getting lost in it. Parents are concerned about their children’s safety while using the web. According to eMarketer, 85% of parents regularly check their kid’s online activity.

So what kind of information are the kids putting on the internet? Over the past few years kids are becoming more comfortable with the information they make public, some of which they would never have thought of putting on the web 2 years ago. Today kids and teens under the age of 18 are posting pictures and videos of themselves using drugs, alcohol and even fighting. Information such as cell phone numbers and location are even being posted without a blink of an eye.

What’s the problem with all this? One, it’s dangerous and two, marketers are targeting kids based off of all the free information. Marketers need to be careful and choose wisely when it comes to targeting kids. Regulations like The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) exist already to protect kid under 13 from marketing and I’m sure we will see many more regulations as technology keeps growing – marketers need to be careful of who they target and how.

I guess spending days at the pool and playing capture the flag are things of the past…especially when you can spend all day playing Webkins and checking Facebook.

Read the full article on eMarketer.com

What the heck are Instant Personalization and Social Plugins?   Last week, Facebook released two new features and they have decided that everyone is automatically “opted in”, meaning you have to turn them off.   Consequently, you could be sharing some of your Facebook data without knowing it.   Interestingly enough, even Congress might be getting in the act.

So what are instant personalization and social plugins?    Instant personalization is the sharing of your public Facebook data with other websites.  At the current time, there are 3 partners who are linked with Facebook…..Pandora, Yelp and Docs.com.   If you are logged in to Facebook, and visit these sites, you will see a blue bar across the top that will say…”Hi Larry (or your name).  XYZ company is using Facebook to personalize your experience. “ At this point, you can click “No thanks”.  If you don’t then the site will use your public Facebook data to tailor the site’s functionality to you.   This information includes you name, profile picture, gender and connections.    If you want to stop instant personalization, then login to Facebook, go to Privacy Settings, then Applications and then uncheck the Allow box for Instant Personalization.   At this point you will get an “Are you sure” box with a message……the important sentence in this notification is…..”Please keep in mind that if you opt out, your friends may still share public Facebook information about you to personalize their experience on these partner sites unless you block the application.”  Now that is fascinating.  To stop this, you then need to block the Docs, Yelp and Pandora applications.

The second feature, called Social plugins, add Facebook functions to websites, such as the “Like” button.   If you click the “Like” button, then all of your friends will see that you liked the story when they see the posting on your wall.  To avoid this feature, simply don’t click on the button or log out of Facebook first.

As I said before, the social media concept is fantastic and I believe has yet to come close to maturity.   There are however, many related issues.  While I don’t agree on the default of “opt in”, I really like the concept of using data to create a better online experience.  This is clearly the future.  Marketers have been using this concept for years with cookies and IP traces.   So the concept isn’t new, but this degree of sophistication is. 

Another potential issue for any company is the gathering and sharing of personal information and this issue just got a little more complex.  The rules and regulations on data privacy are still evolving and data breaches still occur, so you need to be careful.

Data on Facebook is personal and most people that I speak with are not aware of the various security settings within their Facebook page…..or what to do if something embarrassing to them happens on their site with all of their friends watching……right Beth?  LOL!

Facebook is great, and I love it.   The bottom line…..go to Facebook right now and log on.  Go to the privacy settings and make sure they are setup to fit your views on sharing information.  For all you parents, the next step is to make sure your kid’s pages are secure as well.

Happy Earth Day, everyone!

I was greeted this morning with the following email this morning from Matt DeVille, G.1440’s Creative Director:

Happy 40th Earth Day. I just found my inner Burt. Check it out http://www.findyourburt.com/gallery/453.

So, being a dutiful co-worker, loyal friend, and just plain old confused, I followed the link.  What I found was a cool little social marketing site put up by Burt’s Bees, a maker of natural & “earth-friendly” skin care & beauty consumer products.

User’s upload a photo, or activate their webcam, and their image is overlaid with the iconic bushy white beard found on Burt’s Bees mascot/logo.  After you’ve created your “inner Burt”, you’re encouraged to share this newly quirky version of yourself… Just like Matt did with me this morning.

It’s not a new idea, but it’s a great application of social marketing.  The tie-in to Earth Day is loose, and the application takes far too long to load (and I’m using the crazy high-speed connection at work – it must be awful at home!) but the concept is solid: tie users to your brand and encourage them to share it.

The key with this social marketing campaign is that users are essentially sharing themselves – after being touched up by the brand.  It’s far easier to encourage a user to share a funny picture of themselves than it is to ask them to share a video or article that’s all about you…

So, if you’re on a high-speed connection and in the mood to be amused, check out the link above.  Once Matt’s inner Burt loads, you can make your own and let the social Earth Day celebration begin!

I’ve been saying this for a long time… It’s been on our blog before, and I’ve even been on the news to discuss it…

When you’re in the job market, you need to make sure that you’re managing your online image.  Including your social media profiles!

As one of the region’s leading technology staffing and recruiting firms, we work with some of the area’s most talented IT professionals.  It still surprises me when someone who’s been in the workforce for a while and has a career in technology keeps less than flattering information on their Facebook profiles!

Businesses are increasingly using Facebook & other social networks for marketing – and recruiting.  In fact, we just launched a full-on social media recruiting campaign for a large, national financial firm.  So, it’s no shock that 70% of recruiters have denied someone based on information they found online.

Take a look at this article from the Consumer Reports blog, consumerist.com:  http://consumerist.com/2010/04/if-youre-looking-for-a-job-that-facebook-profile-can-only-hurt-you.html

I’m happy to see that we’re not the only ones signaling the alarm anymore!

I’m a huge proponent of a well thought out social media marketing strategy.  I’ve seen organizations from small, local businesses to large, international brands do really creative things with social networks to drive excitement, awareness and sales.  I’ve also seen companies establish Facebook pages and flounder to find fans let alone do any real business good.

So, I was excited to see a local Italian restaurant hawking their Facebook page on table-tops:

Seems like a solid, low cost way to stay in touch with customers, and hopefully find new ones.  Instead of following “Field of Dreams” marketing and hoping that if they build it, people will come, they’re offering a pretty good specific promotion, and $5 seems like a good enough incentive to simply fan the page.

Makes sense for them, too!  It only takes one person that loves the garlic bread to start talking, refer one new customer and deliver an ROI on this cheap campaign.  And if the place is having a slow day, they can quickly get a message out with a special daily offer to customers that already know them.

The strategy is simple and I don’t think that their Facebook promotion is going to double their revenue anytime soon.  But I definitely think that this is a great example of a local business taking a great step towards social media marketing.

I also think that I’d like to get my hands on one of those $5 gift certificates!  But there’s only one problem…

Mamma!  Where are you?

I’ll still head over for lunch from time to time, but they’re missing out on the money I would have absolutely spent to subsidize my free $5… It’s a loss for the restaurant, no doubt.  And it’s a lesson that even a good strategy falls flat without execution.

“Social Media” is easily one of the biggest buzzwords out there, but as more and more of our clients ask us to help them navigate the exciting waters of social media, I have to stress the importance of focusing on business goals.

For example, if sales are the goal, what good is a huge Twitter following if you’re not ultimately increasing sales?  Some could argue that there are other goals, like brand awareness that are important to a company looking to drive sales.  True enough, but the ultimate goal of brand awareness is to drive sales!

Setting up a Twitter account or a Facebook page are simple enough, but ultimately, a waste of time and resources if you’re not operating under a larger strategy that is pointed at your organization’s goals.  I often look at social media today the same way that people did when the Internet was finally becoming mainstream.  Organizations clamored to have a website because everyone was getting on the web, but after building a page, were stunned to find that users didn’t just show up.

The same thing can and is happening in social media.  Someone realizes that social media is for real, and the organization decides to join the party.  But after a series of half-hearted promotions there are still only a relative handful of users, followers, or fans and there’s been almost no measurable business success – despite the resources poured into the effort.

Don’t misunderstand, though!  I have no doubt that social media can drive incredible results for business.  I’m a huge fan of everything that these tools can do, and I’m versed in using them to accomplish real business objectives.  I just want to remind everyone to look before you leap!  An awesome facebook page is no substitute for strategy…

Advertising Age published an article earlier today detailing how Facebook has limited application developers from using user information in ads, and it’s a good read: http://adage.com/digitalnext/post.php?article_id=138256

The bottom line? Publishers still have an open platform to create apps that include “virtual goods, subscriptions, advertising, or whatever you choose.” But Facebook has drawn limits around excessive use of personal user information that can be used, shared, etc.

Both as a Facebook user and an online marketer, I think this is great. For the most part, I don’t use 3rd party apps on facebook. Most of the functionality that I need and want comes baked into facebook and its proprietary applications. While other apps might be interesting or fun, they’re always so annoyingly bent on world domination that they’re so bogged down with ads and sharing requirements that they’re ultimately not worth whatever small benefit they would have provided.

Making applications less annoying and safer for users has the potential to increase adoption of apps in general, which would benefit marketers using apps effectively.

But I’m still a huge fan of the “Block this application” button, and have no plans to install “Little Green Patch” anytime soon…

Social media is a great way to share information quickly….that is the good news.  It is also the bad news! The popularity of sites like Facebook and Myspace make it easy for people to stay in touch and keep tabs on what’s new….but, what if people want to share details about you….that you don’t want everyone to know…..then what do you do?

People are discovering that they may be exposing too much information about themselves on social media sites.  In addition to issues related to the practice of YOU sharing too much info about YOU (someone I know recently posted that he was in the bathroom at Starbucks), is the large issue that you cannot control what your friends say about you and to each other. To make matters even worse, even if you block them, they can log on as someone else and continue to post comments for all to see or just post their comments on their own pages.

Think of social media as a big “room” where anyone can talk to anyone at anytime……..you can also jump from “room” to “room” to meet with any of your friends (and their friends). You can also access the conversations for total strangers that do not control their profile and access…..as we are finding out, this is good and bad all at the same time.

Here is a recent example I found of a man and woman that were getting divorced. The wife was posting angry comments on the husband’s Facebook wall. The husband was embarrassed and tried to block the wife from posting any future comments. Ever after the husband blocked her access; she continued to post comments by logging on as another friend.

One last “gotcha” is that HR folks and lawyers can make use of this data too. HR folks and recruiters routinely access social media sites looking for information regarding candidates. Exposing too much information to potential employers about our social lives can be an issue whether we like it or not. Attorneys are using data gathered from Social Media sites in divorce cases where people are posting information regarding boyfriends, girlfriends and gifts.

Why is this happening? The early users of Social Media are aging and employers are becoming more savvy. Social networking is great for connecting, but not so much for disconnecting, therefore resulting in a online tabloid where people are reduced to airing their dirty laundry in front of their friends and co-workers….it is real reality TV.

How did this all start? Well…..with Google. The popular search engine enabled all of us to become private eyes — we can look up anyone and anything on the Internet with the simple click of the mouse. Social media was just the next step to complete and open access to everyone’s “digital dirt” 24X7.

What can I do?

• Remember that once a pic or message is out on the internet, then it is generally out in the public domain for good….so the best thing to do is to not post questionable information.
• Be careful who you friend and make sure that your security settings are as tight as they can be……many profiles let anyone see anything….not good.
• Everyone should make a habit of searching yourself to see what comes up.  This is called Narcisurfing……be sure to go to multiple search engines and see what is out there.
• If you find something about you that is objectionable, you should try to remove it or contact the webmaster of the site and get them to remove it.
• Be sure to manage your profile regularly.

Can you turn the tables? Yes, of course you can. If you are a job seeker, use Google to learn something about your interviewer and potentially establish rapport during the interview. Social media can actually help you. LinkedIn is a great source for useful professional information.

Have fun being social….but don’t be too social….if you know what I mean!

Since its inception, web 2.0 has been all about giving users control and opening a two-way dialogue online. We’ve seen the popularity of sites that allow users to customize their experience, and now Coca-Cola is taking some of the same concepts that have made social networking popular and bringing them offline.

Starting this summer, in selected diners and fast-food chains, Coca-Cola will release its first software-driven drink dispenser. The Freestyle will be the first dispenser that allows customers to mix around with 30 different flavors and over 100 different drink combinations! In addition to all the loads of fun that customers can have with this dispenser, Coca-Cola has added some action packed high-tech features that will blow current business practices out of the market.

Each flavor cartridge is attached to a radio frequency ID chip which gathers data on how much and what kinds of drinks customers are consuming. At the end of each day, this data gets transmitted through a private network (provided by Verizon) to Coca-Cola’s headquarters in Atlanta.

In the past, Coca-Cola’s fast-food customers have struggled to keep their inventories stocked and balanced. Now with the Freestyle, Coca-Cola is able to efficiently track inventories and distribute beverage formulas to these customers.

The data also helps Coca-Cola and fast-food outlets decide what to serve and where to promote. Additionally, this data could help Coke recognize popular drink combinations, and in return Coke could opt to bottle those combinations through retail outlets, knowing that their investment will pay off.

In the world today, customization is a great way to appeal to customers and ultimately, Coke is looking to the Freestyle to help increase sales by giving customers more beverage choices. They are spending a pretty penny to track product interest, usage, habits and to give users more options and control. Almost every business can start doing the same sorts of things with a well executed web site and web marketing strategy. It’s cost effective and fast – and you’d get the same benefits.

Coca-Cola is raising the bar. Let’s just hope the lines aren’t too long while you wait to order your Peach Creamsicle Caffeine Free Diet Coke!

Everyone’s had their share of bad experiences when going to the store. Whether it’s a trip to a fast food restaurant, the bank, or even when speaking with a store representative over the phone, you never know when you might encounter an employee with a bad attitude, get stuck waiting in long lines, or find out that the item you’re looking for is out of stock.

Some consumers have resorted to venting their frustrations on a variety of internet sites, dedicated to providing a place for multitudes of consumers to share their unfavorable experiences. In the June 1^st edition of Information Week, John Soat discusses the effect of blogs and social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube on the reputations of companies such as Home Depot, Southwest Airlines and more. Generally speaking, companies have learned to ignore the IHateYourCompany.com sites…but should they?

Do these sites have any real affect on the company? Mike Paul, also known as the “Reputation Doctor” at MPG & Associates, points out the fact that social media is not only a way to stay connected with friends and associates. “It’s the next step, generationally, of word of mouth.” Therefore, if there are negative perceptions of your business being spread throughout the internet, it’s just like regular gossip that spreads from one person to another – it grows and festers into a big can of worms. What’s worst is that the information spread is not entirely truthful.

Solutions anyone? Soat suggests that companies stay aware and prepared for the conversations that are taking place in different places over the internet. When necessary, a response should be made to counteract the offenses. The response should be genuine and informative. Above all, companies shouldn’t overact, especially since a lot of the comments made tend to be blown out of proportion and don’t accurately reflect the issue.

The bottom line is that with any company of substantial size, there are bound to be bad experiences out there, and what used to get talked about at the water cooler now gets tweeted and retweeted. In today’s world, every time you can turn a bad story into a good one, it’s a win that’s multiplied through social media.