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Social Media Has the Power to Kill Pink Slime

Bettina Siegel is the poster child for what a blog can do!

Social media gets a lot of hype, but how much power does it really have to change things?  If you don’t know Bettina Elias Siegel, you are probably in good company.  Ms. Siegel is the author of a small blog that popularized the term “pink slime”.  Her blog could be a case study in the power of “viral branding,” which impacted an entire industry.  Now, if she would just take on “meat glue”.

Invest in the Front line to grow the Bottom line!

Why the front line has become the battle ground in retail

In the not too distant past, retailers did not pay much attention to staff on the retail floor. They primarily hired “clerks” to run registers for checkout. The front line staff in retail has historically been the lowest paid and received the least amount of training. Yet your experience as a consumer today is literally in the hands of the person on the retail floor. In today’s sterile world of “lowest price”, retailers must re-evaluate investing in the front line to grow their bottom line.

Pinterest … “Fantasy football for women”

Is Pinterest a fad, or opportunity for today’s marketers?

One of the hottest items in social media of late has been Pinterest.  It seems to be particularly attractive to women, who like the visual bulletin board interface.  One of the best descriptors I’ve seen for Pinterest is “fantasy football for women”.  While Pinterest has been getting a lot of press, is it another passing social media fad or an entirely new format offering new marketing and branding opportunities?

Black Friday Twitter Wars – JCP hijacks Target

The wild west of Twitter heating up before the holidays 

Most of us think of social media as a pretty benign place with friends, fans and followers.  But in today’s economy and competitive market place, retailers are resorting to new disruptive strategies in order to hijack attention and potential customers.  While hijacking Google traffic with keywords is not new, promoting Tweets with competitor keywords shows just how competitive online retailing and social media have become.

Ignore the “social telephone” at your own peril

If you aren’t responding back your silence is deafening 

The old adage states that if you have a positive experience you’ll tell a friend, but if you have a negative experience, you’ll tell the neighborhood.  In today’s world of social media, customers are broadcasting their complaints to the world.  Yet research shows that 70% of companies ignore complaints on Twitter.  Few would ignore a telephone call complaint.  Can you afford to ignore today’s “social telephone”?

DIY … Not just your lumber store anymore!

Lowes & Depot lead with consumer service innovations

Mention Lowes and Home Depot to most Americans and they think of “lumber, hardware & tool stores”.  Internationally, they would be classified as DIY – Do It Yourself stores where you can buy stuff to fix up your home.  Historically, DIY was not very innovative in terms of store experience or support.  Today, even the best retailers would do well to study the recent innovations of DIY leaders Lowes & Home Depot.

Does Dunbar’s number apply to your social?

If you can’t keep up, maybe you’re hitting Dunbar’s max

A number social media pundits refer to Dunbar’s number when analyzing social media.  Based on researching historical social relationships, Robin Dunbar concluded that most humans can maintain a maximum of about 150 stable social relationships.  If you are delisting friends on Facebook you probably have exceeded Dunbar’s number.  But does Dunbar’s number apply to all social media and marketing?

Is Bentonville going bonkers … on social?

Why would Walmart spend $300M on a Social Agency?

In case you missed it, Walmart spent $300M US dollars in April to acquire a social media startup.  Admittedly, $300M is chump change for someone like Walmart.  But having experienced the outright frugality of the folks in Bentonville, one has to initially question the wisdom of their purchase.  Has the “beast” finally awakened to the reality of social marketing, or is there something more to their social strategy that other e-tailers are missing?

What if you could see through consumer eyes?

Webcam lets you track what your consumers look at

Most of traditional media metrics measure reach and frequency of how many “eyeballs” might see an ad or promotion.  There is simply no way to determine what consumers actually looked at.  In the new age of social media, consumers are spending much more time online and much less time reading newspapers or watching TV.  So, what do consumers actually look at … and for how long?  New webcam eye tracking may offer marketers deep insights on how to better design online media.

Facebook is the Mall … Google is the Train

3 Key trends impacting commerce via social media

Forrester Research and GSI Commerce just released a study which revealed that social media has little effect on online purchase behavior.  Does this mean that marketers can finally ignore all of the social media hype?  Not so fast!  There is a freight train coming down the tracks that is changing shopping behavior and how you interact with the world.