How’s Your Klout?

Have you ever wondered how much “social currency” you have? There’s an online service called Klout that will let you know how much your posts on social media impact others. The Klout score is based on a scale of 1 to 100, with 100 being the most influential. Klout uses data from your social networks in order to measure how many people you influence, how much you influence them, and how influential they are. My Klout score is currently at 45. According to Klout, I am a networker: I know how to connect to the right people and share what’s important to my audience.

But back to that social currency thing…did you know that you can leverage your social influence to get free things?

Until recently, I didn’t really care about Klout. I’d read people tweeting about it and I would kind of filter it out. I have had an account for months, but I rarely signed in. Then I heard about @KloutPerks– which are exclusive products or experiences that you earn based on your influence. In the past, influencers have earned perks like laptops and airline tickets. Suddenly, I have been checking my score a lot more often, hoping I can get my hands on some of these perks.

When I found out about the Klout Perk with Chevy, I was instantly jealous of those influencers that redeemed it! A Klout user redeemed a perk to get a free Chevy Volt for a weekend. He tweeted to his followers asking them what he should do with his free car for the weekend- definitely influencing others to talk about the Volt. Check out the Wall Street Journal’s video about this Klout user. What a great move! Brands should definitely take advantage of Klout- people trust their peers and influencers.

What do you think about Klout? What’s your score?

Ad Record Reached thanks to Social Media

Football season doesn’t officially start until the Saints and the Packers kickoff tonight at 8 PM, yet NBC Sports has already scored a touchdown. They’re just five spots away from selling out the 2012 Super Bowl for a record breaking $3.5 million per 30-second commercial. That’s a $1 million increase since last years Super Bowl. As if that wasn’t enough, the network is requiring that advertisers buy flights in other NBC Sports broadcasts as well.

For the few short years social media has been around it has completely changed the game for advertisers. As we saw last year, half of the Super Bowl advertisers simultaneously launched social media campaigns. The unique nature of the Super Bowl can help spark social momentum like few other ad opportunities can. For example, you may remember last year’s Volkswagon ad, “The Force”. This ad became the most talked about commercial on Twitter and drove in 12.5 million YouTube views before kickoff. Today, that YouTube clip has been viewed over 42 million times. That’s not only bragging rights but 42 million free impressions that never would have happened without Volkswagen’s Super Bowl campaign.

If executed well, social media can help offset the one time cost of a 30 second spot. Knowing that it will help acquire more impressions might actually make the $3.5 million price tag sound a little less ridiculous.

Among the upcoming Super Bowl advertisers this year: Budweiser, Pepsi, Kia, Mercedes and Sketchers. It’s sad that I’m already looking forward to the last game of the season when the regular season hasn’t even begun. All I want to see are good, creative commercials and the Patriots win the title. I don’t think that’s asking too much!

Ridiculous Action Figures Part II

Of course I am referring to my previous post “Get your TV Ad Manly Men Action Figures.” I think I may have to start a collection.

The same Connecticut based company that brought you dolls of the ‘manliest’ TV ad men is now bringing you the “Tweet This” Anthony Wiener –  uh, I mean Weiner doll. In addition they will also be selling an adult-only version for an additional $10.

Weiner, who announced a short time ago that he will resign after the social networking scandal, should probably be on the look out for my next planned blog post: Twitter Etiquette for Dummies.

The Use of Social Media in a Time of Crisis

The devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan last week has been the hot topic on most social media networks around the world. Twitter and Facebook has allowed many people to stay in touch with family and friends who were hit by this major disaster.

… And I was one of those people…

Last week my mother was on a business trip in Thailand. Her connecting flight home landed in Tokyo, Japan just before the 8.9 magnitude earthquake hit. With cell phone networks down, I could not get in contact with her. I had no idea where she was or if she was safe. It was through Facebook that I was able to connect with her and determine that she was okay.

Social media has proven to be an extremely useful outlet for communicating with others in a time of crisis. The internet in Japan has remained intact through the earthquake, and people have been using social media to connect with each other. It has proven to be an important communication tool in a time of panic.  When more traditional forms of communication aren’t available, social media has come through to provide answers and comfort for others trying to connect to their loved ones.

Top five ways banks should use Social Networks

Over the past few years more and more banks have starting looking at social communications as another media outlet to sell products and services and even as an attempt to heal our wounded economy. Upon initial examination most banks looked at Social as their way to reach that elusive and prized Generation Y, but as they participated in the conversation they quickly found it was much more far reaching then that young demographic. However, any company that has attempted to navigate this social space has come to the conclusion that it is not a stand alone marketing tool, useful in replacing our more traditional tools or as a panacea, but rather as a value added component of the big picture.

There is an ever increasing number of regional and community banks that truly understands the impact of Social now and, more importantly, in the future. Strategically utilized, it will help retain and recruit customers from the large mega-banks. We have seen a surge in regional and community banks using Social Communications in innovative ways and have picked up on five key strategies:

1. Build a sense of community

What is the connotation when you hear the word “bank”? Conservative, stuffy, imposing, and unapproachable are a few adjectives that come to mind. That won’t make you rush to your nearest bank, but smart financial institutions are learning what will. They realize that now, more than ever, if they focus on relationships and building a sense of community then they can easily attract and retain customers. Banking is truly a retail business and should speak to and adopt the personality of the customers it serves. We want our bank to be friendly and approachable, and utilizing Social Communications can get us there. These are the days of engage, engage, engage. Gone are the days of sell, sell, sell.

2. Research

If you need to know what customers think of your products or services, Social allows for a way to enlist them for feedback. We have found a highly engaged social community will give you great insight into your organization and provide you the opportunity to provide better service.

3. Customer Service

Your social networks are a great customer service channel. More and more customers are using social channels like Twitter to get quick customer service questions answered. Take that great in-branch customer service and showcase it online by being responsive and engaging.

4. Marketing

This one is pretty obvious, but needs to be mentioned. Banks that are using social communications to brand themselves are integrating social channels into their existing campaigns and, in some instances, creating new social specific campaigns to foster a sense of community. The additions of social media tools now allow for solid, trackable marketing results.

5. Transparency

Today we find a tremendous amount of distrust in our financial institutions due to the financial meltdown of the last several years. In order to overcome this distrust, banks have turned to the social channels to become more transparent and build back that trust. What better way than to answer questions than on Twitter, Facebook, or a blog, where interactions are in real time and can be extremely transparent.

Recruiting through Social Networks

More and more companies are turning to social networks to find qualified job candidates. Jobvite, an e-recruitment provider, recently conducted their third annual Social Recruiting Survey which proved this to be true.

According to the survey results, more than 80% of companies use or plan to start using social networks for recruitment, and more than half said they had successfully hired a candidate found through a social network. The most popular social recruiting channels include LinkedIn (78%), Facebook (55%) and Twitter (45%). LinkedIn was not only the most popular, but also provided the most success – about 90% of companies who have hired through a social network reported they found the candidate on LinkedIn.

The 2010 Jobvite Social Recruiting Survey found that the success in this area is leading employers to increase recruiting program spending on social media and decrease spending on more expensive recruiting channels, like job boards and search firms. When it comes down to candidate quality, survey respondents rated social networks significantly higher than job boards.

Companies are continuing the look for the most cost effective, efficient way to reach new talent. Through social networking, recruiters can find the right talent without making a major investment. Does your company recruit through social networks? Have you found this method to be successful?

Twitter is Growing!

Twitter CEO Evan Williams, recently revealed that the company now has more than 145 million registered users. According to a recent post on Mashable.com, “this increasing growth proves that Twitter is adding nearly 300,000 new users per day.”

Twitter’s recent growth is mainly the result of mobile usage.  The official Twitter mobile apps have significantly helped the company on this front. According to a recent Twitter blog post, “16 percent of all new users to Twitter start on mobile now, as opposed to the 5 percent before we launched our first Twitter-branded mobile client.”

The following chart, provided on the Twitter Blog, shows the top ten applications people have used to access Twitter in the last 30 days.

This data shows that smart phone clients are important to the growth however there are even more people who use the mobile Twitter web site and/or SMS. These new services offer users the convenience of accessing their Twitter accounts from just about anywhere. Which do you use?

A-Twitter “Thank you very much”

written by Adam Cupples (@ACupples)

I’m sure my most astute and loyal readers (or just my mom) will remember my last Twitter post, and yeah, I was a little harsh and down on the tweeting trend. (For the rest of you, here’s the link if you want a refresher). Today, I’m changing my tweeting tune and I want to finally give a shout out to Twitter and say “Thank you, thank you very much” while doing my best Elvis Presley impersonation, swivelling hips and all.

Try all you want, but you can’t make EVERY conference or event. Whether it be a scheduling conflict, location, money…..you get the point. But as you know, conference organizers/twitter users can generate a hashtag for their event and create groupings on Twitter (example: great idea by @ACupples to make tuna sandwiches in the park on a 99 degree summer day at #hottunaconf) so if you can’t make it, follow on Twitter and it’s like you’re there anyway!

I know what you’re thinking: it’s not the same thing as being there. No, it’s not, but it’s close enough and better than nothing. You can get the highlights of the conference at your desk or on your phone and feel like you’re (kinda) in the audience.

Sometimes missing things (like the tuna conference) and getting highlights is really enough!

Apple Introduces iPhone 4, Mayhem Ensues

“This changes everything. Again.”

During Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference held last week, Steve Jobs (re-)introduced the world to the new iPhone 4, set to be released on June 24, 2010. According to Jobs, the latest incarnation is “the biggest leap since the original iPhone,” and with over 100 new features and an overwhelming number of new fans, this just might be true.

Arguably, The Top 5 new features on the iPhone 4:

• At a mere 9.3mm, it’s the thinnest smartphone ever.
• While the screen remains 3.5 inches long, iPhone 4 packs 4x as many pixels (960×640) as its predecessor. At 361dpi, it has a display denser than the human retina can distinguish at arms-length, thus Jobs dubbing it the “retina display.”
• iOS 4 = multi-tasking abilities. Many.
• A major camera upgrade: 5 megapixels, 5x digital zoom, backlighting, an LED flash (finally) and the coolest 2way camera concept ever…
• Front and back-facing camera lenses, allowing for the debut of Apple video calling, or “FaceTime”, which will run on Wi-Fi and allow everyone that calls you with an iPhone 4 to see you (through the front lens) or see what you are looking at (through the back.)

So how do you get your hands on one of these fabulous little gadgets? Good luck.

With pre-ordering opening to the public yesterday, June 15, Apple out did themselves yet again by selling a record breaking 600,000 iPhone 4’s in one day, subsequently selling out, and then shutting down. With debut pre-order sales reaching 10x what they did last year with the debut of the iPhone 3Gs, both Apple and AT&T have been forced to suspend pre-ordering indefinitely.

Check out this slideshow of the 14 best tweets about the iPhone 4 FAIL.

I’m looking forward to Sh*t My Dad Says

If you live under a rock, here’s the scoop – –  CBS has picked up a new sitcom that is based upon the Twitter account @ShitMyDadSays. The show will star William Shatner and Ryan Devlin.

The ‘Shit My Dad Says ‘ account owner, Justin Halpern, started the Twitter account, which features lewd, hysterical comments and one liners said by his dad, after a bad breakup drove the then twenty-something to move back in to his dad’s house. CNN offers the run down and a few clips here (side note: Anyone who wants to comment on Phil Han’s horrible delivery can tweet me @pmaloney – my favorite line was that this was a “Reminder to us all that we never know who might be reading our Twitter page. So make sure it’s pretty good if you want a shot at your own show.”)

There are a ton of things I could bring up about this show:

1. How it makes me sad that they will have to verbalize the first word in the shows title as “Bleep”

2. That the Parents Television Council is condemning the show for curing in the title.

3. The historical significance of the first television show based upon a twitter account.

4. The fact that the only account that @ShitMyDadSays is following is that of LeVar Burton @levarburton

I felt that this show, pass or fail, is significant in enough ways that it’s mention on this blog was justified.

The premise itself is funny – and familiar. Last year I had to make the hard decision to move my family into my father’s house. I was not familiar with Halpern’s twitter account, but was very familiar with the hysterical ramblings of a loud, cantankerous older man – my dad.

Leading up to the move, I thought often about starting up a blog of the crazy things my dad would shout out – usually at the television – and sharing it with friends and family who knew him. I thought at the time, I’d keep it a secret from him – because I wouldn’t want to compromise the integrity of his ramblings.

To Mr. Halpern’s credit –  this is the stuff that makes social media so great. A real life version of what reality television strives for, honest entertainment.

For year’s he’d probably told and retold crazy musings from his dad. His friends that had bravely engaged the man in conversation probably told and retold, and are probably kicking themselves that they didn’t come up with the ShitJustinsDadSays Twitter account first.

Sadly, I did not start the ‘Quoting Mr. Davis blog’, and my dad passed away earlier this year. He would have thought the idea for this show was fantastic, though probably not as fantastic  as Jan Michael Vincent or Mega-Shark Vs. Giant Octopus.  (c’mon, the cgi megashark jumps out of the water and eats a cgi 747!)

by Pam Maloney