Social Media ROI

Which social media monitoring tool should you use?

Read the article here from Fresh Networks. Lots of good stuff to share.

Vitamin Water crowd-sourced their latest flavor

A new Vitamin Water flavor launching in March 2011 -- lime and cherry "Connect" -- was designed by Vitamin Water's Facebook fans. Fans created the flavor, designed the package, and named the product. This is the new kind of focus group -- consulted in during the product development cycle, right from the beginning -- with real "ownership" of the end result. Excellent.

Making Data Relevant: The New Metrics for Social Marketing

Excellent article: Making Data Relevant: The New Metrics for Social Marketing

My first e-book vacation

I just returned from my first iPad vacation. For the very first time, I took not a single "physical" book. Just an iPad, pre-populated with some yummy literary treats. The outcome? Good, but mostly not so good.

Good because it was easy to pack and lightweight and convenient, and I could bring five books and know that if I didn't like one I could try another.

Not so good for more reasons: first, I felt compelled to continue to check my e-mail while I was away. Hard not to. It was just a click away. Second, my kids snuck off with my iPad at every opportunity, to indulge in some Angry Bird baiting or heavy duty Facebook action. And finally, I couldn't take it outside. The screen just doesn't work in bright sunlight. And the beach? Forget it. I have no problem leaving a tatty paperback and a beach towel behind while I have a quick dip. But not my precious iPad.

So I won't be doing that again. Unless it's a solo/grown ups only trip to Florence or similar for the weekend.

Having said that, I'm reading a ton more at home. I've gone from reading about two books a month to four or five. I'm loving loving loving downloading Kindle samples. I am astonished at just how much money I am sending Amazon, and how lovingly they take care of me. They are figuring it out.

So I'm now officially fully embracing the e-book world. Just not on the beach.

Is this really a reason not to crowd-source?

Interesting article here in Mashable about Pepsi's attempts to crowd-source their Superbowl commercial. Just because Pepsi chose to feature in some way (I don't know how prominently) the Doritos/Communion Wafer submission -- a submission that offended Catholic groups -- doesn't mean we should throw the crowd-sourcing baby out with the bathwater. The outcome should not be a judgement on the value of crowd-sourcing.

When a large, savvy, and well-funded brand such as Pepsi chooses to walk on the wild side, and undertake crowd-sourcing, or social media "stunts" of any sort -- they have to take responsibility for their actions. Perhaps "someone" should have thought this through. "Hmm, I love this commercial. It's fun. Irreverent. But, well, might offend some. Should we feature it?"

Crowd-sourcing is exciting. It helps brands think in a new way about their brand. They get to see how people out there in the real world think about them. It shakes things up. I say, bring it on! But be judicial. Know that there will be submissions and content that may not reflect your brand's values. In which case, it's "thanks, love it, but no thanks."