Just a couple of months ago, Facebook launched Facebook Connect, which is an OpenID-type system that allows users to log into third party sites with their Facebook username and password. Facebook Connect has seemingly been accepted with open arms by many users and can now can be found on more than 6,000 third party sites.
Just last week, however, Facebook began invading even more of your favorite websites. Their newest widget allows users to login to a Comment Box widget and post comments directly on your webpage. The best part of this widget is that users’ comments are then updated on their personal Facebook page. For example, if this blog featured the Facebook Comments Box, you would see a “Rusty Walters post a comment to Facebook is Playing the Widget Game” show up in your news feed.
We love the implications of this as it allows your blog or web page to be exposed to your readers’ whole network of friends on Facebook.. Below, you can watch a short video from the Facebook developers on how the widget functions.
It’s true - here at MGH WOM, we go the distance for our clients. We really mean this. In fact, there isn’t much we wouldn’t do for them, and that includes defacing our body for their benefit. And, in case you are wondering what the heck we are talking about, we’d love to give you a quick recap.
On Monday, February 23, 2009, an innocent tweet went out on Twitter asking people what city would be the first to have 3,000 followers: @visitchicago or @travelportland? Both of the cities had around 2,700 followers at the time, and it was anyone’s game. But, one of our clients - the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association (@BaltimoreMD) - saw this tweet and decided that even though they only had 1,700 followers at the time, it was completely possible to hurry up and beat either one of them to it. That is where they called on MGH WOM.
So, we, being the “never turn down a challenge” competitive fools that we are, decided to stand behind @BaltimoreMD and join the challenge to see who could get 3,000 followers first by midnight.
Knowing that it was nearly impossible to collect that many new followers within the given time period, we knew we had to do something drastic. More specifically, Ryan - our WOM Strategy Director - put even more “skin in the game” by offering to get the very well-known Twitter fail whale tattoo (with Baltimore’s Natty Boh in it) if we succeeded in getting @BaltimoreMD a total of 3,000 followers by midnight. And the tattoo idea is what drove the followers.
To get the ball rolling, we tweeted from a fun account that MGH WOM built up (also known as tweetbomb) that had a big following to try to get the word out to follow @BaltimoreMD. And, within minutes of sending out the first request, the follower number began to increase…drastically.
Because of all the excitement, we had a number watching party and streamed live on Ustream. Within a six-hour span, @BaltimoreMd’s follower count went from 1,700 to 3,000, and Ryan was on his way to getting this too.
If you would like to see this memorable occasion come full-circle, tune in tonight at 7:30PM EST here, to watch the tattoo artist at Saints & Sinners in Fell’s Point permanently ink BaltimoreMD’s victory on Ryan’s body.
PepsiCo, producer of Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice, recently replaced their iconic packaging (the orange with the straw) with a glass of orange juice. While a seemingly small change in the company’s brand, loyal Tropicana orange juice drinkers immediately responded and expressed their disdain for the new packaging. They emailed, tweeted, blogged etc, their complaints with the new logo. In effort to appease their angered consumer base, PepsiCo quickly reverted to the old logo.
The Tropicana orange juice debacle clearly illustrates how important it is for companies to involve their existing consumer base in brand -related decisions. Rather than being retroactive by changing the product after the backlash, Tropicana should have taken into account the opinion of the buyer. In doing so, Tropicana would have not only avoided the backlash but also established a stronger relationship with customers.
While, Tropicana solicited professional logo design advice, in the end it was the customer who had the last say. By hearing and responding, Tropicana did ease upset customers. However; had they involved their loyal customers in the process in the first place, the whole situation could have been avoided.
The situation has further proven the point that you are not your brand-your customers are. Without them, you’re nothing.
Customer review sites and word of mouth marketing pretty much go hand-in-hand, so when a colleague pointed out an article that discusses Yelp - the popular Web site based out of San Francisco - and the possibility of the review service not being as “honest” as one might think, we were pretty intrigued.
According to Kathleen Richards, the writer of “Yelp and the Business of Extortion 2.0″, many businesses have experienced a multitude of issues, including:
• Negative reviews being bumped up to the top
• Positive reviews being removed
• Negative reviews being created after a business passed on investing in Yelp advertising
• Business owners being offered the opportunity to pay to remove the negative reviews
Furthermore, the article referenced the fact that “Yelp pays some employees to write reviews of businesses that are solicited for advertising. And, in at least one documented instance, a business owner who refused to advertise subsequently received a negative review from a Yelp employee.”
Certainly, this is something we see as a problem as it completely undermines the integrity of consumer-generated reviews. If Yelp is allowing people to pay to remove their negative reviews or rearrange the order of the reviews, how can people trust what they are reading? And, more importantly, how ethical is it of Yelp to pay their employees to write a review and/or to tolerate employees that contribute negative reviews after not being able to sell advertising to a business?
While we only have read this in one article thus far, all it takes is one Google search of “disappearing Yelp reviews” to get a sense of the overall sentiment. Yelp responded to claims saying they have an automated algorithm, and that there is no human manipulation involved. But, how ironic is it that certain positive reviews disappear and some negative reviews appear after a business passes on or cancels their Yelp service?
We would like to know your thoughts - have any of you experienced these issues? And, how likely are you to value Yelp’s reviews the same way?
We would like an answer because WOM’s reputation depends on it, and quite frankly, all it takes is a few negative reviews to not trust them anymore. How ironic.
The people spoke and Facebook listened. In response to the outcry from thousands of the 175 million registered Facebook users, Facebook has reverted back to their original Terms of Service.
This change of TOS, posted on February 4, 2009, flew under the radar until the Consumerist, highlighted the changes. The popular consumer watch-dog blog outlined the portion of the TOS that stated that Facebook had full rights to any user content posted “in connection with the Facebook Service.” This meant that Facebook indefinitely owned videos, photos, notes etc, posted by users whether a user’s account was active on the site or not. The Consumerist post alarmed thousands of Facebook users and received over 500,000 views.
Facebook quickly responded to the uproar by returning to the original Terms of Service. The site has begun to poll users as to whether or not they want Facebook to return to its original Terms of Service. Additionally, they have created a new Facebook group: Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities. This group has given users the option to voice any concerns they may have with the Terms of Service. So far, over 4,000 people have posted comments. Facebook has made this information available on the site’s homepage.
Now, don’t get too excited just yet. Facebook is still working to revise their TOS as Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO, explained on the Facebook blog. However; they have assured users that the new TOS will be clearly written, in plain language. Zuckerberg also states that, “since this will be the governing document that we’ll all live by, Facebook users will have a lot of input in crafting these terms.”
All in all, crisis averted. Facebook responded quickly and let it be known that they will listen to what its users have to say. Their actions have reassured users that Facebook is more of a democracy than a dictatorship. Keep checking out their blog for the latest on their TOS.
Twestival - it’s all the rage, you want to go and you definitely want to help. But…what is it exactly? Well, in short, it’s an event that is being held todayin more than 175 cities around the world that brings Twitter communities together and raises money and awareness for the non-profit organization, “charity: water.” The goal at each of these events is to raise $4,000, just enough to dig one well and provide clean drinking water.
It all started in London UK, where a bunch of Twitter users were organizing a Tweetup, but also wanted to include a philanthropic angle to help a local homeless shelter. And, in about two weeks, these users were able to accomplish a goal that often requires month’s of planning.
At the same time in other parts of the world, other Twitter users were catching on and creating similar events that helped a selected charity. And, according to the official Twestival site, Twestival was “born out of the idea that if cities were able to collaborate on an international scale, but working from a local level, it could have a spectacular impact.”
Twestival obviously survives off of the Twitter members who have the passion to rally their local friends and family for a great cause, but it also opens the doors to other non-profit organizations that are in dire need of support. Who knew that in such a short amount of time, thousands of people could come together to help out one organization that helps so many people? Well, it’s happening, and we support it.
If you are looking to lend a helping hand, Twestival Baltimore will be held at Beehive Baltimore (@bhivebmore) at 5:30 PM located on 2400 Canton St., Suite 308. The entrance to the building is to the left of Austin Grill. Walk on in…
If you can’t attend, but would like to help, you can:
Valentine’s Day can definitely be stressful - what do you buy that special someone? Where do I get $100 for roses? No fear! Here at MGH WOM we have decided that there is no need to spend extravagant money for Valentine’s Day this year (don’t blame us if you end up on the couch).We have put a list together of the 5 best ways to put your tech-savyness to work this February 14th.
1) Give a nice holiday greeting on Facebook. The “Fun Card” app is our favorite for sharing Valentine’s wishes. I chose to give one to my boss, a little sucking up never hurt anyone.
2) Put a little bit of humor into the day by giving your sweetie an e-card from someecards.com. This happens to be our choice for the occasion, but remember, Some Ecards remind you to “Hug a loner this Valentine’s Day”.
It is becoming a more and more common occurrence that I am receiving friend request from my friends’ parents on my social networks - primarily Facebook. We have written before about the increase of moms on social networks, but it seems as if that trend carries over to adults in general
In a recent study by Pew / Internet, it is shown that over one-third (35%) of all adults online have a profile on a social networking site. This number is a 4-fold increase from the same study conducted in 2005.
Of course, when you break the adult demographics out more, there is a direct correlation between age and social media usage:
75% of online adults 18-24 have a profile on a social network site
57% of online adults 25-34 have a profile on a social network site
30% of online adults 35-44 have a profile on a social network site
19% of online adults 45-54 have a profile on a social network site
10% of online adults 55-64 have a profile on a social network site
7% of online adults 65+ have a profile on a social network site
Download the study for yourself and see why you and mom may be soon be e-friends!
There has been a lot of talk around our office recently about ethics in word of mouth marketing and what implications unethical practices can carry. Don’t worry, we aren’t trying to launch an unethical campaign, but there have been some instances we’ve seen that have struck a nerve and thrown up the ethics red-flag for us!
The reason social media and word of mouth marketing works is that it is honest and transparent. You can give me 100 more reasons why it works, but I guarantee that if you take away the honesty and transparency of your campaign - it will fail.
Social media is about openness and showing who you really are. That is the power behind it. Sure, you can get ahead (temporarily) by faking love for your brand, but it will catch up with you. People are smart, and will begin to see through it.
This is what sets WOM apart from all other forms of advertising. It is real people discussing your brand openly and honestly. It relies upon real relationships being built. Of course, you as a brand want to foster those relationships as much as possible, but you cannot manufacture them!
I guarantee the effectiveness of social media will die just as fast as it has come into relevance if more brands betray consumers’ trust. Sites like Twitter will become overrun by nothing but corporate identities hocking their products. Taking the real socializing out of social media just makes it media.
To serve as a reminder, here at MGH WOM, we are bound by the WOMMA code of ethics. The essence of this code comes down to the Honesty ROI:
* Honesty of Relationship: You say who you’re speaking for
* Honesty of Opinion: You say what you believe
* Honesty of Identity: You never obscure your identity
A client passed this along to us, and it was too good not to share. My question is: how many companies out there are abusing online reviews by encouraging employees to either post positive reviews or bash the competition? I’d like to think that the number is slim, but who knows.
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