Walk into a room full of people and start a discussion about social media. I’d be willing to bet that the conversation will quickly gravitate to one of three topics: Twitter, Facebook, or MySpace…and for good reason. However, the conversation shouldn’t stop with these social media power players; there’s a lot to be said about utilizing smaller, niche, networks that fit with your brand message

Take, for instance, Reebok’s latest campaign for their new EasyTone tennis shoes. According to Reebok, the shoes work your leg muscles just by wearing them because their “built-in balance pods that create natural instability in your step which forces muscles to adapt and encourages toning.” Sounds awesome but with all the fitness gimmicks out there, how can consumers know if they’re the real deal?

Reebok partnered with SparkPeople, a diet and healthy living community with over 3 million members, in order to promote these revolutionary shoes. They seeded the product with a select group of active SparkPeople members and tasked them to provide their honest feedback on a designated forum thread.

Positive comments were then selected from the thread and used on banner ads that were posted throughout the community. These ads direct members to a page that includes more information about the shoes, a store locator, fitness tips, fun activities, and a link to the group with the feedback thread.

Why this campaign rocks:

3. The community allows for natural discussion about the product. The whole point of SparkPeople is to encourage individuals to incorporate healthy habits, such as diet and exercise, into their lifestyle. The Easy Tone shoes allow people to easily incorporate fitness into their everyday routine. Talk about a perfect fit. (get it?)

2. The banners with the member contributed quotes are far more effective than traditional banners. Others will be more interested to click on the “Learn More” button when the product is endorsed by the same person that is providing them support day in and day out with their own weight loss journey.

1. The uncensored feedback forum thread is a huge asset. If you start at the beginning of the forum and read through, you can see the members’ perception of the shoes change over time. At first, they stated that they wouldn’t purchase the shoes themselves in the store. However, as time goes on you can see those same members state they they’ve grown to love their shoes and are assuring others that they’re worth the price.

If individuals cannot notice the promised effects of the shoes while trying them on in the store, it may greatly influence their purchase decision. However, thanks to this thread, any of the other 3 millions SparkPeople members that read it now know that the shoes are, in fact, worth the hefty price tag, even if they do not immediately feel the results. If you read through the thread, you can see the mission accomplished as several other members have already stated their intentions to purchase the shoes.

The moral of the story is, if you want to utilize social media, don’t just jump on the first bandwagon that comes your way, you may find your target audience walking another route.

Written by: Kim (@kimberwom)

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 today in 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:

• Upload or buy music at Twestival.fm.
• Take part in the t-shirt design competition.
• Donate to charity: water.
• Watch live.

Tweet. Meet. Give - we like it.

In the midst of the never-ending debate over digital downloading, it’s always refreshing to come upon an artist that just “gets it” and uses the social aspect of resources, like iTunes, toward their advantage. Take, for instance, 18 year old country singer Taylor Swift. Yes, that’s right, WOMM lessons from an 18 year old country singer, bare with me here…

Swift partnered with iTunes to create a countdown campaign for the release of her sophomore album, Fearless. Every week for a month before the release date, one new song would be available for download on iTunes. Each of these four tracks came with a vlog introduction that provided some background info about the song. When the entire album was available, on November 11^th, fans were able to use the “complete my album” option to purchase the album at a discounted price, depending on the number of songs they purchased during the countdown campaign.

According to one argument, making four of the albums thirteen singles available before the release would deter fans from going to stores and purchasing the album in its entirety. However we, here at MGH WOM, beg to disagree. Making her tracks available before the album released prevented the CD from being leaked and got her fans buzzing early. There were positive reviews on the iTunes store before the album was even released! So, what was the verdict?

Well, Fearless debuted at #1 in Billboard’s Top 200 album chart and within the first week 592,304 copies were sold in stores alone, making it the largest opening U.S. sales week in 2008 by a female artist in all genres of music. An additional 129,046 copies were sold digitally, making it the biggest country digital album debut in the history of Nielsen’s Soundscan. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say the campaign was a success.

Artists should also take note of some other great WOM-friendly features already integrated into iTunes. Here are our top three:

3. Genius Tool - When users select a track from their iTunes library, genius will recommend similar style songs that users can purchase on the iTunes. This tool can expose an artist’s music to a whole new potential audience.

2. iChat Collaboration - Anyone that uses “iChat” has the ability to set a song from their iTunes library as their away message. This way, the song is exposed to everyone on their friends and friends can preview the song, with the option to purchase on the spot via a link to the artists’ album page on iTunes.

1. Top Songs - A way for artists to listen to their consumers.  When deciding which tracks to release as singles, Swift looks to her own iTunes “Top Songs,” which measures the popularity of a song by the amount of purchases made. It’s no wonder every single that she’s released has been a top 40 hit on the Billboard hot 100…when you give your audience what they’re telling you they want, how can you go wrong? Every (smart) artist should be using iTunes for this purpose and every (smart) company should be looking for their own “iTunes Top Songs.”

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Looking to be Carnegie Hall’s next big star? Google has provided millions of musicians, all over the world, with the opportunity to audition online for the first ever YouTube Symphony Orchestra.

Google, which purchased YouTube in 2006, has created this opportunity to beef up YouTube’s content in effort to make the site more appealing to potential advertisers. According to this NY Times article, Google has been less than impressed with YouTube’s revenues.

Additionally, Google is also trying to expand YouTube’s current user base to include more diverse demographics.

Contestants have two options. First, they can submit audition tapes of their renditions of selected pieces composed by Tan Dunn, which will then be judged. Of those, the finalists will be pieced together to make the first YouTube Symphony Orchestra piece.

The other option for contestants is to pick tapes from a pre fixed list of pieces from various orchestras and upload their audition pieces. Those auditions will be judged by a panel and then voted on by YouTube users. Those winners will be flown to Carnegie Hall in April.

Google hopes that YouTube’s First Symphony Orchestra will diversify their site by providing content that is geared towards people of all ages. If you are interested in participating check it out here: www.youtube.com/symphony.  The deadline for entries is Jan 28.

Thanksgiving is almost upon us, which, for many, means a day to give thanks, eat, watch football, and finalize Black Friday shopping strategies.

Online buzz about Black Friday has been in full force, as you can see from this real time twitter search and the abundance of ad aggregators online. Many retailers, at least the smart ones, no longer view these online resources as a threat. They realize the benefit of playing along and providing their ads to these sites in advance, in order to get people buzzing early, and planning their day around their deals.
We, here at MGH WOM, prefer to sleep in the day after Thanksgiving and hold out until Cyber Monday to do our bargain shopping. However, we’ve compiled a few helpful online resources for those of you who are planning to brave the crowds and battle the stores this season:

>> Black Friday’s Twitter account. Follow Black Friday to get the updates on the latest Black Friday, news, specials tips, and more.

>> GoToDaily: A Black Friday online community in which members can vote to make specials “popular.” It’s kind of like the Digg of deals, with a forum and coupons.

>> A wake up call. Register your mobile number here, choose a time, and JC Penney will send you a friendly wake up call to make sure you get to the stores on time. They will also continue to text you throughout the season with “helpful shopping tips,” according to MSNBC.

Happy Shopping!