Free Web Seminar Next Thursday - Unlock a Better Business Strategy with Text Analytics

Start Date/Time: Thu, Nov 19, 2009 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST

With SPSS text analytics, you can read documents, blogs, wikis, tweets, e-mails, call center notes, surveys and other free form text – and turn the insight you gain into a true strategic asset. We’ll show you how to use text analytics with social media and other Web 2.0 sites to understand trends, and what your customers want, and how they’ll behave. We’ll demonstrate using text analytics in modeling to make your models better, and how to use automatic translation from more than 30 languages to make sense of your global customer base.

Your customers are talking about you, and you can gain a genuine advantage by knowing what they are saying. Attend this webinar and learn how you can “listen in” – and act on the information to gain a competitive edge.

This webinar will show how to:
- Use text analytics to make sense of any text, including Web 2.0 sources such as social networking sites
- Use the information to get a better understanding of your customers, your products, and your competitors.
- Make sense of free-form text resources, and act on the insight you gain
- Unlock predictive secrets from text sources, and combine that information with structured data to build powerful predictive
models that can inform decision making.

Featured Speaker
Jane Hendricks, Product Marketing Manager, SPSS, an IBM Company

Mention priority code MWS0026BLOG when registering:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/646359377

Burberry Banks on Social Media Love for their Iconic Trench Coat

Reuters reports this morning that the luxury goods brand, Burberry is introducing its nearly 100 year old Trench coat to social media. The Web site, artofthetrench.com, will allow members connected via Facebook to submit images and stories about Burberry trench coats and share them with one other...The Web site, artofthetrench.com, will allow members connected via Facebook to submit images and stories about Burberry trench coats and share them with one other.

What do you think of stalwart retailers using the social space for their goods? Will they see a benefit?

NACCM 2009: I Want To Tweet You Up

Here's another post from the Customers 1st blog which highlights a session called "I Want To Tweet You Up" from Michael Tchong at the NACCM Conference that just took place. Enjoy!

I Want To Tweet You Up: What Emerging Customer Trends Mean for Your Business
Michael Tchong, Trend Analyst & Founder, Ubercool

We should begin by discriminating trends from fads. Trends are consumer value changes. The best way to predict consumer behavior

Ubertrend – major movement, pattern or wave, emerging in the consumer lifestyle

Digital lifestyle – marriage between man and machine
The Compression – the acceleration of life
Unwired – The unhooked generation

Captin Sully’s situation reporting coverage was changed by Twitter. The first image was from Janis Krums from Sarasota, Florida from an iPhone. Comedians are the ones who best observe trends. The youths are on the front of this trend. The majority of Twitter users are abroad. Twendz lets you see Twitter trends as they are cascading down. Michael Tchong said Twitter will make or break swine flu.

Multitasking too much makes it harder for humans to remember things. The Wii now responds people to rehabilitate faster. Have you gone to “Wii”hab yet?

Tchong looks to microwaves for introducing Americans to instant gratification. Our state of mind has become a state of time. Culture has created a fast society, because we have a fear of being left behind.

Everyone is looking for innovation. In 1999, 95% of people stated that they wanted to be a leader. This is up from 37% in 1991.



We’re all facing the GPS Generation. We can get anywhere like a native, and leaving maps behind. Same can be said for speed dial and remembering phone numbers. Sit or Squat to find the restroom.

Time Compression. Food, photos, instant energy, etc. We are all trigger happy. Epic fail – Frequently used term in the video game community that means you really messed up and/or something/someone is an utter failure. This is video game culture seeping into life.

Digital lifestyle: We’ve gotten an unknown president into office. Twilight and New Moon made a mom from Phoenix a multimillionaire.

Download free Uberternds map at ubercool.com.

Millennial Moms -- The Most Connected and Tech-Toy Dependent Population

According to a free whitepaper by Mr. Youth, Millennial Moms, those born between 1977 and 1996, are quickly becoming the biggest users of the online space. The report documents this segment of the population's ability to multi-task, utilize multiple devices and over share on popular social networks. Another interesting point is that this generation utilizes communities, or even creates communities when they are dealing with important life changes.

We can see this with the gads of "Mommy Bloggers," who cover everything from child-rearing to household finance.

We encourage you to check out this whitepaper and to think about how you can connect and share with this population.

The Most Connected and Tech-Toy Dependent Population... Millennial Moms...Mr. Youth Study

NACCM 2009: Answering the Social Phone – Listening, Measuring, and Engaging in Social Media.

We're live this week in sunny Phoenix for the NACCM: Customer 1st 2009 conference. Our guest-blogger, Norma Huibregtse covered a session yesterday on social media and customer service. Follow along with us via our Customer 1st Blog as we continue our coverage from this year's event.

Below is her entry.


NACCM 2009: Answering the Social Phone – Listening, Measuring, and Engaging in Social Media.

Your social media phone is ringing. But are you answering it? Do the right thing by listening and engaging with your customers says David Alston, VP of Marketing & Community for Radian6.

What should we be listening for? Alston says that he listens for ideas, compliments, memes, crisis, complaints, competition, crowds, campaign buzz, and needs. Treat the conversations as if you are at a cocktail party. Don’t just jump in but look for the point of need from a customer. Listening first and then engage has been the common theme throughout many of the NACCM presentations today.

Alston shared the 5 C’s for engaging in social media. They include:

Content – give content because people don’t want your promotions.
Community – you want to create a place where your fans, customers and even critics can live together.
Conversation – they build the relationships that build your business.
Collaboration – because the consumer is more and more in control, it’s best to collaborate with your community than try to control it.
Connections – you can’t be a hermit. You must actively and consistently connect with your community.

What do you do if there are no conversations about you? Find people who share your passion and join their conversations. Eventually these relationships will evolve and bring you more exposure. The ultimate is to have customers share their positive testimonials about your business using tools like Twitter. Alston shared how he files positive tweets about Radian6 as “favorites” which he calls “twestimonials”.

Alston listed several reasons why some companies hold back from using social media to engage customers. They include restrictive policies, culture, bureaucracy, lack of momentum, concerns over window dressing, lack of top level support and lack of resources. When it comes to your culture, Alston says “if you suck in real life, you will suck on social media.” Make sure it’s right first.

In his Social Media Maturity Model, Alton talks about the various levels of engagement. We all should begin at the bottom and work our way up. That way you build credibility with each step.

Contributing - Contributing value through content and helping customers achieve goals
Sharing - Tell your own story. Share your brand’s passion & personality
Participating - Adding on and sharing your knowledge
Responding - Answering the “social phone”
Listening - Monitoring and analysis

For those still hesitant about getting engaged in social media, Alston says “find your path, and get started NOW!” Consumers want to connect with your brand. You’ll make mistakes but you will survive. Alston’s advice is to “have fun”. With over 11,000 followers on Twitter, you can bet that he is having tons of fun!

Creating a Customer-Centric Social Media Strategy that Works

Here's a guest post from Norma Huibregtse on the Customers 1st blog that I thought might be of interest to our community readers. NACCM is currently taking place so make sure to subscribe to the NACCM blog for live updates from the event. Check the post out below.


Business owners want to jump on the social media bandwagon but just don’t know where to begin. Becky Carroll, founder of Customers Rock!, believes you must have a strategy to engage in social media today. In her presentation today, "Putting Together a Customer-Centric Social Media Strategy that Works: Deciphering the Hype from Reality", she discusses how to put together a customer centeric social media strategy that works.

Why consider social media? Carroll says because your customers want it or management wants it. She reminds us that 60% of Americans are using social media, 93% believe a company should have a presence in social media and 85% believe a company should interact via social media. Using social media helps to remove the “faceless veil” so that customers can get to know you on a personal level says Carroll.

According to Carroll, hitting the Social media sweet spot allows us to:
– build trust with customers
– build community
– WOM maximizer
– two-way conversations

Based on the book Groundswell, Carroll shares several reasons to use social media: to listen, talk, energize, help and embrace your customers. Ask your customers which social media venues work best for them.

How do you create a social media strategy? Carroll says you should participate by first listening, deciding what you want to do with your customers and choose the right tools. Establish social media goals. What do you want to do? Share your expertise, build relationships, create a conversation, customer service, or be more human?

Carroll shared several company examples which are successfully using social media. She mentioned the top three brands with the deepest brand engagement using social media Starbucks, Dell and Ebay. Other examples include Coca Cola, JetBlue and Cisco. Coca Cola’s Fan Page was developed by two loyal customers. JetBlue Airways uses Twitter for customer service and has over 1.4 million followers. Cisco CEO John Chambers was captured on video in his office doing duck calls. The video was posted on their blog and allowed customers to see his human side.

The key to social media is in the planning. Decide who is in charge of social media. Many are outsourcing to marketing companies and PR firms. Carroll believes you should not outsource this to someone outside of the company. Find someone in your organization who would love the opportunity to create conversations about your company. Everyone needs to be involved in strategy: marketing, customer service, R&D, C-level, and employees.

Decide which metrics are the most critical. Start with small, focused pilots. Remember, you must be consistent as it is a relationship-building activity for the long term according to Carroll. Ask for customer feedback and revise your strategy as needed.

You can engage in social media in a planned way. Set up the plan and get your organization involved. According to Carroll, it takes a little nurture and care. Little things like “thank you” matter to your customers. Begin by listening is Carroll’s strongest advice.

8% Growth in Social Media -- Thanks to Aging Facebook Users

The Guardian reports today that social media has seen an 8% growth in popularity, largely thanks to the growing number of older persons on Facebook. Writer Mercedes Bunz says, the use of social media is still growing: a survey has revealed that 19% of internet users now say they use Twitter or another service to share updates about themselves or see updates about others.

Bunz also reports that Facebook users are getting a lot older. Its median age is now 33, up from 26 in May 2008, while the average Twitterer is still 31, a figure that has remained stable over the past year. By comparison, MySpace users' median age is 26, down from 27 in May 2008, while LinkedIn is 39, down from 40.

With 8% growth, social media still on the rise - as Facebook users get older

Wired: Organized Chaos: Viral Marketing, Meet Social Media

We encourage you to check out Curtis Silver's piece in Wired magazine in which he discusses the evolution of viral marketing and how it met with social media. Silver writes, viral marketing — the technique of wrangling word-of-mouth to create a buzz around your product or idea — has been a powerful tool since the first caveman started the first rumor. Spreading the word person to person is the stuff of Avon dreams — and Bernie Madoff nightmares. And it requires the confidence to lose control of the message by setting it adrift. He discusses 2002's BMW short film series, The Hire and how Mystery Science Theater 3000 played an integral part in the latter stages of "traditional" viral marketing.

Organized Chaos: Viral Marketing, Meet Social Media

NASDAQ Goes Social

I came across this article in WebProNews that discusses that the world's largest exchange company has launched a social networking community called "NASDAQ Community". The aim of this group, according to NASDAQ EVP John Jacobs, is to promote market transparency and investor education among people in the financial sector with shared interests.

Members of the community are able to create profiles, ask questions on discussion boards and rate and review stocks.

Google adds social media activity to search results

Utalkmarketing.com reports today that Google has launched Social Search facility that enables users to discover publicly available web content from their social circle online.

Currently still in its experimental stage, when using Social Search users will sometimes see a special set of "Results from people in your social circle" towards the bottom of the results page.

These social results include relevant websites, blogs, status updates, and other publicly-available content from users’ online friends and contacts.

As a social networking user, will this help you find relevant content online? Or, are you able to find said content easily on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube?

Google adds social media activity to search results

Real-Time Search Results for Twitter

In the past couple of months we have seen major events unfold and witnessed Facebook and Twitter become real-time news reporters. According to this article in the NY Times, there has been talks of search engines like OneRiot, Collecta and Topsy trying to incorporate twitter in real-time search results, but recently Microsoft and Google have reached separate agreements to include tweets into their search engines.

One question that the article raises is how will these real-time results produce a cash flow for twitter? Analysts mention that this might not be an easy task, and twitter's chief executive has already mentioned that it is not the primary focus of the agreements made.

One things for sure, twitter has definitely become a force to be reckoned with and it's great to see Google and Microsoft recognize this and want to include it into their search results.

Google and Facebook to join music distribution

According to the New York Times, Google and Facebook are teaming up with some of the music labels in order to make music easier to learn about music types, as well as find and sample music from different musicians. Google's initiative to team up with Capitol Records is expected to be announced next Wednesday. The different sites will not actually host the media, but will create partnerships with other sites such as iLike to stream the media.

What do you think? This is the first time we've seen the music industry join forces with someone on the internet to publicize their artists on the internet. I believe that by creating communities where artists are readily available for the public to hear will only increase the number of CDs purchased by buyers.

H1N1 Swine Flu Social Media Tools Provided by CDC

Huliq.com reports that The CDC partnered with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services(HHS)to create social media tools that provide easy to access information about the ongoing H1N1 Swine Flu pandemic. Widgets, mobile information, online videos and other tools help keep important H1N1 Flu information flowing.

For links to these potentially life saving networks, please click here.

H1N1 Swine Flu Social Media Tools Provided by CDC

CIA to start spying on social media?

Don Reisinger of CNET.com reports Tuesday that the CIA may start spying on social media conversations. Reisinger writes, visible Technologies, a company that monitors online social activity and packages the findings for clients, has forged a "strategic partnership" with In-Q-Tel, the CIA's not-for-profit investment arm, to give the organization insight into social media.

For more information about these companies and about their partnerships with the CIA, please visit Reisinger's original article here.

Live from The Market Research Event: The Skinny on Marketing Research at Facebook

We're live this week at The Market Research Event 2009 and we invite you to follow along with us via our blog and Twitter. Among our great presentations this year, we'd like to share one with you that's specific to social media, written by our guest blogger, April Bell.

The Skinny on Marketing Research at Facebook

Well, I am here for my first session at The Market Research Event in Las Vegas. What a great first session to blog about: Facebook. Meg Sloan, research lead at Facebook and Brant Cruz of Chadwick Martin Bailey shared a little glimpse of what life inside Facebook is like.

Currently, Facebook has 300 million users worldwide and at least 1/2 of their users go to the site daily! Wow! How do they do it? Here's a tidbit....

Their guiding principles include:

Proactive

Scalable

Expertise

New School

Synthesis & Story-telling

Meg also gave us insight into how they view their small marketing research team:

1. Try our best to act like the rest of the org

2. Radical focus on the roadmap and prioritization

3. Making sure we all are doing things we feel strong at each day (staying motivated)

4. Supporting each other/sharing information/work etc.

5. Be nimble and use our resources and relationships to their fullest.

And last but not least: Ruthless Prioritization as well as Have Fun and create an awesome workplace. Their Q3 planning meeting involved pedicures--sign me up!

You can see more about life inside the marketing research team at Facebook. Check out this video about "life at facebook." Oh, and by the way, they currently have a marketing research position open for anyone who is interested...

I'm now a little more motivated to spend time on my facebook page...

Social Media for Farmers is a Growing Trend

Farmers across the United States are starting to reap the benefits of social media by utilizing it for personal and agriculture-specific purposes. The National Journal Online reports that The Center for Rural Affairs (CFRA), a Nebraska-based rural advocacy group, started seriously investing in social media less than six months ago, but they already have more than 700 fans on Facebook and nearly 300 followers on Twitter. "We've had way more success than I anticipated," said Brian Depew, rural organizing and outreach program director at CFRA.

The American Farm Bureau Federation, active in social media for nine months, has engaged an even bigger share of the farming community. With 4,000 Facebook fans and nearly 2,300 followers on Twitter, the Farm Bureau created a social media committee to design rules of use.

Leading the pack on Twitter is the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, who has about 100 more followers than its national counterpart, despite only officially announcing their social media presence in June (they'd been tweeting unofficially since last November). "We know that we can't reach the people we need to reach by just posting up on our Web site and hoping they find it through Google or a search engine," said communications specialist Dan Toland, who spearheaded the group's social media effort. "It's not all about the people coming to us, but reaching out to our members."

How else do you think the agriculture sector can benefit from social media?


Ag Groups Find Voice In Social Media

What your online communities can do for you

Venture Beat recently looked at a popular question in social media - how can you measure and track the efforts of online social media. They came up with a few answers that were very unique and showed not just profit the online community can make, but what the online community can do to save you money.

- Market research - Online communities are a great group of targeted customers who you can use to do market research, saving the normal market research spend

- Advertising costs/revenue - You can find out if new marketing campaigns are going to work before buying any media space by testing them on your community group

- Customer revenue - You can measure the spending of your online community members versus non-online community members

- Customer Retention - Those members of the community tend to have a greater sense of loyalty and stay with your brand, buying your products longer

Social Media Can Save Lives, Says Public Health Officials

Medscape.com reports that social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook are allowing public health officials to reach out fast and directly to the public on everything from salmonella-related food recalls to disease outbreaks and weather emergencies. Federal agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration have recognized the power of social media, using the broad reach of the online community to help distribute important health information and learn what issues are popping up across the country at any given time.

For more information about how public health officials are using social media, please click on the original article below.


Public Health Leaders Using Social Media to Convey Emergencies: New Tools a Boon

Social Media Can be Profitable

Mashable recently posted this video in which Bloomberg interviewed Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore, in which he discussed how the blog which was first introduced in 2005 was able to utilize web 2.0 technology to provide 24/7 news coverage of what's happening on the web and in social media.

The site has many revenue streams including advertising, job boards, and even events. This is just an example of how web 2.0 technology in this day and age has replaced traditional media in the way we receive information. Watch the video below.

Complimentary Web Seminar: Shifting Media, Shifting Minds

Title: Shifting Media, Shifting Minds
Date: Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT

Register here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/367946673
Mention Priority code: P1506LinkedInBlog

About the web seminar:
The days of one-way brand communication (i.e. advertising) are over. Engagement, utility and brand evangelism are the secrets to success in the user-controlled world of Facebook and Twitter. See how some major brands have exploited the new digital realities. Heartbeat Digital CEO Bill Drummy presents real-world examples showing how Bayer, J&J, Novo Nordisk, and UCB are racing ahead into the digital future.

What you will learn:
• The dramatic change in consumer media consumption patterns
• Who’s really using social networking and what are they doing
• The real data behind Facebook & Twitter
• The “reason for being” of various social networking environments and how to harness their unique capabilities
• Real-world examples of effective social networking campaigns

About the speaker:
Bill Drummy is CEO of Heartbeat Digital, an independent interactive marketing and software company he founded in 1998. Heartbeat is headquartered in New York, with offices in Brussels, Geneva, Paris and London. Named one of pharma’s “100 Most Inspiring People,” by PharmaVoice, Bill has provided strategic guidance at the highest levels for Amgen, GSK, sanofi-aventis, UCB and many other leading pharma and biotech companies. Bill’s reputation as a strategic thinker is well-known; he’s regularly published on industry issues and has been a featured speaker at major industry conferences, including DTC National ePharma Summit, and the Conference on Marketing.