I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream

Cake batter ice cream with chunks of chocolate chip cookie dough and waffle cone pieces.  This has been my order at Cold Stone Creamery ever since my very first visit, and it's about as likely to change as pigs are to fly.  Ice cream has always had a special place in my heart, Cold Stone in particular. Whoever came up with the idea to have a standard set of ice cream flavors with 50+ mix-in's and toppings is a genius, and my personal hero. Even if I do just get the same thing every time.

Cold Stone has already uniquely branded itself by its DIY approach to ice cream. Recently, the ice cream giant released its own custom line of eGifts on its Facebook Fanpage.  You've always been able to send your friends a virtual gift like a birthday cake or balloon avatar on their birthday.  Now you can send your friends actual ice cream.  For $5-7 you can place an order for a friend (or yourself), send them a Facebook notification with a print-out coupon and let them redeem it at Cold Stone for an ice cream!

This is social media marketing gold. Cold Stone found a way to link its social media presence with real sales by getting its customers off their computers and in to stores.  Since its launch, the application has sold roughly 2,000 eGifts and generated $10,000 in sales.  I found an interesting article that further breaks down Cold Stone's social media strategy.  Sheer genius.

So the next time you feel like brightening someone's day by treating them to ice cream, consider doing so via Facebook.  Psst, you already know my favorite...

Social media, how I love you. Let me count the ways...

In addition to my internship at Imagewest this semester, I am also a Campus Ambassador for ReadyU, a nationwide college campus initiative started by Proctor & Gamble.  The premise of the campaign is that ReadyU will teach you the things about college you really need to know, stuff that you can't learn from a professor or lecture.  College is the most exciting (and possibly scariest) 4 years of a person's life; ReadyU hopes to make that experience just a little easier, and a whole lot more rewarding.  I'm partnered up with another WKU senior and together we host events on campus, passing out free samples of P & G products like Cheer, Old Spice, Venus & Charmin.  We also upload videos and post blogs on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.  On ReadyU's website you can find and share college life success tips and tricks with other college kids from all over the nation.  If you're not already, "like" ReadyU on Facebook and follow them on Twitter!

You would think that with maintaining this blog, having two social media-related internships, taking a social media marketing class, as well as spending extra free-time on my personal Facebook and Twitter, I would hate social media by the end of the day.  Truth?  It never gets old for me.  There's always more to learn, a new blog to discover, a new connection to be made.  I guess that's the beauty of social media; it's always going to keep me on my toes.  It's impossible to be a social media expert...I laugh at anyone that claims to be one.  Don't believe me?  Check out this article.  It's the nature of the beast that this industry changes so much.  That's what keeps it interesting.  And me addicted.
 

Photo credit: Decor8

Blogging by the Numbers

After our discussion in class this past week about the influence of "Mommy Bloggers," I wanted to dive a little bit deeper into the topic.  Blogging is an incredibly powerful tool; it can start a PR firestorm for a company.  For instance, the screenshot below is taken from the David's Bridal Fanpage where an angry mother of the bride ranted about the poor customer service she experienced.  

 Blogging is also more than just a hobby or way to stay in touch with friends and family; some people have turned it into a full-time career.  Infamous gossip blogger Perez Hilton makes more than $100,000 every month!  After doing some research, I found a report published by Technorati full of blogging stats and figures, based on the responses from over 7,000 bloggers.  Here are some of the facts I found particularly interesting:

• 42% of respondents in the report said they have blogged about a brand they love or hate
• 48% of those polled believed more people will start getting their news and entertainment from blogs, rather than traditional media, within the next 5 years
• 19% of those polled blog full-time and generate revenue from their blogs
• 77% of Internet users read blogs on a regular basis.
• 2/3 of bloggers are male.
• Almost half those polled have more than one blog.
• 15% of bloggers spend more than 10 hours blogging every week.
• The majority of bloggers update their blogs about 2-3 times per week.

Like Dogs? "Like" Us!

It's no secret that social networks, including Facebook, are a great outlet to get the word out about special causes and movements.  This past Friday at WKU's Imagewest, the other interns and I launched our Facebook Fanpage campaign.  The agency was in need of a better Facebook presence so we created a new Fanpage to network with WKU students and possible new clients around the BG area.  As part of our campaign to obtain a larger fan following, we're partnering up with the Barren River Animal Welfare Association in Glasgow.  For every "fan", we're donating cleaning supplies to BRAWA.

So far, the campaign has been a huge success, but it's not over yet!  We currently have just under 300 fans.  While there's no set number we'd like to reach, the campaign is going to be continuing throughout next Monday, November 8th.  So what can you do to help?  Visit Imagewest on Facebook and "like" us!  Spread the word and tell your friends!

What does Social Media Mean for the Future of Magazines?

Just about every magazine currently in circulation has a website counterpart; subscribers of a particular magazine can now obtain all the same content online.  There's even more available on these websites, including message boards and reader-submitted blogs, customizable personal profiles, as well contests and giveaways.  Furthermore, these magazines also have iphone Apps and Twitter and Facebook accounts.  As a way to combat the Internet hype, the "Power of Print" campaign was launched (one of the advertisements is posted below.) All this social media activity raises one very important question: are print magazines dead?

For me personally, online content will never completely replace the print version of my favorite magazines.  Call me silly, but there's an excitement that comes with getting a crisp, new issue of Glamour or Women's Health in my mailbox at the beginning of each month.  While I wait in line at the check-out for the slooowwww people ahead of me to finally get out of my way, I busy myself by scanning all the magazine titles...more often than not I'll end up buying one (I'm guessing this is the epitome of an "impluse purchase").  There's just something about the tangible nature of a magazine-the glossy cover, flipping through the pages, dog-earing the articles I want to read, tearing out inspiring advertisements, etc.  You can't get that experience online.

For these same reasons, I will never buy a Kindle.  I actually get annoyed when people I hear people raving about them.  Some things are just meant to be touched with your hands, not clicked or scrolled through on some electronic device.  Sure, browsing a magazine's content online is fun and easy, as well as convenient.  Need to print a recipe? Easy.  Want to share an article with a friend?  Just link to it on your Facebook or Twitter account.  For people who are constantly on the go or checking their email inbox, it makes since to have magazine content available online.  But I definitely don't think this should make print magazines obsolete.

What do you think--what does the future hold for print magazines?

 Related Articles: The Online Journalism Review's "Future of Magazines: Net Could Empower Readers,"

Using Social Media for the Greater Good

The latest trend among social media enthusiasts is using sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to promote random acts of kindness and other "social good" campaigns.  There are numerous movements being leveraged on social networks, both by grass-roots, non-profit organizations and individuals who blog simply for a hobby.  One campaign, Operation NICE, is a blog created by a woman who experienced a random act of kindness when a stranger held an elevator door open for her.  She decided to "pay it forward" in a very large, very cool way.  People can share their own kindness stories, post inspirational photos and videos, and download a badge graphic to display on their personal blog.  The campaign has experienced great success, with press coverage from The New York Times, Good Morning America, and Better Holmes and Gardens Magazine.  Operation NICE has morphed into its own social network, all because of one simple act of kindness by a stranger.  How awesome is that?

Another movement promoting social AND environmental change is Brighter Planet's 350 Challenge, a side project of Brighter Planet and 350.org that is seeking to decrease mankind's carbon footprint.  The purpose of the 350 Challenge is to invite a blogger to take the pledge, post a badge on his or her website, and inturn, the organization will offset 350 pounds of carbon on the blogger's behalf.  The campaign reached its 350 bloggers goal, meaning that 122,500 pounds of carbon were offset.  Tree Hugger is a website that lists the 350 Challenge, as well as numerous other social and environmental change movements that are using social media to promote their causes.

So what exactly does Twitter have to do with helping to make the world a better place?  As history shows, people that are passionate about a particular cause have always been able to make a difference, have done so through traditional non-profit organizations. Social networks simply provide these individuals and organizations with another promotional tool to raise awareness about a cause, gain support, and spread the word. The ability of social media to quickly connect one person to the world makes it easier for invested people to create change without having to jump through all the legal hoops and hurdles to get a campaign off the ground.

Related Article: Mashable's Why Social Media is Reinventing Activism.

You May Like This...

Did you know that there's actually a technical term for the feature used by numerous social media sites that "suggests" what content you might like based on your past activity on the site?  Yeah, neither did I.  Collaborative filtering is being used by more and more websites to gauge a consumer's personal tastes and interests.  For instance, Amazon will suggest book titles to a customer within the same genre, or by similar authors via their "Customers who like this item also bought" feature.  Pandora maintains its livelihood by suggesting new music to a listener based on the artists they've been listening to for the past 3 or 4 songs.  Even clothing companies like Forever21 offer a feature on their website that suggests similar clothing styles, based on your past browsing (you don't even have to make a purchase in order for this feature to work.)

 Social media networks have also jumped on the collaborative filtering bandwagon.  Facebook has a tab on the homepage that shows the profiles of people that you aren't currently "friends" with but may know through a mutual friend.  Other Twitter users may be recommended to you because you're "following" their friends or vise-versa.  If you make a connection with someone from a particular company on LinkedIn, other employees at that company may be recommended to you. After watching a video on Youtube, a user can watch other videos that are similar in genre or contain the same tags or keywords as the video he or she just watched.

Pretty cool, no doubt.  But how exactly does it work? User-data profiling allows websites to monitor the preferences of a user over time, then adapt to cater to the likes and dislikes of that particular user.  The more interactive a person is on a website (such as posting a comment or sharing the website on their Facebook or Twitter feeds), the more accurate the profiling will be.  Since it's a technical, computer-generated tool, it's not error-proof.  There's not some human clone sitting behind your computer screen, watching your every move and picking out songs or outfits they think you'd like.  Still, it's a pretty innovative and interesting way for companies to give each customer a personalized experience.

Related articles: Spirit Magazine's "Just Like Me," Collaborative Filtering: Lifeblood of the Social Web,