The Squared Root

Government Affairs and Social Media

mchapman — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:31:49 GMT

With the 2008 elections now behind us, even those who are the least enthusiastic about social networking and social media have had to admit its increasing influence. MSNBC ran a story recently about a Dartmouth Student who managed to get elected as County Treasurer in New Hampshire by running Facebook ads worth $50 and riding the coattails of her national party.

I can report to you, with near certainty, that very few candidates will get elected solely on the basis of Facebook ads. All other things being equal, a well run campaign, that uses all of the appropriate marketing channels, is still the most effective strategy. What's forever changed is that you can no longer ignore what many decision makers in government agencies and government affairs shops consider to be "alternative" forms of media and marketing.

With the success of the Obama campaign, it's safe to anticipate the highest form of flattery - imitation - to take place at all levels of campaigning and, even more importantly, in the administration of their duties by federal, state and local governments. Interest groups, agency heads, and future candidates of all stripes, will want to add the same "secret sauce" to their efforts that they witnessed on a grand scale in 2008.

Decision makers trying to figure out how Obama did it will likely spend some of the same effort exploring the wide world of social networking that many of us early adopters did. What they'll find, if they research much, is that a $50 Facebook ad campaign will not meet their needs. Instead, they'll want to keep much of their current communications strategies and then add social media to the mix.

An integrated effort is what the smarter and more aggressive government affairs shop or government agency will settle on. Some are already well on their wa in this regard, and nothing I'm writing here will be new to them. Many are now taking a first or second look, however, and are deciding that they may need to take action after taking a wait-and-see attitude leading up to the election.

It's not a surprise that there would be hesitancy in the corridors of government. Even some avid social media users on Twitter debated with me that an Obama loss would be a repudiation of social media in campaigns. I argued against that line of reasoning because I never saw his campaign as a social media effort per se, but as an integrated marketing and communications campaign that was extremely social media friendly. Social media didn't win the campaign, but it did end up helping.

It's estimated that the Obama campaign now has over 10 million "good" email addresses and a vast array of other contacts in their social graph. Fortunately, state and local efforts won't need those kinds of numbers. Interest groups hoping to affect federal legislation, however, will need something more than a Facebook campaign to have an impact. They'll need a fully integrated effort that includes traditional and social media.

Two key issue areas that are particularly suited to integrated communications efforts are health care reform and clean energy initiatives. Traditional advertising can still enhance awareness of an issue, but consumers will go online to verify what they're being told. They'll consult with their networks, communities, and other trusted online sources to confirm or dispel what traditional media sources are telling them.

If advocates for health care reform or clean energy hope to be effective in their post-2008 election efforts, they will certainly need to employ the same kinds of successful strategies utilized by the Obama campaign. A fully integrated effort, which includes social media and online marketing strategies, will be essential for these kinds of successful efforts going forward.

The Concept of Singularity

barry — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:52:32 GMT

One of FG SQUARED's principles of business is The Concept of Singularity, and if you work with (or near) us and you've heard the term, you might wonder what exactly it is, why it's important, and/or its place inside of a brand image.

Since The Concept of Singularity is a branding concept, to divine the meaning of this concept, it helps to begin with "branding."

Branding is a term that is always in the forefront of thinking in many companies, especially among the marketing department, who are the stewards of the corporate brand and responsible for its creation, enhancement and protection.

Many definitions of "brand" exist but I prefer to describe "brand" as the sum of all perceptions that stakeholders have about a company and its products or services.

The Concept of Singularity, while part of the brand image, differs in one aspect:

- Of all the things a company may be known for, The Concept of Singularity is generally the single most important reason for which the customer purchases the product or service.

- Furthermore, a well-established Concept of Singularity serves as the best defense a brand has against competitive inroads.

How does this work?

Think for a moment about a recent major purchase you may have made or are considering, and also about what your key criteria was in that purchase decision.

To illustrate: If you are considering the purchase of a new car, and if safety is your primary concern, then you most likely have narrowed your list of possibilities to those vehicles that have reinforced that attribute.

Volvo is one brand very likely to have come to mind. If you are considering the purchase of a new set of tires for your car, and safety is your primary concern, then you might have put Michelin on your list.

Why? Because in recent years both of these brands have successfully stressed safety as a main product attribute. In fact, safety has become for both of these brands their Concept of Singularity.

This is not to suggest that this attribute is the sum total of their respective brands, rather that among all of their positive attributes, safety has risen to the top and in fact, formed a competitive barrier to any other brand that wants to claim safety as a reason to buy. Put another way, they own the safety space. This makes it difficult for a competing brand to come in on that platform.

So the question now becomes: how does a brand, your brand, develop its own Concept of Singularity?

While not difficult, it does require two key ingredients of your marketing: being consistent and being persistent.

Be consistent in the relevant platform that you are exposing to your customers, and be persistent in using that platform in one form or another in almost all of your communications internal and external. It is only over time that your brand develops that wonderful attribute that will help drive sales and keep competitors at bay.

The Innovative World of Social Commerce

beth — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 03:34:22 GMT

If you ever wondered what social commerce's impact is on business, then you will be very interested in Steve Guengerich's keynote presentation tomorrow at the Interactive Austin 2008 conference. Steve, who is the Chief Learning Office at nGenera, will be discussing the intricacies of social commerce and what it means for the companies of today.

Steve is going to take the audience through the “perfect storm” that is Web 2.0 as it brings together globalization, talent and technology. He also will bring into light the necessary redefinition of corporate marketing, as well as the trust that consumers and clients have in companies, brands and individuals.

According to Steve, Wikinomics is the model for leveraging social commerce. He will use case studies to show how early adopters of wikinomics have utilized this social commerce tool in their business and the major impact that it has had on corporate trust and marketing.

Finally, Steve will introduce Interactive Austin 2008 attendees to the next generation enterprise. With the next generation enterprise, companies will be able to source talent both inside and outside the enterprise, as well as allowing the customer to come inside the enterprise to co-innovate.

Mr. Guengerich’s keynote is sure to bring excitement into the audience as he delivers them to the cutting edge of social commerce.

Before joining the C-level ranks at nGenera, Steve was the Director of Information Technology for Bridgepoint Consulting, as well as the President of Perceptive Sciences Corporation. He began his career with Accenture and PriceWaterhouse-Cooper's consulting group where he specialized in advanced technologies.

Steve also is an award-winning writer and has authored eight computer books and articles for publications like Computerworld, eWeek and NetworkWorld.

Clickstream Data as a Marketing Tool

beth — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:59:17 GMT

Clickstream is defined as the recording of what a computer user clicks on while surfing the Internet. The data collected from clickstream shows what sites a user visited, what pages within the site they visited, what they clicked on and how long they were there.

The user’s clickstream data can be invaluable to marketers on determining what is of interest to their target demographic, what parts of a site seem to grab their attention, and their Internet habits in general.

During his keynote presentation at the Interactive Austin 2008 symposium, Pete Hayes will be teaching the audience about Clickstream as an alternative to driving traffic to their site and incorporating the data into overall marketing efforts.

As part of his keynote presentation, Hayes will present a Best Buy case study to show how corporations can insert content into consumer buying sites; he will also demonstrate how content can be syndicated into blogshere with a case study from GearLive; and finally, through a AMD game case study, he will show companies how they can intercept their own clickstreams and discover new uses for current visitors. With the AMD game, Hayes and his team were able to generate 3 million unique visitors per month in 90 days.

Not knowing a lot about the topic, I am looking forward to hearing Mr. Hayes' keynote presentation.

Hayes is the Vice President of Corporate Marketing & Communications for Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Prior to his arrival at AMD in the summer of 2006, Hayes was with SicolaMartin for 11 years. During his time at SicolaMartin, Hayes worked in Business Development and general management roles of their interactive division His client experience includes 3M, AMD, Citrix, Compag, Dell, Freescale, Motorola and Novell.