The Squared Root

Social Networking Saves the Planet?!

jason — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 16:28:54 GMT

Check out Planet Makeover. It's a great concept that brings together business, entertainment, and social media for the sake of helping our environment.

Full disclosure: We're building the social network and we're a sponsor...but that's a good thing, right?

Watch the "trailer" at http://www.planetmake-over.com/

The Role of Metrics in Driving Interactive Performance

jason — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:10:55 GMT

How does one determine the ROI of social media?

If you're using social media as a business tool, or even just considering it, this is probably one of the most head splitting questions you are asking. It also happened to be the central question of our IA08 panel "The Role of Metrics in Driving Interactive Performance".

Did we answer the question? I'm not entirely sure if we did, but the panelists (aka The Social Media Dream Team) raised a lot of really good points about the measurement of social media.

Read on in our post-conference blog on the subject...

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.

Bill Fields at IA08

beth — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 20:45:45 GMT

I just learned that Bill Fields, the former president & CEO of WalMart Stores Division, is going to be a part of Interactive Austin 2008. He is going to be on a panel with our very own Dave Evans and they will be discussing the new trends and technologies that are driving social interaction.

Social interactions are increasingly becoming “virtual,” always present and close as your mobile or handheld. As a result these virtual interactions are now a part of real life: people expect to be able to connect independent of physical proximity. Networks of friends, colleagues, partners, and suppliers are playing an essential role in the collaborative processes powering leading organizations.

However, I digress, back to Bill. What makes me so excited to hear Bill’s perspective on social interaction is his background. To put it simply, Bill is not new to the world of big business. Bill has served as Chairman and CEO of Blockbuster Entertainment, President and CEO of WalMart Stores Division, as well as President and CEO of Hudson’s Bay Company, which at 332 years is the oldest chartered firm in North America.

Currently, Bill is the Managing Director of Field Texas Limited which is a consulting and investment company that specializes in consumer, retail, and supply chain in North American and in China.

Bill’s experience and vision in building larger organizations will no doubt provide a very unique and exciting perspective on how social media and social interaction are affecting the business world.

Red Bull Gives FG SQUARED Wings

devans — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:31:39 GMT

I've come up with a bullet-proof social media metric: the rate at whcih Red Bull is replenished in marketing and integration firms. At FG SQUARED, the rate at which Red Bull disappears is rising. Fast.

As the number of social application requests grows -- ranging from a widget to a seminar (Interactive Austin is tomorrow...) to an extension of a platform like Clearspace -- the number of cans of Red Bull moving in the general direction of the Recycle Bin (it is Austin, after all) is rising. What's even better is that the Red Bull Index can be calculated globally -- up 73% across the company since April -- or locally: FG SQUARED's West unit consumes Red Bull at about an 8:1 ratio compared with the East unit where caffeine and diet soda rule.

So, the next time someone tells you social media isn't measurable, just smile and ask if they're looked at their Red Bull Index lately. Then grab your wings and get back to it. We've come to win.

A Twitter A Day

beth — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:20:07 GMT

Twitter. If you consider yourself in the know of all things tech, than you probably have heard of Twitter. It seems to be popping up everywhere nowadays. Friends letting friends know what they are doing, giving insight to feelings on a certain topic, arranging plans for the weekend or even commenting on the article they are currently reading.

Even though Twitter was created for personal use, friends sending quick micro messages to friends; it is really starting to take off as a business tool. It lets companies update its followers on exciting news, new blogs, schedule changes, or just what the employees of that company are up to that day. Companies are also using Twitter to share and connect with others to listen to what is being talked about, in order to gain business intelligence and consumer insights.

Twitter has also taken off as a conference tool, allowing attendees to update their followers on all the interesting topics and speakers that they are encountering at the conference.

I have personally found myself addicted to Twitter lately, and get disappointed when I am not receiving tweets. Twitter gives me that wonderful “in the know” feeling; that great feeling of knowing that you can intelligently participate in almost all the conversations that are occurring around you. By having carefully chosen who I am following, I have a better understanding of what is going on in the political world, the interactive world and the social world (mostly my social world here in Austin).

If you haven’t experienced a tweet, I suggest you check out twitter and see what have you been missing in the world today.

Facebook and the Business World

beth — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:24:05 GMT

Some of the hottest topics of the business world these days are centered on social media. One of the main issues is around Facebook as a business networking tool.

To really begin this discussion, let’s look at business in general. One of the key elements in growing your business is increasing sales. Coming from a sales background, I have attended many different sales classes and seminars and they have all said the same thing. Building strong relationships closes sales and increases profitability.

We were taught to look around a prospect’s office and find a nick-knack, a photograph, a trophy; anything that would give us a glimpse into their personal life. Maybe you see a picture of a sailboat on their wall, so you ask them how long they have been a sailor and to what destinations have they sailed. Immediately a conversation has begun.

Finding these little connections helps sales people build a small trust between them and the prospect. Applications like Facebook, can help you accomplish this before you even walk in your potential client’s door. You can see that they have two kids and that they love the Red Sox. You have a glimpse into their personal life before you even meet them.

Basically, if you are in business, you have been “social networking” your entire career. You just haven’t been able to network on this large of a scale. According to Facebook, there are more than 70 million users with more than half of them college graduates. In fact, the 25 years and older demographic is the largest growing group on Facebook today. That’s a whole lot of business prospects to get to know.

Social Commerce: Word of Mouth, applied to Business

devans — Sat, 31 May 2008 19:39:02 GMT

The subject of "social commerce" -- social media applied to business and specifically to commerce-related transactions and customer processes -- is gaining in recognition as a significant tool in the standard business toolbox. For example, of the top 100 retailers with online operations, 50 are using the Bazaarvoice social commerce platform. Powering these commerce applications is, at the core, social media: digital word of mouth turned media, produced and presented by current customers for consumption for consumption by potential ones.

If you're wondering about who is using social media -- and in particular experiencing it in the context of a purchase -- the answer is "everyone," a point driven home in a recent Universal McCann study. It's basically a given that if you sell it, someone else is talking about what happened after they bought it. That conversation is being tapped and inserted into the purchase funnel, right in between your ad (awareness) and the check out (point of sale).

The rise of social media good news for those brands with a tight link between Marketing--where the expectation is set, and Operations, where the promise is delivered on. These are just some of the topics I'll be speaking about at the upcoming Interactive Austin conference in June. I hope to see you there. In the meantime, let me about your experience with social media and its use in your company.

Interactive Austin 2008

cynthia — Sat, 31 May 2008 04:09:47 GMT

Social commerce, the use of social media in business, is putting companies on an even playing field; and the companies that aren't getting on board are going to find themselves falling behind the competition.

Think about it - social media is everywhere! Wiki-ing, blogging, podcasting, twittering, FaceBooking, and MySpacing - this is how the world is communicating now. And if your company isn't playing along, your message is less likely to reach your target audience. For this reason, major corporations, like Austin-based Dell, Intel and AMD are integrating social networking and other social media into their marketing plans.

To help companies get to where they need to be, interactive professionals in Austin that understand the power of social media in today's world have converged to create Interactive Austin 2008. This forum which takes place on June 19th, is an event dedicated to educating companies on the advantages of Social Commerce, the importance of it in the rapidly changing corporate environment, and how to harness its power for profitability.

The event will feature two prominent keynote speakers. Brian Magierski, Co-Founder and Chief Development Officer of nGenera Corporation, will speak on "Social Commerce and It's Impact on Business." While the Vice President of Corporate Marketing & Communications for AMD, Pete Hayes, will speak on "Get into the Click Stream: An Alternative to Driving Traffic to Your Site." Aside from the keynote speakers, this will be a day full of educational and informative panel discussions and case study presentations from Austin's social media experts.

If you have a company, it would be a wise decision to attend Interactive Austin 2008. For more information about it, check it out online at http://www.interactiveaustin2008.com.

We will see you there!

How do you want to aggregate your content?

brad — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:43:42 GMT

Who owns the information you create on the social sites you are a part of? That is the question being asked by many right now in the social media space, and the answer for the most part is a resounding "It belongs to us!". This is apparent by looking at the growth of such groups as Open Social and DataPortability. And now, there are some practical solutions starting to appear that address at least a part of the problem. Namely, how do we gather our content and take it somewhere else? This is what is currently being called lifestreaming, and it is something you should be aware of.

Lifestreaming is about content aggregation. YOUR content. No matter where you create it. And then sharing that content where you want to share it. Sounds pretty nice doesn't it? Well, there are quite a few services out there now providing the tools to accomplish this. Plaxo Pulse, FriendFeed, socialthing!, and now Facebook are a few of the top names in the space. As John McCrea of Plaxo says, this is a natural evolution of the Social Web with the user at the center.

The recent announcement that Facebook has opened up the mini-feed to allow importing of other services is potentially huge. While others in the space still need to get users to sign up for a new service, Facebook has already got the users. This could mean trouble for the others like FriendFeed, but so far Facebook doesn't have a very comprehensive list of services they'll import. FriendFeed actually has a Facebook application that can accomplish much the same thing, but is more complicated and involves signing up for an account.

In my book, FriendFeed is still a step ahead by being much more open and now having an API that allows developers to extend the service (there is already Alert Thingy, an AIR based desktop app for following your FriendFeed stream). Facebook currently allows access to some content such as status updates, but still doesn't allow easy access to feeds like the users News feed.

This should be an interesting space to follow in the emerging data portability solutions of the social web. For now, you can follow FG SQUARED's involvement by watching our FriendFeed at http://www.friendfeed.com/fgsquared.

Interactive Social Media Metrics and Parenthood

steve — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:35:48 GMT

This evening I stumbled upon some research findings that each of you who are parents will surely relate to. Namely 91% of mothers prefer to purchase brands that other moms have recommended.

Wow, that is a powerful idea! As marketers, we spend so much on traditional media and new media, and in the end, the buyer's purchasing decision is most heavily influenced by referrals that occur on a personal level rather than originating from your tightly controlled marketing message. I am speaking about the thickest root of any truly successful business, namely word of mouth from a current or former Client and Customer.

With that in mind, I'd like to introduce a video you may find interesting. Dave Evans was recently interviewed as part of a South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) Festival promotion. Dave is our own FG SQUARED Social Media Practice Director and a very close friend of mine. I wanted to share this interview with you because I find it very timely and relevant to innovative business folk. Perhaps the biggest question I continue to face is "How should I measure the ROI impact of interactive social media?" Dave is a forerunner in this kind of thinking so I thought you should hear more about what he has to say:

http://blip.tv/file/701835/

After watching the full 20 minutes of Dave's interview, I'd love to know what you are thinking. Even if all you have to share is a chuckle about the Red Bull he is chugging throughout the interview.