We walk among you.
Like I stated previously, I’m a community manager and when asked what I do for a living, I often leave it at that: I’m a community manager. I don’t like going into detail about the company I work for because it’s important to me that the brand stays a brand and I stay a community manager. I don’t want to be personally associated with the brand’s voice or online personality. I wear a mask and I’m okay with that because it’s not about getting credit for my work – it’s about giving the brand a consistent personality. In essence, you really don’t know the person behind the screen. It’s very easy to complain to a stranger online and even become aggressive but there’s still a person behind that brand. She may be goofy and balancing a pencil on her nose, but she’s the first line of defense between your anger and the full customer service team.

We’re not the end all.
Community managers often don’t have all of the answers. We can’t always tell you exactly when your order is ready, when a credit will show up on your bill, when your favorite product will be in your specific store or if that shirt comes in blue. Sometimes we have to go through legal, HR, shipping, PR… your issue can lead me down a path that may take a couple of days, so stay tuned and remember that a community manager wears many different hats but can’t always give you the answer right away.

Patience is a virtue.
I often wonder what’s happened in the past to some customers by the time they get to me. Facebook can be the last resort to many customers who have tried more direct channels to get service and feel out of control by the time they get to me. As a result, I get to sort through emotions, threats, and demands to get it done or lose a customer. Whether a customer erupts or is polite, I will take care of his or her issue. The difference? I’ll be more eager to help those that are calm and can provide me with the details. It requires less back and forth and more time to reach out to the proper department.

All in all, I love my job and being on this side of customer service has made it easier for me to interact with community managers when I’m upset with a brand. Stay calm, provide as much detail as possible, and your question will be answered sooner than you think!

The winds were powered by Tweets that mentioned #TornadoWeek. The more times it was mentioned, the higher the winds grew. And the Weather Channel claimed they’d recreate the feeling of an EF-5 Tornado if they reached 1,000,000 #TornadoWeek mentions (which unfortunately never came to fruition). The best part was that you could watch the live feed of the Weather Channel interns while the mentions rolled in!

If the Weather Channel truly wanted to reach 1MM mentions, they should have been promoting this through more channels than just Twitter. Taking into account just one other social media channel, the Weather Channel Facebook page wasn’t promoting the intern Twitter-powered wind tunnel. And Tornado Week should have had a Facebook page of its own, which should also have been promoting the event! They could have done “click-to-watch” mobile banner ads on the Weather Channel’s App, or just across mobile in general. Or how about display banners that drove users to the live feed? I’m not sure if they promoted the event on the Weather Channel on TV; I sure hope they did, because if they didn’t then I’m not sure what they were thinking – that’s OWNED media! FREE!

I can understand if the Weather Channel didn’t want to or didn’t have the ability to put a large amount of funding behind a huge digital or mobile media push, but then they should have at least used their own social channels to promote the event. And they should have set the bar lower: making the goal 1MM mentions just made the entire event look unimportant and appear as if it were a silly stunt that they never believed would succeed, since they didn’t end up anywhere near 1MM. They didn’t give consumers any reason to pay attention. Employing a more holistic approach to media (be it paid, social, earned or owned) always makes for a farther reach and impact. Who knows what kind of numbers they could have reached if they had just put a little more fuel (or wind…) behind promoting it.

Here are a few great video ads. Which one is your favorite?

1. Carlsberg Puts Friends to the Test

2. Budweiser: The Buddy Cup

3. Code School

4.Oreo Separator Machine #1 – Creator: Physicist David Neevel

5. Dove Real Beauty Sketches

6. Heineken – The Candidate

I don’t think my father ever knew there was a national holiday for taking your children to work. He just knew he had a responsibility to teach me at a young age what it took him years of experience to learn. My dad started his career as a young boy working in his father’s print shop in NYC. He went on to study at The Rochester Institute of Technology and continued his career in printing and packaging for the next 30 plus years. Because of his love for the industry, I probably looked at an empty cereal box much differently than most children. No paper carton crossed my path without being broken down and inspected for print quality, color accuracy and glue application.

My earliest memory of going to work with my dad brings me back to the age of five. He didn’t just doll me up and bring me into the office to show his precious daughter off to his coworkers. He brought me in to learn. I’d find myself doing anything from organizing files, to inspecting cartons coming off the press. During one of my first trips to his office, I remember telling him that I thought the office could use some higher quality toilet paper in their employee restrooms (I was a picky child). Before I knew it, he had me writing a letter to the janitor about my concerns, with a call to action to replace the standard rolls with plush Charmin paper products. That was my first lesson in persuasive business writing.

From designing and creating my own box carton for a geometry project in high school, to attending dinner meetings with clients, my father went above and beyond to teach me the principles of business. My parents would host annual company holiday parties at our home, where he’d place me at the front door to shake the hands of the C-level hot shots, greeting them without hesitation and offering to take their coats. He would invite me to come along to dinner interviews at the nicest steakhouses in town to scope out prospective salesmen. He would even bring me along to client lunch meetings where he would hash out customer complaints and provide solutions that insured business for the future. Now that’s customer service training at its finest!

In my lifetime, women in business have drastically changed. I believe my dad could see that the male dominated business landscape was under construction and wanted me to be a part of its renovation. In just the last twelve years, women-owned businesses have increased by 59%. And thanks to parents like mine, that number will continue to grow.

Because of my father, I studied Business Administration with a focus in Marketing at the College of Charleston. Because of my father, interviews don’t intimidate me. Because of my father, I don’t believe in glass ceilings. I’m now finding my way as a young 20-something businesswoman in the world of advertising. And I owe my dad a big thanks for teaching me the true Principles of Business not even the finest college professors could have taught me.

Since the third and final season of Veronica Mars ended in 2007, fans have been rallying for creator, Rob Thomas, to make a movie. The suspenseful, yet witty teenage sitcom captivated teens everywhere and I must admit, I finally got sucked in my sophomore year of college watching re-runs.  When I saw on Facebook that there was a huge push for a movie, I almost cried. Just kidding…but seriously.

When I visited The Veronica Mars Movie Project Kickstarter Campaign page the morning it launched, I was shocked to see funds increasing by the second as they reached the first million dollars before lunch. Originally their goal was to reach $2  million in thirty days. But since the campaign launched, supporters have donated over $4.3 million in less than three weeks.

Although the show has some pretty legit fans, fans with deep pockets to say the least, I think the success of this campaign can really be attributed to the viral explosion on Facebook and Twitter in combination with an effective way to get the audience involved through Kickstarter.

Since the site’s launch in 2009, more than 3.7 million people have pledged over $548 million, funding more than 38,000 creative projects. Thousands of creative projects are raising funds on Kickstarter right now. Together, with social media, this was a home run. By bringing fans in to fund the project, there is a sense of ownership and accountability. People are more inclined to donate their hard earned money when they feel like it is going to a place it belongs. Now, Rob Thomas has to produce something valuable and worthy of their support. Or else he has $4 million dollars worth of disappointed fans.

What do you think of Kickstarter? Would you donate your own money to make your favorite TV show into a movie?

Cheers, Seinfeld, Friends….they had me 8~10 pm week after week, year after year.

And so many of those shows had classic scenes I still laugh about to this day.

And then something happened. Was it that “Must See TV” lost its mojo? Did going out on a Thursday take precedence?

Nope. It was Tony.

And now I’m in a pickle because my DVR only records two shows at once….

Game of Thrones,

And Mad Men,

AND the new Mr. Slefridge (while Downton Abbeyis on hiatus) all air at 9 PM on Sundays.

I’m starting to think there’s a conspiracy with DirecTV and their Genie.

About a month later, when visiting Petfinder.com (don’t judge me, I’m a regular), I got served display ads mirroring the Puppy bowl spots I so vividly remembered. It took three Impressions, but I finally CLICKED. I couldn’t resist! I was directed to a custom tab on their Facebook page, which was really well done—had the tone and voice of their advertising and went above and beyond to engage consumers with additional ways to get involved with their dog-mobile app, photo upload and even a dog driver’s license!

Then, a month after my Facebook experience with Subaru, low and behold, their competitors targeted me. I was scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed when a sponsored post appeared, specifically aimed at dog lovers:

The competition tried to take a direct stab at Subaru’s loyal dog loving audience—very smart. It’s very important that as advertisers we are constantly in check with what the competition is doing, because competitors could quite easily come in and try to steal a piece of the pie. Hold your agency accountable for competitive research and analysis; it’s valuable to understand what others are doing so you can maintain or increase your SOM.

Multiple News Feeds
This one is interesting in how it came together and it’s a huge cornerstone of the overhaul. Jane Justice Leibrock, a user experience researcher who worked on the new launch, detailed how her findings revealed the user’s need to have separate news feeds broken down by categories. “A look at our data showed that the stories people click, like, and comment on the most are actually the very stores they said they wanted the ability to filter out: page posts, stories about songs and games, and stories friends like or commented on,” as she explains to Mashable.com. “Since people were clearly interested in these stories, our task became figuring out how to display them separately from News Feed.”

As a result of their findings, multiple News Feeds will allow the user the opportunity to dig deeper into content that matters most to him/her. Feeds will highlight photos, music news (what friends are listening to and concerts they’re attending), and celebrities and businesses they subscribe to.

A Greater Focus on Photos
This one was a no-brainer to the Facebook team. Photos will now take up more real estate in News Feeds. After a study conducted within Facebook revealed that 50% of updates consists of pictures, they decided to make it an essential part of their News Feed update.

It’s also important to keep in mind that Facebook has made the rather questionable initiative to run a title over the top of some images. Keep this in mind in your design of posted images. If your image is already created with text, it may create a messy look.

More Mobility
Interestingly enough, the new Feed look was in an effort to embrace mobile as the company adapts to a more smart phone-friendly culture. The Feed will be consistent across all platforms with a side navigation bar to assist mobile users.

More Room for Greater Engagement
One of the first things you may notice once you acquire the new Feed look is that there is more space allotted to each posting. No longer will you see a “More” link when your friend has posted a long-winded status update. On the flip side, Facebook’s desire to give more attention to photos means your friend’s long status may be easily overlooked. Our recommendation, keep your content short and simple and let the image speak for itself!

Do you have the new Facebook Feed yet? Tell us what you think!

It’s 2013, the year of Google glasses and augmented reality. Augment, a new app in its start-up stages, could quite possibly be a game changer for Ecommerce. Ecommerce sales are certainly rising steadily year-over-year. In 2012, E-commerce sales topped $1 Trillion for the first time. But, think about the items you are likely to purchase online. They are items of certainty. However, if you had the ability to “try on” flat screen tvs, couches and appliances at home…likely, online purchasing behavior would change. If you play in the Ecommerce space with big ticket items, I suggest you get on the Augment train. I, for one, know that if I can place a new sofa in my living room and love it, I’m IN!

I do have a few subtle critiques of Augment. The app is a little hard to navigate. It requires a lot of work on the part of the user to make it fully functional. Hopefully these finite details will work out as the product grows in popularity. If it does, I urge home furnishing companies to get on board. Put the couch in the palm of consumers’ hands, in the landscape of their own living rooms and VOILA! You have instantly increased your average order value for Ecommerce!

I’ve been hearing more and more about parenting blogging that’s really capturing marketer’s attention.  I think it really hit home for me last week, when one of my favorite shows from childhood, Sunday Morning, (what can I say? The nature stories captivated me) did a piece on daddy bloggers. Recently, I went to lunch with On Ideas’ social media strategist and mom blogger, Nadia Jones; I thought this was something I really need to learn more about.

Not being a mom myself, I just assumed their blogging consisted primarily of swapping recipes, deciding whether Pampers or Huggies were the better brand of diaper, or the likes thereof. After lunching with Nadia Jones, founder of the Niche Mommy Network and Conference, her second successful blogging venture, I realize my thoughts on this have been very wrong.  Nadia’s insights literally made my jaw drop… a few times. Marketers are paying close attention!  Upon further research, I found mom bloggers are 21% more likely than the general blogging population to be approached by a brand. And that Mommy bloggers / women not only control 97% of the purchasing power in any given household (58% of all online buys are done by women.) I now know that bloggers view posting as a means of not only sharing the brand with their fans, but as a means for promoting that brand as any good marketer would do.  I had no clue how big the world of parenting blogging had become, nor that I was working with one of its rising stars.  On Friday, I discovered that Nadia was listed on Mommy Noir’s, “Mom on a Mission: 10 Mompreneurs on a Mission” list.   Ah ha!  Is this what President and CEO of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer, was thinking when she mandated that all Yahoo employees work in the office?  I guess connecting with our colleague can prove worthy. In my case, I might have missed the birth of mom bloggers, but you can be sure now I’ll be watching it continue to develop.