Twitter Flash Mob: A Social Experiment

February 17, 2012 by Leave a comment

My colleagues and twitter nation had a little mischievous fun this week. Over the last few years most large technology events have some sort of Twitter board that streams the event member tweets using a particular hashtag. So as a colleague of mine was watching the twitter monitor he decided to send a tweet and watch it appear. Then he thought began thinking how many tweets would it take to dominate the twitter board for a short period of time. And so the Twitter Flash Mob concept was born. Given the relationship of the event sponsors and the demographic of the attendees an inside joke tweet was created based on a poorly translated arcade game phrase (#AYBABTU) that became and internet phenomenon. Clearly as I collaborate toward a holistic localization strategy for communities this is a good example of how important it is to get translations correct.

#AYBABTU

All your base are belong to us

So, the concept of a Twitter Flash Mob came to light and several of us in the network decided to send the same tweet all at the same time to see what would happen to the twitter display. I can only say it was a tremendous success and those that were familiar with AYBABTU had a good laugh and even those who didn’t, still found it amusing to watch. There is a great write-up and video of the event from the creative genius who had the original idea here Social Media Experiment 1 TbaaS.  Check it out it is pretty cool.

However, I now know what consequences we might expect from our friends at our next event which could get interesting.

Filed under B2B Marketing, Social Media, Twitter Tagged with , , , ,

Raising Social Media Marketing in a Social City

May 24, 2011 by Leave a comment

I had the privilege to support Social City at EMCWorld this year and was absolutely amazed at the coordinated effort to raise awareness that most companies only dream about. It didn’t happy by accident, it took some experienced marketers, technologists, social media experts, strategy and leadership to pull together one of the most impressive social media campaigns I have seen. So what is Social City? It is a lounge that attracts exclusive live bloggers, full community network support and education, live video streaming to ECN, tweetups, meetups, and social sites simultaneously streaming event conversations.

Marketing’s primary goal is to generate sales leads, but about five years ago we began to change how drive lead generation. Companies began trimming budgets for traditional marketing campaigns like direct mail and events and started putting energy into creating content to start conversations.  This allowed company employees to connect directly with customers, partners and prospects. The age of Social Media Marketing skyrocketed as sales and marketing teams began to realize that it was easier to sell where connections were made and relationships already established online. And EMC’s Social City was the center of this personal meetup activity at EMCWorld.

The picture Below  and to the right are examples of some of the dozen intimate meetups that were coordinated with customers, MVP’s, technical evangelists and several executives. This access to EMC knowledge experts is not only appreciated by over 8000 customers in attendance, but  is expected in the age of social media.

If you have supported these type of events, you  know there are long days on your feet, and you have to play your “A” game all the time. You’re building relationships and educating attendees, analysts and partners, showing them how to find valuable content and helping them to engage in limitless conversations on many of the social communities.

But the glory and benefit of those long days and sleepless nights working the Social City was helping to build relationships with people whom you have never met.

All of  those tweets, blog posts, press releases and video streaming generated some serious content and opportunity for attendees, non-attendees, and prospects to engage in relevant conversations that will accelerate their journey through  building trusted relationships.

Filed under B2B Marketing, Blogs, Facebook, Marketing Communication, Marketing Strategy, Social Media, Twitter Tagged with , , , ,

What is the real value of Facebook and Linkedin?

February 22, 2011 by Leave a comment

So, I finally got around to watching the movie “The Social Network”. The one line that stood out to me was when, Mark and Eduardo were having dinner in NYC with Sean Parker and he said “what is really cool is a Billion”. Well, a few years later and not only is Facebook worth a Billion but closer to fifty. My initial reaction was what is the value of the 500 Million users? Well if Facebook is worth 50 Billion then each user is valued at $100 each. And I highly doubt that Facebook users are worth $100 but our information and social habits are and that is what is interesting to prospective investors and or advertisers. This is why Facebook is valued at 50 Billion.

There are a ton of other metrics and measurements that help this valuation (why is facebook worth 50 Billion Check Out These Charts) but I still think the real value is the unfettered access to us, the Facebook users.

Now I wouldn’t think my theory would exactly work for Linkedin but it does. Linkedin has recently been evaluated at 3 Billion and if you divide that by the 60 Million users each Linkedin users value is $50. I would think that would make sense from a valuation stand point since Linkedin is certainly more of a professional network versus social so the value to advertisers and the target demographic is different as well.

It will be interesting to se how this all shakes out with Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. Sounds like IPO will be in the future for some and acquisitions for others.

What do you think the future and valuations will be for these companies?

Filed under Blogs, Facebook, Linkedin, Social Media, Twitter Tagged with , , ,

The Power of We: Social Media Helps Liberate Egypt, now Iran

February 16, 2011 by Leave a comment

My initial thoughts were can one man make a difference and apparently the answer is yes. And the power of many can change and entire nation. Wael Ghonim, is Google’s head of Marketing for the Middle East, and is thought to be the first to create the Facebook fan page organizing the January 25th protests which led to the liberation of Egypt. The most fascinating thing about this story is the role social media has played in the revolution of Egypt but also Tunisia and potentially other countries. In addition to the social network sites mobile devices were just as responsible for helping coordinate and organize the millions of protesters in Tahrir Square.

Now Facebook is at it again only with the Iran revolution. I don’t know if this is what Mark Zuckerberg had in mind but it is certainly changing the world as we know it. The people of Iran are now protesting behind a new Facebook fanpage called  25 bahman. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out and hopefully as peacefully as Egypt did.

Filed under Facebook, Social Media, Twitter, Viral Marketing Tagged with , , , , ,

← Older posts

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 1,436 other followers