Things: TweetDeck, A True Time Saver

At first when I was trying to come up with an idea for this blog, I kept drawing a blank. I've been so swamped with work that I haven't had much time to focus on my own social media presence. However, while working it came to me, so hopefully you'll find this thing as useful as I do!

TweetDeck

As a social media marketer, I find that I'm constantly on Facebook and Twitter for work, however, I also have my own personal Twitter and Facebook account. I found that constantly logging on and off or opening up a number of tabs was growing old. With so many social media accounts, it was becoming time consuming, frustrating  and a little confusing. I took a social media marketing class in college and I vaguely remembered the TA giving a presentation on something called TweetDeck. I decided to check it out. 

I became hooked immediately. I've been using it for about two weeks now and it has proven to be a valuable tool. So what is TweetDeck? TweetDeck is a organizational device for all things social media related. One can put all their social media platforms all on one page. One can connect their Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Google Buzz accounts so that they are easily accessible and all in one place. TweetDeck splits each account into clearly labeled columns. You can also tweet and update your Facebook status directly from TweetDeck, making it so that you never have to open a separate tab again! Unfortunately, Google+ hasn't gotten in on the action yet, but I'm sure they will.

If you aren't really into social media, than this probably isn't for you, but if you are, I would definitely check it out!

Song of the Month: Capital Cities--Safe and Sound

Celilo Inn and Media Marketing

The Columbia River Gorge is one of the most beautiful places in America. The Dalles is located on the Oregon side of the Columbia River in the Gorge. When visiting The Dalles, one never has to wonder what they can do with activities ranging from hiking, visiting wineries and vineyards, windsurfing and kite boarding, to visiting museums and other historical spots. Lucky for the Celilo Inn, they are located in The Dalles. Furthermore, they are located on top of a hill, allowing for the rooms to have a beautiful scenic view of The Dalles Dam. Originally an old run down motel, now under new ownership, the motel got a makeover, transforming itself into the sleek Celilo Inn. Only around since 2009, the hotel is fairly new. Since it is so new, getting the Celilo name out there is crucial. In today's world, the best way to do this is through the Internet, specifically social media.Celilo Inn seems to realize this, as they have everything set up to have a successful social media presence. With a website, blog, Facebook, Twitter and TripAdvisor page, Celilo has what they need to succeed. However, the real question is whether or not they are utilizing these platforms to the best of their ability and the answer is no.
Online OverviewBefore analyzing the specific social media platforms that Celilo Inn utilizes, I thought it would be important to see what their online presence looks like so far. Using Social Mention and Google Insights I quickly realized that although Celilo has everything in place, they definitely are barely making a dent in the online world. With Social Mention I took two snapshots prior to my research. The snapshot on the left was taken on April 4th, 2011 and the snapshot on the right was taken April 9th, 2011. 

Snapshots taken from socialmention.com on April 4th and 9th

From these two snapshots it is painfully obvious that Celilo Inn is not doing nearly enough to create an online presence. However, the one very positive attribute to be taken from these snapshots is that when people actually do talk about Celilo Inn, they are incredibly passionate about it.

Since the hotel is relatively new, I decided to take a look at Google Insights to see how their online presence has been since the hotel opened.

Snapshot from Google Insights

What really struck me was how minimal the online presence is. However, I suspect that the huge spike that occurred  in 2010 can be attributed to the Ferrari Club of America. In mid July, 2010 the Washington Chapter of the Ferrari Club drove down to The Dalles and stated at the Celilo Inn. In the months leading up to this event Celilo Inn received press from news reporters, journalists, newspapers, and bloggers. I suspect that this is why there is such a large spike in online presence. However, rather than riding that buzz, Celilo let it die out!Celilo Inn's WebsiteAlthough not directly associated with social media, a companies website is crucial. Typically the official website is the first stop for a person searching a company. And from personal experience, if the official website does not look sleek and is difficult to navigate I automatically wonder about the validity of the company. Initially, at first the Celilo Inn website seems to be put together well. It looks sleek and professional. However, upon a closer look, it can be immensely improved. 

Snapshot of Celiloinn.com

The first thing that must be improved is their links. Some of their links do not stand out, thus going unnoticed. It is important that links, especially links for hotel reservations stand out. If people don't notice them they won't click on them!

Furthermore, once you look down past the masthead, the website becomes incredibly cluttered and wordy. "When designing [it is important to] consider such things as scrolling distance, and scrolling frequency" (Wodtke, 9). Chances are, people aren't scrolling to the bottom of the page. Additionally, just like the links, the events and special deals that are listed on their website all look the same so it is difficult to decipher what is important and what isn't.

Regarding social media, what is glaringly absent from the website is the lack of central links to their social media pages. At the top of the website there should be a central location for links to the Celilo blog, Facebook, Twitter and Trip Advisor page. However, these links are spread out throughout the page.

Celilo Inn's Blog


According to Blogging For Guests--a blog dedicated to blogging tips for hotels--it is important for hoteliers to remember that "[n]o blog is an island. [Hotel blogs must] leave their little world, and participate in online discussions if [they] want to increase interest in what [they] write." This is something that the Celilo Inn Blog does not do.

The most glaring mistake that the Celilo Inn blog makes is that the appearance is inconsistent with the website. The blogs appearance is incredibly amateurish. In no way does the blog look like a blog that belongs to a professional, official hotel.

Snapshot from Celiloinn.wordpress.com

In the blog post "14 Lessons About Blogging I've Learned in the Past Year" the number four tip states that blog design is important. If a blog's appearance is bland and unprofessional looking, people won't read it.

Furthermore, similar to the website, nowhere on the blog is there a central location with links to the rest of Celilo Inn's social media. Providing links to their website, Facebook, Twitter and Trip Advisor page is incredibly important. 

In addition, the blog posts themselves are relatively uninteresting. They tend to be very short blurbs about events the hotel has hosted or special deals. While having these posts is fine, including longer posts with pictures, videos and links would make the blog more interesting. Furthermore, having posts that are not always 100% about the hotel would not be a bad idea either. Some examples would be:

• A detailed post about how Celilo got its name and the history of the Celilo Indian tribe that the hotel is named after.
• Focusing on the environment and what the Celilo Inn is doing to be environmentally conscious
• A more detailed review of the events that they have hosted with pictures, links and videos if possible. 

Celilo Inn's Facebook

Facebook is universally popular. It seems that everyone has a Facebook nowadays regardless of age. This being said, having a company Facebook is a great way to reach your target market and help spread the word about your organization! Aware of this, Celilo Inn created their own Facebook Fan Page. However, just merely having a Facebook page isn't good enough, especially with so many pages out there!

The first thing I noticed about the Fan Page is that, just like their website and blog, they are not consistent or obvious with their links. On the Info tab they only have a link to their website. It is important that they include links to their blog, Twitter and Trip Advisor page.

Additionally, the Celilo posts are almost identical to the blog posts and posts on their website. When it comes to consistency, they are almost too consistent to a fault. By not having any variation between their sites, it does not provide any incentive for people to hop from one Celilo Inn site to another. The other posts involve contests for one free night at Celilo Inn or a discount. However, while people seem to respond well to these contests, there are so many contests that people have lost interest in them.

Snapshot of Celilo Inn's Facebook page

The independent hotel Humphrey's Half Moon Inn has a pretty decent Facebook Fan Page. While some of their posts are from their blog, many of their posts involve uploading photos that their guests have sent them from their stay, posting polls, or videos about events going on near or at the hotel.  They also post often,  thus giving visitors of the site something new to look at every time they visit the page!

Another thing that Celilo Inn should really improve upon is responding to fans comments. Already, commenting is minimal so it is important that when comments do occur that Celilo Inn responds to them. Furthermore, while most of the comments left on the page are positive, there are a few negative ones. These comments have never been addressed. Because of this, it appears that Celilo does not listen to their guests even if they do.  Responding to comments will let their guests and fans know that they are listening and are interested in what they have to say.

Celilo Inn's Twitter

Although it hasn't taken off quite the same way, Twitter is still incredibly popular and influential. "Some hotels are using their Twitter feeds to create a persona, essentially giving life to their hotel," states a BNET article "Hotels Are Jumping on the Social Media Bandwagon."

Celilo Inn must have realized this when they created their Twitter page. 

I found the Celilo Inn Twitter page by accident. I thought it surprising that they had not created a Twitter but there was no mention or link to a Twitter page anywhere on their website, blog or Facebook. Assuming that they didn't have a Twitter I decided to find out if anyone was tweeting about the hotel by doing an advanced search on Twitter. To my surprise what came up was the Celilo Twitter page. However, once I clicked on it, it made sense as to why there was no link to the page anywhere on their other sites. The last tweet had been on the 19th of August, 2009. 

Snapshot of Celilo Inn Twitter

As I see it, Celilo Inn has two options:

1. If they don't want to maintain their twitter, they should delete the account all together. While they don't have access to their Twitter readily available, people will still be able to find it. If potential guests see that the Celilo Twitter has been inactive for two years, they may judge the hotel based on this.
2. Sense they have a Twitter set up, use it!

I think it makes most sense, and would be beneficial to the hotel to go with the second option--go live with their Twitter once again! Even though it will take hard work and time, in the end it will only help them, provided they do a good job and maintain the site. 

Celilo Inn and TripAdvisor

In today's world, when it comes to booking hotels, reviews are everything. Most people read the reviews and the reviews that stick with them unfortunately are the negative ones. It doesn't matter how many positive reviews there are, people will find the one negative one and take this one into consideration when booking. This being said, review sites such as TripAdvisor are incredibly important. Even more important is addressing these comments. "Ignoring negative guest comments won't make them go away and your future guests are reading them," says Neil Salerno a blogger for EHotelier.com--a website dedicated to providing hoteliers with  online marketing strategies. 

If you go to Celilo Inn's TripAdvisor Page they already have 31 reviews. While most are favorable  the bad reviews are BAD. Unfortunately for Celilo Inn the first review that comes up is this one:

Snapshot from Tripadvisor.com

Since this the first review that people will see, it is important that Celilo respond to it to alleviate the customer as well as let people reading the review know that Celilo listens to their customers. Again, unfortunately for Celilo Inn, one must scroll back 3 average reviews before they get to this shining review:

Snapshot from Tripadvisor.com

People are talking about Celilo and are rating and reviewing it. Celilo Inn must get in there and begin responding to these reviews, otherwise regardless of the sentiment of the review, people will begin to think that their voice doesn't matter regardless.

Summary

As stated, Celilo Inn has set up everything they need to succeed. I believe that a combination of these suggestions, time, energy and hard work that Celilo Inn will increase their online presence and consequently their sales. 

For a short version of this blog, check out my PowerPoint. 

Celilo inn and social media marketing

View more presentations from Cassandra McCann

Resources:

Li, Charlene and Josh Bernoff. Groundswell. Harvard Business Press. 2008.

Wodtke, Christina and Austin Govella. Information Architecture. New Riders Press. 2009.

http://www.blogforguests.com/

http://www.bnet.com/blog/travel/hotels-are-jumping-on-the-social-media-bandwagon/2403

http://ehotelier.com/hospitality-news/item.php?id=D18953_0_11_0_M

Swan Dive Into The Viral Marketing Campaign Of Your Life

I began monitoring Old Spice's online media presence back in February and ever since then I have noticed a consistent influx in popularity.  As mentioned in my last blog, Old Spice took the internet by storm last February with their campaign “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like.” Ever since then Old Spice has maintained a strong online presence. This past June, Old Spice and spokesperson Isaiah Mustafa took over social media again with their personal YouTube commercials that were addressed to individual Twitter followers and Facebook fans. After this marketing stunt, Old Spice gained even more fans. However, since June Old Spice and Isaiah Mustafa lied low. It was not until this past month that they released a new series of commercials for their new Fresh Collection. Since the release of their latest commercial “Scent Vacation,” buzz is growing once again for Old Spice. This being said, “Scent Vacation” has not yet transformed into the viral sensation that Old Spice’s original commercials were.


Changes In Online Presence 
 When I first reported Old Spice’s internet presence the commercial had only been online for about a month, it was not very prominent on television so anyone that knew about it had probably searched for or was already friends with Old Spice or Isaiah Mustafa. Throughout the social media project I checked Social Mention five different times between February 15^th and March 23^rd. The image below shows all five snapshots. The online buzz surrounding Old Spice has been slowly, yet steadily increasing since the start of the new Fresh Collection campaign. In the last two weeks, the Old Spice reach has drastically increased alongside the passion.

Information found on SocialMention.com

After watching the new commercials for the Fresh Collection, I personally still believe that Old Spice are still hilarious and incredibly effective. I believe one of the reasons why this campaign has not taken off as quickly is due to the lack of engagement Old Spice had with their fans between campaigns. Since the personalized YouTube videos back in July, Old Spice and Isaiah Mustafa have not done much, thus decreasing any buzz that they originally had cultivated. This is apparent in the graph from Google Insights.

Graph found on www.google.com/insights/search/#

As the graph shows, their online campaign this past summer was incredibly effective, however rather than riding that hype Old Spice let the buzz promptly die. I believe that the goal for Old Spice is to continue their campaign as well as to try and get back the popularity that they had in 2010.

Goals for Twitter and Facebook
There are a number of routes that Old Spice could take since they already have a strong fan base on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. The first thing I noticed about their Facebook and Twitter page is that other than the personal YouTube messages, they do not comment or tweet their fans and followers back. However, Isaiah Mustafa does tweet back occasionally. Although Old Spice’s tweets are hilarious, they need to do more than just tweet random hilarities. If they consistently tweet people back that will definitely increase their notoriety. This will also increase their online fan base since it will get out that Old Spice responds to as many of their fans as possible.

Furthermore, in regards to the periodic personalized messages on YouTube, while well received, the number one complaint is that the majority of responses were to celebrities and other well known persons. While targeting celebrities helps get the Old Spice message out since celebrities have thousands of followers, they also are simultaneously sending out a message to all their non-celebrity fans that their voice and opinion does not matter. If they included more videos to their “average” fans this would help reassure the public that Old Spice and Isaiah Mustafa care about them just as much as their celebrity counterparts.

Another thing I noticed when looking at some of the negative comments is that people still refer to the smell of Old Spice as smelling like old man. Although the commercials they currently have address how good their products smell, if they addressed the old man smell that would be a highly effective way to beat the negative press to the punch. The writers are highly talented at random, witty humor and I think that if done in the right way, having Isaiah Mustafa make a joke about the old man smell could not only help put an end to this criticism as well as maintain the viral popularity of their commercials.

One last recommendation I would have is to offer competitions for the “manliest man.” This could entail people tweeting or posting the most epic thing that they have done in the style of the Old Spice Guy. The winner could receive their own personalized YouTube video and Old Spice products.

Old Spice has started an internet campaign that is unlike any others. Now that they have so many people following them, it is time for them to keep the momentum going and really begin talking with their customers not just at them.        

On that note, I will leave you all with one of the newest commercials for the Old Spice Fresh Collection.

New Media for Old Spice

I have decided to monitor Old Spice for the media monitoring project. This idea came to me an hour into watching spokesman Isaiah Mustafa's hilarious Old Spice commercials. If a company that sells deodorant could keep me entertained and engaged for hours, they had to be doing something right! In order to monitor Old Spice, I used a number of sources thus far. My primary source has been Addict-O-Matic, followed by Ice Rocket , Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

 

Old Spice

In case you are unaware, Old Spice is a company focusing on male hygiene. They sell a variety of antiperspirant, deodorant, body wash, body spray and men's fragrances. While Old Spice has been around since 1938, the brand really started to become a household name when Proctor & Gamble bought it 1990. However, up until recently, Old Spice was associated with older men. Personally, I know my Grandpa always used Old Spice, and my father uses Old Spice as well. While this demographic is important, Old Spice's competitor Axe which was established in 1983 has been focusing on young men between the ages of 16-30. In a (successful) attempt to capture this target market while maintaining their older market as well, Old Spice introduced new commercials featuring Isaiah Mustafa. These commercials were and still are a hit, they also went viral, propelling Old Spice into the groundswell. 

Commercials

The following is the first commercial featuring Isaiah Mustafa. It was released on television about a year ago.

Not only was it a hit with television viewers, it also exploded on the internet. As of Tuesday, March 15 the video already has 30,533, 560 views on YouTube. This is incredible for a television commercial, especially one advertising something as mundane and necessary as deodorant. With this commercial, Old Spice and spokesperson Isaiah Mustafa launched themselves into the groundswell, with people wanting to communicate with the Old Spice Man, and demanding more commercials. 

These commercials focused on women, but in a way unlike that of Axe. Old Spice presents itself as both a woman's man and a man's man product. It shows that by using Old Spice not only will women be attracted to you but that men will envy you as well. Furthermore, it does not portray women in a demeaning, sexist way. 

Old Spice's newest commercials focus on their new line of products for their Fresh Collection. Here is there latest commercial:

This commercial was released February 1st, 2011 and it already has 3, 977, 641 views as of Tuesday, March 15th. 

Since the release of these commercials, fans have been wondering how they are filmed. Rather than tweeting and Facebook commenting each question, Old Spice created a short behind the scenes YouTube video in response.

Twitter and YouTube

Twitter has been a valuable asset to the Old Spice campaign. As of the first week of March, Old Spice had over 120,000 followers on Twitter whereas AXE had little over 1,500 followers. Furthermore, the Old Spice Man Isaiah Mustafa is a huge force on twitter as well, having over 52,000 followers.

 Since the Old Spice commercials were such a hit, Old Spice created a Twitter campaign where Isaiah Mustafa would address fans' tweets through a YouTube video. This was better than a reply. Not only was Old Spice listening and talking with their fans, they were making personalized commercials for them as well.

Here are a few examples:

Summary

What I've found so far in my research is that people are talking about Old Spice. They are on Twitter and Facebook talking directly with Old Spice and Isaiah Mustafa, but even more impressively they are talking about Old Spice on their own. There are countless tweets and Facebook comments as well as blog entries that mention feeling manlier now that they use Old Spice or women saying that they wish they could buy Old Spice but since they can't they buy it for their boyfriends and husbands instead. By harnessing humor, creativity and the internet, Old Spice has created an unstoppable media presence that can only go up from here!

Face Value of Facebook

After continuing to read Groundswell, the focus on transparency paired with various social media sites has got me wondering, what's with Facebook?

From the beginning, Groundswell has put an emphasis on not only talking with customers, but  listening to them as well.  Keeping this in mind, chapters 9 and 10 provide ways as well as case studies of companies that are doing both--they are having a conversation. "[B]y embracing the groundswell, you can move more quickly" (Li, 183). While there are still some members of society that are unfamiliar with social media, the majority of the world are active members on social media sites. Most people have a Facebook account, a Twitter account, a MySpace account or all three! Being familiar these sites, and being participants on the internet, when companies do something that we love or hate, most of us do not hesitate to start leaving comments, tweets, messages etc. demanding change. The case study of Dell provided a prime example of transparency as well as conversation. When their laptops and computers kept breaking down or even catching on fire combined with less than par customer service Dell customers stormed the internet with furious comments. In order to save their image Dell created their own blog.They laid everything out as well as listened to customers. "For Dell, listening and then acting was the crucial first step for its new social strategy" (207). So, what does all this have to do with Facebook?

Facebook is the number one social site. Almost everyone has a Facebook account. However, while we have no problem voicing our opinions and demanding change from other sites, we are rather passive when it comes to Facebook.

Old Facebook Layout

New Facebook Layout

                                                
It seems that for being the biggest social media site--the voice of the people--it actually is the least transparent. Usually once every few months Facebook changes their site layout without consulting their 200 million users. Once the site layout changes, the users are in an uproar, everyone's status and wall comment is in regards to how much they hate the change, hate the new layout. However, Facebook never changes the site back, and they continue to change the layout randomly every few months. They are not listening to their customers. This being said, they don't have to. We don't leave, there is not a mass exodus. Facebook doesn't need us, we need it. They know they can do what they want because Facebook has become such an integral  part of our lives that we'd rather be inconvenienced time and time again than really truly demand change. Furthermore, Facebook's privacy settings are always on the news.

Since Facebook started in 2004, it has been plagued with privacy issues. They are constantly getting in trouble for violating the rights and privacy of their users whether by selling their information, creating less than adequate privacy settings or by merely stating that any content posted  belongs to them, Facebook is not exactly "user friendly." All things considered, is it me or is it strange that while we demand transparency and conversation for most corporations, we are willing to let Facebook run the show? I don't know about you, but that doesn't sit right with me.

Egypt and the Social Media Revolution

As I'm sure many of you are aware, Egypt has been in a state of full fledged revolution the last few weeks and social media has been at the forefront of that revolution. Back in 2009 the world saw a similar social media effect when it came time for Iran's elections. During these elections, Twitter played a key role in not only promoting a revolution but also keeping the rest of the world informed as to what was truly going on. This was a case of freedom of speech and word-of-mouth at its finest. Throughout the Iranian campaign mass media took a back seat and information was spread not through CNN  or The New York Times but through individuals facing the difficulties in Iran first hand--through 140 characters or less. Despite the government restricting mass media, social networkings sites including Twitter and YouTube stepped up to the plate, providing the Iranian people with a format for their voices to be heard, providing them a way to revolutionize their country. At the time the world did not look to the news as their primary source of information, instead they turned to social networking sites and YouTube, proving that a tweet of a first hand account is more valuable than a news reporters outsiders point of view. Now in 2011 we see a similar thing happening with Egypt.

The people of Egypt have harnessed the influence of both Twitter and Facebook to help overthrow the government. While revolutions can occur and have occurred without the assistance of social media, it is now clear that in the 21st century, having a following and a voice on the web is just as crucial as having a following and a voice in "real life." Once again, through the use of social media, the people of Egypt were able to unite in a way that may not have been possible without the help of the Internet. Furthermore, through social media, the world has been able to keep up with the political happenings in real time and on a more personal level. Social media has provided a voice for the voiceless. Now anyone can speak their mind, now anyone has an opportunity to change their world.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2009/06/17/DI2009061702232.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thecutline/20110211/ts_yblog_thecutline/social-media-plays-role-in-egypt-some-expected-in-iran