By Patricia Wilson, founder of BrandCottage

This blog originally appeared as part of a series of contributions to Ann Tran’s blog, “An Expectation To Be Young In Social Media?” Ten of Ann’s social media friends were asked to respond to the statement: To work online or in new media, there’s an expectation for you to be young.” The following is my response:


My clients want two things: brand insights and knowledge based on my years of marketing experience and proof that I can harness technology within the media landscape to deliver customers.


What’s unique today is that innovation happens at such a rapid pace, we no longer experience the generational adoption gaps. My son blogs. So do I. My young staffers tweet, pin and Facebook. So do I.


What about working in the high-tech world? Are younger people better? Can older people still contribute?


Age doesn’t matter. But you have to stay innovative, passionate and adaptive to change. You can’t be stuck in the past.


Hiring young people does help keep everyone current and moving forward. Experienced workers contribute with business insights that come only from years of experience.


Please feel free to share your thoughts on this topic.


Patricia Wilson is the founder of BrandCottage, a media marketing company with offices in New York, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

By Patricia Wilson, founder of BrandCottage

Arguably, in 2008, social media emerged as a marketing staple. So, what have we learned about the benefits of social networking? Does everyone benefit: business-to-consumer and business-to-business companies? Or, is social media just a tool for Lady Gaga and other megastars?


SmartPulse, a quickie poll from SmartBrief on Social Media, asked marketing leaders to identify who has most benefited from social media engagement. Top on the list of beneficiaries:

• Business-to-consumer companies (32 percent).
• Celebrities (31 percent).

In the early stages of social media experimentation, I’d say that’s about right. Does it mean that social media isn’t working for others, such as media companies and business-to-business organizations? Of course not. There are hundreds of case studies demonstrating the power of social engagement for all kinds of businesses.

The Right Social Media Mindset

What is true, frankly, is that business-to-consumer companies are often the leaders in innovative marketing. They’ve demonstrated their prowess in traditional marketing and they continue to lead the way with new media strategies. Why? Because business-to-consumer companies make brand image part of the corporate fabric (think Apple and Ford, for example).


Social media cannot be thought of as just another marketing gimmick. In her SmartBrief blog, social media consultant Mirna Bard is right on target: “It takes a mindset shift, time, willingness to learn and commit, as well as consistency. These elements combined with the right strategy and tools can be powerful for any business or person, whether they are using it for training, internal communication, prospecting or even to become a celebrity.”


In other words, it takes a 360-degree cultural shift and commitment for social media to work. It is no small task for some organizations to move from defensive, controlling, top-down driven organizations to ones that are open to 24/7 engagement and, yes, even criticism.

Looking Ahead on Social Engagement

In The State of Corporate Social Media in 2011, from the Useful Social Media Community, 50 percent of U.S. companies said they still do not have a staff member devoted to social media. However, all U.S. companies surveyed said that social media is becoming a more important part of the marketing strategy and 29 percent project social media budgets to increase by 100 percent or more in 2011.


“Whilst marketing and communications retain their dominance as the main reason companies use social, customer service, employee engagement and product development all see significant growth [in the United States and Europe],” according to the report.

What is Social Media Worth?

Is social engagement worthwhile? The real answer to this question, for many companies, is unknown. Most do not measure social media ROI. But when you look at leading companies — Dell, Starbucks, Ford, Coca Cola and Apple, for example — it is easy to see the power of social media as a marketing tool.

Companies are still learning about social media’s power. For some, the transition has been easy (they had open cultures to begin with). For others, it’s going to require more than establishing a Facebook page or Twitter feed. It will mean substantial cultural shifts.


Or, as Lady Gaga sings: Baby I was born this way.

Patricia Wilson is the founder of BrandCottage, a media marketing company with offices in New York, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

By Patricia Wilson


The iPad. Promoted tweets. Interactive ads. Which hot new trends have merit for advertising? Getting to the soul of marketing. These were just some of the main topics covered at the 2010 Ad Age Digital Conference held April 13 and 14 in New York.


BrandCottage was on hand at the conference. Here are some of the event’s highlights:

Best speaker: Jim Farley, group vice president of global marketing at Ford Motor Co.


Farley, who is the cousin of the late comedian, Chris Farley, explained that Ford is riding a wave of advertising success based on the “democratization of marketing.” In both digital and traditional marketing, he explained, Ford puts the brand in the hands of real consumers. “That’s what digital has shown us: how to earn credibility among consumers,” he said.


One out of every four advertising dollars spent by Ford goes to digital, including social media. “Social media has shown the importance of being authentic, even in traditional media,” Farley noted.


Few could argue with Farley’s authenticity. At 16, he purchased his dream car, a Ford Mustang. “To be good at marketing, you have to understand the soul of what you’re selling,” he said.


See Ford’s Jim Farley Says Recession Was a Blessing for Digital in Advertising Age for full story.


Biggest news: Twitter COO Dick Costolo announced promoted tweets. It was refreshing to hear from Costolo that consumers and advertisers have a “wait and see what happens” attitude about the acceptance of promoted tweets and that Twitter was going to move ahead carefully (testing of promoted tweets began during the conference).


“We wanted to do something that just enhances the conversation that companies are already having with their customers on Twitter,” Costolo said. Of course, Twitter also needs to build a revenue model to capitalize on the company’s reported 50 million daily tweets — a fact not lost on attendees.


Twitter’s initial version of promoted tweets — in the form of keyword ads — will appear in search results. Later the ads will appear in user feeds on Twitter and on third-party clients such as TweetDeck, TwitterBerry and Tweetie, which Twitter recently acquired.


In short, each ad is a tweet that will appear at the top of a search. The promotional tweet can be re-tweeted, just as a regular tweet is passed around today. Costolo said ads would be available on a CPM-basis.


See Chats, Stats and Secrets about Twitter in Advertising Age for more information.


Biggest antagonist: Yahoo! Scientist Duncan Watts, who questioned the value of tweets.


Watts reported that, based on his research, a tweet’s average influence score is 0.28 people. “Most of them will send tweets and no one else re-tweets,” he said. “A lot of times, not that many people are listening on Twitter.”


However, Watts did not discount the value of thousands or millions of many-to-many connections. In fact, he said that advertisers would get more value from a lot of small influencers than from a big influencer such as Kim Kardashian, at $10,000 per tweet.


“If you recruit enough people who, on average, influence just one other person, you could get a much better return on investment,” he said.


Best quote: “I’ve seen the future and it’s covered in greasy fingerprints,” said Simon Dumenco, Ad Age’s Media Guy.


Dumenco gave a lighthearted speech on the transformational power of the iPad, for which he believes fingerprints are about the only down side of the device. Still, he added, publishers have only begun to scratch the surface of the iPad’s potential. “So far, the iPad’s killer app is demo-ing the iPad,” said Dumenco, quoting technologist Ben Rosen.


Cautious optimism: Digital is here to stay and marketers are getting on board in big ways. However, most CMOs and brand marketers say they are not hopping on the next shinny thing just to be first. “We never hop on the next hot thing, but the iPad made a lot of sense for us,” said Vivian Schiller, president and CEO of NPR.


For companies such as Dell, however, it’s full speed ahead. “Dell is a total digital company and it’s part of our corporate DNA,” said Dell CMO Erin Nelson. On Twitter, Nelson said the social media platform “has collapsed our customer feedback cycle and dramatically improved product development.”


In conclusion: Understanding how consumers use various media, how they react with online ads and why they join social networks in the first place — these are all important strategy questions for branders. We’ve moved way past mere reach and frequency.


What is clear is that (1) no single media owns the consumer and (2) the consumer now has a lot of influence. Smart marketers understand that consumers now seek authentic and trustworthy brands — new realities thanks to digital and social media.


Patricia Wilson is the founder of BrandCottage, a media marketing company with offices in New York, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

By Patricia Wilson


It’s about time! This month, five major magazine heavyweights announced they will join forces to collectively “promote the vitality of magazines as a medium.” The Power of Print campaign — targeting advertisers, media buyers and other industry marketing influencers — will roll out in April.


The five magazine companies — Condé Nast, Hearst Magazines, Meredith Corporation, Time Inc. and Wenner Media — claim this is “one of the largest print advertising campaigns ever created” in support of magazine advertising.


With the support of the Magazine Publishers of America (MPA), the campaign is scheduled for seven months, will include nearly 100 titles (both print and online) for a combined reach of 112 million readers each month.


One of my favorite advertising headlines from the campaign:“Will the Internet Kill Magazines? Did Instant Coffee Kill Coffee?”


As a 20-year veteran of media planning, I can tell you that print still matters in the advertising mix. Digital is the new kid in town and it’s gotten a fair amount of advertising attention over the last couple of years. However, finally, publishers and advertisers see a clear reader pattern — or lack of pattern, if you will — that’s emerging. Readers want choice. That includes print, digital, mobile, iPad and whatever else may come down the pike.

The benefits of magazine print: the intrinsic value of the glossy format, quality design, long-form journalism, beautiful photography and highly engaged readers.

Citing third-party data, the Magazine Publishers of America reports a healthy consumer outlook for magazines, compared to other media. Tops on its  highlight list is the fact that magazine readership has increased over the last five years. Yes, there has been a shift in readership and advertising to online. Despite the “Magazines Hemorrhage Cash” strories, more than 90 percent of Americans say they read magazines.

Print Versus Online Advertising

Magazine print continues to provide many advertising strengths: the intrinsic value of the glossy format, quality design, long-form journalism, beautiful photography and highly engaged readers. Of course, digital has its own set of intrinsic strengths: e-commerce, clickability, interactivity and trackability — to name a few.


Apple, for example, one of the most iconic brands in the world, fully understands the power of print. Even though Apple, itself, is a digital company. Magazines, for Apple, remain a cornerstone for their branding initiatives and product launches. This is true for many other top brands, as well.

Multimedia Integration

The lesson here, for marketers, is to look beyond the hype of digital to achieve desired results. All media can be valuable. Not all media can achieve all goals. Seasoned marketers understand that. In today’s multimedia world, integrated plans often work best — allowing advertisers to account for different readership styles, preferences and needs for various degrees of engagement levels.


Kudos to the magazine publishers for standing up for print and putting the facts out there. Magazine publishers, of course, have been wise to address the digital shift: adding multi-platform options, social engagement and integration strategies to the mix. But this is no reason to throw magazine print properties under the bus.


Patricia Wilson is the founder of BrandCottage, a media marketing company with offices in New York, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

By Barry Lawrence


When launching a social media engagement strategy, to pull consumers into brands, it’s important that companies begin to appreciate the many styles, tolerances and expectations that consumers bring to social networking. If your social media program is stuck in the mud, it may be that you are turning some customers away with a one-size-fits-all engagement strategy.


To help marketers account for different social media behaviors, Forrester Research created a Social Technographics®, classification system that places consumers into six overlapping levels of preferred participation (see Forrester’s Groundswell site and book for more details — highly recommended by BrandCottage). This week, Forrester announced a seventh rung, the Conversationalists, to account for “the very active communication style that has arisen recently within social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook,” said Forrester Analyst Emily Riley in her blog post, A New Rung on the Social Technographics Ladder.


To clarify, the bottom of the ladder represents the most passive level of social media participation; at the top of the ladder, we find the Creators, the most active social media participants. With each brand and social media program, marketers are wise to account for the predominate style or, more likely, styles of their target consumers.


Here’s how consumer social media styles break down, from top to bottom in terms of levels of engagement, according to data from the groundswell blog (note that Forrester has placed Conversationalists between Creators and Critics.:

• Creators, 24 percent of adults.
• Conversationalists, 33 percent.
• Critics, 37 percent.
• Collectors, 20 percent.
• Joiners, 59 percent.
• Spectators, 70 percent.
• Inactives, 17 percent.

In practice with our clients, rather than getting too hung up in the profile percentages of a company’s target consumers, BrandCottage thinks it’s best to account for all the styles in creating a well-rounded social media program. The goal of any social media program, when done correctly, should be to move consumers as far up the engagement ladder as possible, while still leaving room for spectators and joiners to get value from their social media interactions with your brand.


However, we most certainly need to account for the growing number of Conversationalists on sites such as Twitter and Facebook.


“Conversationalists intrigue me,” said Josh Bernoff in the groundswell blog. (Bernoff, along with Forrester’s Charlene Li, are the authors of Groundswell. ” They’re 56 percent female, more than any other group in the ladder. While they’re among the youngest of the groups, 70 percent are still 30 and up.”


“By following Conversationalists, you get free consumer insights,” noted Riley in her blog. “Conversationalists are your customers and they are talking about you. Listen to them.”


Indeed. Listen and begin to engage with your consumers. Participation on the high end of the ladder will continue to grow. If you haven’t already, now is the time to build a solid social media foundation.


Related BrandCottage posts: Why I’m a Power Tweeter on Twitter and The Essential 7 Ps of Social Media Relations. Also, see PR Squared’s blog post on Forrester’s Social Technographics Ladder.


Barry Lawrence is a BrandCottage partner in charge of public relations and social media relations.