Overcoming Twitter's Fleeting Influence With paper.li

One of the biggest objectives people have about Twitter is the fact that important tweets get flushed by newer important tweets and just plain disappear into the oblivion of the status page. I've tried listing people, using aggregators, notifiers, and whatever means I could, but there are still days that go by without one significant visit to Tweet Deck. Nature of the busy beast.

Recently, I ran across a tweet by @kamichat (Kami Huyse) promoting a new feature called the Kami Huyse Daily. Since she is someone I follow on Twitter regularly, I clicked and read. Kami, by the way, was an awesome presenter at the CoSIDA national convention two years ago in San Antonio and that is where her name first flashed across my screen.

Turns out that the Kami Huyse Daily is a product of paper.li (that's the URL as well), which is a free (currently anyway) tool that aggregates your daily twitter feed into a slick-looking online newspaper. Yes, they do add some of their own ads and such, but it is a great personalized visual.

For now, you can't control the content per se in your daily paper. After some messing around and messages to Kami (which she graciously answered), I found that the paper pulls from you and your followers only, and the prominence of messages are based on what you re-tweet and how many reads URLs get. I'm still learning about the tool, but I think it's a great way for tweeters and followers to get a summary of the day's tweets at times when following Twitter attentively is not possible.

Thanks to paper.li for the fun tool. Try it out--it's free and you control who sees it. There is a public/private option when you set it up. Have fun. Let me know what you think.

Branding Should Be a Sensual Experience

During a spirited discussion on branding the other day, a friend told me, "good branding should create a sensory experience--it isn't just about messaging the right slogan."  I agreed. A technical definition of sensory includes, "of or relating to sensation or to the senses" (Merriam Webster online). Branding should appeal to our sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. We agreed much of the information floating around out there on branding has to do strictly with messaging, or spin doctoring with an emphasis on consistent presentation.

But I wanted to take the discussion one step further. I asked, "shouldn't branding be a sensual experience?" Whoa. Then, the subject of sex came up in the conversation. You know, sex sells anything? Well, that wasn't exactly what I was talking about.

Sensual actually means, "relating to the gratification of the senses or the indulgence of appetite" (Merriam Webster online). Do you see the subtle difference between the two? One has to do with overall design, the other draws an emotional response.

Yes, branding is more than logos and slogans and vain repetition. But I hear a lot of discussion about written messaging and very little discussion about the importance of the rest of the presentation package. For instance, in a workshop last summer on branding, I heard a communications associate talk about the amount of time they spent devising talking points and media strategy, only to have their website and printed materials sport two completely different graphic presentations. We had (emphasis on had) an eatery in town that specialized in toasted sandwiches, but every time I walked in there, all I could smell was burned bread. That evoked a response alright. I kept thinking, "why don't they just turn on the ventilation in here?" Yes, smell solicits an emotional response. I quit going to the sandwich shop and this last year they closed down.

Yes, branding is all about messaging. But what kind of sensual messages are we creating?

image from Flickr by Lella Sodre

What Geo Apps Can Do For You - Part Two

This is the second part of a piece on geoapps written by guest blogger Cassie Cage (@cassiegage). Read part one here. Thanks to Cassie for all her valuable insights. Image from flickr (parapente)



Someone who is experienced in the use of geolocation tools is Daniel Gordon (on Twitter: @DanGordon), President of Samuel Gordon Jewelers in Oklahoma City. Gordon is a prominent figure in social media, and uses geoapps to promote his business, but also uses them to enhance his experience at other locations.

“I recently took my family to a Texas Rangers baseball game and checked-in on Foursquare and Gowalla,” Gordon said. “The ability to see whom had checked into what fan store and food venues the most gave me the information I needed to make the best decision on what vendors were the best for my attendance and therefore purchases.”

For those that are using these apps, what are some things that can be done to engage fans?

1) Work with your university

What better branding than to work with your university’s marketing/communications department to branch geolocation into a campus-wide initiative? You’ll both benefit in the long run. Foursquare recently launched its Universities campaign pilot program (http://foursquare.com/universities). You can register but not all schools will be accepted just yet. You can still go through the traditional setup process to add your schools until more schools are accepted. And, you may choose to go with a different geolocation provider.

2) Claim your venues

In order to take control of your athletic facilities; you need to claim your venues. Why? Again, you’re trying to establish a brand and geolocation presence. You really can’t do that if Super Fan is the one broadcasting behind your name.

3) Stick to promoting your venues, not specific events

Use geolocation to promote the venue and not every specific event happening at the venue. People need some consistency if you expect them to catch on. There’s an option to include text with check-in details. Leave it up the user to post why s/he is there.

4) Use specials to engage

Once you claim a venue, you have the ability to broadcast “specials” that may pop-up when a user checks-in at that venue or one nearby. Have a home volleyball match on the same day as a home soccer match? Cross-promote using this function. You can also use the specials function to provide discounts and/or other promotions for frequent users. You’d be surprised at the business already offering such discounts. Some of those may be nearby. Example: When you check-in at or near Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, a special pops up that encourages you to stop by the front lobby to pick up schedule cards and posters. Simple to do and gives people a reason to visit the venue.

5) The game aspect

One thing Foursquare offers that not all geolocation apps do is a competition aspect. Users can earn badges and become the mayor of venues. While this is intriguing to some, I really feel the use of specials and pop-ups with locations nearby is a better benefit. Some people are in it for the competition, but others aren’t. The best way to please both is to offer deals to both sides (reward after x-number of check-ins and/or reward for becoming mayor of a venue).

6) Align the brand with its belief(s)

I bring this up keeping in mind that some schools have affiliations that need to be taken into consideration if you decide to move forward with promoting check-ins on a specific geolocation platform. If you’re a religious-based institution, with badges like “bender” and “crunked”, Foursquare may not be for you.

7) Don’t spam and don’t become automated

Be careful that you’re not over-doing. All of us hate getting spam in our e-mail inboxes and the same holds true for geolocation apps. When you become automated, it turns into advertisement. While use of geolocation can be used as a form of advertisement, just making it generic and impersonal turns off users.

8) Connect with other social media

One of the things I love about Foursquare is the ability to send that information directly to Facebook and Twitter. Hopefully, your users are doing the same so others can see where they are and it promotes you (and your events). But you should be promoting what you’re doing with geolocation apps on those platforms as well.

9) Encourage your fan base to participate

Users have the ability to leave to-dos and tips, and you should encourage them to do so. More participation from fans allows them to feel more involved in the process. Plus, different individuals may provide difference experiences for others to enjoy.

10) Use public address/marketing/promotions to promote geolocation

People won’t know what you’re offering when it comes to geolocation apps unless you tell them. It’s just like promoting another event. Check with your geolocation tool developer to see if they offer any free signage or other promotional items.

11) Encourage local businesses to participate

Use your connections and local Chamber of Commerce to encourage local businesses to provide gameday specials or anyday specials and discounts via geolocation apps. Why? People are more likely to keep coming back (to you and them) and it’s free promotion for everyone involved without breaching sponsorship contracts. If that restaurant’s close to campus, chances of an athletic event special popping up are high.

12) Understanding the analytics and what to do with them

Foursquare provides analytics and it’s a great way to see a breakdown of your use of the app. But what does it mean for a business? Depending on how you want to use it, the analytics function provides you with a qualitative value to assess usage of the app. While statistics may not always tell the whole story, they offer invaluable insight that’s measurable.


Some believe 2010 is the year of geolocation, much like 2008 was the year of Twitter. It has great benefits, especially for athletics. You just have to develop a plan that works best for you and your school. And the best part? Fan interaction and customer service can be accomplished with little or no money at all.

Make the Most of Your Brand with Geolocation Apps

I am happy to introduce another guest blogger from the SID world: Cassie Gage is the Assistant Athletics Communications Director at the University of Oklahoma and someone I avidly follow on Twitter (@cassiegage). Cassie is a wiz at social media stuff and she has consented to write a two-part series here on the relevance of geolocation applications to athletics. You can follow her musings here: http://cassiegage.showitsite.com/

There’s been much discussion regarding geolocation applications such as Foursquare, Gowalla and Facebook Places to name a few. While the use of these apps on a personal and business level is common, the question remains how these geolocation tools can be used to benefit athletics. The answer is simple really and lies within functions already provided.

The best way to formulate a plan for using geolocation to benefit athletics lies within business marketing models. Money should never limit you from providing the best customer service experience possible. And while sure, there are options out there to really personalize what you want to accomplish, don’t feel turned off by the notion that you need to throw thousands of dollars into this.


Does it take time? Sure. What doesn’t these days? Is everyone in your department going to jump on board? Absolutely not. Will your fan base take to it immediately? Some more than others. Is everyone going to participate? Nope (and we’ll get into why later). Bottom line is, as with everything else, you have to start somewhere.

Will geolocation be the tool of choice in 10 years? Maybe not. Something better, greater and cooler might come along. So, why jump on it now? It’s all about brand establishment and getting in the game early – before the school across town beats you to it. Let’s face it, in an age where social media can make or break your brand in a matter of seconds, being reactive makes you come across as disengaging or uninterested in your fan base.

Someone who is experienced in the use of geolocation tools is Daniel Gordon (on Twitter: @DanGordon), President of Samuel Gordon Jewelers in Oklahoma City. Gordon is a prominent figure in social media, using a variety of platforms to convey his personal and professional messages.

“I use it as a promotion tool for my business,” Gordon said. “If someone is in the nearby vicinity, say for instance across the street at the mall, they can see that I am adding a valuable incentive to at least stop by and check-in on Foursquare. That attracts people to see what we have to offer.

“Checking in is the next layer built upon the social layer and it helps businesses and venues get endorsed if they are places that add value and are of interest to peoples' lives. It can attract attention to an otherwise unknown event and be a great tool for a person to see something they would like to attend they might have otherwise not known about. It's a win-win for everyone because in the end you are creating more value to your potential audience you haven't even discovered yet.”

Go ahead, search business geolocation tools and see what comes up. Over 375,000 results show up on Google. There’s a lot of information out there, and some of it, quite honestly, is over our heads. So how do you read through all of the technological jargon there and decipher what’s best for your department?

First, you have to develop a plan. What’s your goal? Fan experience and interaction should be at the top of that list. Who should be involved? If you have a marketing staff, they should definitely be on board. When it comes to geolocation and how it’s used, sometimes what you want to accomplish solely falls on the marketing/promotions side, but I’m of the belief that for it to be effective, communications needs to do its part to help promote. How much time are we willing to commit? If you can’t give it the time it deserves, it may not be for you. You’ll lose users if you fail to commit to the project. How should geolocation be used in regards to student-athletes? Very carefully.

While it may seem like a great idea on the business side, you can’t ignore that the other end of the equation is personal. And, that’s where things can get tricky. Why? Not everyone likes the world (or even just their friends) knowing where they are all the time or when they’re not at home. It doesn’t matter if it’s the biggest game of the century. Some people are just not interested in providing such information.

College sophomore Ben Coldagelli (on Twitter: @BenColdagelli) was first turned on to Foursquare in his hometown of Milwaukee, Wis. The benefit of using the tool was great in a city where geolocation apps were used to their full potential – providing business patrons with kickbacks. So, why has Coldagelli’s participation in geolocation declined?

“I’m to the point where I feel like checking in somewhere without a reason is a little too “big brother” for me,” Coldagelli said. “I don’t need people, even my friends, to know where I am all the time.”

This also ties into student-athletes use of geolocation. While most apps provide the ability to turn-off the broadcast function, it’s usually a setting that has to be done with every check-in. I’m of the belief that student-athletes have to make their own decisions regarding social media. Does it cause all of us headaches sometimes? Yes, but as a Generation X-er right there on the Generation Y line, I feel the pros of social media out-weight the cons. Some schools completely ban it altogether, and maybe that’s what’s best for you. But, if not, education is key.

Student-athletes need to know that even with that function turned on; it may still be possible for people to know where they are. At the doctor? No one needs to know. Superstar football player eating out at a restaurant? Does he want to be signing autographs for two hours? There’s a time and a place for checking-in and it applies to all of us (I don’t check-in at home or at the bank or anywhere that I consider extremely personal).

Simply put, checking in is a personal choice.

You also have to remember that much like social media; geolocation usage is based on demographics. In an article on Mashable, one study by Forrester showed location based service users are more likely to be 19-35 year-old, college educated males who are influential among their friends and family. But, don’t just target that age group because there are plenty of people outside that demographic that use geolocation apps.

Part Two Coming: What can geoapps do for you? By the way, how are you using them?

A note from Cassie: Please note most of these suggestions are based on my personal use of Foursquare, which is my geolocation app of choice. The suggestions listed may vary by app and some apps may not offer them at al. For more information on how to setup Foursquare to benefit your school, visit http://foursquare.com/businesses/ or http://foursquare.com/universities.

 

John Mayer Teaches Us a Big Lesson by Quitting Twitter

The news today is that John Mayer is quitting Twitter--again. Mayer, a pop singer of large stature, amassed 3.7 million followers on Twitter as a prelude to his recent "Battle With Studies" tour promoting a new album. He made news when he invited University of South Carolina fans to a free concert last February to launch his tour. But now, he says he's going back to the studio so he is quitting Twitter, closing his account and has vowed to communicate with fans via his blog.
There is a big lesson here for those of us who use Twitter for marketing and PR efforts: Twitter can be successful for short term campaigns. I have a hunch Mayer didn't just get up one day last week and decide he was tired of Twitter. My hunch may be wrong, but my guess it was an innovative way of using the mass texting service to gain a quick following for a short-term campaign...and it worked.

My other hunch is that Mayer is not going to lose popularity because he is quitting Twitter. His celebrity status is not particularly enhanced by Twitter, although it was probably a calculated contributor to the success of his latest tour.

I wonder what implications this has for Twitter as a marketing tool. Are we going to see more of these short-term campaigns on Twitter or does this hamper the very spirit of the 140-character universe. It will be interesting to see if this blazes a path for others.

The Three Scariest Words in Social Media

User-generated content. There, I said it. What is it about those three words that strikes fear in the hearts of communications professionals and C-suite dwellers everywhere?


By Wikipedia definition, user-generated content refers to various kinds of media content, publicly available, that are produced by end-users. Time Magazine highlighted this shift in content generation by declaring "You" to be the person of the year in 2006. This was Time's explanation for the choice:

It's a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. It's about the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel people's network YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace. It's about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes.

I can see why this makes some people nervous. When social media first emerged, many people thought it was only a fad associated with youngsters, but we have since found out that is not true. As Brian Solis said in his book, Engage, nobody can afford not to engage in social media. So why does UGC (everything has an acronym, you know) strike fear into our hearts?

1. We can't control what other people say about us. This is numero uno. Once you open the door to others who aren't required to tow the company line, it's open season. How can we possibly become comfortable with that? Maybe comfort isn't the issue. Maybe we just embrace the upside--people staking a claim in our product/service by their voice being heard. What empowerment! Giving our fans/stakeholders the mike is scary, but it can mean emancipation for everybody.

I was on a social media panel this summer where one of the audience members asked a question about what to do when somebody says something bad about you. The presenter next to me leaned over and said, "you need to hear that stuff--who thinks they're doing everything right?" But I get it. It's kind of like the belief that I can say I'm fat, but nobody else can. But in this new user-generated culture, those revelations come from every corner. Are you willing to let others talk about you? Uncomfortable? Yes. Necessary? I think so. How's your comfort index with user-generated content?

Three Reasons Why NASCAR Has a Case of Mistaken Identity

NASCAR is looking for a new chief communications officer. But, according to chief marketing officer Steve Phelps, they are not interested in hiring an "SID from somewhere." This comment raised a lot of ire in the SID world, mostly because it was followed up with,

"This will be a leader in the communications business in strategic thinking, creativity, someone who’s a proven and trusted brand thinker.”

Thus implying that there are no SIDs that fit that description? I suppose this was his way of saying that NASCAR was trying to distance itself from being a "sport" and wanting to identify itself, according to Phelps, as a company with a structure more like "Yahoo or ESPN."

Phelps' comment did not hurt my feelings. Sorry fellow SIDs. It did make me wonder how Phelps ever got to be the CMO at NASCAR. He evidently is low on the PR side of the job, so I hope their new CCO is a good PR person with a strength in reputation communications.

There are three reasons why we need to look at this comment a little closer.

1. Most sports information director jobs don't include many of the NASCAR objectives for the job:

"... stakeholder relations, digital and social media, brand/consumer marketing, corporate marketing/licensing, NASCAR Media Group/entertainment, and public affairs/crisis communication." 

We become fluent and expert at what we are required to do. But with the explosion of social media and the new marketing culture, some of that stuff bleeds over into our arena. The challenge to find more time to learn the skills and then more time to implement them is overwhelming. Some of it falls to marketing and some of it to us. But unless it's a smaller school, most of this probably doesn't fall to the SID anyway. This was where Phelps' statement really fell short. I don't think he really understands what most SIDs do. NASCAR is looking for a PR professional, plain and simple--not a media relations director. He was right in his statement, but I think he failed in how it came across.


2. Many SIDs today are not fluent in the skills NASCAR is looking for. Yes, there are a handful of SIDs out there whose jobs involve the above, but mostly this sounds like PR stuff to me, or marcom. More companies are looking for communications officers that have a strong background in marketing and public relations. How many of us have that? If we do, how many of us are required to use it in your jobs? I don't hear too many SIDs talk about branding. Mostly because it's not our job.   
 
3. CoSIDA is undertaking a branding campaign to encourage SIDs to become more holistic in their approach to communications. Are we buying in?
This is the part of the equation that is our responsibility. My understanding is that when John Humenik came on board as the executive director of CoSIDA, this was one of his mandates. If you look at CoSIDA's strategic initiatives (how many of us have?), you can see this footprint. In those initiatives, it's apparent that CoSIDA is working to establish sports information directors as not only communications professionals, but also as leaders in the area of communications to outside organizations. We want to be the people that organizations and companies see as strategic thinkers and thought leaders in the area of communications. Is there a little vibe of resistance to this in our ranks?
 
I witnessed some of this at the convention this summer. Quite a few people I talked to were not ecstatic about our convention being absorbed into NACDA. This was interesting to me because I think the idea is pretty exciting. It might be a great way to showcase our brightest and best people and ideas to the rest of college athletics, many of whom see us only as a bunch of Oscar Madisons. But to many of us, CoSIDA's convention has become a family reunion of sorts, and we aren't excited about hanging around with the people we work with everyday on our vacations.
 
Change is always tough, right? I know SIDS who are okay with the Oscar Madison frame of reference, and many who would be over-qualified for NASCAR's highfalutin communications position. One of things I've always liked about being a sports information director is that we are diverse. Aren't we a passionate people who are willing to work too many hours for too little money because we love what we do? Here's to you, sports information directors. Oh, by the way, I think the NASCAR audience just dropped off a bit. Better get that CMO busy recapturing those stakeholders.