12:30 PM: I am up and running at the BlogWell event at Newell Rubbermaid headquarters in Dunwoody, GA.  Right now I am sitting in the main auditorium room.   Show should start at 1PM.   My schedule for the day:

1PM- Welcome session with Andy Sernovitz, CEO of GasPedal/Social Media Council.

1:30PM-Coca-Cola: The creation of Expedition 206 (Adam Brown, Group Director of Digital Communications)

2:10PM- Newell-Rubbermaid: Social Media from a multi-brand perspective (Bert Dumars, VP of E-Business and Interactive Marketing)

3:10PM-Social Media Ethics Briefing-Staying out of trouble (Andy Sernovitz, CEO of GasPedal)

3:40 PM-Turner: A thriving media company in the social media era (Seth Miller, Digital Marketing Director)

4:20 PM-The Home Depot:You can do it, social media can help (Nick Ayres and Sarah Molinari, New Media and Content Manager and Corporate Communication Manager)

Stay tuned for more updates during the day.

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Update 12:45 PM- Still waiting for program to start, finally got everything situated.   Now to answer the question everyone has been waiting for…WHAT’S IN THE SWAG BAG?!
1 stainless steel Sharpie Pen (Freaking awesome…)
1 3-pack Expo dry erase markers
1 2-pack clickable fine-point Sharpie Pens (also awesome)
1 small notepad (classy)
1 bar of Hershey’s Dark (will come in handy on my empty stomach VERY soon)
2 small Rubbermaid containers
1 pamphlet that overviews all of the social media brands from Newell-Rubbermaid (very cool)
1 magnetic clip from Mimio
Schedule

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Update- 1 PM- Favorite part of the SwagBag is the overview how all the brands of Newell-Rubbermaid are using Social Media.

Highlights:

Newell’s baby division, Graco, has a blog at blog.graco.com, a twitter account, a Facebook Fan page, and 2 microsites, all built to use social media to connect to their customers.

The Sharpie division has a community microsite, www.sharpieuncapped.com that was lunched in June of 2009.

Rubbermaid has a blog that focuses on how people use Rubbermaid to organize the world.  Check it out at blog.rubbermaid.com

It also has a cool graphic that shows how each brand uses twitter, facebook, youtube, and Linkedin.  Update: Go here to see an image of the chart, taken from @thebrandbuilder.

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Update 1:10-

We have started!  Getting the introduction now and just learned our secret handshake to limit the spread of viruses and germs!!

Andy Sarnowitz: “When a company engages in social media, they get nicer”

“Although it is easy to start a blog and twitter account, for established companies with tens of thousands of employees, it gets complex”

“It is slower, harder, more expensive for larger companies compared to smaller companies or individual bloggers”

Update: 1:30 PM-Coca-Cola “How we’re leveraging the real world at Coca-Cola”

Our home page isn’t just coke.com, it’s google.com. (1.2 million times people type in coke or coca-cola per month)

No the homepages are coke, google, digg, twitter, youtube, facebook, myspace,

Approximately 5000 mentions per day across all networks.

2 mantras:

1. “Fish where the fish are”-put content where fans are…over 3 million fans on facebook, over 100,000 videos on youtube about coke.

2. Keep fans first- brands are what the fans say, not what coke says-inviting guests to be part of the company.

Cocacolaconversations.com-controlled
facebook.com-uncontrolled

4 R social media strategy

REVIEW-What the social media community is talking about with strong, coordinated monitoring programs

RESPOND-to the comments, posts and other chatter with accurate info

RECORD-start video vignettes that respond (“VIDEO IS THE FUTURE”..PR is getting back to storytelling) to the conversation with ‘purposeful entertainments

REDIRECT people to the content that is put up

Key focus-empowering subject matter experts to respond*

Over 1 million people working for coke and coke bottlers…Good and bad

They are going to launch a social media guideline to harness the power of their 1 million people.

3 areas: online company commitments, online spokesperson guidelines, online associate guidelines

-Online spokespersons and associates will have to pass an online media certification course.

Example: if someone posts ‘business as good’ a week before earnings, SEC gets involved.

How can Coke create compelling content in these online venues that celebrates the spirit of their brand and drives the intent to buy.

“Coca-cola is involved in more countries than the UN”

Expedition 206-3 people who travel to all 206 countries coke is involved in to ‘search for happiness’ that will blog, tweet, and video about it.

*Great news coverage in traditional and social media outlets

(NOTE: DANGIT THIS IS MY IDEA AND WHAT I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO DO Kudos to coke for being awesome….but dang I wish I was on this)back to the notes…

Hoping it attracts people across all demographics – over 75% of votes were international (Mexico and China beat out U.S.)

Expedition 206 will have its own website, twitter account, facebook page, youtube account.  A lot of the content will be uncontrolled and driven by fans.

Open API’s, crowdsourcing, google maps, voting…truly a fan-driven event.

(Note: this is amazing how coke is really putting it’s brand out there for the fans…just awesome)

He is extremely excited about this ‘experiment’.  Now it’s time for Q and A…

Q. Is coke using social media to manage public policy information (i.e. the taxing of sugar in drinks)

A. They try to, but when they get involved in policy stuff, the fans are not too keen.  General press releases and info did not fly with the fans.  (Note: it appears they need to segment and have different channels for each to leverage each community)

Q.  Possible background checks for each contestant with expedition 206?

A. Yes, due to having only 10 countries that would allow its citizen to visit all 206 countries.  They had to find people with dual citizenship.  Background checks were done because they are entrusting the world’s most known brand into 20-25 year olds.

Q. Language issues with 206 different countries?

A. Striving to make it not look like an American product.  Most ambassadors were chosen because of the multi-linguist skills.  All the content will be translated into 5 languages and published in those languages.

Q. Monitoring use of word of brand (i.e. ‘coke’) and the feeding of facebook fan page founders.

A. They do monitor it…very difficult though and trying to integrate it.  They help the founders with content/ ‘hooking them up’. They are NOT compensated. Fans realize its authentic.

Q. How do you manage editorial rights/moderation?

A. It was a challenge. Building a CMS system that will centralize their publishing and will then be approved.  They create fantastic content and their is a level of trust.

Q. Budget?

A. Smaller than you think.

Q. Product placement?

A.  They are on their own, so nothing forced, but it is expected.

Q (my question): One of your goals is to get people to buy, how do you plan to encourage that?

A. Building relationships is the primary goal.  If they get in the media markets across the world, it’s a success.  They want it to be an ongoing relationship, and not end when expedition 206 is over.

Coca-cola presentation is now over.  Great presentation with an amazing idea that will be launched shortly.

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2:00 PM Waiting on Bert DuMars from Newell Rubbermaid to start.  The Gigatweet page is currently being shown.  The count is over 5 billion…question…when will the number of tweets be higher than number of people?

Bert Dumars from Newell- Showing Gigatweet “this is amazing time we live in”

Cross-branding.  Coca-cola only has one brand, Newell has multiple…How do they manage it?

Social media marketing- you have to test and learn.  Everyone calls themselves experts…we’re more like explorers.  We have to immerse ourselves and get out there.  Must think in terms of ecosystems…how does multimedia fit with marketing, hr, other departments? Then you scale it and understand where and when to monetize (must be strategic and thoughtful).

*MUST HAVE FUN!!!*

Case studies:

Graco Baby from the heart

Objective-humanize the brand and increase positive brand perception (worried about families thinking Graco is the ‘big corporate brand’)

They got their employees involved-asked what they would like the company to do? Main thing-do not overwhelm them about products.

What they have-blog (with celebrities and guest bloggers), flickr, twitter, facebook.

“Specific target-brand new moms-once you get them, they stay, but it’s very important to get them”

Rubbermaid: Adventures in organization

Objective: Increase awareness of rubbermaid organization solutions (Consumers have high awareness of brand but not organization solutions)

Strategy: Engage with professional organizers and DIY homeowners (integrate it with social media and mass media tactics that leverage multiple consumer touchpoints)

They have a blog (they allow consumers to do reviews on the website..one of their products had negative reviews and realized those negative reviews were because customers didn’t know how to use it…great learning experience)

Sharpie Uncapped: The Plan

Objective: increase buy-rate (consumers were buying once every 2 years)

Strategy: Inspire creative use (customers are unaware of product portfolio)-showcase the fans

The sharpie ecosystem is HUGE..twitter, youtube, facebook, flickr…some of it is natural and already done by others…main thing they wanted to do is NOT MESS IT UP!

Ads showing creative uses on the sharpieuncapped.com (before they had celebrities…wasn’t what they were trying to do)

Drawings by fashion designers and the drawings are being auctioned off on e-bay for charity.

Cool story: a father draws art with sharpie on the ziplock bag so his kids bring art to lunch every day.

Other uses: shoes, motorcycles, styrofoams, people make entire business based on sharpie art.

Find your niche and your fans and drive the conversation!

*Focus on your target

*Set clear goals and objectives

*Measure before, during, after

*Immerse yourself to better understand the ecosystem

*Integrate with overall marketing plan, but understand its a long-term commitment

*Select tools and services that allows you to connect with your people

*Social media about people engaging with people-not robots-show that you care!

Goal is to have as many employees take part, but you have to be careful and monitor them!

Q. Key lessons learned/gotchas?

A. Not everyone appreciates you going social.  Some people don’t want to feel ‘stalked’ by fortune 500 companies. Not everyone who is a fan wants you to participate.  If this happens, just apologize and walk away.

Q. How do you deal with the line between personal/professional updates from employees?

A. That’s always going to happen.  People want to know that it’s a person behind it and not a robot.  When you’re a real person, you say real things.  It’s a mix. You can have a branded twitter id and your personal id.

Q.  How do you handle people leaving the company after they build a community?

A. Fans come and people go, you just keep providing them with resources to encourage them to come back.

Q. Measuring before during and after-what and how do you measure?

A. Graco- what do people think of the brand to start? After? Before (65) After (85). Next phase? How do you monetize, position, and benefit from the social media strategy.

Q. How do you handle the wide variety of brands?

A. Each brand has a team.  How can corporate help each brand formulate their strategy?

Q. Sharpieuncapped.com-not much promotion-how did you get people there and participate?

A. Once they started creating content and inviting others…that’s when it started

Q. Creating content and engaging-new people or existing employees with increased role?

A. Typically in a communications role and then the social media is integrated in their roles.

Q. How do you manage roles into workflow, Navy did a survey, their folks do an hour a day…and for effectiveness they need 3. How did you manage and bring it in the workflow?

A. Agency support that helps.  Agencies monitor and gives information.  If you don’t have the employees, get external help, but employees have to be the face.

Now we are at our break. The line was too long so I will stay hungry.  No food in the conference room? Looks like I will starve:(

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Back in business…We are now hearing the ethics part of the day.  Ethics is very important.  It’s not optional, it’s the first thing and the foundation of your social media program-only way to be successful.

Disclosure is important-it’s easy to do it the right way.  You get better results from traditional and social marketing when people TRUST you. Clarify what’s advertising and what’s content.

THIS IS NOW A LAW: FTC rules just came out that restrict how you use blogs to promote your business (NY just fined a company 300k for illicit use of blogs)

He’s excited because there are now set guidelines.

3 things to remember

1. Require disclosure and truthfulness in social media outreach

2. Monitor the conversation and correct misstatements

3. Create social media policies and training programs-(its your job to teach no.1 and no.2 to your employees)

Stay safe-never pay for coverage/positive press
Real Disclosure-100% zero tolerance and must be full
Never lie to your momma!-If she reads it and doesn’t know your true intentions…you need to change it!

Disclosure: I work for __________, and this is my personal opinion. 10 words…it’s easy!

3 questions- Who are you? Were you paid? Is it an honest opinion based on real experience?

Biggest risk is a training failure

BE CAREFUL WHO YOU HIRE-the brand is 100 percent responsible for any services, agencies, or employees you hire.

We have a chance with social media to raise our standards and not turn into the junk email scams.  Hold the line on your ethics and your honesty.  It’s all about trust!

Next will be Turner

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TURNER-being a media company in the social media era

Killer application for social media is…………… PEOPLE

Social media is a platform for…

SELF EXPRESSION (giving voice to creative people-’social is as social does’)
-In 2004 they did a campaign for sex and the city that was really forced and it had a great exposure the first 18 hours and then it died…no one came back.  They learned they need to listen

CREATIVITY
Leverage had fans that created their own music videos using clips of the show and the show director liked one so much that they used the audio in the clip-notified the original creator and they were thrilled

COMMUNITY
-”Communities already exist. Instead think about how you can help that community do what it already wants to do”-Mark Zuckerberg

Marketers sometimes try to dictate what the community wants to do, and it hurts the brand

(He mentions a lot how they listen to their fans: “social media is about the people who enjoy and use our product or service”)

COLLABORATION-People can do things better together using social media.

Your fans have a lot of megaphones pointing right back…it’s a two-way conversation-marketers try to get a message to fans…fans are sending a message back.

3 e’s

Encourage good behavior in social media (behave how people expect people to behave)

Engage-Fans already like you…how do you make them LOVE you

Extend our relationships beyond the screens

One thing we need to do in social media is moving from getting their needs met to actual giving them an emotional hit above just meeting their needs.

Social media is a way to say thank you to everyone that is involved.

(NOTE: his presentation was AWESOME…every image had a meaning and was

Q. You mention the recommendation to twitter lists…how successful has it been?

A. We just started, but it has been successful so far.

Q. TBS has significant brands, do you take a different approach for TCM (with movies)?

A. TCM is a cult brand with people who have large affinity to the brand-they try to welcome people into the process of being a film lover (releases lists of favorites, etc.)-creating the dialogue for fans to follow.

Q.  How is turner responding to the FTC regulations?

A. Shows rely on regular press still, so there is a balance between social and traditional media.

Q. Describe resource mix (executing media strategies, employees, etc.)?

A. Collaboration between marketing and PR.  ’A lot of pieces dedicated to it’.  Main touchpoint of employees is the listening part of it.

Q. How do you teach people to maintain the ethics and encourage positive communication?

A. “Don’t be a dick…be a person”-His words

Q. Your response with content creators?

A. Some are really encourage and participate in it, others aren’t.  For corporate it comes down to ratings and where they are in the demographics and does the audience need to have social channels.

Q. How can people be successful in video?

A. Simpler and heartfelt is the best.  Most successful video was Jada Pinkett Smith in HawthoRNe thanking the fans.  You can’t beat authentic.

Now it’s done.  Home depot is next.

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Home depot-Sarah Molinari and Nick Ayres

Social media will drive affinity, preference, and loyalty

History-young company 300,000 in 2,000 stores-around for about 30 years…still growing from small, local company to international business

100 M pounds in screws=19,500 elephants!! ha!

They feel social media can bring their communities-both customer and associate-to life in new ways.

3 things you hear about but they dig deeper

*Start listening and plug in to conversation stream
-be prepared for what it really entails

*Scratch and claw for small wins to capture the imagination of executives

*Find others at your company who are passionate about your brand and the space and make them evangelists

LISTENING

*Understand the volume and breadth of sites
*Dedicate resources to monitor and assets (triage..have people listen and respond…try to be efficient)
* Train staff on social media triage
* Know available tools offer varying insights and nuances

Twitter:
*Started by accident Early 2008 and @homedepot was taken, so they took @thehomedepot
*Early followers shaped strategy
*Moved forward with hurricanes (trusted, timely, relevant, accurate, appropriate)
*A human face for big company

They aren’t in a race for followers, they’re trying to build relationships-linear growth over time…limited marketing

Goals: Be accessible, go where customers need you, show that you’re honest and authentic (HUMAN), make an impact

Tools: get satisfaction, pissed consumer, complaints board, planet feedback, youtube, facebook, yelp)

Video Syndication-People don’t just goto Home Depot.com, they goto google, youtube, etc.

Put creative assets where consumers are already going to for info (Youtube)-over 2 million viewers on youtube channel

It’s not just Youtube-and it’s not just how-to content.

Think about content…what do your customers want?

Lesson 1. In order to be successful, you need to feed internal conversation to spark evangelists (they started externally and in retrospect they should have gone internal first) Currently building tools to cultivate and identify evangelists.

Lesson 2. Champions are nice, but you need people who get their hands dirty-its difficult to communicate level of commitment for real engagment, even if you dont see immediate benefit, there is significant value

Lesson 3. Be a critical thinker, not quick judger-don’t dismiss naysayers-there’s good stuff buried beneath the emotions and don’t kid yourself, some of your colleagues may never get it, you may have to be ok with it.

Their main thing is that they use twitter to communicate and listen to their audience.  Their twitter accounts: @homedepot, @homedepotdeals, @homedepotfdn

How to videos: youtube.com/homedepot

Facebook: www.facebook.com/homedepot

Q. How do they manage how employees access social media?

A. They are proactive in maintaining the ethics…and giving customers what they expect.  They don’t want associates taken away from their core responsibilities to do social tasks.

Q. What tools do they use to monitor?

A. They start with monitoring service (someone complaining about home depot) and responding.  There is a science involved with responding correctly and not looking like stalking.

Q. Are there resources for training employees?

A. They use the social media council to start the training, but it is different from other peer companies.  Different degrees for different associates.

AND IT’S OVER.  What a great event.  Let me know if you have any questions.

-Matt