Social Media #Fail: Yogi Tea

Around the office, we are fans of Yogi Tea. Specifically, Yogi’s Breathe Deep tea. One week, we decided to do some research in how to ship this tea in bulk to our office. I had the chance to look around the Web site and I was impressed with their branding. Their message is clear and concise. Their Web site and logo is true to their mission. It is a textbook example of how to effectively market their material online.

Once we received our bulk tea order (and effectively saving our productivity and sanity), I tried to find Yogi Tea on various social media accounts. Maybe they are on Facebook? No luck. Twitter? Nope. What? With an amazing brand, quality products, and a well-conceived Web site and messaging, social media seemed to be a natural extension of their marketing and public relations.
So, Yogi Tea executives: if you would like a social media plan, I have a few ideas for you! For the rest of my readers, what are other companies whose social media strategies fall short?

You can following my Twitter hashtag #YogiTea for the Tea Time Sayings of the Day, taken from that day's Yogi tea bag tag. I must say, they are very insightful!

Proof Digital Study - Fortune 100 Companies use of Social Media

A scholar at heart, I’ve been waiting for a study like this. I’m incredibly proud that Proof Digital Media, a sister company of Burson-Marsteller, released this unique look at social media and how companies envision it’s purpose.
They studied the Fortune 100 companies and their use of social media accounts, specifically looking at Facebook, Twitter, and company blogs. Twitter was the highest used (54%) in reaching key audiences and stakeholders with the company, mostly with news updates and announcements. To no surprise of mine, Facebook was the least used (29%) for reaching consumers – a few comments on that one later. Blogs were second most used at 32%.

While I’m not surprised that Twitter was most used, I am still unsure why companies feel the need to use Facebook Fan pages. I’ve used Facebook from its beginning (which would date me a little bit), and I never understood why it’s fan pages would be effective for companies and their products. I’m personally more eager to using fan pages for Corporate Social Responsibility projects, where consumers can engage with the brand and build trust in their efforts.

Another statistic that I thought was intriguing was that 67% of those Fortune 100 companies who used Twitter employed it as a customer service tool as well. I may be speaking for myself, but I am more apt to buy a product or invest in a service if I’ve had great customer service in a way that I can reach them. For example, take Comcast. I have referred @ComcastSteve and @ComcastBonnie to help many of my friends with their high-speed Internet problems. I think companies should make better use of Twitter in this capacity – only if they can devote a sufficient amount of time and remain transparent in their motives.

What do you think? Do these trends surprise you? Do the results translate well to the Fortune 500 market or other sectors?

Slideshow from Proof Digital Media and Burson-Marsteller:

B M Social Media Fortune 100

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@Mashable: What the #*#&^% is Social Media?!?!

For those who haven’t seen it yet, I would really like to share this presentation with you. As an avid user of social media, I often am asked how to really comprehend all that this term encompasses. At first, my basic answer is a fumble of words that generally synthesizes to an answer indicating that we’re still trying to figure it out. Now, my response is that Social Media is a new tool to engage audiences and keep the conversations going. Tools like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Friendster, and the newly released Gist are ways to keep track of the ever-changing trends in social media, allowing more users to connect.

What the F**K is Social Media: One Year Later

View more documents from Marta Kagan.

Marta Kagan produced “What the $%*& is Social Media” a year ago as a response to questioning of the impact of these online tools. With the trends changing so dramatically in a year, Kagan provided an update in this sequel. What I love about it is that it ultimately underscores the power of this medium and the potential to harness its energy for the next two minutes.

What it doesn’t address, however, is the future. I know that we are not prophets and have no real way of predicting what will happen. But the future of public relations also hangs in the balance. Many corporations, non-profit organizations, and even public relations firms are hiring social media strategist positions in an effort to bring these ideas to their clients. In my opinion, public relations professionals have done a good job of using social media tools to their advantage to further the mission of true public relations. But, how will that change in the next year? Five years? What are your thoughts?

Who Influences the Influencer? Response to Travis Murdock's blog

I’m a huge fan of Edelman’s reputation of public relations efforts. I follow Steve Rubel on Twitter (@steverubel) to gain insight on new tech trends and lifestreaming – a concept that I’m not sure I can grab ahold of. So, when Travis Murdock, Senior Account Supervisor at A&R Edelman, tagged Rubel in this blog post, I listened. I’m always intrigued by anything that the Edelman minds think up and this topic really intrigued me as a self-proclaimed Influencer.

For public relations professionals who are trying to get the biggest bang for their publicity buck, influencing the influencer is a great bet in broadcasting a clear consistent message. When looking at marketing ICFJ’s photo auction, I wanted to make sure we researched and reached people who would appreciate both fine art and classic photojournalism… and who had deep pockets to help out our cause.

Travis hits the target by listing some of the best ways to research your Influencers: Friendfeed, Twitter, RSS feeds, Facebook, and more. Searching through FriendFeed subscriptions, past Facebook activity, and Twitter hashtags are all beneficial, but it begs the question: doesn’t this slightly resemble stalking? I am an advocate for thorough research, but it seems that pulling their entire online history may be a bit invasive. On the other hand, if people put specific information out there with the understanding that it can be seen by everyone, then why shouldn’t we use it as research?

What are your thoughts? At what point does research become too in depth that it resembles stalking? What are some ways to research your Influencers’ activity on the Internet, other than what Travis suggests?

I’m all ears…

(Make sure you read Travis's entire blog post here: http://blog.travismurdock.com Great guy!)

Amy Martin
amylizmartin@gmail.com
amart83@lsu.edu


Education:

Master of Mass Communication, Public Relations. May 2008. Louisiana State University, Manship School of Mass Communication.

Bachelor of Arts, Psychology. May 2004. Kansas State University.

Work History and Related Experiences:
Executive Assistant to the President, International Center for Journalists, Washington, DC
June 2008 - present
• Executive assistant with concurrent projects in development and communications.
• Created an innovative photojournalism fundraising campaign using targeted online publicity, events, and a silent auction that successfully raised $30,000 and increased ICFJ’s visibility among potential donors.
• Designed quarterly newsletters for the Board of Directors and Advisory Board.
• Developed and built an Intranet portal encompassing resources for the Board of Directors, saving over $1,000 for the organization by doing the development from scratch in-house.
• Produced press kit materials and facilitated a membership drive for the Global Forum for Media Development.
• Managed administrative duties such as scheduling, orchestrating international travel,corresponding with donors, and extensively researching potential development opportunities with domestic and international funders.

Publicity Intern, EMI CMG Label Group, Nashville, TN
May - Aug. 2007
• Initiated new media publicity campaign for American Idol contestant Mandisa to launch her new album, generating over 1 million online media impressions and 30,000 unique site visits in two weeks.
• Orchestrated artist development teams as lead publicity contact on four album releases in one month.
• Designed press kits for current artists and used them to restructure the label’s press website.
• Created strategic publicity and marketing plans for four leading artists using contemporary media technology and avenues for the artists to reach new audiences.

Graduate Assistant to the Dean, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
Aug. 2006 - May 2008
• Served as a liaison for 35 graduate students and administered application processes for over 150 applicants.
• Taught three undergraduate class sessions on best practices from relevant corporate social responsibility campaigns.
• Developed advertisements and other communications pieces to recruit graduate students.
• Led an introductory graduate class for incoming students in thesis and course management.
• Initiated a student communication plan for 600 students and managed class communication via an internal website.
• Delivered multiple research presentations, most recently at the Association for Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication National Conference in August 2007.

Income Development Representative, American Cancer Society, Baton Rouge, LA
Mar. 2005 – July 2006
• Exceeded event fundraising goals for two Relay For Life events after Hurricane Katrina, with one Relay For Life as the ninth largest fundraiser in a six-state region.
• Directed the efforts of 50 volunteers to orchestrate over 6,000 participants in Relay For Life of Baton Rouge, raising over $205,000.
• Accomplished an overall fundraising goal of $575,000 while maintaining a budget of $55,000.
• Designed and implemented crisis communication plan and internal communications strategy during Hurricane Katrina.
• Networked to recruit and pitch corporate sponsorship proposals to a range of small and large corporations.
• Integrated a highly successful online fundraising component using ACS’s online database and Facebook.

Awards, Additional Skills and Qualifications:
• Outstanding Graduate Student of the Year Award, April 2008.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office (Access, Excel, Outlook/Entourage, PowerPoint, Word), Adobe Creative Suite (Acrobat, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop), and RaisersEdge.
• Savvy on PC and Apple platforms.
• Experienced with multiple website content management systems and various revenue and task management databases.
• Strong planning and organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple high priority tasks simultaneously.
• Highly dedicated to commitments, motivated and efficient learner, great capacity for creativity and visionary planning, optimistic outlook to difficult situations.

Professional Memberships and Additional Experience:
• PRSA Accreditation in Public Relations in progress. Anticipated Feb. 2010.
• Public Relations Society of America Member, National Chapter. May 2009 – present.
• Indego Africa, Washington DC Board of Directors, Public Relations Committee. May 2008 -
present.
• Association of Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication Member. May 2007 - present.
• Freelance Writer, Editorial and Feature Stories. Jan. 2007 – May 2008.
City Social Magazine, Baton Rouge, LA, editor Janell O’Halloran.
Radiant Magazine Online, editor Corene Israel.

References and additional contact information available upon request
Website portfolio coming soon