Staples realized that Twitter wasn’t just another version of the helpdesk on their site, or the customer service number. Reports ClickZ

[Heather Deschenes, director of digital marketing for the brand,] had to train those new members to her team in not only the technical aspects of using Twitter, but also how to keep the brand’s “tweet voice” intact. And the incoming reps wouldn’t have the copy-and-paste response sentences that they may have become accustomed to employing during instant chat sessions.

As part of their Twitter effort, Staples has created a “Tweet Team” of reps, who maintain their individual personalities while adhering to the “tweet voice” of the overall brand. And they’ve done that in a matter of months.

I think the lesson here for marketers is that you can jump into social and make efforts quickly—and you should start now. A study released last month by Edison Research shows that just over half of all Twitter users follow at least one brand.

The fact that individual employees/reps have accounts and keep their unique personalities is key. This is a great example of Twitter marketing!

So well done! I love this.

Today Nestle announced a “zero deforestation” policy in partnership with The Forest Trust (TFT), which will initially focus on amending its palm oil purchasing practices. The move follows a full blown Facebook attack initiated by Greenpeace earlier this year.

Eight weeks ago, Greenpeace UK released a provocative YouTube video calling into question Nestle’s methods for acquiring palm oil. Greenpeace claims that the company’s practices contribute to rainforest deforestation and used YouTube as a platform to shock viewers with a video that likens eating a Kit Kat to eating an orangutan (the graphic video is embedded below).

The video caught the attention of Nestle, who had it removed from YouTube and consequently incited Greenpeace to rally the troops to call, send emails and leave chastising comments on Nestle’s Facebook Page. The situation created by the cacophony of updates worsened after a Nestle representative threatened to delete any comments by users whose profile pics included an altered version of the Nestle logo.

What followed is quite remarkable from a social media standpoint, and has much to do with Nestle’s more aggressive plan to alter its palm oil practices. Greenpeace U.K. touts, “With nearly 1.5 million views of our Kit Kat advert, over 200,000 emails sent, hundreds of phone calls and countless Facebook comments, you made it clear to Nestle that it had to address the problems with the palm oil and paper products it buys.”

Nestle is most certainly changing its tune, and its partnership with The Forest Trust means that Greenpeace can go after its next target, HSBC.

 

 

[img credit: Greenpeace U.K.]

This is fascinating. Will other brands decide to change policy due to Social Media pressure?

Unicorn Hair FTW!
Is not Mark Zuckerberg!

Seattle, WA—Despite being 274 days away, Joe Groover is ecstatic about the upcoming social media event, “Social media stories: the power of using social media to talk about social media.” The unemployed social media guru has created a twtvite and has also posted 12,459 tweets with the hashtag #smstpousmttasm in this week alone.

“There’s nothing better than attending a conference about social media with other people you met using social media,” explained the 29-year-old. “We’re even using the power social media sites like Twitter and LinkedIn to tell people about the social media conference about using social media to share informative news about social media.”

In the 7 hour interview with Groover, he explains how amazing it is for someone to read something on Twitter and can use their viral influence by re-tweeting something, then someone can re-tweet the retweet and possibly someone else will re-tweet the re-tweet.

He added, “It’s great. Why talk about anything else on social media when you can talk about social media? This is why upscale companies pay for social media gurus.”

So sad. Poor Joe Groover, the unemployed Social Media Guru. Hehe

The awesome crew over at SocialMediaExaminer.com just released their 2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report. The 33 page report is geared to marketers and has some great info for anyone looking to create and grow their personal brand.

Here are some of the major findings from the survey:

• Marketers are mostly new to social media: A significant 65% of marketers surveyed have only been involved with social media marketing for a few months or less.

• The top benefits of social media marketing: The number-one advantage of social media marketing (by a long shot) is generating exposure for the business, indicated by 85% of all marketers, followed by increasing traffic (63%) and building new business partnerships (56%).

• In 2009, only 23% of marketers were using social media for years. Now that number has grown to 31%.

• A significant 56% of marketers are using social media for 6 hours or more each week and 30% for 11 or more hours weekly. It’s interesting to note that 12.5% of marketers spend more than 20 hours each week on social media.

• People age 20 to 29 spend the most time using social media marketing (59.1% spending 6+ hours weekly), followed by 40- to 49-year-olds (58.3% spending 6+ hours weekly) and then 30- to 39-year-olds (58% spending 6+ hours weekly).

• The number-one benefit of social media marketing is gaining the all-important eyeball. A significant 85% of all marketers indicated that their social media efforts have generated exposure for their businesses. Improving traffic was the second major benefit, followed by building new partnerships.

• More than half of marketers indicated a rise in search engine rankings was a benefit of social media marketing. As search engine rankings improve, so will business exposure, lead generation efforts and a reduction in overall marketing expenses. More than half of marketers found social media generated qualified leads.

• Those who invest the most time in social media marketing gain the most business partnerships. However, 53.1% of people who’ve only invested a few months with social media marketing report newpartnerships were gained.

• We asked marketers which social media tools they most want to learn more about.Social bookmarking sites slightly edged out Twitter for the number-one slot. Facebook came in third, followed closely by Digg/Reddit/Mixx/StumbleUpon and then LinkedIn.

 

Google says it’s willing to accept its shortcomings on the social web and bring in a “Head of Social” to set it on the right course. The company has hired an executive recruiter to fill the position, and is currently in the process of casting its net as widely as possible.

Though competition from Google sends shivers down spines in just about every sector — from news and book publishers to phone makers to venture capital — the company’s dominance has a gaping hole on the social web. Google has tried to introduce social sites, from Orkut to Buzz, but they’ve had limited appeal, hampered by a misunderstanding of user needs. In recent months Google has added a social layer onto its existing products, like search and maps. And it does have powerhouse publishing and communication properties in Blogger and Gmail on the outskirts of the social web. But there’s no formidable master plan to speak of.

Google wants to hire "Head of Social." (waves hand wildly)

Updated version of the epic video Erik Qualman put out last year for his book, Socialnomics.

Great work!

Bit Rebels has a great post up about Illustrated Tweets from http://twaggles.com. Funny!

Mitch Joel nails it with this piece called "Unlike advertising, Social Media can't save a bad product or service." He discusses how the brands that do well online are the ones who essentially look good naked- "in the buff". Being buff involves being ready for that transparency.