My Grandpa was an Old Spice man long before Isaiah Mustafa made it cool to be one.

First launched by The Shulton Company in 1937, the original product was called Early American Old Spice (for women, oddly enough). They eventually expanded into the men’s products market, using the now-distinctive nautical imagery. It’s only been over the last decade that Procter and Gamble (who purchased the brand in 1990) began expanding the brand with deodorant sticks, body washes, and body sprays.

I have to admit, I would never have thought to pick up a bottle of Old Spice for my husband.

In fact, my earliest memories of Old Spice are all colored with the (circa 1970s) robin’s egg blue bathroom tiles of my grandparents’ bathroom, where the buoy-shaped white bottle was always displayed prominently on the shelf.

In my mind, Old Spice was always an “old man” scent. I mean, it’s called “Old Spice,” for cryin’ out loud.

Fast forward thirty-plus years.

Enter Isaiah Mustafa with his sweater tied jauntily around his shoulders, riding a white horse – evoking imagery that was typically reserved for those romance novels that line the shelves of the grocery checkout line.

The next thing you know, I’m yelling for my husband to stop fast-forwarding through the commercials so I can catch another glimpse of bare-chested Isaiah assuring me that Old Spice can do more for me than improve the scent of my guy.

I admit, I loved the commercials, but I didn’t run out and buy my husband some Old Spice.

Can the Spice Boy Buoy the Sales?

That is the question of the hour. Clearly, P&G was attempting to change perceptions with this ad campaign. When the campaign first launched in February, it quickly racked up over 12 million views. Despite this, in the fiscal year that ended in June, sales of Old Spice were actually down 7 percent.

So here’s the dilemma – P&G has created a media hit with Isaiah… but has the phenomenon overshadowed the brand?

Recently the towel-swathed Isaiah began delivering personalized video messages to fans and followers from where else – the bathroom. He’s burning up Twitter, Facebook and the Old Spice blog with celebrity replies to Ellen Degeneres and Alyssa Milano, among others.

Using celebrities to promote products isn’t a new concept; particularly when the product itself lacks any real distinction — or in the case of Old Spice — has a consumer perception that the brand is outdated. The downside is this — with the “always on” nature of social media, the lifespan of overnight celebrities such as Isaiah (forgive me football fans!) has been shortened dramatically.

P&G runs the risk of quickly overexposing Isaiah (again, forgive me), at which point consumers will lose interest in both the endorser and the brand.

What to do?

Procter and Gamble could extend the shelf-life of this campaign with a few minor changes. Suppose they began doing a nationwide search for real “Old Spice Men?” Brand users could submit short video testimonials of their own, and the best of the bunch could be turned into a commercial for the brand.

What does this accomplish?

First, it will provide social proof. If consumers begin to see lots of hard-bodied young studs are using Old Spice, the brand will again gain buzz and potential popularity. Old Spice would gain brand equity and good will. Lastly, a campaign such as this would also have viral popularity as those who submit entries forward their videos to family and friends. Viral popularity = free advertising…two words that every major brand loves to hear.

It’s too soon to tell how this one will turn out – or whether or not Old Spice will come out smelling like a rose.

We just lost my Grandpa a couple of months’ ago – I only wish he’d lived long enough to see how hip he’d become as an Old Spice guy.

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This morning I was reading a great article at PCWorld that detailed the growing use of social media management tools in large corporations in order to monitor their brands and their customers. While many of you reading this are probably saying to yourself, “it’s about time!” still others may be questioning it’s relevance in an overall marketing strategy.

Ignoring social media can present far greater costs than learning to use it wisely.

Many small businesses simply shrug this off as being too much of a hassle, or too expensive to implement. The truth is, they’re wrong on both counts. While there are a number of third-party solutions that cost some serious coin, there are a handful of free and low-cost alternatives that are available. You just need to know where to look.

Spredfast – (From their website) Spredfast offers secure and scalable social media solution that streamlines the social media listening, communicating, and measuring processes. Their free plan offers analytics, up to 5 social streams, as well as charts and reporting.

HowSociable – is a search tool that enables users to track brand mentions across the social web.

BackType – enables you to track your monthly engagement for free. Offers graphs of the summary, audience, and a list of the conversations/retweets. You can also get a Twitter Reach Report for a one-time fee of $20.

BlogPulse – searches the blogosphere for mentions of your URL , keyword or topic. An excellent tool for use in tracking competition, niche news, etc.

TweetBeep – Works like Google Alerts and enables you to keep track of conversations that mention you, your products, your company, anything, with hourly updates. Offers a premium version for $20/month.

Sendible – enables you to engage with your audience across multiple formats with ease. Analytic tools track the success of email and marketing campaigns, and they also offer a tool to track brand mentions. They offer an ad-supported version, as well as several affordable monthly and pay-as-you-go plans.

Twitalyzer 2.0 – one of the web’s most popular tools for tracking Twitter influence and reach. There is a free version, as well as several paid options.

TweetStats – tracks your tweets per hour, tweets per month, and replies. Free to use.

This is just a small sampling of what is available — there are many excellent SaaS options for those who are interested in more extensive reporting tools.

Why Should You Be Interested in Reputation Management?

The short answer is you can’t afford not to be. Social media allows consumers to provide immediate feedback on brands and products, as well as customer service issues and complaints. You have precious little time to get out in front of any negative mentions, and respond. I’ve previously mentioned that Comcast® is a model that others could do well to follow — their Senior Director of National Customer Service Frank Eliason (@comcastcares on Twitter) is perhaps the most well-known customer service representative in the country.

A Bitter Pill to Swallow

Social media can also be used as a valuable market research tool — and can prevent unnecessary missteps.

In November of 2008, the makers of Motrin pain reliever were given a bitter pill to swallow after launching what they thought would be a very successful online ad campaign.

The ad, which initially began its run over a weekend in September, stated that while toting a baby around in a sling can cause back and neck pain, it “seems to be in fashion” and “totally makes [me] look like an official mom.” Outraged mothers took to the Twitterverse to share their comments, popularly noted with the use of the #MotrinMoms hashtag. By the following Monday morning, the ad was gone, and an official apology was issued by  McNeil Consumer Healthcare.

Had McNeil conducted an online market research study to test that campaign among their target audience (in this case, mothers), they could have leveraged the immediate feedback afforded by social media, and avoided a very pricey and embarrassing mistake. It’s one you can bet they won’t make again.

Social media should be a vital part of any marketing strategy — be it on or offline. When employed properly, the results can be significant — and that’s a fact you can take to the bank.

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For all of the interpersonal discussion that surrounds social media, the core itself seems strangely devoid of any real person-to-person interaction. One comment I hear from clients again and again is, “how do I rise above the noise?”

The internet, and specifically the rise of social media, has made it even easier for folks to pursue ruthless ambition to succeed online. Blogging isn’t a major financial draw for most people, but “getting rich blogging” is certainly a goal that shines bright on far too many people’s annual resolutions. The rat race, a phenomenon that social media is supposed to avoid, has merely moved online, with everyone desperately competing to end up one follower ahead, one blog comment up from their competitors, with online bragging rights as the primary (if not sole) payoff.

If you want to utilize social media responsibly, working out who’s worth it and who isn’t should be one of your first priorities. These tips can help you navigate the waters and distinguish the masters from the wannabes, and should form the basis of your online contact strategy.

It’s not just about numbers.
Some of the world’s biggest spammers have hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter, while there are bestselling authors that may only have a couple hundred. The numbers don’t tell the whole story, and they shouldn’t be your sole basis for determining influence. This is a strategy that’s sure to end in disappointment and frustration. Instead, look for traffic that’s valuable – the type of readers and followers that take action, rather than the type that merely skim the content and move on. Further, you should focus on engaging those followers by being genuine in your communications, showing interest in others, and providing content of value.

Self promotion knows no bounds online.
A major part of online success is being able to see through the smoke and mirrors that many personalities put up around themselves. With the internet making anonymity and disguise so simple, many people set up illusions that simply aren’t themselves. I like to compare this to the classic 70s game show, “The Dating Game.” It’s easy to sit behind the partition and try to impress the “contestant” with how charming and clever you are. But sooner or later, they will step around the partition — that’s the moment of truth. Will they be surprised with what they find?

If you want a true indicator of someone, contact them directly, and try to look through the self promotion that’s often visible in tweets and blog posts.

Thought leaders often dominate traffic leaders.
Blogger and author Tim Ferriss made this distinction during an internet conference. The online writers with the most readers aren’t always the most powerful, or even the most valuable. Those that have the most powerful audience are always the most powerful. Think about it this way: if you were marketing B2B products, which audience would you prefer? 10,000 regular consumers, or an audience of 100 CEOs of top firms, each with a massive budget for inter-company products. Pick the audience by strength, not just by size.

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You’ve decided to finally jump on the social media band wagon — congratulations.

Before you go head out into the social media jungle and begin tweeting, facebooking and youtubing with reckless abandon, I urge you to take a moment and formulate a plan.

It can be particularly difficult to change our marketing “voice” from commercial to non-commercial. We are inundated with advertising messages everywhere, every day — and many users turn to these networks to escape brands altogether. Still others use social media to gain greater insights into brands before making a purchasing decision. They will listen to feedback from other consumers, compare you to the competition, and gauge your customer service. These factors are crucial, and should not be overlooked.

So, we know that our audience is always operating on the assumption that we are trying to sell them something — and a lot of the time, that’s true. Marketers do try to sell things online, even if it is during an online conversation that is not directly related to their products or services. Their persistence has made it difficult for other marketers to sell their products, even when they are deliberately ignoring the non-related conversations and targeting buyers that really are interested.

The mass marketing activities have poisoned the well, and it has made it even more difficult to penetrate social media’s marketing shield. But make no mistake, it still can be done.

There are hundreds of examples of brands succeeding through social media – Zappos, AirAsia and Whole Foods spring to mind – but replicating their success can be incredibly difficult. However, there is one thing that seems to separate social media’s major marketing players from the wannabes that have tried and failed. It is the level of “marketing drive” behind them, and it appears to be inversely proportional to the amount of success that they find.

Huh? You read that correctly…I said inversely proportional. Counterintuitive, yes. But, highly effective, nonetheless.

Marketing drive is persistence. Persistent marketers always try to sell, no matter what the circumstance. “Looking for ice cream? Why not buy this humidifier too?” That’s their marketing style — it isn’t winning them any popularity contests, and it certainly isn’t bolstering their bottom line, either.

The Zappos school of thought is that rather than attempting to force a consumer into a sale, allow them to elect whether or not they wish to talk about buying. If folks aren’t talking about buying, Zappos isn’t jumping in with the subtlety of Kathy Griffin and trying to change the subject.

Social media communities are not averse to marketing; but social media users hate direct, pushy marketing with a passion. You’ll be about as welcome as spandex on Mr. Blackwell’s Best-Dressed List.

You’ll stand out, but not in a good way. Get the picture?

Success in social media is relatively simple — add value. Let that guide your activities on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the like. I may be interested in what you are selling, but I really don’t want to hear about it all the time. Just as offline marketers pick and choose which markets they’re targeting, online social media marketers need to take a step back and examine what opportunities are actually worth it. Once you’ve identified your target, join the conversation, but remember to be genuine, helpful, and interesting. In the end, this will win you respect and business.

People turn to Facebook and Twitter to communicate with each other, not with major brands and marketers. And while there is always going to be the one in one-thousand user that responds to direct marketing, the conversion rate for appropriate, targeted conversation will always much higher. When you enter social media determined to sell 10,000 units, you are destined to fail.

If you are already marketing with social media, now is the time to take a quick reference glance in the mirror. If you aren’t marketing like the successful big brands, you can still change course. Target your audience and provide them with genuine value and your efforts will be rewarded. Leave the pushy sales tactics behind.

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Social media marketing is more than having the obligatory Facebook page, blog and Twitter account, according to a new book by Shiv Singh, vice president and global social media lead for Razorfish.

Instead, his new book, Social Media Marketing for Dummies, explains that marketers should be focused on reaching and building online relationships with influencers–those people who can have a substantial impact on a brand’s reputation and sales.

“Social Influence Marketing offers new opportunities for marketers to engage consumers with a brand,” said Singh. “This book cuts through all the clutter about social media in the marketplace and provides clear insights about how to use this new medium to achieve marketing and business objectives.”

In writing the book, Singh drew on extensive client work at Razorfish, including implementing social media marketing programs for Victoria’s Secret, MillerCoors and Levi Strauss & Co. Full of examples, the book is divided into four sections that walk the reader through the scope of Social Influence Marketing, from defining the fundamentals to laying out an actionable plan.

Specifically, the book:

• Debunks common misconceptions about social media marketing and explains how it integrates with other marketing disciplines
• Describes the steps for planning, managing and measuring social media marketing campaigns, even providing advice for choosing technology and advertising vendors as well as specific recommendations
• Discusses how to leverage social media with existing marketing efforts, emphasizing the need for an authentic brand voice
• Presents the 10 best practices and common mistakes in social media marketing

Social Media Marketing for Dummies is available for purchase at bookstores nationwide. More information about the book, including further insight from Singh, can be found on his blog at www.goingsocialnow.com.

About the Author:
As the Vice President and Global Social Media Lead at Razorfish, one of the world’s largest interactive agencies, Shiv Singh advises clients on how to leverage digital technologies to develop meaningful and value-driven customer and employee relationships. He leads Razorfish’s Social Influence Marketing practice, the company’s approach for employing social media and social influencers to achieve clients’ marketing and business objectives. In addition to writing extensively on social media, he has also spoken on Social Influence Marketing at conferences such as South by Southwest, the ARF Annual Summit, Adweek Social Media Strategies, DMA Leader’s Forum, MediaBistro Circus and OMMA Global. He was also recently named one of Advertising Age’s 2009 Media Mavens, a distinguished industry honor and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Ad Age, Adweek, Reuters and USA Today discussing digital marketing. Shiv completed his undergraduate studies at Babson College and conducted graduate research into social networks at the London School of Economics & Political Science. He blogs at www.goingsocialnow.com and his twitter ID is @shivsingh.

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Social media is everywhere. In fact, as the old saying goes, you “can’t swing a dead cat without hitting” some mention of social media.

Fur-flying aside (apologies to my feline-loving friends), social media offers small business owners many unique opportunities — not the least of which is the ability to compete on a level playing field with the “big guys” of their niche. And, while more and more mainstream corporations are certainly hopping on the social media bandwagon, nearly equal amounts have been reluctant to do so. While they have mistakenly underestimated the opportunities for brand building and nurturing customer relationships, wise marketers should be making use of this headstart to gain a strong foothold in the niche.

For new clients just testing the social media waters, I recommend starting with “the trifecta” of social media — Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. We’ll save the discussions on YouTube and Twitter for another day — our focus today is on setting up a Facebook ad campaign, and doing so without spending a dime of your own money.

THAT got your attention, didn’t it? Good!

It should be noted that you must already have a Facebook account in order to use this offer, and you must be new to Facebook advertising. Just follow these steps, and you’ll be on your way to starting your first Facebook ad campaign in no time!

1. Sign up for the Visa Business Network (a free business community) via this link.
2. Create your ad. It must measure 110 pixels wide by 80 pixels high. In addition, you will be able to use 25 characters for your text headline, and 135 characters for your text ad (which will run directly below your ad).
3. You will be prompted to enter your payment information (which will not be accessed until after your coupon has been exhausted. You will receive an email from Facebook to alert you of this.
4. Enter your coupon code (provided by Visa Business Network) where indicated.
5. After you’ve created and uploaded your ad, you will be presented with a series of targeting criteria that will help insure you ad reaches its intended audience. You can set the age range, geographical region, language, and keywords that will trigger the display of your ad. If you have run Google ads in the past, be sure and use your most successful keywords (and possibly even your ad text).
6. Wait for your ad to be approved – generally less than 24 hours.

While some may be tempted to set very broad keyword phrases, I would encourage you to be as specific as possible. This will enable you to maximize the budget you’ve been afforded by the coupon. Over the first week or so, you may want to tweak your ad text or keywords once you start to see the click-thru rates. What better time to make these changes than before you begin using your own funds?

If you are already using Facebook advertising, why not chime in and share your experiences with us? I would love to hear how you are using this tool for your business.

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