Good or Bad: NY Times and LinkedIn?

Read, Write, Web announced that the NY Times is announcing a content partnership with Linkedin that allows:

LinkedIn users to be shown personalized news targeting their industry verticals on the Business and Technology sections of NYTimes.com, where users will then be prompted to share those stories will professional associates.

I agree with RWW that this move is inspiring…especially to us social media marketing types. However, pausing in the excitement to reflect, I am reminded again of my recent trip to the Newseum.

Does providing the public with the information they WANT….take away from providing news the public NEEDS, whether we know we need it or not. As an extreme example, what if all I want to read about are the latest and greatest events in Hollywood. Not to knock Hollywood, but isn’t it important that we also try to reach these individuals with messages about public health, the environment and world events?

Pausing in the grandeur social media environment: are we on the verge of OVER-segmenting our audiences?

With journalistic big dawgs, like the NY Times, takes this step: is there greater good? or is it dangerous?

I understand journalism organizations, especially newspapers, are trying to find a working online model, or any working business model for that matter, but…is this idea of giving people what they want…dangerous?

Are you ready to par-tay with Jonny and the gang?

What: Jonny’s Par-tay, the live interactive online talk show
Who: Join special guests Andre Blackman, Qui Diaz, and Alexandra Rampy, with host Jonny Goldstein and super producer Scott Stead.
Where: jonnyspartay.com
When: Weds., July 16, Weds, 9-10PM

As Jonny himself wrote…

Commercial marketing is a powerful discipline that influences people (say, you) to behave a certain way (say, buy Count Chocula cereal). But what if the concepts and tools used by commercial marketers were used to effect positive social change–to get people to stop smoking, exercise regularly, or conserve energy? That’s social marketing. This week we have three afficionados of social marketing, Andre Blackman, Qui Diaz, and Alexandra Rampy, who are also deep into the world of social media. How does social marketing work, and how does social media fit into the marketing mix when we’re talking about marketing for good, not just for increased commercial success. Come to this very special Par-tay 4 Good this Wednesday!

This is my first LIVE webcast, so be sure to tune in for the great convo, interesting topics and the occasional nervous twitch as viewers can send LIVE questions for us to answer. See you then!

Social Marketing: Smokey Bear’s Makeover

Get your smokey on. This is the tagline for a new campaign sponsored by the Ad Council, USDA Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters.

It’s also the tagline for the first social marketing campaign highlighted in my campaigns series. I chose this campaign not only because of its relevance and timeliness, but also because of some of the social media promotional components integrated with the campaign.

Meet Smokey Bear: Born in 1944, a time when firefighters were serving in the war effort. Thus, fire prevention became a key wartime issue. In 1944, 22 million acres of land were lost with 9 out of 10 forest fires were accidental. Most of Smokey’s campaigns focused on specific fire-prevention behaviors with the message, “Only you can prevent forest fires.”

Smokey Bear’s Make-Over: Today, Smokey Bear wants others to “Get Your Smokey On,” encouraging others to take on Smokey’s characteristics of encouraging others to practice fire safety behavior and to even intervene if necessary.

Background Research: According to the Ad Council, an average of 6.5 million acres of U.S. land was burned by wildfires every year for the past 10 years. Research also shows that many Americans believe lightning starts most wildfires. However, 88% of wildfires nationwide are started by humans. The principle causes are campfires left unattended, trash burning on windy days, careless discarding of smoking materials and BBQ coals and operating equipment without spark arrestors.

Objective: To encourage the target audience to sign the “Get Your Smokey On” Wildfire Pledge,” where signers pledge to “Be smart whenever I go outdoors.” The pledge also outlines 9 points of safety behaviors and beliefs that the reader agrees to follow.

Audience: The primary audience are adults aged 18-35 who are causal campers, hikers and bikers.

Campaign Components

• Online
  • Interactive Website
  • An Online Pledge
  • Downloads: Print your own Smokey Bear mask
  • Educational Information
  • A Mash-up Map showing where wildfires are currently burning in the U.S.
  • A live tracker for how many acres have burned in the U.S. so far this year
  • Online Kid’s games
  • Campaign History
  • View the PSAs online
• Commercials/PSAs

Evaluation: The Smokey Bear campaign has always been evaluated based by the reduction in the number of acres lost annually in fires and based upon the campaigns recognition. Smokey Bear is currently the most recognizable image in the U.S., after Santa Claus.

Creator: Made pro-bono by DraftFCB. In the close future, Smokey will also be featured in PSAs alongside Sleeping Beauty created in partnership with The Disney Company .

Social Marketing Rating: According to the social marketing wiki, this initiative meets the requirements for social marketing. However, on the wiki it is argued that it’s not very good social marketing stating that the online pledge mixes behavior and non-behavior objectives and is too long for readers to actually follow. It’s review goes on.

However, I think it’s a great awareness and promotional campaign. In terms of taking a complicated issue, research and statistics and communicating it, especially online. I think the campaign has two most powerful components:

1. The mash-ups outlining statistics. This makes the issue real, alive, relevant…and local.
2. The message that an individual can be empowered as an advocate.

What do you think? What’s your analysis?

An Afternoon Conversation Calls Me Back

I’m starting another series. Apparently, I like series. But I think readers do to, because it helps you know what kind of content to predict. Or, so Seth Godin tells us.

Today, I was fortunate enough to connect with one of SocialButterfly’s consistent readers at the Ad Council. I want to thank him through this blog as the conversation inspired me to start this new series: Social Marketing Classic Campaigns.

A month now into my ‘official’ new full-time role at work, I have slightly gotten a bit side-tracked in my enthusiasm for social media, that the true ‘social marketing’ aspect of my blog has been lacking. Thus, to complement the Social Media Highlight series I have, I’m starting this new one.

This afternoon’s conversation reminded me of what I think would be a DREAM job –> having the ability to brand social marketing, to further the field, to expand its practices and applications, to share its tool belt with those across industries and across nations, and to inspire more SocialButterflies…so to speak. =) But this can’t be accomplished alone, and we all play our part.

Thus, stay tuned as every other week I am going to showcase a classic social marketing campaign, and highlight movements in the field. Through this, I hope to elaborate on social marketing’s theory using real-world examples. As, I also realized this afternoon, that I’ve been focusing a lot on the promotional efforts of social marketing, which is a trend of the field and not just myself. Thus, I hope to highlight some really great campaigns.

It might be a small step towards the dream, but small steps can end up coving a large distance! If you have some ideas on some you’d like to see featured, feel free to post a note. Until then, social marketers unite!

What’s Your Social Media Ritual? Sharing My Own 15-Steps

At work, we’ve been talking a lot about the information scans we all do on our own…who we refer to, which sites are the best, the most useful feeds, etc. So, now, out of curiosity and from inspiration gained from Chris Brogan’s recent post: “Where I Learn More,” I’m asking: Where do you go to learn?

Brogan’s article is great, as in it, he talks about the role of influence and asks us to reflect on what influences what we learn, think, behave and believe….so close to a social marketing (the real social marketing) question my buttons were popping with techy-excitement.

Here is my average, daily, social media ritual.

Please share me yours, and perhaps we can both expand our horizons a little. =)

1. Check my work e-mail account. Its true fellow co-workers.
2. Check my regular Gmail account. I get various e-newsletters and feeds here such as the Ad Council Creative E-newsletter, emails from the Social Marketing listserv, Chris Brogan’s new e-newsletter and others.
3. Check my blog email account. I get various e-newsletter and feeds here that help me stay up to date on the social media, nonprofit, and social marketing arena. Some of my favorite includes Nedra Weinreich’s Spare Change Blog, Beth Kanter’s blog/wiki, and Ogilvy PR’s 360 Digital Influence blog.
4. Check my Bloglines feeds, to see what good posts are up and published.
5. Check out both the nonprofit and the social media categories on Alltop.com
6. Do a scan of: TechCrunch, Trendspotting, Read Write Web, Osocio, Non-Profit Times, NextGov, BrazenCareerist, Social Times, and others. This can depend on the day and the topic I’m currently investigating.
7. Check old Twitter feeds I may have missed. Especially key feeds from @GeoffLiving, @Nedra, @chrisbrogan, @scobleizer, @rww, @abfdc, @allllll the others I follow on Twitter. Really, it’s a community working together and sharing. It. is. awesome.
8. If it’s a Monday, I check out the Carnival for Non-Profit Consultants.
9. Check in on Linkedin to see if anyone new I know has joined or connected. The homepage on Linkedin is becoming increasingly fun.
10. Surf around the NonProfit Blog Exchange if Emily has posted some great new posts.
11. Then, it’s on to the social bookmarks. I check my delicious, both my networks and my subscriptions. Oftentimes, those I am connected to are in a similar field or have similar interests, so thank you everyone on del.icio.us.
12. Then, I spend a little time on Digg, and may occasionally check in on StumbleUpon. I’m really liking Mixx more and more too, though, there doesn’t seem to be as many people on it.
13. I check up on the scoop of my work’s internal wiki.
14. Check meetup.com for upcoming events and opportunities to take online connecting –> offline.
15. More scooping that I probably, and I apologize, didn’t list. Though, if I remember more, I will place in the comments. There’s always MORE to learn and MORE resources to discover. =)

Important note to make: This is just the listening phase.

About the listening phase. I might do some or all of this ritual depending on the day and the time. The point is though, that my ritual is…I am always listening. Always checking in. Always asking questions. Always working to seek answers.

The FUN part, is taking it all in, reflecting, and creatively organizing the content and information in your head to implement innovative, effective communications. And, when I really want to *get wild,* I reflect further, beyond the field of communications, social media or marketing…but more to what Chris mentions, about influence. About change. About society. About trends. About what it all means.

Photo Credit: Flickr, Elias Pirasteh

Are You a Change-Agent? User-Experience Inspires Environmental Change

Timberland + Changents provide an innovative platform, strategy and user experience for change

What do a bus, a canary, an artist, a rocker and a college grad have in common? Getting green. and inspiring others to follow suit.

Today, Timberland, the outdoor company, and Changents unveiled a new online experience where individuals can be catalysts for change by teaming up with environmental “Change Agents” from around the world to advance the green revolution.

Engage ::

Watch broadcasts of firsthand experiences from the field through blogs, videos, photo albums, Flickr streams, phoned-in podcasts, Twitter dispatches and more.

Back a Change Agent by assuming the roles of:

• “Fan” (a shout-out of support),
• “First Responder” (being on-call if their Change Agent gets in a pinch),
• “Buzz Builder” (promoting a Change Agent’s stories and Action Requests through viral sharing),
• “Angel” (helping fill their Change Agent’s piggy bank) and
• “Advocate” (influence policy makers with respect to a Change Agent’s cause)

Plug in to ‘Earthkeepers,’ where you can follow and interact with 5 extraordinary Change Agents, dubbed, “Earthkeeper Heroes.

• Big Green Bus (12 Dartmouth students travel the country this summer in a tricked-out school bus converted to run on waste vegetable oil);
• The Canary Project (an artist couple convey the story of human-induced climate change and potential solutions through media, events and artwork);
• Agent 350 (a recent college grad and his scrappy team sprint to build a global, online/offline climate action movement from scratch);
• Reverb (a group of rock and roll road warriors green summer concert tours for Dave Matthews, John Mayer and Maroon 5/Counting Crows while engaging fans around environmental sustainability);
• POWERleaper (A 23-year old designtrepeneur created a blueprint for urban flooring systems that generates electricity from human foot traffic).

Become an Earthkeeper Hero yourself! Nominate yourself or others to compete for a chance to join the ranks of this amazing group.

About ::

Changents.com is an entertainment-driven Internet destination that connects innovators of social and environmental change – Change Agents – with a global network of people who want to help them. In 2007, Changents was founded by two social entrepreneurs, Alex Hofmann and Deron Triff, who set out to engage a digitally-connected, socially-conscious generation on its own terms.

“We started Changents to give a new generation of social and environmental problem-solvers the tools they need to build teams of active followers and help them become ‘rock stars’ of change through the Internet,” said Changents Co-Founder and CEO Deron Triff.”

Food Marketing and Kids – Always A Popular Topic

The mix of food marketing and ethics when it comes to advertising to children tends to always be a popular topic on the social marketing list serv. And, the topic pops up every once and a while in the news too.

If you have been following this issue, and honestly, I have been following it some, but I don’t claim to be an expert on it. So, I’m curious to get others’ thoughts.

Food. Children. Marketing. Advertising. Social Marketing. Ethics. –> Please share your thoughts in the comments. I am providing some questions as prompts, and will post again a summary of the responses and what I discover.

Cases

Last spring and summer, there was much ado about Shrek and his character endorsing various unhealthy food products.

Again, there was a response when McDonald’s advertised by sponsoring report cards and giving achieving students special McDonald offers.

Articles

Fundamental Shift in Making and Marketing Snacks to Kids, MarketingProfs June 11, 200

Sweet Surrender, Washington Post, May 22, 2008

Junk Food Marketing Linked to Child Obesity, Lancaster Farming, May 23, 2008

Shrek: He’s Big, Green and Promoting Junk Food, MSNBC, April 25, 2007

Feel free to leave links to more articles/cases in the comments =) I know there’s a ton of news and literature out there.

Questions

• Where has this issue been and where is it headed?
• Has progress been made? What does ‘progress’ mean?
• Is this an issue or is it over-reaction?
• Are there boundaries when marketing food to children and what are those boundaries?
• How is this sector of the industry changing?

Thanks ya’ll! Look forward to reading your insights!

Carnival of Non-Profit Consultants: Cha-Cha-Chaaange

Hello and welcome to my first time as a host for the Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants! This week was an open call, with a personal preference for social change and social marketing type posts.

The posts listed below largely discuss and point to current nonprofit marketing trends and potentially future marketing trends. Though this might not reflect social marketing per say, it is a reflection of social change….how trends surface, alter, flourish, downsize and in essence, change. So enjoy this week’s carnival!

• Jordan Viator at Connection Cafe’s post Glimpses of the Past, Present and Future Online Communication Practices for Nonprofits provides an audio file from a panel discussion with nonprofit guru Vinay Bhagat. In the discussion and as Mr. Viator reflects, marketing techniques have largely changed from 2003 to 2008…greatly thanks to new media, pointing out the next big trend of constituent empowerment.

• ***Inserting my special ‘bonus host post’ here, as it follows up well with Mr. Viator’s idea. In my post Consumerism. What’s Your First Reaction?, I too coin my own term ‘optimistic consumerism,’ explaining that with changing media and times, the consumer is becoming more empowered than ever by having a choice. In particular, not only do we have a choice of what products or services we consume, but we also have a choice in the place we consume our information. *Props to choosing the Carnival,

• Rebecca Leaman at Wild Apricot continues the discussion of change in her post titled 5 Keys to Effective Knowledge Transfer for Nonprofits, where she outlines how effective communication can transfer through each phase of a message. No matter how the times and technology change, Ms. Leaman’s insights and download-able resource is priceless.

• Bryan Miller at Giving in a Digital World maps out the technology hype cycle in his post titled Online Fundraising and the Hype Cycle. Mr. Miller points out how web 2.0 is making the way for community fundraising 2.0 and that knowing where your nonprofit’s fundraising efforts are will put you and your organization ahead of the curve.

• Jason Dick at A Small Change-Fundraising blog outlines three core values of traditional nonprofit fundraising in his post: Cultivation, Solicitation and Stewardship. However, Mr. Dick points out that while the traditional model is good, the big umbrella term that deserves attention is relationship. According to Mr. Dick, a good relationship means good fundraising and “all bets are off” on the traditional process.

• J. Karlin at Marketing and Fundraising Ideas sets the stage on how to implement change in the post Powerful yet Reasonable Goals. Karlin says that before change can even be accomplished as was in the case study given of Tufts University, one should dream big, and not overlook setting reasonable, attainable goals.

• Last but not least, Jeff Brooks at Donor Power Blog offers up that any amount of change, is good change, in his post Tiny Gifts: Good or Bad?.

Thanks for tuning in to this week’s carnival. Thank you for all of the submission’s this week, as I’ve found new blogs and bloggers to follow, along with some great ideas about cha-cha-chaaaange!

Keep track of the Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants, no matter which blog is hosting, by subscribing to the Carnival feed.

Consumerism. What’s Your First Reaction?

My guess is that it might have caused a slight wrinkle in the face and a sigh of stress? confusion? frustration? I offer that more and more…it should bring a smile. Consumerism is not just about what you consume, but about the choice (and power) you have as well.

Been meaning to post on this topic for a while, but a discussion I had at a friend’s gathering the other day prompted me to post. (Plus, a recent article regarding the optimistic power of consumerism found by a colleague of mine). The conversation circled around consumerism and capitalism….leisurely, get-to-know you chit-chat right…lol

But I was listening to two new friends, acquaintances really, debate consumerism versus capitalism:

• Are they the same thing?
• Does one breed the other?
• Is one better than the other?
• How to stop it, can we stop it?

Etc., etc., etc….you can only imagine. How many of us have found ourselves in these slightly awkward conversations over the weekend, when all you want to do is relax and make friends. Truth is, I secretly LOVE these conversations. Yup, I’m one of ‘them.’ I love the people who are open to talking about how they feel about the things that really matter, especially those amongst my generation. We do DO more than check Facebook 10 times a day, .

Onward. Fact is, I enjoy listening to these conversations because they get my mind tinkering and fueled. After each person shared their viewpoint, I offered this:

Nowadays, the power is transferring from the organization or company to the consumer. Consumerism in today’s terms is increasingly more powerful than it’s given credit. We are all consumers. We all have a choice in the types of services, types of products, types of media we support. Think about the power we have as individuals, let alone when communities and groups surround a movement!”

The best I’ve heard what I’m trying to communicate was at my grad school graduation where Ken Paulson, Editor and Sr. Vice President of USA Today, told my class:

“You are not going to change the world…You already have.”

He went on to explain how the Millennial generation changed the world when they decided they didn’t want to have to pay for music. Or, when they made new phrases like brb, lol and ttyl become common. He also went on to describe the danger we in the media landscape – from advertisers, to journalists, broadcasters, etc – create by referring to ourselves as: The Media. What IS that anyway? The media.

Mr. Paulson, I applaud your speech and would love a copy if you ever read this. It very much reflects what my own master’s research reiterates. There was a time when ‘the media’ (whatever that is) was not a business…and when it was a public service. If you don’t think so, research 1776 or the first newspaper, Publick Occurances. Or, recall Walter WIlliams’ infamous Journalist’s Creed. Or, email/comment me, and let’s have a conversation.

Thus, I leave you with this: What’s your choice? Where do you stand?

Skeptical? Check out Joseph Jaffe’s post and what his power as a consumer is doing to Delta Airlines…at this point, not sure who I feel worse for: Jaffe, or the PR mess Delta is now in, lol. Wow.

******************

As an FYI: My research is being presented at the 1st World Social Marketing Conference this upcoming September in Brighton, England. There’s more to it than this paragraph, and it’s not quite publication ready yet. Let me know if you’ll be there, and hopefully, we can meet! =)

Social Marketing | Nonprofit: Conferences, Events and More

This week I’ve noticed numerous announcements events, so I’m sharing them. If you would like an event you know about or are hosting, let me know and I’ll add it here and on my SM Events page (currently in progress), please let me know. =)

Perhaps we could get more social marketing and social change themed initiatives integrated into more events…anyone else see this call for a Humanitarian Lion at the Cannes Festival this summer? Thoughts?

Conferences

June 2-4, 2008
Social Marketing University:

Objective: Train, teach and engage social marketing practitioners
Host: Weinreich Communications Location: Washington D.C.
Registration Contact: Nedra Weinreich, training@social-marketing.com

June 15-21, 2008
Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival

Extra: The Cannes Festival is wider than social marketing and nonprofit, but it’s the Cannes, and thus, must be included. Anybody see this YouTube message to the big dogs at the Cannes, calling for a Humanitarian Lion?
Location: Cannes, France
Registration Contact: Online Here

June 18-21, 2008
18th Social Marketing in Public Health Conference

Theme: Translation * Dissemination * Change
Host: University of South Florida Location: Clearwater, Florida
Extra: The first half of the conference is a social marketing training academy, while the second half is the main conference event.

June 22-24, 2008
Social Tech Training

Theme: Building New Leaders. Supporting Social Change. Harnessing Web Thinking.
Host: Web of Change and MaRS Location: MaRS Center, Toronto, CAN
Registration Contact: Sarah Pullman, info@webofchange.com

July 14-16, 2008
2008 International NonProfit and Social Marketing Conference

Theme: Partnerships, Proof and Practice
Host: Center for Health Initiatives, University of Wollongong Location: New South Wales, AUS
Registration Contact: Kelly Andrews, kellym@uow.edu.au

July 14-16, 2008
2008 AMA NonProfit Marketing Conference

Theme: Telling Your Story: From Vision to Results
Host: AMA and the AMA Foundation Location: Washington D.C.

August 12-14, 2008
2nd Annual National Health Conference on Health Communication, Marketing and Media

Theme: Engage and Deliver
Host: CDC, National Center for Health Marketing Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Registration Contact: Lisa McBride, lisamcbride@conferencemanagers.com

September 29-30, 2008
1st World Social Marketing Conference

Objective: Bring delegates, speakers, and exhibitors from around the world together to discuss the application of social marketing.
Host: International SM Organizations Location: Brighton, England
Application Deadline: February 29, 2008 Time: 2 days
Contact: srm@uleth.ca

December 1-3, 2008
Australian and New Zealand Marketing Conference 2008

Theme: Shifting Focus from the Mainstream to the Offbeat (has a social, not-for-profit and political marketing streat)
Host: ANZMC, SONY and MONASH University Location: Sydney, AUS
Contact: ANZMAC2008@uws.edu.au

Workshops

July 10-12, 2008
2008 Montana Summer Institute for Social Norms Practitioners

Objective: Develop and refine social norms messages and projects through interactive workshops by bringing together a community of practitioners.
Host: Most of Us Location: Bozeman, Montana
Application Deadline: April 7, 2008 Time: 3 days
Contact: Jeff Linkenbach, Ed.D

July 13, 2008
4th Annual Summer Institute for Social Marketing & Health Communication

Objective: The goal is to bring communication and creative professionals together to work in interdisciplinary teams that apply social marketing theory and principles to some of the biggest social issues of our time. Includes interactive lectures and discussion sessions, case study presentations, group exercises and networking with guest lecturers.
Host: Emerson College Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Application Deadline: May 1, 2008 Time: 5.5 Days
Contact: Tim Edgar @ 617.824.8743 or at timothy_edgar@emerson.edu

More

• Kivi Leroux Miller from Nonprofit Communications, is launching a series of a dozen new webinars covering topics from nonprofit story writing, annual reports, e-newsletters, social media strategy and more. Kivi’s webinars also feature fellow expert guests as well!
• Mark Scrimshire over at EKIVE is putting together HealthCampMD on June 14, 2008 in Owings Mills, Maryland to discuss issues related to Health 2.0. Visit the event’s Wiki site here.
• The University of South Florida is also hosting its 2008 7-Day Social Marketing Field School from June 13-17, 2008 in Tampa, Florida.
• Britt Bravo and fellow BlogHer editors are attending the “Blogging Birds of a Feather Meet-Up: Green/Social Change” on Friday, July 18th at the BlogHer Conference in San Francisco, CA.