Stella Artois Facebook campaign for Cannes

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Stella Artois has launched a Facebook centered campaign to promote its 4% brand in the build up to the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Stella Artois launches Facebook campaign for Cannes

Stella Artois launches Facebook campaign for Cannes

The idea, developed by advertising agency Mother, is based on the premise that a famous french film director, Jacques d’Azur has gone missing, presumed dead and his estate has made an appeal to the public to find his heir.

The really clever social media bit is when you sign up to the competition through Facebook, your profile picture becomes integrated in a film taking place in his solicitor’s office about the possible beneficiary of the estate – very cool.

The winner of the competition takes Jacques’s place as a VIP at the Cannes Film Festival.

The campaign is supported with a Twitter page and a FlickR photostream of Jacques’s life.

The preposterously glamorous life of Jacques is detailed on his Facebook page, introducing him as a “French film producer/director/actor/tennis player/chess master/ backgammon champion/waterskiing pioneer and full time bon-vivant known for his work on the red carpets and swimming pools of the French Riviera.”

Stella Artois debuted their faux ’60s themed campaign in November, with the gameshow Le Recyclage de Luxe.

Source: Furlong PR

Stella Artois Cannes Facebook campaign

Stella Artois Cannes Facebook campaign

What is Social Media?

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What is Social Media?

One of the key factors in Social Media Marketing is the measurement of its success or impact. In order to measure, you have to monitor engagement and sentiment.

Make sure your online media monitoring solutions are able to bring relevant results and analyze sentiment with a machine learning algorithm platform or you will find yourself immersed in a sea of non-relevant results.

Remember that in Social Media, people comment on your brand in the language of their choice and that over 53% of the U.S. population growth between January 2010 and December 2015 will be driven by Hispanics.

Therefore, try to include these comments not with a mere translating tool but a platform that comprehends idioms and cultural expression of the countries of origin and even Spanglish!

Video Source: Marta Kagan

Why SMX Echo is the Leading Multicultural Social Media Monitoring Tool

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I had the great pleasure of meeting Claudia Havi Goffan about a year ago. I quickly realized that Havi was an incredibly talented and driven person. She has been in the marketing space for more than 25 years — specializing in strategic planning. Havi has been recognized as an expert in Latino Marketing by CNN and more importantly she has been named one of the top 48 Public Relations Professionals by American Express.

Form relationships with other local businesses that cater to your customers. Ask them to offer a discount to their customers if they mention coming from their store when they purchase from you. Feel free to reciprocate. — Havi Goffan

When Havi is not busy with the Board for Latin Success or with the Argentine American Chamber of Commerce — she is busy running her company — Target Latino. As CEO, Havi has feverishly promoted the importance of the U.S. Hispanic market to American companies. She has worked with many top brands ranging from AT&T to XEROX. One of the most exciting partnerships that Havi and her team are working on is with SocialMetrix — developers of SMX Echo.

Read more of Ramon Nuez‘s article at the Huffington Post

Claudia Havi Goffan is the CEO of Target Latino and she specializes in generating Word-of-Mouth via Grassroots strategies online and off-line always with outstanding results.

Social Media Adoption Brings New Customers To Small Businesses

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The third wave of the Small Business Success Index, by Network Solutions and the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, reports social media adoption by small businesses has doubled from 12% to 24% in the last year. Small businesses are increasingly investing in applications including blogs, Facebook and LinkedIn profiles.

Small Business Social Media Sources and Usage

Social Media Exposure | % of Small Businesses Using

Company page on social networking site 75%

Post status updates and/or articles of interest on social networking sites 69%

Build network through sites like LinkedIn 57%

Monitor positive/negative feedback about own organization on social networks 54%

Have blog on areas of expertise 39%

Tweet about area of expertise 26%

Use Twitter as customer service channel 16%

Other 8%

Source: SBSI/NetSolutions, February 2010

Key social media usage highlights (% of respondents)

  • 75% surveyed have a company page on a social networking site
  • 61% use social media for identifying and attracting new customers
  • 57% have built a network through a site like LinkedIn
  • 45% expect social media to be profitable in the next twelve months

Dr. Alan Glazier, CEO and Founder of an eye and vision care center, said “… I was forced to consider alternative options to keep my business visible… with a very small investment in social media marketing, I was able to generate new business opportunities… (and) most importantly, my marketing budget has been reduced by more than 80%… ”

61% of the respondents use social media to identify new customers. The biggest expectation small business owners have from social media is expanding external marketing and engagement including identifying and attracting new customers, building brand awareness and staying engaged with customers.

50% of small business social media users say it takes more time than expected. While social media adoption has doubled in the last year, there are still some roadblocks to small businesses fully exploiting its potential. Another 17% feel that social media gives people a chance to criticize their business on the Internet. Related to this, only 6% feel that social media use has hurt the image of the business more than helped it.

Janet Wagner, director of the Center for Excellence in Service at the University of Maryland, says that “Social media levels the playing field for small businesses… ”

Other key findings from the December 2009 Small Business Success Index:

Small businesses experience positive effects from the economic downturn:

  • 72% have found ways to operate more efficiently (up significantly from 66% in June)
  • 47%have been led to find new products and services that benefit customers
  • 43% have become better teams as hard times force people to work together

Building online presence continues to be key focus for small businesses:

  • Company Web sites seem to be the top technology investment in the next two years, with small businesses either adding new features/functionality to their existing Web sites or building one from scratch
  • The ability to showcase their products and services online to attract new customers is second in the hierarchy of technology investments
  • Social media investments rank third in small business investments to be made in the next two years

Customer service the biggest strength of small business owners:

  • Small businesses are highly successful at answering customer questions, ensuring customer satisfaction, showing empathy, providing consistent service, resolving problems and winning repeat business
  • Four of the six customer service dimensions have gotten stronger compared to a year ago, and one of these, ensuring customer satisfaction, is significantly higher

Connie Steele, Director at Network Solutions, concludes that “… social media can be the best friend for small business owners who constantly seek new ways to maximize productivity while keeping costs low… ”

Source: Jack Loechner

Fortune 500 companies getting into Twitter

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The Fortune 500’s use of blogs, online video, and podcasts continues to increase, but Twitter was the social media channel of choice in 2009, according to a study by the Society for New Communications Research (SNCR) and Financial Insite.

The study, “The Fortune 500 and Social Media: A Longitudinal Study of Blogging and Twitter Usage by America’s Largest Companies,” was conducted by Dr. Nora Ganim Barnes, Ph.D., Senior Fellow and Research Chair of the Society for New Communications Research and Chancellor Professor of Marketing at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and Eric Mattson, CEO of Financial Insite Inc., a Seattle-based research firm.

Large number of Fortune 500 companies got into Twitter, report says

Large number of Fortune 500 companies got into Twitter, report says

The new report is the outcome of a statistically sound study of the Fortune 500. The study examined the 2009 Fortune 500 in an attempt to quantify their adoption of social media tools and technologies. This is the second year that Barnes and Mattson have tracked social media adoption among the Fortune 500, and theirs is the only statistically sound longitudinal study of its kind.

The 2009 study’s key findings include:

  • 22% (108) of the primary corporations listed in the 2009 Fortune 500 have a public-facing corporate blog. This represents a six percent increase over the 2008 study.
  • 86% of these blogs (93) link directly to a corporate twitter account, a 300% increase over the 2008 study. (Note: More Fortune 500 corporations have Twitter accounts, but do not link directly from their blogs.)
  • 35% (173) of the Fortune 500 have active Twitter accounts (a post within the past thirty days); and nearly 50% of the top 100 companies (47) have a Twitter account.
  • 80% — four of the top five corporations – Wal-Mart, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and General Electric – consistently post on their Twitter accounts. The number one ranked company, Exxon Mobil, does not have a Twitter account.
  • The insurance industry has the most Twitter accounts (13).
  • 19% of the 2009 Fortune 500 is podcasting, a three percent increase over the 2008 study
  • 31% are incorporating online video into their blog sites, a 10% increase over 2008

“The continued steady adoption of blogs and the explosive growth of Twitter among Fortune 500 companies demonstrate the growing importance of social media in the business world,” stated Barnes. “These large and leading companies drive the American economy, and to a large extent, the world economy. Surely a willingness to interact more transparently via these new technologies with their stakeholders is a positive step. Where this leads will be fascinating to watch!”

“As social media become more integrated with a variety of business functions both internally and externally at companies, we continue to see a steadily growing adoption of blogs, Twitter, online video, podcasts and other new communications channels,” added Mattson.

About this study

A full copy of the 17-page research report, “The Fortune 500 and Social Media: A Longitudinal Study of Blogging and Twitter Usage by America’s Largest Companies,” can be downloaded at the link below.

Additionally, Barnes and Mattson will publish a paper based on the findings in an upcoming issue of the Society for New Communications Research’s Journal of New Communications Research and will present the findings via a web-based briefing and at the Society for New Communications Research’s annual research symposium.

About the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

To facilitate the economic development of the region by providing an affordable, high-quality economic alternative to meeting business needs for research, training, and consulting in any and all aspects of Marketing. The Center for Marketing Research is associated with and maintains a close relationship with the Chambers of Commerce within southeastern Massachusetts. This unique relationship provides the Center with an effective business networking capability. For more information, visit http://www.umassd.edu/cmr/.

About the Society for New Communications Research (SNCR)

The Society for New Communications Research is a global nonprofit 501(c)(3) research and education foundation and think tank focused on the advanced study of the latest developments in new media and communications, and their effect on traditional media and business models, communications, culture and society. For more information, visit http://sncr.org.