Matrix Group International

Category: Content Marketing and Social Media

  • Does the Social Web Mean the End of Privacy?

    Does the Social Web Mean the End of Privacy?

    Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg has gotten a lot of flack lately for his pronouncement (during an interview with TechCrunch) that privacy norms have evolved over the years and privacy is essentially dead.  I watched the interview myself and think the criticism is overdone.  I think that Zuckerberg has correctly described the times and his company is taking advantage of our voyeuristic culture.  Facebook did not create this culture.  I think it started with the first reality show on MTV back in 80s. We watched the teens living together and reveled in their pranks and arguments.

    Does the social Web mean the end of privacy?  Are MySpace and Facebook to blame for all the personal revelations we spew out every day?  Or should we blame Google and Bing, which manage to index the Web and let anyone find out gobs and gobs of information about each of us?  When I Google my name (Joanna Pineda), I find lots of information that I WANT the search engines to find and index.  But I also find pages that have my address, my political contributions and address, yada, yada.  I’m not happy that Facebook changed its privacy settings and defaulted some of my information to be available to everyone, but I actually appreciate the more granular control that I now have over my posts, link and photos.

    What do you think?  Is privacy dead?  How much do you reveal on social networks?  Are you doing anything to keep out of the search engines?

  • The New Facebook Privacy Changes: A Primer and To Do List

    The New Facebook Privacy Changes: A Primer and To Do List

    On December 9, Facebook rolled out new privacy options to its 350 million users. When I logged onto Facebook that Wednesday, I was greeted by a message that asked me to review the new privacy policy and review my privacy settings. Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg blogged about the new changes, which were greeted with raised voices on both sides. Here are some of the major changes:

    • You have always been able to limit what information from your profile was public and private.  But now, Facebook lets you control access to every status update, link, photo, video, etc.
    • When controlling access, you can grant access to different people or groups: Everyone (as in the world), All Friends, Friends of Friends, and specific friends or lists of friends, or deny access/hide from specific friends of lists of friends.
    • Facebook eliminated regional networks, which allowed users to unwittingly share their profiles to entire cities, states, countries, etc.

    Advocates for the new privacy changes praised the simplified settings and the increased control over every single post.  Critics, however, are livid over the fact that the default option was to make nearly everything on a person’s profile available to Everyone (that is, until users edited their settings and posts) and the fact that some information is strictly public and can’t be edited.  For example, you can no longer limit who can see your list of friends and your public profile always shows the Facebook pages that you are a fan of.  I know I was ticked off that even though I edited my privacy settings so that my photo albums are globally only available to Friends, Facebook made my existing photo albums publicly available until I edited each one manually.

    If the new privacy settings and changes confuse you, here are my recommendations:

    • Review your Privacy Settings by clicking on Settings, then Privacy Settings in the top right menu. Ignore Facebook’s Guide to Privacy and privacy recommendations and set-up your settings they way you like.  Facebook, for example, recommends that “Everyone be able to see information that will make it easier for friends to find, identify and learn about you. This includes basic information like your About Me description, Family and Relationships, Work and Education Info, and Website, as well as posts that you create, like photo albums and status updates.”  For me, this is way too much information for the public to see.

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  • What I Learned About Marketing From The Candy Man

    What I Learned About Marketing From The Candy Man

    bar of chocolateWhat do you do if you make candy, most of your sales in grocery stores are from the checkout lane, and RFID is poised to eliminate checkout lanes?

    I attended the holiday reception of the Grocery Manufacturers Association earlier this week.  In addition to mingling with GMA staff and other sister association staff, I got to meet reps from several GMA members, including Tom from The Hershey Company.  I told Tom that Matrix Group has got to be the biggest buyer of the dark chocolate Hershey’s kisses (the dark chocolate kisses are wrapped in purple foil).  Purple kisses are a staple at nearly every Matrix Group meeting because a) they’re purple and b) meetings always run better when there’s chocolate involved.

    Tom reported that Hershey’s chocolate is doing well because even during (or perhaps because of) the recession, chocolate is an indulgence most people can afford.  I asked him what’s new in the business of candy/chocolate marketing and he said candy makers are in for a rough ride in the next few years because the grocery store user experience is changing dramatically. Consider this:

    • Most candy sales in grocery stores come from the checkout line. Why? Because most people avoid the candy aisle, especially if they’re moms with kids.  So the checkout line becomes the most important place to market candy.
    • Grocery stores have been experimenting for years with self-checkout.  Shoppers Food Warehouse has had self-checkout for years.  Tom says we should expect self-check-out to be more common in the future.
    • Even with self-checkout, there’s a check-out lane.  BUT, RFID promises an end to the checkout lane as we know it. Last year, for example, Microsoft announced a digital grocery cart that lets shoppers access grocery lists created at home, receive targeted coupons, and scan products as they go into the cart.  With the digital shopping cart, the checkout lane becomes a payment lane; no more waiting, no more scanning.

    Yikes and wow!  So if you’re The Hershey Company, Mars or Wrigley, what do you do?  What kind of R&D and marketing initiatives do you start developing now — for the day when checkout lanes are gone forever or at least changed dramatically?
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  • Top Tips for Creating a Great Facebook Page

    Top Tips for Creating a Great Facebook Page

    Facebook logoOver the past year or so, I’ve seen more and more non-profits and companies create Facebook fan pages for their organizations.  Facebook calls fan pages “a customizable presence for an organization, product, or public personality to join the conversation with Facebook users.” Fan pages are great because they are designed for organizations, but they work a lot like personal pages.  You can customize them; you can post status updates, links, photos and videos; and updates show up on fans’ streams.

    So, you’ve set-up a Facebook fan for your company, now what?  Here are some of my favorite Facebook fan pages and reasons I think they’re terrific and effective.

    Stanford University – http://www.facebook.com/stanford

    • The status updates are a mix of campus news, alumni news, sports updates, research and university news.
    • The page has a good mix of updates, links, photos and videos.
    • I love the office hours with world-renowned professors.  Each week, there is a short video of a professor discussing some important work; the professor takes questions from fans throughout the week.
    • I also appreciate the handy list of Stanford Web sites and the photo albums.

    Dunkin Donuts – http://www.facebook.com/DunkinDonuts

    • When you visit this Facebook fan page, you are not taken to the Wall by default, but rather to a promo.
    • This fan page uses a custom Tab for Maurice, the Dunkin Donuts mascot.
    • Dunkin Donuts encourages fan posts to the Wall; there are even videos posted by fans.
    • To manage fan posts, “DD Facebook Etiquette” is posted right on the front page; this makes it clear that DD welcomes fan interaction, but within specific parameters.

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  • Do You Really Need 500 Friends on That Social Network? Is It Time to Unfriend Some People?

    Do You Really Need 500 Friends on That Social Network? Is It Time to Unfriend Some People?

    Giving someone the blowoff or the kissoffI was talking to one of the Cat Herders (Project Manager) at Matrix Group today.  She said she was trimming her Facebook friend list and unfriending some people.  Unfriending.  It sounds so… ummmm… unfriendly.

    Facebook says that the average user has 130 friends but I know people who have hundreds, even thousands of friends.  500 friends?  I can’t imagine many people who have that many friends with whom they would willingly share personal updates, photos, even their full birthday.  So I asked around and got some good insight into the friending and unfriending business.  These findings don’t represent a large group, just my friends! 🙂

    • There is a group of Facebook users who will accept friend requests from anyone and who actively try to expand their friend network.
    • There is another group that views Facebook as a place where they can communicate freely so they only connect with true friends.  For these folks, Facebook is a place for personal communications, often about self, family, kids, friends.
    • There was a general consensus that the new Facebook homepage, which splits updates between News Feed and View Live Feed, makes it harder to see updates from your entire network of friends, which makes it more challenging to have a large network.
    • Many people have been cleaning up their lists on Facebook, Twitter, and other social network recently.  They’re actively unfriending people so they can manage the communications and flood of updates.
    • Even if  a person has a large network on a platform like Facebook, they are more than likely only interacting with a small subset of friends. Indeed, the Facebook sociologist says that no matter how large their friend network, Facebook users tend to “comment on stuff from only about 5-10% of their Facebook friends.”

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  • Which Came First? Design or Content? Neither, They Need to be Hatched at the Same Time

    Which Came First? Design or Content? Neither, They Need to be Hatched at the Same Time

    Chicken and EggThere is an ongoing discussion at Matrix Group about content and Web design.

    One camp says that clients need to have all of their content prepped and ready to go before design on a Web site even begins.  The other camp says this view is not realistic, content is always behind, and clients often need the design to inspire them to update their content.

    So which view is right?  I actually think that both sides are right.  But I think the question is misdirected.  The real question is: how do we make content more important, earlier in the Web site design and development process?

    Here’s something every Web design and development firm knows:  Content is often the responsibility of the client, it’s often delayed, and it’s the most common reason for delayed launches. A List Apart has a whole section on their site devoted to content strategy.  I love Bronwyn Jones’ article on how good design is not possible without good writing.  And I think Erin Kissane is on to something when she discusses content templates (not design templates) as a way to help subject matter experts put their knowledge down on paper.

    Here is what I have learned about content, the importance of content to design, and coaxing good content out of clients: (more…)

  • My Favorite Twitter Applications

    My Favorite Twitter Applications

    Twitter logoTwitter was super smart when they created their API and encouraged developers all over the world to come on in, use their API and develop their own applications using Twitter data.  But wait, what’s an API, you say?

    API stands for Application Program Interface.  Wikipedia defines an API as “an interface that a software programs implements in order to allow other software to interact with it.”  In the Web world, APIs allow systems to talk to each other, request each other’s data, write to each other’s systems, etc., within a defined structure.  In Twitter’s case, the Twitter API allows software developers to request information from Twitter, especially the tweets by Twitter subscribers. The API allows requests by date range, keyword, usernames, etc. (more…)

  • Does the Social Web Mean an End to E-Mail?

    Does the Social Web Mean an End to E-Mail?

    Flying swirl of envelopes and e-mailDuring a recent interview, the candidate asked me if Matrix Group still uses e-mail to promote its services and events.  Curious, I asked her why she asked that question.  She replied that she thought e-mail was obsolete, that all marketing is moving to the social Web.  My first reaction was “no way, you’re crazy, e-mail is never going away.”

    But then I read a study by Nielsen that reports “member communities, which includes both social networks and blogs, has become the fourth most popular online category – ahead of personal email.” Whoa!  Social networking and blogging have overtaken personal e-mail?  Could this signal another monumental shift in our communications?

    Perhaps.  But yet another Nielsen analysis reports that “the heaviest social media users actually use email more” than other segments. My God, how could this be?  And where the heck are these people finding the time to be on both social networks and e-mail so heavily?

    Here’s my take on what’s going on: (more…)

  • Making Sense of the Twitter Speak and Twetiquette

    Making Sense of the Twitter Speak and Twetiquette

    Twitter LogoI was at a conference recently where one of the attendees mentioned that although she’s on Twitter, she doesn’t understand half of what’s being said. “What’s a DM?,” she said. “And what’s the difference between RT and via?”

    Twitter is deceptively simple.  You get 140 characters to speak your mind or share some news.  In some ways, Twitter is a lot like instant messaging ((IM) because people use acronyms to shorten common expressions. I found a good list of acronyms that pop up a lot of Twitter on the Examiner.com site.  My favorites?

    • LOL – laughing out loud
    • BTW – by the way
    • IMHO – in my humble opinion
    • TMI – too much information
    • FTF of F2F – face to face
    • LMK – let me know
    • TTFN – ta ta for now

    In other ways, Twitter is different from IM because it has its own protocols and etiquette. Here’s what I’ve learned: (more…)

  • Creating an Integrated Marketing Strategy for Your Organization That Blends Traditional Marketing and Social Networking

    Creating an Integrated Marketing Strategy for Your Organization That Blends Traditional Marketing and Social Networking

    Kids and Puzzle PiecesClients often ask me how to add social media to their marketing and communication initiatives.  Rather than viewing social media as a separate program, I recommend adding social media to existing marketing activities.

    In addition, I recommend against blasting the same message across the different platforms.  Instead, I urge clients to create a layered approach that uses each platform according to its strengths and capabilities.  Here are some examples:

    Example #1: Trade Association Wants to Promote a Conference

    • Create a microsite for the conference that contains information about the conference, the venue, the program and speakers, and benefits to attendees
    • Use Twitter to broadcast conference updates and deadlines, industry news and statistics
    • Post photos from the previous year’s conference to Flickr
    • Use a Facebook fan page to feature program and speakers, host discussions about conference topics, and allow attendees to interact with experts
    • Host a blog where conference organizers can blog news before the conference; during the conference, assign members to blog about the sessions

    Example #2: Shoe Boutique Wants to Increase Traffic to Bricks and Mortar Store During the Holiday Season (more…)