Wednesday, February 25, 2009

San Diego Press Club Social Media Presentation



The San Diego Press Club hosted a social media presentation last night on the subject of social media.


The panel included me (Julie) representing (W)right On, Caron Golden who blogs for San Diego Foodstuff, Indra Gardiner who is COO of agency Bailey Gardiner, and Ron James who is launching San Diego News Network to rival SignonSanDiego.com.


It was a full house and people were extremely interested in Twitter. There were a few people who already knew Twitter quite well (these include @gbatuyong who was live Tweeting -- *hooray* -- and @thoughtshappen).


As promised to attendees, I've uploaded a copy of the presentation I shared on social media.

San Diego's Growing Twitter Community

If you didn't already know this, San Diego has a great, enthusiastic and powerful Twitter community.

Currently, the city is ranked 13th worldwide for its Tweeples' activity.

The top Twitterers in this region are also some of the top in the world. Twitter Grader refers to them as San Diego's 'elite' Twitterers. @marismith, for instance, is ranked #1 in this region and in the top 100 of all ranked users.

Naturally, many of the people most active on Twitter are 'social media mavens,' so I personally suggest that if you're looking to keep your Twitterstream fresh, diverse, and relevant, be careful not to jump in by following only the top Twitterers. You'd be missing out on a lot.

Mix it up with great San Diego attractions and venues like @gaslampquarter or news media like @sdut. Or how about both with @sdtips which combines local travel tips, news and a lot more. Or journalists like @dodgemedlin who you can always count on to post topical and timely links.

Follow San Diego Metblog authors like @juliewright (me), @thepegisin, @viss, @morrisato and more.


TweetIt from HubSpot



There are personalities to follow here too like @chriscantore who's a fount of local music knowledge and as entertaining ever. Or @sddialedin if you're looking for recommendations on the local music scene--in real-time, by the way, which often means 2 a.m. for her. If classic rock is more your bag, you can't beat @sdradio for his encyclopedic knowledge.

If you're a morning person and preternaturally perky, you'll enjoy the good natured posts of @marismith (see link above), @sugarjones, and @lotusamy.

You can stay connected to the city of San Diego via @mayorsanders.

And if you're interested in San Diego's culinary community and what's fresh, follow @carondg, @aliceqfoodie and @pinchmysalt.

I suggest you chase those food posts down with a beer post or two from @stonegreg of Stone Brewing and @beermolly.

If you're interested in San Diego's biotech industry, follow @sdbn. And if you're interested in the future and health of its fast food industry and leading spokesperson, follow @jackbox (who's apparently in a coma but you can count on his staff to keep his account updated.)

It really helps to get out and meet your Tweeps in person, and for that, you need to follow @jbruin who organizes San Diego TweetUps like the one last Saturday night that brought out over 200 people. Read her blog post and see pictures too if you wonder what a TweetUp looks like. http://www.meetup.com/sdtweetup/ (I wish I could go but I have a 'thing'... I just love saying that.)

This list is just a start. I'll try to share more links to local San Diego Tweeps in the future. And I encourage you to share your favorites by commenting below or reaching me on Twitter @juliewright.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Jack in the Box 'Hang in There Jack' misses the RSS feed

See yesterday's post if you missed the ad that Jack in the Box ran during the Superbowl. This post is 'part II' or 'the morning after.'

By Feb 2 in the morning, it's clear the www.hangintherejack.com site has a lot of great multimedia and much of it in YouTube format. I believe that all of these videos were posted during and immediately after Superbowl but because the site couldn't handle the traffic, I, like many, couldn't see them.



The 'creative' on the site is fantastic. And that's why I believe it deserves better tactical execution in social networks and that some of the missed opportunities here border on egregious (let alone the $3mil required to have bought the original ad space.)

The site encourages you to make a video response, comment on the videos and order anything off their menu (in lieu of flowers). But there's one H-U-G-E element it's missing and that's an RSS feed. A simple little icon that allows me to subscribe to this blog. That's out-and-out crazy and another big sign that the people behind the campaign don't understand social media.

Another sign? The Facebook page has one update since yesterday and the Twitter accounts are still at odds with @hangintherejack providing fresh, timely updates to 35 (?) followers and the @jackbox site doubling its followers again to over 1400 despite publishing only one update.

Seems this is an advertising driven campaign and expensive TV airtime will be used to push people to www.hangintherejack.com. Meantime, inexpensive and more personalized social media marketing and engagement will be foregone or done haphazardly as the advertising executives learn on the job. (Hey, in these rapidly evolving times, we're all learning by doing, but what small fee could have paid to have a social media consultant contribute to this promotion.)

I am curious to learn what agency is behind the promotion because my money is on a traditional ad agency that has talked its client into an 'interactive' campaign without fully understanding what an interactive campaign should look like in 2009.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Jack in the Box mascot massacre hit or miss for social media

In a $3 million Superbowl ad, Jack Box gets hit by a bus--his condition, serious. The commercial ends with the url www.hangintherejack.com. Problem?

Well, the promotional website crashes. And, worse, the Twitter account, @jackbox, was not being maintained for the first 30 minutes after the ad.



Unlike @overstockdotcom or @scottmonty, who manages social media for Ford, Jack in the Box was silent in social networks in the aftermath of its major advertising campaign launch of 2009.

In today's connected world, that's a huge missed opportunity to connect in real-time with fans of the Jack advertising, product and mascot.

Even nearly one hour after debuting the ad, the last Tweet Jack showed was that he was off to his ill-fated lunch with executive Phil, the website was still crashed, and no updates were available on the company's Facebook page.

Finally, while the Superbowl was still in progress, a Twitter post was generated by 'Barbara,' Jack's assistant, with an update and more promised.

And following the Superbowl, the website came back up. I couldn't see the multimedia on the site for whatever reason and the only other options were to order something from the menu in lieu of flowers or follow the Twitter or Facebook accounts. In the wake of the commercial

We'll see whether the campaign becomes a social media phenomenon. If the folks behind it adopt some of the approaches that made the Mad Men characters so engaging and fun for people to interact with, it could redefine the meaning of "being hit by the proverbial bus"--at least in advertising circles.

Get well Jack!