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Monday, March 01, 2010

Study: Most Effective B2B Social Media Tactics are IT ‘Lite’

Guest post by Ben Hanna, VP of Marketing for Business.com, the Web’s leading portal for business owners. 

According to a new study involving more than 1,700 small business leaders, companies marketing to small businesses would be well advised to focus on social media tactics requiring little IT investment, such as webinars, podcasts and establishing a presence on top social networking sites, before pursuing more IT resource intensive initiatives such as creating a company-managed online community. The study, conducted by Business.com, finds that that four of the top five most effective social media tactics for engaging small business decision makers do not require significant IT investment or involvement. The exception – company blogs – should be backed by both a strategic content strategy and the resources necessary to create this content on an ongoing basis before it allocating IT resources to blog creation or management.

The small business social media study examined the social networks and other social media resources small business owners and managers turn to for business-relevant information. In contrast to the common perception of social media as inherently “social” or interactive, study participants using social media for business were much more likely to use resources which don’t require interaction, such as webinars and podcasts (67%) or reading product reviews (63%), than they were to participate in online discussions (29%). The top five social media resources used by small business leaders are:

  1. Webinars / Podcasts – small business leaders consider webinars and podcasts to great resources for professional development, industry research and learning about potentially-relevant products and services, saving them the time and expense of attending in-person training.
  2. Ratings & Reviews – provide useful input into the business buying process, particularly those ratings or reviews provided by other small businesses using the product or service.
  3. Company / Brand Pages on Social Networking Sitessocial network participation is now mainstream for U.S. adults, with 46% using sites such as Facebook and 25% participating weekly. Small business leaders are increasingly turning to these sites to find the latest information about important vendors, products and services.
  4. Company Blogs – small business leaders praise company blogs – at least, those that are “well written, current and with good thought leadership articles” – as great sources of information about business-relevant products, services and the underlying character of a company.
  5. Social Media Search – while some of the business-relevant information on social media sites can be found through general search engines, a great deal cannot. Realizing this, over half of small business leaders using social media search for business-relevant information directly on sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Business.com Answers, SlideShare and many more.


B2B social media marketing initiatives require Marketing and IT to work closely together to prioritize projects, allocate resources, manage execution and maintain new systems and features. One key implication from this study for companies marketing to small businesses is that Marketing can, and should, actively pursue B2B social media initiatives which require little IT investment before taking on more resource-intensive projects.

For example, rather than placing a company-managed online community the core of the emerging social media strategy – a community where, according to this research, it will be very challenging to build participation by small business leaders – establish a company presence on one or more social networking sites and focus initial community development efforts on those sites. By focusing first on external, IT ‘lite’ social media opportunities, companies marketing to small businesses are more likely to reach a far larger portion of their target audience in the short run, begin developing a following and learn key lessons that inform what social media features and functionality are actually necessary on the company web site.

For more details, the complete research report, “Engaging Small Business Decision Makers Through Social Media,” can be downloaded from the Business.com web site at http://www.business.com/info/engaging-small-business-through-social-media.

Photo credit: p_kirn

Ben Hanna most recently led the Business.com 2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking Study, and is a specialist in B2B online social media and marketing solutions. 

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Sunday, September 27, 2009

Are You Really Satisfying Your Customers?

We all know that social media plays a part in customer service.

As business becomes more fierce, margins shrink and barriers to entry are almost nonexistent in some areas, the competitive advantage that many companies can leverage exists in an often-overlooked but absolutely essential part of the marketing team: customer service.

And for every new company that springs up to supply solutions to problems we didn't know we had, there are many companies that already exist and are competing in a commoditized market. "There is nothing new under the sun," the quote goes. And for those organizations, one of the accepted methods of differentiation is customer service. This itself isn't (or shouldn't be) news. Brian Solis and Valeria Maltoni both wrote that customer service is the new marketing a while back.

Examples abound
Because this is not a new concept, there are countless instances of companies stepping up their customer service efforts, particularly in the social media space. Here are a few to note:
  • Comcast is the shining example of customer service on Twitter, led primarily through the efforts of the head of their digital team, Frank Eliason (aka @comcastcares on Twitter).
  • Recently, Best Buy ran national TV spots promoting their Twelpforce - a legion of their "blue shirts" available to help people who submit questions for Best Buy via Twitter.
  • And Zappos bills themselves as "a customer service company" as they train every single employee on customer service and even have Twitter baked into their corporate site.
  • Get Satisfaction has become a place where consumers and industry alike monitor and comment on, in an effort for more transparent dialog.

Customers now expect an immediate answer online - something I see every day through the @Ford and @FordCustService accounts on Twitter.

Speed isn't everything
But a recent survey written up by Dave Dougherty and Ajay Murthy in the Harvard Business Review called What Service Customers Really Want demonstrates that speed isn't necessarily the answer. According to the survey,

Evidence shows that customers will no longer tolerate the rushed and inconvenient service that has become all too common. Instead, they are looking for a satisfying experience. Companies that provide it will win their loyalty.

The question is no longer how quickly can you provide customer service, but how effectively?
When people are crunched for time (as nearly all of us are these days), the experience you give them on their first effort to reach you had better be the way you want them to remember you. Because, like the old cliche "you never get a second chance to make a first impression," their primary expectations are (1) that your front line representatives to have answers, and (2) that their needs are addressed on the first call. And as the article indicates, those two categories aren't even on the measurement dashboard for most customer service entities - they're still measuring time on hold and minutes per call.

If anything, your customer service operation needs to be aligned not only with your marketing and communications organizations, but more importantly, with your customers. For customer service areas that simply field complaints and don't impact customer loyalty really aren't doing your organization any favors.

Photo credit: libraryman on Flickr

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Tuesday, August 04, 2009

You Want Me to WHAT?

If you were asked to give up your social networking activity, what would you rather give up?

It's an interesting scenario. Given a choice between social media activity and something else - and don't think that time isn't coming - what do you think you would give up before you left your favorite social network?

That's the very question that was put to 711 female internet users in the U.S. and Canada by ShesConnected Multimedia. What do you think they said? Have you selected your priorities yet? I'll give you a moment before launching into the survey results.

Ready? Good. Here's what the online cohort said:
  • More than one-third (36%, to be exact) would sooner give up chocolate, their Pradas, or their mothers-in-law before they gave up social networking.
  • But only half would be willing to pay a subscription fee for those site.
It's amazing to think the limits we'll go to for social networking. Pradas are expensive, I
get that. Mothers-in-law are...well, that's personal, isn't it? But giving up chocolate? C'mon, people!

As to the fee, it seems that most women - 92%, in fact - would be comfortable with an ad-supported model on the socnets. But only 22% would be approve of their data being sold to advertisers, and just 28% are okay with a subscription-based model.

Chart courtesy of MarketingCharts.com


The post popular activities in which they partake online are:
  • Viewing video
  • Reading blogs
  • Posting photos
  • Writing in blogs
  • Posting comments

And some interesting additional data points about the respondents:
  • More than two-thirds (67%) of survey respondents belong to three social networks, while 48% belong to four or more.
  • The adoption of social networks by older women is especially strong. Women ages 50+ comprised the largest age group in the core user survey.
  • More than one-third report they are in business for themselves
  • Respondents spend a significant amount of time online each day, with 49% reporting they spend 1 - 2 hours per day for personal use and 48% reporting they spend five or more hours per day online for work.
  • 83% of respondents have 50 or more connections or friends.
  • 56% have started at least one group and have joined an average of two to five groups. Nearly one in three (29%) belong to 10 or more groups.
Pay attention to these ladies. There's clearly a lot of potential here.

That is, unless you take away their chocolate.

BTW, at Ford we recently asked women what they wanted in their cars. You'd be surprised at their reactions, which you can see by clicking here.

Photo credit: Wiedmaier

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Friday, May 08, 2009

Oh, Mama!

There's no question that so-called "mommy bloggers" are an interesting demographic. Recent statistics show that there are more than 36 million of them online, and they definitely wield influence in purchasing power. Which is why many companies think this community can be a key in their word of mouth efforts. 

A few key facts:
  • Of the 36.2 million women actively participating in the blogosphere weekly as either publishers or readers, 46% -- or just over 16.5 million -- have children at home.
  • 67% of moms online look for help making a purchasing decision.
  • Overall, full-time working moms use technology at the highest rates.
  • The cell phone is the technology used most often by moms to communicate with their kids, and 80% say it is the direct line to their child and babysitter.

But I think the notion that all mommy (or daddy) bloggers are the same is extremely shortsighted. They're just as diverse and different as any of us. And while it's tempting to think they do things in lock-step, there are many different niches and interests that can be explored - lifestyle, safety, green, frugality, parenting, sports and family issues are just a small set of the many segments you'll find. 

And aside from the blogs, what are moms actually doing online? Here's a chart that breaks down the top 10 activities of moms online:



Looking at the points of transaction, it opens up an opportunity for conversation and engagement with moms on other sites & platforms as it relates to those activities. And let's not forget those cell phone statistics - busy moms are on the go and use their handheld devices more.


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Thursday, March 05, 2009

Advertising to Gen Y on Social Networks

The other day, I remarked that Ford is "not interested in advertising on social networks. We're interested in getting in there and interacting with people." Here's why:

The Good News


The Bad News

So once again we hear that advertising on social networks is not effective when you're trying to reach Millennials. This is according to the Participatory Marketing Network, Pace University's Lubin School of Business' Interactive and Direct Marketing Lab, and IDC (Source: MarketingCharts.com).

Not a big surprise.

The Important Stuff
Here's where it gets interesting. Wanna know what Millennials do care about on social networks? (Of course you do - that's why you're here.)
  • Getting news or product updates (67%)
  • Having access to promotions (64%)
  • Viewing or downloading music or videos (41%)
  • Submitting opinions (36%)
  • Connecting with other consumers (33%)
There's an opportunity here for you, marketers. If you want to make a splash on a social network where your customers are, make it worth their while. Give people updates about your products - perhaps information that they can't get elsewhere, or make it the first place you place the updates. Give them an offer that can only be gotten from the social network.

In other words, provide value and be contextually relevant to why they're there in the first place. Don't interrupt them with your ads and expect results.

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Thursday, January 29, 2009

Creo Que Si

Social networks in Latin America are pretty strong. Here's a chart from a recent comScore report that looks at the penetration rate of social networking sites and their relative growth over the last year.


In case you can't make out the fine print, the overall penetration rate of social networks in Latin America is a whopping 87.2%. This is for ages 15 and up, at home and at work, not including mobile access and Internet cafes.

I would argue, that based in high mobile phone usage in these countries, the percentage of social network users would be even higher.

Oh, and the most common social networks in Latin America? MySpace, Facebook, Hi5, Orkut and Sonico, according to comScore.

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Thursday, November 06, 2008

Young and (Un)Impressionable

Hey, here's a shocker:

"Social network ads can seem intrusive."

It shouldn't be news to you if you're a student of social media. But it's something I said - probably even more forcefully - to a whole room of agencies and advertisers at the Social Ad Summit a couple of months ago.

Let's face it: no one is on a social network to read ads. They're there to connect with friends and share interests.

As reported on eMarketer recently (via that headline stating the obvious), a study by Exact Target and Ball State University Center for Media Design showed that young adults indicated that as you would expect, word-of-mouth was considered the most effective type of marketing to the 18-30 year-old crowd.


Reachable, but protective

Slightly surprising was that email and direct mail were bigger influencers on their purchasing habits than social networks. Why? Because these are expected marketing channels. But they indicated that SMS, private messages and social networks are considered verboten for advertising. If there isn't at least implied permission, don't even bother showing up with your marketing message.

In other words, just because this media-savvy group is using a particular tool or form of communication doesn't mean it's okay for you to intrude, Mr. & Ms. Marketer.

If you have an opportunity, I recommend heading over to the Exact Target web site and downloading the October 28, 2008 white paper Messaging Behaviors, Preferences and Personas. There are some fascinating observations there about the habits of a number of personas: wired, retirees, teens, young homemakers, college students, and established pros.

Are there unwritten rules of engagement that you operate by in your preferred communications channels? Let me know.

Photo credit: EagleMoss

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Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Social What?

The news is in . And it may upset some of you.

Turns out that only slightly more than half of adults know what social networking is.


According to eMarketer's reporting on a recent Synovate study, only 58% of the multinational respondents knew what social networking is. While some of you might be thinking, "How can that be? I spend my life on Facebook/MySpace/Hi5/Bebo/Orkut."

What's interesting to me is the specific geographical breakouts - the Dutch, Japanese, and Americans all had the highest percentages of recognition - 89%, 71%, and 70%, respectively.

And specific social networking penetration in countries peaked with the Netherlands at 49%, the United Aram Emirates at 46%, and the United States at 40%. This tracks fairly closely with results that were featured in the April 2008 Universal McCann survey. The U.S. clearly leads in raw numbers.

If you're interested in how social networks rank in international circles, here's a table of the top 3 social networking sites by membership in various countries.

Also worthy of note is that the UAE, Indonesia, India and Bulgaria all rank at the top of countries where social networkers register for multiple sites. Other countries consisted of respondents who registered for one or two main sites.

For my international readers, does this fit with your reality? Are there sites that you favor (or favour) that aren't listed here? Have you noted any trends in your own work?

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Friday, January 25, 2008

Keep the Tip(ping Point)

It's funny. Just yesterday, I got notified by two separate people - one of whom is my colleague Greg Verdino - about an article that criticizes the theory behind Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point. One directed me to the Wall Street Journal's The Informed Reader post called "The Cast Against Marketing to 'Influencers'" while the other referred to the recent Fast Company article Is The Tipping Point Toast?

Gladwell's theory (echoed by Ed Kelly and Jon Berry in The Influentials) held that trends are influenced by a select few; word of mouth marketing efforts typically focus on those. But the articles mention that social networks are too complex to function like that, and that the influencer theory is kaput.

The reason it caught my attention is because both articles cite the research of Columbia University research scientist Duncan Watts. This is the same research I actually wrote about 8 months ago, in post called The Accidental Influentials. The concept was that ideas or trends can spread like a forest fire, and that it doesn't matter who applies the match - it's the conditions of the forest that make a difference.

There are two points I'll raise in connection with this.

In Social Media, Timing Is Everything
The first thing that struck me is that I hit upon this back in May of 2007. But the mainstream media is only getting to it now. Why? The topic is clearly in a field I'm interested in, so that might be one factor as to why I covered it early. The other is that I had initially heard about the study on a podcast. Given that new media is still struggling for recognition as a legitimate and viable channel, I'm not surprised it didn't make headlines then.

Watts is Wrong
As someone who works in the field of conversational/word-of-mouth/social media marketing, it should come as no surprise that I think Watts isn't quite correct when he claims that influentials aren't necessarily influential. I think that his research was flawed in that it only focused on email and a virtual setting, whereas now we have a variety of communications methodologies that account for the rapid spread of ideas: IM, video chat, and social networks of all kinds, to name a few. I won't go so far as to say he's 100% wrong - but then again, I don't think that Gladwell was 100% right either.

At crayon, we consult and advise on a variety of conversational marketing strategies that incorporate an element of influencer outreach (or "blogger outreach," as many call it). With the proper amount of time and attention dedicated to research, and using tools like Technorati and Alexa, it's fairly easy to determine who the major influencers are in any given segment. Where it gets difficult is figuring out how to interact with them. You need to know how each one communicates, in which social networks they participate, and on and on.

My Alternate Theory - The Boy Scout Analogy
I propose that a hybrid theory - Watts' and Gladwell's theories combined - makes more sense. We can agree that there will always be influencers, whether you call them A-listers, celebrities, or whatever. People will always look to these leaders and high profile individuals for cues.

At the same time, I think Watts is onto something when he uses the forest fire analogy. Yes, the conditions have to be right for an idea to spread. But he claims "any old match will do" to get it started. I don't think so. Someone might have wet matches or might not know how to strike one properly. It's the combination of finding the right conditions (social networks, communities, etc.) and applying the match (friends, members, followers, commenters, in those socnets & communities).

Once you've got the proper combination of communities and influencers and you understand the intricacies and nuances of how they work together, then you'll have the recipe for success.

As part of their training, the Boy Scouts have to learn how to make fires how to adhere to fire safety. Their official motto is "be prepared." I think the same should be said for marketers consider conversational marketing.



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Monday, December 10, 2007

We Know Why You Use Social Media

At American Airlines, the tagline is "We know why you fly." Sounds a little spooky, in a Big Brother-ish way at first. But really, it's a matter of AMR listening to their customers and being able to act accordingly. Well, now they're using social media to let customers know about each other - more like "We know why we fly."

AMR's AAdvantage unit - their frequent travel program and one of their most profoundly successful business units - has forayed into social media. While it's nothing as sexy as a social network or a new Facebook app, it is nevertheless a way that AMR is letting its most loyal members interact with each other.


In late October, under the guidance of my company, crayon, they launched the AAdvantage Milefinder Map, a mashup of the Google Maps API and AAdvantage partner data. If you log on to the map, you can see hotels, restaurants, car rental agencies and other partner information, sorted around 11 city centers. At this point, it's just a pilot program (I know, sorry!) and AMR may expand it to other cities based on the response.

Users can use the standard social media sharing functions such as Digg, StumbleUpon, del.icio.us, etc. to share their findings. But most importantly, they can submit reviews of each vendor, in order to better inform other AAdvantage members of places to visit or avoid, based on their experience.

The comments are monitored for off-topic rants, profanity, or any other untoward activity. But in their commitment to keeping the experience as transparent and authentic as possible, AMR is leaving any negative posts up. I give them full credit for doing so, for it's not easy for a large brand to let go of control.

Finally, I'm happy to see that this approach - using online tools to help steer offline decision making - is gaining traction. ComScore and the Kelsey Group recently found that offline purchase behavior is influenced by online reviews. In fact, percentage of people who consider online reviews in the top 3 categories match the major AAdvantage Milefinder Map categories:
  • Restaurants - 41%
  • Hotels - 40%
  • Travel - 27%

This is good news to other brands that may be a little hesitant to try some online experiments, knowing that their purchases are really done offline. The line between online and offline is continuing to blur in a very interesting way. One flows into th next and information is collected, analyzed and acted upon an a variety of ways.

Are there any industries that you typically research online and then purchase offline? What are they?


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Monday, July 30, 2007

Back to School

I know it's a little early to think about "back to school," but August is just around the corner and that's when the kids stock up on all of their needs for heading back to the daily grind.

I don't know about you, but I have memories of office supply stores where I hunted for pens, pencils and other math-related hardware related to school. But mention "hardware" to today's generation of 10 to 12 year-olds and you're talking an entirely different language.

According to a recent survey by Shoplocal.com, a full 70% of pre-teens want to head back to school with a new computer. And as one would expect from this cohort, the priorities of boys are vastly different than those of their female counterparts. Evidently, the girls are interested in fashion and style and boys want entertainment.

Sounds like they're already prepared for the real world.

Personally, I've got all the gadgets I need right now - computer, iPod nano, smartphone. I don't think I'm in the market for anything else. How about you? Have you got any must-have supplies on your "back to school" list?

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Wednesday, May 30, 2007

So You Say You Know Your Audience

When you work on a project or in an industry for a protracted period of time, you find yourself getting comfortable. While there's nothing wrong with comfort - and its related cousin confidence - it's easy to get complacent and to make certain assumptions.

The classic lesson about assumptions - Felix Unger's remonstration "When you assume, you make an ASS of U and ME" - is universally true. But how often do we take it to heart about our audience?

For example, I would make certain assumptions about the demographic of the Internet audience for broadcast media viewers. Namely, I would think they'd be on the younger side - say, in the 24-35 range mostly. I was pleasantly surprised then, to read a recent Research Brief from the Center for Media Research that told a much different story.

Notably, if you add up the figures of those 45 years of age or older, it makes up 73.58% of the audience. That's right - nearly three-fourths of those who consume network offerings online are over the age of 45.

Was it surprising to you? I didn't see it coming.

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Thursday, May 10, 2007

Accidential Influentials

I'm just getting caught up with a huge backlog podcasts. I hate to delete anything, lest I risk missing something truly remarkable. In this case, I found episode #29 of the HBR IdeaCast, in which Paul Hemp reviewed the Breakthrough Ideas of 2007

Accidental Influentials
Malcolm Gladwell's key tenet of The Tipping Point is that social epidemics are driven by the actions of a tiny minority of special individuals who are unusually informed, persuasive and well-connected. New research by Duncan Watkins at Columbia University shows that influentials primarily have an impact only on the small number of people they have interaction with. His premise is:
If the network permits the idea to spread, anyone can start it. Forest fire analogy: size of it has little to do with the size of the spark that started it, and lots to do with the state of the forest.
Conclusion for marketers: identifying the supposed influentials may be a misdirected task, and instead they should focus on helping the large number of ordinary folks to reach out and influence others just like them.

If you haven't listened to the HBR IdeaCast yet, it's worth 10 or 15 minutes of your time. Of course, it's a clever plug for the latest issue of the Harvard Business Review, but the conversations are always intriguing and thoughtful.

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Friday, March 30, 2007

Free Study Results: Online Marketing Survey

MediaPost and Dynamic Logic teamed up to conduct a survey of nearly 1,100 readers a couple of weeks ago and the results have just been released. Digital marketing is poised for growth in 2007, but it's not quite at the levels that some would like to see.

The respondents represented buyers (agencies and marketers) and sellers (media companies) with about a third of responses in each; the remaining third was made up of technology solutions providers, consultants and researchers. I'll give you the summary, but if you'd like the PDF of the study results, click here.

Some top-line results:
  • Half of the respondents said there were some buzzwords they'd like to put an end to, namely "Web 2.0" and "engagement." (Amen!)
  • The majority said that <20%>
  • 81% will be increasing the use of Web advertising
  • 41% will be increasing the use of Mobile advertising
  • Overall, 86% said that Web budgets & plans would be increasing over last year
  • Half feel that viral advertising is a "fad for the lucky few" and 24% believe that "anyone can do viral"


Plans for heavy investment this year:
  • Search - 48%
  • Email - 38%
  • Online video - 38%
  • Social networks - 34%

In terms of the spending on search, pay per click (PPC) is expected to make up the largest proportion.

And just to prove that we had no idea how to cohesively define "Web 2.0," when asked to define "Web 3.0" respondents were all over the map:

  • Web of interconnected data
  • Big media mingling with individuals
  • Virtual and offline blending
  • A world of on demand content
  • All of the above
  • Don't know


For the agency folks out there, 38% overall said that agencies were becoming more relevant (hardly surprising since the respondents were 1/3 agency/marketer folks). Sellers were evenly split, 1/3 each thinking that agencies will be more relevant, less relevant, or about the same.

And proving that things are moving the the right direction but still have a way to go, about 60% think that the quality of online creative is getting "a little better" and 24% believe it is "much improved."

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Friday, March 23, 2007

Evidence that Podcasting is Being Accepted

Like you needed to be convinced? PodcastingNews reports that Edison Media Research is about to release a report on statistics related to podcast audience numbers, and it's good news. There's still a way to go, but it's reassuring to see the trends at play. Here are some quick takeaways:

  • There is an 18% increase in audience growth over the last year: from 11% in 2006 to 13% in 2007
  • Awareness of podcasting grew from 22% to 37% - that's 70% growth!
  • But there is still difficulty with the term "podcasting," much like the term "blogging" before it
Some demographics:
  • The audience is a fairly even split: 49% female, 51% male
  • All ages, with - get this - more listeners in the 55+ range than the 18-24 range
  • Well-to-do. Podcast users are twice as likely to have incomes over 100K and nearly twice as likely to have incomes between 75K and 100K
  • Podcast users are twice as likely to have clicked on a banner ad
Check out the release by PodcastingNews - it's got a much more in-depth analysis and summary than I'll provide here.

Props to CC Chapman for the Twittered link.

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About Scott

For hi-res, click here

The best way to describe Scott is "Renaissance Man." Friends and colleagues that know Scott from one facet of his life are very frequently surprised to learn of his interests and talents in other areas.

Scott is a marketing and communications professional focused on the digital industry — specifically on social media. His career spans a number of industries such as healthcare, pharma, biotech, travel, automotive, tech, and communications, and includes a wide range of clients, from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies.

Currently on the staff of corporate communications in Ford Motor Company, Scott heads up the social media function and holds the title Global Digital & Multimedia Communications Manager. He is a strategic advisor on all social media activities across the company, from blogger relations to marketing support, customer service to internal communications and more, as social media is being integrated into many facets of Ford business.


Prior to joining Ford, Scott served as Consigliere for crayon and spent a number of years with PJA Advertising + Marketing, a boutique BtoB agency specializing in health sciences & high tech.

In addition to his consulting and agency background, Scott is an active blogger and podcaster. He writes about the intersection of advertising, marketing and PR at The Social Media Marketing Blog and also writes The Baker Street Blog, a literary undertaking. Scott has been featured in numerous news and business publications, on a variety of podcasts, and on national television. Scott is a recognized thought leader in the social media industry and frequently speaks at industry events.

Scott received his Master's in Medical Science from Boston University's School of Medicine concurrently with his MBA from BU's Graduate School of Management. He lives in the greater Detroit area with his wife and two young sons, golfs all too infrequently, and has a hidden talent for voice over work.

Oh, and one last little-known fact: Scott coined the term "tweetup."

You may download a headshot here, courtesy of C.C. Chapman and a PDF version of Scott's bio here.


Books in which Scott's work is featured:
The New Rules of Marketing & PR
Twitterville
Six Pixels of Separation
Monkeys with Typewriters
Read This First
World Wide Rave
Get Seen


Disclosures/Relationships

Speaking Events

Scott speaks on social media at events, seminars and conferences around the world. His topic generally focuses on corporate use of social media, becoming an online spokesperson, and specifically on the progress that Ford has made in the recent past. If you're interested in booking Scott to speak at your event, please send an email to speaking [AT] scottmonty [DOT] com. Scott's bio and headshot can be found in the "About Scott" tab above.






Some previous engagements include:

BlogWell - How Big Companies Use Social Media - Minneapolis - August 13 Keynote at OMMA Global Sept. 21, 2009

MIMA Summit

Brand Camp '09 "I am Speaking at" Widget 135px Direct Marketing Association International conference, Oct. 18-22, 2009



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Who is Scott Monty?

Hi, I'm Scott. I'm the head of social media for Ford Motor Company. This is my personal blog, where I share my perspectives on social media - the convergence of marketing, advertising and PR on the Web - for marketers, agencies, the enterprise and the individual. This blog contains my personal views.

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