How Social Media Improved the Boston Marathon Experience

Final project from TerriHane

The Online Presence of Foiles Migrators, Inc.

I began monitoring the social media presence of Foiles Migrators, Inc. two months ago. They build and sell world-class goose and duck calls, along with related videos, apparel and accessories.  The majority of their online presence is  through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Vimeo and their own website, foilesstraitmeat.com, although their products are also sold on sites such as eBay and Amazon.  There are also a few pins on Pineterest. Their target audience is 25- to 64-year-old males, with the average waterfowl male hunter being 50 years old.

LARGE FOLLOWING ON FACEBOOK
Foiles Migrators, Inc.'s  largest online audience is on Facebook.  Within the last month they received an additional 852 likes to their site for a total of 9,610, but they only posted 6 times.

They have many photos in their photo files. Only two videos are posted in the files, though many are located within the posts themselves.

Their last two posts (Monday) were introducing new duck call products that just arrived.  The latest post regarding "crime scenes hats" garnered 177 likes, 12 comments, and 1 reply in just two days.  The reply was in response to a late-night post about a broken call and was made first thing the next morning offering information about where to send for a repair.  The other post that day regarding new "strait meat honkers" received 311 likes, 25 comments, and 0 replies.










Most comments by Facebook fans are positive, but there are a few scattered negative comments.  Those comments are not deleted, but usually replied to by other fans chastising them for their negative comments.



STRONG TWITTER FOLLOWING
Foiles Migrators, Inc. has a strong Twitter following.  You can see below that they went from 647 followers and 388 tweets on February 21 to 669 followers and 400 tweets on March 20.  They are following 11 Twitter accounts and that number did not change.

According to TweetStats (below), Foiles Migrators, Inc. tweets an average of 5 tweets per day and sometimes less.  Their aggregate tweets are also shown below. They tweet primarily through their Facebook account.

STRONG YOUTUBE SHOWING
Foiles Migrators has a good showing on YouTube.  They have a steady number of 115 followers and went from 106,072 views on February 21 to 106,680 views on March 20.

Their most recent video from March 3 (shown below) has 61 views.

This promotional video, "Fallin'Skies 7 Promotional" from May 2010 has 41,087 views.

The YouTube stats below confirm the demographics for Foiles Migrators, Inc. and shows how popular their goose and duck calls are.

ADDICT-O-MATIC
Foiles Migrators, Inc. continues to show up on Adict-o-matic always showing strongest on YouTube.

SOCIAL MENTION
Foiles Migrators, Inc.'s Social Mention numbers remained steady throughout the last month.

FOILES MIGRATORS, INC. WEBSITE

Foiles Migrators, Inc. created an interactive moderated forum "Community" section on its website where interested waterfowl hunters can buy and sell items, talk about hunting, talk about non-hunting subjects, post photos and videos, learn about Foiles Migrators, Inc.'s products and services, and ask the pro staff members questions.

There is a "Build A Call" section where it is possible to create and purchase a custom goose or duck call, a "Store" to buy Foiles Migrators, Inc. products, and a "Media" section to view Foiles Migrators, Inc. photos and videos.



Statistics for all areas of the community, including total number of visitors, is shown on the website (see below).

Foiles Migrators, Inc. has a "Pro Staff" section where visitors can learn about all the pro staff members.

 RECOMMENDATIONS
Foiles Migrators, Inc. is a small company that uses social media and its online presence to promote its products. They set up at hunting conventions and some of their pro staff set up weekend displays at hunting stores such as Cabelas.  I believe they can strengthen their online and social media presence with a few adjustments that are listed below.

Listening: Their audience is following them and responding.  There are many Facebook and Twitter followers, but Foiles Migrators, Inc. doesn't seem to notice that they have so many followers.

Talking:  After sitting back and noticing how many followers they have, Jeff Foiles should talk more to the audience.  Foiles Migrators, Inc. can do that in several different ways.  First, they need to tweet more.  They already have 600+ Twitter followers while only tweeting an average of 5 times a day.  Imagine what would happen if they tweeted consistently.  They also need to post more on Facebook.  With over 9,000 likes, they also have a gold mine here. They already link some Facebook and Twitter posts so posts/tweets go out simultaneously, but they could be more effective if they created a plan and posted/tweeted regularly. They could utilize their 60 pro staffers, setting a rotating schedule for them to take turns posting and tweeting on behalf of Foils Migrators, Inc. in addition to posting and tweeting about Foiles Migrators, Inc. regularly on their own Facebook and  Twitter accounts respectively. They could also link the pro staffers' Facebook pages to their Foiles Migrators, Inc. website profiles.  They do have a good showing on YouTube, but here again, they could utilize their pro staffers, having them take turns posting videos.

Energizing:  Foiles Migrators, Inc. is energizing the groundswell.  One example is their monthly giveaways. Social media traffic spikes during the end of the month when the winner is announced.  They could post/tweet throughout the month reminding everyone of the giveaway, or have photo or video contests.

Supporting:  They already support the groundswell with their forum communities on their website and the forums are well attended.  I noticed that a lot of pro staffers photos are missing.  They should make sure all that information is up to date and complete.

Embracing:  This comes back to posting and tweeting more and involving their pro staffers more.  In addition to posting and tweeting more, they also have to make sure they continue to answer questions and comments and they should also re-tweet regularly.  They should also follow more people on Twitter, starting with their pro staffers.

The Future of the Groundswell is Now (reading reflection #3)

While I was contemplating a passage in the final chapter (12. the future of the groundswell) of groundswell, I received an email notification on my  iPhone.  How ironic and appropriate. The passage from 2008, "The net result of all this accelerating activity is that the groundswell is about to get embedded within every activity, not just on computers, but on mobile devices and in the real world." (p. 235), was foretelling what was to be arriving by email in 2013 on my mobile phone:  "LinkedIn Today-Top news for Terri: Five Ways Free Online Classes Will Change College, or Not."

Li and Bernhoff were imagining in 2008 how far online social media and the groundswell would go.  So far their guesservations have been correct.  Many of us are now receiving all sorts of notifications on our smart phones: by Facebook, twitter, YouTube, email, news feeds to name only a few.  Blogs and dashboards are commonplace, and many companies have intranets and wikis for their businesses. 

 Li and Bernoff conclude groundswell "with some advice, not on what to do but on how to be" (p.239).  They leave us with seven principles of groundswell thinking:

1. Groundswell is about person-to-person activity
2. Be a good listener
3. Be patient
4. Be optomistic
5. Be flexible
6. Be collaborative
7. Be humble (p. 240)

The wonderful thing about it is that everyone has access to social media and online marketing.  Small business like Foiles Migrators have just as good a chance at becoming successful as large corporations, such as Nabisco's (snackworks) Oreo, as long as they follow the seven principles of groundswell thinking and utilize social media marketing to its full potential.  

Foiles Migrators have become very successful using social media to create a following on YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to promote their goose and duck calls at an expense of $0.

 

They created a community on their official website which keeps their customers coming back.  If they haven't read groundswell, I'd be surprised, because it appears that they are following the seven principles of groundswell thinking.

 

Personally, had I not become part of the groundswell during the last few months in this class, I would not have had the person-to-person activity and had the opportunity to read and learn from my class mates' blogs: I wouldn't have read Den's blog and decided to become more engaged on my LinkedIn account and have it feed to my iPhone.  I wouldn't have read Katrina's blog and decided to create a twitter account.  I wouldn't have read Eileen's blog and become more interested in Pinterest. 


The seven principles of Li and Bernoff are timeless principles to use in every aspect of business, social media and social media marketing.  I can't wait to see what the next five years bring for social media marketing and the groundswell.  Maybe we should ask Li and Bernoff.

This YouTube video shows Charlene Li speaking in 2010 to a group of journalists after her keynote at the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) conference about the future of social media and the groundswell.

Monitoring the Social Media of "Foiles Migrators"

Logo

Dead Meat Mallard Duck Call

My goal is to monitor a family-owned business that I have some sort of connection to, which is why I chose to monitor Foiles Migrators where my brother is a pro staff member/employee.  Foiles Migrators is located out of Pittsfield, Illinois and was officially incorporated in 2002.  They build and sell world-class goose calls and duck calls, as well as accessories and related waterfowl hunting products, including videos on how to properly use the goose and duck calls and videos of actual hunts that show the effectiveness of the calls while they are being used.

According to the Ducks Unlimited 2005 National Duck Hunter Survey, the most recent collection of data I could find, the average duck hunter is a 50 year-old male and 81% of duck hunters are between the ages of 25 and 64.  This is the target audience for Foiles Migrators.

Jeff Foiles

Jeff Foiles, the company's founder and owner, is an experienced waterfowl hunter, hunting guide, and eighteen-time world goose and duck calling champion.

Foiles Migrators has been good in keeping a consistent theme/logo in all their social media locations and in their packaging by using the logo or a version of the logo above.

I discovered that Foiles Migrators is active in social media.  You can find or follow them on  Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Vimeo.  They also have an  active community on their interactive website, www.foilesstraitmeat.com.  They are active not only on the Foiles Migrators main Facebook page, but also through their 60 pro staff members' pages.

You can see the activity on the Foiles Migrators Facebook page below, and also on a pro staff member's page.  Notice how the Foiles Migrators theme/logo appears on the pro staffer's page.  All of Foiles Migrators' pro staff members are constantly posting about Foiles Migrators on their own Facebook pages.  This is an excellent way to keep the groundswell talking.

     

Foiles Migrators Facebook page   

Foiles Migrators Pro Staff Member Facebook Page

They also have monthly giveaways that creates buzz and is a great way to pull people to their Social Media sites.

From what I can tell, Foiles Migrators has linked their Facebook and Twitter posts, so they get double exposure from their posts and tweets.

Twitter Page

Is is obvious on Addict-o-matic, that Foiles Migrators is out there in social media and people are talking about them.  You can see from both Addict-o-matic and Social Mention that Foiles Migrators is very active on YouTube.  This makes sense since they would want to market the sounds their goose and duck calls make.

You can see by the Social Mention search that passion receives the highest score of 50%, followed by 12% reach, 1:0 sentiment and 0% strength.  Further investigation of the company and its social media habits will hopefully lead to suggestions on how to  improve the percentages.

Foiles Migrators is using YouTube and Vimeo effecively, posting goose and duck call videos actively and also linking the posts to their social media accounts.

 Besides the Foiles Migrators communities on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Vimeo, Foiles Migrators has created a community on its own website.  Here on the home page they are advertising a new hunting video for purchase, a webisode, and a build-your-own call

An interested consumer could visit the Foiles Migrators web site and not need to go anywhere else.  For example, by clicking on the community tab, you are taken to the community of Foiles Migrators.  Here you can choose forums or blogs.  In the forums, you can choose to participate in any of the forums listed.

Here you can see active users and statistics of users/members of the communities.

 

Besides being able to purchase Foiles Migrators merchandise on their web site, I discovered that merchandise is also available at many other outlets, such as ebay, amazon, gundogsonine, muddydogoutdoors, stillwateroutfitters, and gandermaountain.  The more I looked, the more I found.


Looking at Google Trends, you can see that interest has spiked over time, falling in 2011.  This is due to the fact that Jeff Foiles was involved in illegal hunting activity and went to jail October 2011-November 2012. From this, Foiles Migrators received national attention and there has both positive and negative social media conversations on the topic (see below).

Foiles Migrators has done a great job putting themselves out there.  They are active in the most popular social media sites and they are engaging the groundswell.  I believe their biggest hurdle is getting past the negative feedback they are receiving.  Jeff Foiles is going to need some time to repair his reputation and regain trust from the public.  There must be a way to help Foiles Migrators move from the negative to the positive.  This will be my challenge over the next month.

How to Change Buying Cars Forever (original #3)

2013 Dodge Dart launch at Detroit Auto Show, Jan 2012

Earlier this month, Chrysler's Dodge began another leg of its campaign for their new Dart. The car debuted in January of last year at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit with dismal results.  According to  Businessweek, the Dodge Dart campaign has had a slow start with low sales in the past year.  Dodge is now offering a Dodge Dart Registry, which works similar to a gift registry.  I first learned about the campaign by seeing a television commercial.

According to Realtime Report, Exhaust Notes, and Dodge's registry website, interested parties can use crowdfunding through RocketHub's platform, signing up for the registry on Dodge Dart's registry website.  Registrants then inform their friends and relatives through various social media outlets, such as Facebook, YouTube,  and Twitter, or in person, asking them to sponsor (pay for) specific  parts for their car.  Sponsors can then go to Dodge's website to sponsor (pay for) a car part for their favorite relative or friend.

Registries listed on the Dodge Dart Registry web site

Dodge is energizing the groundswell and  getting potential consumers involved by giving them the opportunity to create their own Dodge Darts and notify prospective sponsors of their car parts by social media.  This also keeps the people talking as registrants post updates on their fundraising.  According to Forbes, there are good and bad points to the campaign. It is certainly an inventive, creative way to market a car.  But the sponsor campaigns last only 90 days and there are fees for using the crowdfunding service.  At the end of the sponsor campaigns, registrants are mailed a check that they can use however they choose, even if it's not on a car.  It will be interesting to see how this campaign unfolds.  It appears a little like Dodge didn't think through the campaign before implementing it, but maybe they were just aiming at creating buzz for Chrysler, and that is working.

Dodge Dart Registry is getting traffic, according to the Google Trends report below, so hopefully the new registry campaign will keep people talking and help increase sales of Dodge Darts.  That depends on whether Dodge listened to the groundswell in the beginning and created a car people want.

Google Trends Report on the Dodge Dart Registry

People have posted YouTube videos asking for sponsors (money) for their cars.  I found the video below on social mention, which shows there is social media traffic about the Dodge Dart registry.

Social mention report of Dodge Dart Registry

Are you in the market for a car?  Maybe you should look into the Dodge Dart.  And if you need help funding it, you can sign up at the Doge Dart Registry and go to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to ask your friends and family--and people you don't even know--for help funding it.

Evolution and Transformation (reading reflection #2)

 In groundswell, by  Li and Bernoff, we learned to understand the groundswell (chapters 1-3), we learned many examples of tapping the groundswell  (chapters 4-9) and the steps in doing it well:  1) listening to the groundswell, 2) talking with the groundswell, 3) energizing the groundswell, 4) helping the groundswell support itself, and 5) embracing the groundswell.

Now we begin to learn how the groundswell transforms.   A great example given is of Unilever's Dove brand  Evolution video released in 2006, mainly on sites like YouTube.  The video (shown below) dramatically helped Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty 

The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty

that was launched in 2004.  Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty basically "started a global conversation about the need for a wider definition of beauty after the study proved the hypothesis that the definition of beauty had become limiting and unattainable."   This went against the industry norm of using young, thin, perfect models and was a risk.  But they had done their research and knew the public was ready.  The ad and the video had people talking.

 

In fact, according to Li and Bernoff, the video caused a surge of traffic to Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty website more than double what the Super Bowl 2006 ad managed at a cost of $0, compared to $2.5 million for the Super Bowl ad.

Dove also took a chance by partnering with The Apprentice TV show, asking them to air an episode where teams would create ads for Dove.  According to Reality TV Magazine and others, the ads weren't very good, but Dove was able to create positive 'press' anyway, by taking advantage of the buzz, including Donald Trump in their ad, which created more traffic for their campaign.  They had taken a chance that could have backfired, but they were ready for what came and turned a potential negative into a positive.

Unilever and Dove were taking big risks in many different ways with this campaign, but it seems they did it right.  In groundswell we learned that "One of the benefits of energizing with the groundswell is that your organization goes through a mental shift- you become so engaged with the customers that you walk in step with their needs and wants." According to Li and Bernoff, there are three essential elements to this transformation, which the Dove campaign used effectively:

1. Take small steps that have big impact:  By releasing different elements of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty over time, they were able to use each element of the campaign effectivley, adding to parts of the campaign that were already out there.
2. Have a vision and a plan:  The creators of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, Rob Master and Babs Rangaiah, had a vision of letting go by embracing new types of advertising and giving the consumer a voice, but knew it would take time to implement all the elements considering the risks being taken.  
3. Build leaders into the plan:  They also knew that introducing each element separately, and with time in between, to the executives would be more successful.

Dove's campaign and approach to it was very effective.  I have become interested in the Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty myself and think I'll look into it more.  Even though Dove's campaign began in 2004, the topic of too-thin models is still at the top of the news today.  Just this week, we heard from the Today Show and Euronews, among others, about Israel banning overly thin models from working.

Slam/Dunk for Oreo (original #2)

During the power outage of 2013 Superbowl XLVII, Nabisco's Oreo  team showed what quick thinking and creativity can do.  They didn't get in the first advertising tweet regarding the power outage, but they were pretty close--and, in my opinion, their tweet, "Power Out, No Problem," was a slam/dunk compared to everyone else's.

"Power Out? No Problem"

According to Social Times and Forbes, The Oreo team was together in New York during the game, monitoring social media, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, through a dashboard created by Expion, a social media management software company, for reactions to their Super Bowl Whisper Fight commercial when the power went out.

Oreo used a bad situation during the football game to their advantage.  As it turned out, their power outage tweet was more popular than their original commercial.  Oreo's dunking in the dark tweet was re-tweeted almost 15,000 times gained about 20,000 likes and Facebook and and Oreo's Twitter following increased by 8,000.  I probably would have dunked some oreos if I had some, after that tweet.

Whisper Fight Commercial

I don't believe this was totally accidental.  Oreo is using its social networking correctly.  By hiring a social media management company to create a social media monitoring program/dashboard for them, they were able to see in real time what response/s they were getting to their Super Bowl commercial and to the spontaneous power outage tweet.  If they weren't together monitoring their dashboard, they most likely would have lost the opportunity to create a great ad with their tweet.  I'm sure this shows just the surface of what Oreo is doing to monitor social networks regarding their brand and product and I'm sure Expion was happy to get free publicity from Oreo's slam/dunk tweet.

groundswell (Reading Reflection #1)

I'm so excited about this book, groundswell, by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff!   The Social Technographics ladder helps us understand the way people  participate online.  This is an important step in understanding the groundswell and how to use it effectively in social media marketing and communication.

figure 3-2 (page 43)

The 2006 Mini USA case study stood out to me as a great example of how listening to the groundswell (and taking a chance) works.  After monitoring and analyzing online discussions, Mini's head of marketing, Trudy Hardy, was given the freedom to market to current owners rather than to prospective buyers.  Among other things included in the campaign, Mini Takes the States was launched, organizing a series of rallies for Mini owners across America.  This was so successful in creating buzz, the rallies are still held every year.

I belonged to a classic car club for Chevelle owners several years ago, so i related to the notion about Mini owners connecting with each other.  We didn't have the internet way back then, or maybe/probably our club would have been posting photos and videos of our outings and our club might have become much more than it was.

eBay (Original #1)

eBay is a great example of social media.  It brings people together in an online person-to-person trading company.  People on ebay participate in many ways, including buying, selling, and surfing.

ebay 1995-2012

When I opened my ebay.com account in 1997, Sellers needed their own web sites to post photos of items they were selling. The photos were then linked to the items listed on eBay.  The process of listing items and posting photos was very cumbersome and time consuming.  Sending invoices and getting paid was also very cumbersome.  For the most part, buyers paid for items with money orders and personal checks.  Keeping track of what was paid for and what was shipped was also very time consuming.

Over the years, eBay has streamlined the entire process making the process of selling, and buying, a very seamless task.  Now, among other things, as you can see below, eBay tracks my total sales for the month, what's been paid for, shipped (and provides the tracking number), and whether feedback has been given or received.

As I have been a participant on eBay since 1997, I have seen the transformation.  eBay stays in tune with all participants by sending monthly newsletters and updates about new policies to buyers and sellers.  They constantly ask for feedback regarding transactions and customer service is available online or by phone--almost instantly. There are also discussion forums and groups for eBay members to join.  They also have mobile phone apps, RSS and twitter feeds.

They provide informational videos, such as this how to sell with eBay mobile video:

In September, eBay introduced a new logo to coincide with the 'new' ebay:  "the changes we're making reflect the new eBay and our evolution as a marketplace that connects the world to the things they need and love.  Technology is enabling a revolution in how people shop, and eBay is enabling the future of commerce.  In the future of commerce, shopping is personal, driven by data.  We want to make moments of inspiration instantly shoppable."

ebay 2012-

Learn more about the new eBay:  http://www.ebay.com/new.

You can also join eBay radio http://player.liquidcompass.net/VMRNIR

eBay is not only a great example of social media, but also a great example of a company who changes with the ever-evolving technologies to create and keep the best possible service/s for its customers/participants.

Why is this so Difficult?

I am very excited about taking this course and learning all about social media marketing and communication. But for some reason, I find myself struggling with creating and posting to my first blog account.  It shouldn't be that hard. I consider myself computer literate.  I am proud of the fact that I taught myself almost all of what I know about computers.  I am fluent in both PC and Mac operating systems and have excellent Microsoft Office Suite skills (Word, Powerpoint, Publisher, Access, Excel, Frontpage). I can manage my way through Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. I use Quickbooks and many other software programs.  I created a Facebook account and am an active participant, and I have been selling merchandise on ebay since 1997.

Why is this so difficult?  I have never had trouble teaching myself before.  Maybe it's the hesitancy of learning something new.  More likely, it's the fact that this is PUBLIC.  Everything else I taught myself was not being done in the public eye.  Everyone will see what I know/don't know.  Please be patient with me as I edit and change my blog format and add to my information.  I do have confidence this will be a good blog, I just need a little time to learn the ins and outs of blogging and to become comfortable with knowing I'm on public display.