Luckily GMail users don’t have to wait for an invite like they did with Google Wave to try it out. Instead, Google is rolling out this feature to all of its GMail customers in the next few days.  It is available under the Inbox once you login to your GMail account.  If you don’t have a Gmail account, you can easily get one for free by visiting http://mail.google.com.

Initial Impression
As I experiment with Buzz, Google’s ambition to monopolize its users’ attention with a variety of web services is palpable. Clearly Google wants to be the one-stop location for communicating on the web via email, social networking, photo sharing, etc.  Unfortunately, so far the user experience has been confusing and difficult to figure out at first glance.

Once Google Buzz launched on Tuesday, everyone here in our office (and we’re pretty savvy folks) tried to figure out just what to do with this new tool. When I first logged on, I could not tell who I was following and vice a versa. Apparently Google automatically follows people you email or chat with the most. It took way too long to figure out how to manually add other people that I want to follow. Eventually I managed to follow a few people and was not surprised to see many comments from them stating that they were also confused about how to use even the simplest functions.  It may be that we all need to spend some time with Google Buzz and get used to how it works, but it’s a shame that it’s not more clear and intuitive from the beginning.

Threat to Facebook and Twitter?
As an avid user of Twitter, Facebook and GMail, I am excited by the idea of using this tool in conjunction with my email, Google Reader, Picassa, etc, however I just don’t get why I should use this tool over the ones I am already using.

There is no doubt that I will continue to tinker around with Google Buzz because I am curious, however I think it’s too soon to consider it a threat to Twitter and Facebook. It seems that Google is banking on converting Twitter and Facebook users by combining the key functions from both services and integrating that experience into the interface of their email account. The sub-text is convenience and simplification. Before that value proposition resonates with users though, they’ll need to smooth out some of the usability issues. I definitely don’t see people like my mom or technically challenged folks understanding it in the foreseeable future.  Just think of all those people out there who can’t stand it when Facebook changes its interface? With a new, experimental product like Google Buzz, there are bound to be frequent ongoing changes to this platform, which often make average users uncomfortable.

As I examine Google Buzz as a newbie, here are a few things I have noticed:

• It’s located right under your Inbox. If yours isn’t showing up yet, Google says it may take a few days for the roll out to reach everyone.

• You can pull in your current Twitter, Flickr, Picassa, Blogspot, Blogger.com, Google Reader accounts (no Facebook) with Google Buzz. I was bummed to see that there was no API available (no way to update your status) yet for Twitter, so I see no point for me to have it included in Buzz at this point.

• Once logged in, next to your name, click on ”connected sites” to determine which accounts you want to integrate with Google Buzz.

• You can choose to share privately or with the world, but I would really like to see a way to create lists which would be a helpful way of sorting through the clutter.

• The mobile application looks promising however it is only available to iPhone, Android, Nokia560, and Windows Mobile. Google Buzz is also spotlighting its check-in tool feature similar to Foursquare’s popular Twitter app.

From my initial impression, Google Buzz is not a tool that will replace my frequent visits to Facebook and Twitter as both platforms are used for different purposes and are extremely simple, easy to navigate and also where ALL my friends are, not just my friends using GMail.

So far I have noticed many people providing negative comments about Google Buzz resenting Google for its wide reach and for crossing into the social networking territory again where they have no business being in (remember Orkut?). I agree to some extent, but will try to keep up with this new tool and be patient. So far only a few of my friends are on it and have sort of figured it out, so for me it has been a lonely place to socialize up to this point.

The best thing to do is to log in or sign up and see for yourself. When you do, we’d love to hear your thoughts by commenting on this post.

More info on Google Buzz:

Here’s a helpful article from Fast Company: How to Do Everything in Google Buzz (Including Turn It Off)

Watch this video to learn more about Buzz on your mobile

You have probably heard the term “listening” before in relation to social media, but have wondered what it actually  means and how one can possibly manage all the online clutter. Listening is really an extension of research and assists in gaining a deeper understanding of your target market, their concerns, feedback and your true brand or product perception. Most importantly listening is really about zoning in to identify keywords, trends, influencers, sentiment, your competitor’s activity, and your brand presence.

Thanks to effective online tools like Radian6 that simplify the aggregation, metrics and organization of conversations, listening is becoming a realistic process to effectively manage. Although tools like Radian6 are great at making the listening process simpler, nothing can replace the importance of manual inspection by a team for analyzing the data, digesting the sentiment and recommending strategic opportunities for branding, campaigns, messaging, etc. in order to achieve the client’s business goals and objectives. If done successfully, a new global perspective can be gained around one’s brand and leveraged in the strategic marketing communication.

At Rhythm Interactive, we have made listening a key component to our social media process.  Our clients have seen the benefits of listening, even if they are not ready to engage with social media directly. Once the listening analysis and results from various social media channels have been presented, clients gain a new outlook on their marketplace and are impressed to see the intelligent insights gathered from online conversations. It is not uncommon for companies to discover that their target market is a completely different segment than they had originally focused on.  This research allows companies to reposition their brand and recalculate their efforts to execute a more refined strategy to reach their business goals and objectives. The ability to listen increases the potential for companies to focus on what messages and levels of engagement will be most effective for their audience.

Here are a few questions to keep in mind while listening on behalf of your company or brand:

• Which social media channels host the majority of conversations regarding your industry, products or services?

• When are the conversations occurring? It is after a product launch, an industry event, or after experiencing your brand first hand?

• What are people talking about and who are the influencers?  Are they bloggers, media, or consumers?

• How would you categorize the topics of conversation and what is the overall sentiment: good, potentially good, neutral, potentially negative, or negative?

Of course all conversations related to your product/service, competitors and industry are important but determining where to allocate the most attention is key. It is important to note that it is not only significant to lead with listening, but to continually monitor the chatter so that you can alter and enhance your approach along the way.

Cuddled up in my Snuggie™ blanket over the weekend, I flipped the pages of my February 2010 issue of Elle Magazine and came across a survey about iPhone users that consumer electronics specialists, Retrevo, conducted called the Gadgetology report.  This online survey featured in the Modern Love section of the magazine, consisted of 445 iPhone and BlackBerry owners, non-Retrevo users, distributed across gender, age, income and location in the United States. Although a small sample was used for this survey, it showed that single people aren’t only concerned with how smart their date is, but how smart their date’s smartphone is. Read full survey.

Below are a few responses from the survey:

• iPhone users consider themselves to be more intellectual, extroverted, and media savvy than users of other devices.
• iPhone users negatively judge people who have out-of-date gadgets and, furthermore consider someone who has cool gadgets to be more attractive as a potential dating partner than someone with a college education.
• One in three iPhone users has broken up with his or her significant via text or e-mail.

I’ve been out of the dating scene for over 6.5 years now but I remember how cool it was when I got my first “text” message on my pager/beeper back in the day. A “hello” or “73110” read upside down via pager was the coolest thing ever when my now-hubby would send them to me. HA! Now THAT is ancient dating my friends! 

Please don’t take the responses from this survey seriously. Instead, think about how technology has become ingrained in our cultural fabric. Maybe these smartphones are smarter than us afterall. So if you have gone on a lot of first dates, and not so many second dates, you may want to reevaluate the gadget in your pocket.

Once I made my financial contribution, I felt the need to make my viral and social contribution by posting the message for all my friends to see on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin etc.  Once I updated my status and sent my message, I was pleasantly surprised that many of my friend’s were inspired to spread the message through retweet’s and by updating their status with the same messaging.  I also made sure to tell my friends in person about the easy, yet effective way they can contribute.

This small example proves how a little social media can go a long way, especially in times of crisis and dire need.  At the end of the day, most people want to make a positive impact in the world.  Thankfully due to social media, even if you don’t have thousands in the bank, sharing the information with others who may be able to contribute (socially, virally, financially) is the key to gaining maximum impact.  It’s times like these where I thank technology for giving us the ability and channels to communicate these messages for the greater good.

If you haven’t already made a donation to the relief efforts in Haiti, you can easily give a $10 donation to the Red Cross by texting the word “Haiti” to 90999. Don’t forget your social responsibility to share this with your friends via Facebook, Twitter, etc to make an exponential influence on raising money for this cause. Remember, with one status update and text message at a time, we can make a difference.

After I read that Switzerland, and the rest of Europe were getting hit by one snow storm after another, and some major airports had to re-route flights, I downloaded the new iPhone Application for SWISS AIRLINES . I figured having this application on my iPhone would make it a lot easier for me to check flights, since we almost exclusively fly SWISS.

I would say I am an advocate for the SWISS Brand. Their in-flight meals are great and customer service is outstanding. So after I downloaded and installed the iPhone application on my iPhone, I expected a similar brand experience. I was hoping to have all the info needed to make sure my family and friend’s flights to and from Switzerland are on time. A nicely designed interface welcomed me after launching the application. Simple, clean and elegant, just as you would expect from a brand like SWISS. Flight status, Timetable, Check-in, Booking, My Profile and Contacts clearly labeled my choices. After clicking on Flight status, I got to choose between Arrivals and Departures, and then I got let down by one of my favorite brands. I click on Departures and the iPhone application closes, Safari opens and connects me to to the Swiss Airlines Website…

At first, I thought it was a mistake; that I clicked on something I didn’t intend to, so I went back to the iPhone app, repeated my steps, and again, I find myself on the Swiss Airlines website.

What a pointless waste of effort, probably rushed to market by some high-level executives, trying to catch up with one of their competitors’ product. In fact, this iPhone application, or a mere group of weblinks, is not only a useless application, but much worse, it hurts a great brand.

So instead of just ranting on about how bad of an effort this “application” is, what would be some really useful features? Here are some ideas that came to mind:

1. Most obvious, quick and easy access to all arrival and departure information without leaving the actual application (I don’t want to have to use html Dropdown menus to find a flight on a certain date and time)
2. Location based finder. If my iPhone knows where I am at, it could spit out the closest airports SWISS and it’s partners fly to and from. So when I start the application in Irvine, CA, it automatically asks me if I am looking for flight to and from LAX, since SWISS doesn’t fly directly into John Wayne.
3. Average check-in time and average wait time until your visitors actually come out of the gate after going through Customs and Immigration.
4. Again, based on your location, driving time to and and from the airport. Google can do it with real time traffic information!

I am sure there are a lot of features and ideas that could make an application like this a useful product and offer the user some real benefits, besides SWISS now being able to say “We have an iPhone application too!”

Unfortunately, many companies think they have the ability to create a viral campaign and presume that with certain social media channels in place, they can literally push their message out and it will automatically get forwarded on to thousands. If it only was that easy.

To help give you a deeper understanding of viral marketing, here are a few items to consider prior to planning a viral campaign for your company.

Goals & Objectives
To ensure success for your viral campaign, you will need to first identify what it is you would like to achieve by putting one in place. Will the goal be to gain brand awareness, obtain sign-ups, conversions, click-thrus, impressions, donations, etc? Establishing these types goals and objectives will help you measure and evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign.

Sharing is Caring
Instead of creating a campaign around something you want to sell, create a campaign that people will want to SHARE. Most likely you and your friends share videos or content that is humorous.  Humor, money and incentives definitely motivate people to share marketing messages.  Another tactic is to provide helpful information or tools for your target audience.  By doing this, they will be more likely to share it with their friends or peers, and as a result your brand will stay top of mind, gain positive exposure and have the potential to create a loyal fan and customer.

Advantages of Viral Campaigns
Quality content created around the campaign will help attract the right people to your brand.  One advantage of interactive marketing is the ability to get very targeted with your communications, but this is often the biggest challenge. So, who is your audience?  How do they want to receive messages and in what style do they prefer being communicated to?  Where and how do they meet?  Is it on Facebook, MySpace, Linkedin, Twitter, YouTube, or all the above?  Serving the right content, at the right time in the appropriate setting is essential for your viral campaigns to take hold and for your messages to proliferate.

Making sure your message is readily accessible to users, will only further enable sharing.  Integrating multiple channels when launching the campaign will potentially increase the likelihood that the campaign will gain momentum. For example, if email is part of your campaign (which it should be), try integrating social-forwarding features within the email so that users can share the email with their own personal social networks as well as forward the email on to their contacts.

Although an organic viral growth is ideal, there are a few tactics that can jump start a viral campaign, such as:

• Voting

• Contests

• Sweepstakes

• Coupons

• Trivia

• Giveaways

Monitoring Your Campaign
Don’t forget to address how your team plans on monitoring the viral campaign. If you are working with an agency, it is important to establish which resources will be dedicated to which component of monitoring and how much time will be needed in order to maintain the integrity of the campaign.  Having guidelines in place that clearly define which party will be responsible for monitoring comments, responses, and engaging with users will be vital.

Turning a Negative Into a Positive
Another common concern around viral marketing is the potential for negative feedback. Although negative comments can sound nerve-racking, it can also serve as an opportunity for the company to set the record straight, identify actions that are being taken to rectify a situation or a chance to educate the audience on your products/services. It can serve as an opportunity instead of a disadvantage for your brand.  If you do happen to receive negative comments during your campaign, it is wise to respond to them within 24 hours if possible.  Reacting quickly and directly to the commenter will help prevent the issue from spreading like wild fire and indicates that you care about the conversations taking place.  It is advisable to thank the person for their feedback and to try to solve the issue as calmly and objectively as possible.

Real World Examples
You have probably seen some of the examples listed below before, but just in case you haven’t, here are some of my favorite viral videos I wanted to share with you:

Will it blend? - Check this one out if you haven’t already seen it already. You iPhone fanatics will crack up for sure!

Thriller - If you have ever wondered if prisoners ever have fun when their in the pokey, you have got to check this video out. The video features the dancing inmates of a high security penitentiary in Cebu Province of the Philippines. Once uploaded, this video became a hit and now has over 37 million views.

Free hugs - Try not to shed a tear watching this one

If you are in the mood for more examples related to viral marketing, Viral Blog has tons to choose from. Enjoy!

I’m being over-dramatic here but the battle is real and it’s becoming more apparent. Obviously I am going to be biased but don’t trust my opinion on why interactive agencies can outperform traditional. Let’s see what the latest finding are.

• A recent Forrester survey of 100 global interactive marketers revealed that 46% of these marketers DO NOT believe their traditional agencies can properly plan and manage interactive marketing activities. Only 23% believe that they can. 22% believed that digital agencies can lead their brand.
• Companies that have recently selected interactive agencies to be the main “agency of record” to lead their brand include; McAfee, California Bank & Trust, Ameriprise Financial, Autodesk, Ask.com and others.

So finally we, the interactive agencies are winning some battles and it’s about time. I’ve had the experience of working with many large traditional agencies on projects, sat in meetings, been to their offices and time and time again, I find the people clueless when it comes to a new paradigm of marketing strategy. And when it comes to showing results, many of these people are blown away by the data we are able to provide with our solutions which maybe I just take for granted but to me it’s just a “duh” moment.

So game on! I’m ready to kick ass this year. We’re prime for this war as we have positioned ourselves six years ago as a full-service interactive agency in Orange County that combines strategy, technology and creativity. This allows us to create true immersive brand experiences that transcend communication mediums. I predict 2010 will be a great year interactive agencies.

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My first reaction; what a blatant copy of the Apple store! The glass, the layout inside, the wandering employees, their version of the Genius Bar, etc. Here is a pic I shot from my iPhone (hehe) from outside the store.

My second reaction was wow, they have the audacity to do it again, to copy Apple. It just never stops. The store does have a couple of cool things about it such as the Surface table and the wrap around screens on the wall that shift imagery from time to time. But what really struck me was the advertising immediately outside of the Microsoft store. When I left the store, below is the signage I ran into.

Notice the main marketing message, “Be Original.” Hahahaha, give me a break. Who was the brainchild that decided to use this message? It’s just as bad as their TV spots that say, “I’m not cool enough for a Mac” (I’m paraphrasing here but that message was actually in a recent campaign). Here we have a blatant copy of the Apple store yet Microsoft is telling their customers to be original. Are people supposed to be original with Microsoft products that seem to be a copy of other products including their retail store experience? I think a much better message for them to use is “Be Resourceful.” This is a spin-doctor way of saying get things done by borrowing/copying/stealing with our products. “Be Original” is a message that directly contradicts the Microsoft culture and the experience I had with their retail environment. That is the Microsoft reality and their marketing team either is in denial or just does not care. Hmm, Be Original, maybe I should go buy a Windows laptop and start copying blog posts from other agencies and start posting them here. Maybe Microsoft would consider hiring us for creating some slick campaigns.

Let this be a lesson that when you are marketing your brand, check to make sure your messaging is in alignment with internal and external perceptions of your brand. Avoid situations like the above example when all your doing is creating jokes in the marketplace.

“All genuine brands have a story, a legend about how they got started. On the surface, a historical account of the brandʼs beginnings may not be impressive. However, they can be very powerful because they offer inspiration and optimism for everyone else. Preserving and enhancing a brandʼs heritage as it becomes more successful provides inspiration and motivation for customers, employees, and external relationships.”

I agree with him. Here’s some of my favorite brand stories:

Moleskine:

The history of a legendary notebook

Moleskine is the legendary notebook used by European artists and thinkers for the past two centuries, from Van Gogh to Picasso,from Ernest Hemingway to Bruce Chatwin. This trusty, pocket-size travel companion held sketches, notes, stories and ideas before they turned into famous images or pages of beloved books.

Originally produced by small French bookbinders who supplied the Parisian stationery shops frequented by the international avant-garde, by the end of the twentieth century the Moleskine notebook was no longer available. In 1986, the last manufacturer of Moleskine, a family operation in Tours, closed its shutters forever. “Le vrai Moleskine n’est plus” were the lapidary words of the owner of the stationery shop in Rue de l’Ancienne Comédie where Chatwin stocked up on the notebooks. The English writer had ordered a hundred of them before leaving for Australia: he bought up all the Moleskine that he could find, but they were not enough.

In 1998, a small Milanese publisher brought Moleskine back again. As the self-effacing keeper of an extraordinary tradition, Moleskine once again began to travel the globe. To capture reality on the move, pin down details, impress upon paper unique aspects of experience: Moleskine is a reservoir of ideas and feelings, a battery that stores discoveries and perceptions, and whose energy can be tapped over time.

The legendary black notebook is once again being passed from one pocket to the next; with its various different page styles if accompanies the creative professions and the imagination of our time. The adventure of Moleskine continues, and its still-blank pages will tell the rest.

Hatch Show Print

Active since 1879, Hatch Show Print is America’s oldest working poster print shop and is now the guardian of a very special corner of Americana. Visited by thousands of people each year, the shop that produces hundreds of colorful posters annually has long been a downtown Nashville landmark. Each Hatch Show Print poster is a unique creation, individually handcrafted an inked onto paper in a technique that dates back several centuries. The process, known as letterpress, involves selecting (or, if necessary, carving) woodblocks, setting up wood and/or metal type, then inking and pressing these elements onto paper to form an image. Founded by the Hatch brothers, C.R. and H.H., the firm blossomed in the 1920’s under the steady had of C.R.’s son Will T. Hatch, who applied his own bold style in handcarving the woodblocks. For much of  this century, the firm’s vibrant, colorful posters served as a leading advertising medium for Southern entertainment, ranging from vaudeville and minstrel shows to magicians and opera singers, from negro league baseball games to B-movies. Beginning in the 50’s, Hatch’s biggest clients were Grand Ole Opry performers like Bill Monroe, Johnny Cash and Roy Acuff. Now owned and operated by the Country Music Foundation, Hatch Show Print produces restrikes of classic designs and continues to create new posters for current artists like Bruce Springsteen and The Rolling Stones that are cherished by music fans, graphic designers and art critics alike.

Cliff Bar

Clif Bar is named after my father, Clifford, my childhood hero and companion through the Sierra Nevada mountains.

In 1990, I lived in a garage, with my dog, skis, climbing gear, bicycle and two trumpets. The inspiration to create an energy bar occurred during a day-long, 175 mile bike ride with my buddy Jay. We’d been gnawing on some “other” energy bars all day. Suddenly, despite my hunger, I couldn’t take another bite. I thought, “I could make a better bar than this!” That’s the moment I now call “the epiphany.”

Two years later, after countless hours in Mom’s kitchen, the Clif Bar became a reality. And the mission to create a better-tasting energy bar was accomplished. Thanks Mom!

In each of these examples, they do more than just list the company’s milestones. They connect the brand to a cultural movement, associate the brand with a spirit that their customers identify with and overall, promote the fact that they’ve contributed something significant to the lexicon of the space their brand occupies.

Duane Knapp contends that the brand story should be treated as an important part of the overall brand blueprint, like your company name, logo and tagline. Done properly, it can act as a guidepost to help the company stay true to the brand as it grows, it helps customers know how to feel about the brand, and it can make the brand more valuable from a cultural standpoint.

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Besides every tenth person you meet claiming to offer social media services (that’s more madness than mania), I would like to demonstrate the mania by the crop of new tools and services around this channel. Here is a list of a variety of tools and sites relating to Twitter:

• Tweetdeck - A Rich Internet Application that does an excellent job of managing the Twitter landscape.
• Twitterfone - Allows you to send messages to Twitter using your voice
• Twitter Search - A search engine for Twitter
• Twubble - A Twitter extension that helps you find more friends.
• Trendistic - Displays trends on Twitter
• TwitBlocker - Helps you block those little birds that just chatter too much
• Twittonary - A dictionary of Twitter terms.

And the list of links can go on and on but here are some other tools and sites just listed by name: Twittercal, Twitpay, Twibs, Twitter Mail, Twitzu, Twuffer, Tweet Later, GroupTweet, TweetBeep, TwitPic, Mr. Tweet, StrawPoll, Twiddict, Twenglish, twtcard, Tweet what you spend, Twitwall, Twitterise and the craziness goes on so I think you get my point.

We’ll see how many of these sites and services stick around over the next two years but it’s fun nonetheless. Twitter can be a useful resource and over time, business marketers will realize its full potential. Until then, you can follow me on Twitter @craigcooke. How’s that for a self-indulgent fame seeking? I promise not to waste your time with silly posts. I save those for my Facebook friends.  :)