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March 24, 2010

Blogging 101Girl Scout Cookies Aren’t Just “Tagging Along” This Year

Nichole Mrasek
Account Supervisor

Samoas, Tagalongs, Trefoils, Do-si-Dos, are names that are synonymous with America’s favorite cookie pastime. Girl Scout Cookies have been around for decades and, each season, people wait for their local green-clad scout to come around so that they can place an order for their annual treat. This season, we’re in for a new treat, because our favorite little girls in green are on a mission. The Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) are undergoing a rebranding effort in order to breathe new life into the dwindling cookie sales and scout membership.

The message on GirlScoutCookies.org is clear and consistent: “Every Cookie Has a Mission: To Help Girls Do Great Things.” This little cookie has come a long way, including the addition of a growing social media presence on Twitter, Flickr, Facebook and YouTube. In fact, GSUSA utilized its cookie Web site and YouTube channel to showcase the new campaign. The “What Can a Cookie Do?” video brings to life the purchasing power of the cookie, showing how each dollar of cookie sales goes to a bigger purpose, from supporting local community efforts to helping shape girls’ futures.

According to MediaPost, the video served as a launching pad for a rebranding effort GSUSA undertook this spring. "Girl Scouts of the USA is an iconic American brand with huge awareness, but we want to create greater understanding that being a Girl Scout isn't just about camping, or selling cookies -- it's about how opportunities like this build leadership in girls," says GSUSA brand manager Ashlene Nand. "Essentially, we're trying to brand 'leadership.' "

It’s apparent that GSUSA understands the importance of speaking to its traditional audience, while expanding its reach and presence online. To withstand the test of social media time, the Girl Scouts will have to be tough cookies. However it appears the national rebranding efforts are helping the organization earn its branding badge. Read more from MediaPost’s Marketing Daily, “Girl Scouts Organization Is Going 'Viral.'”

Posted by staff at 02:18 PM
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March 17, 2010

Blogging 101Facebook, Twitter Now Offer Location-Sharing Features

By Nicole Burguess
Account Executive, New Media Relations

Social sites that ask, “What’s on your mind?” and “What’s happening?” are now asking, “Where are you?”

Location-based social networking site Foursquare celebrated its first birthday last week. With over 500,000 users and more than 15.5 million check-ins to date, the service has proven consumer demand for location-based networking tools. Hot on the heels of this trend – which has also boosted use of location services Gowalla and Loopt – Twitter and Facebook both announced they would offer similar services to users.

Twitter launched a feature that lets users tweet their locations on Foursquare’s first anniversary. PC Magazine reports, “Once enabled, the site will attempt to discover your location using Google Gears. Then a small pin icon appears on the information line of your latest tweet. Hover over it, and a Google Map pops up with your location in the middle.” This feature is currently live, and users can choose to activate it with a few clicks at Twitter.com.

Also last week, news broke of Facebook’s intent to add location-based features beginning in April. All Facebook users will soon be able to share physical locations as part of status updates. Additionally, a new set of APIs will allow App developers to use this technology in a wide variety of new Apps.

And what that means for social media community managers, marketers and strategists is a multitude of opportunities to bridge “real life” happenings with Web-based conversations. Brand-sponsored meet-ups can now be even more heavily publicized through Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and other services as they happen. And local businesses can connect with customers in more relevant ways, boosting hyper-local social media conversations that sites like Yelp have made popular.

Concerns about privacy and security implications of disclosing one’s physical location on the Web remain, but for now all these tools require opt-in, allowing users to choose for themselves,

For more on these new innovations and other trends in location-based social networking, check out:


Posted by staff at 02:03 PM
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March 09, 2010

Blogging 101More Small Businesses Using Social Media to Level the Playing Field

By Marian Short
Senior Account Executive, MediaQuotient

According to Shel Holz, while some small companies may feel more hesitant about engaging consumers through social media, doing so can potentially benefit them more than their larger competitors – while using a smaller marketing budget.

A new survey by the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business shows that not only are more small businesses turning to social media venues for increased ROI and heightened visibility, but 75 percent of respondents discovered ways of improving efficiency and almost half identified new products and services that utilize social media. Incredibly, one CEO actually slashed his marketing budget by 80 percent by successfully using social media channels. Mashable reported that Facebook and LinkedIn lead the pack for small-business social media engagement and was intrigued to see how much Twitter adoption rates will fluctuate.

Posted by staff at 10:27 AM
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