We're Getting Killed By Customer Reviews Online

This is one of the best and most appropriate Dilbert comic strips I have seen in a long time. Extremely relevant and important to read and think about when you put product and services Ratings and Reviews on your branded website. Read, think and have a little laugh too.

The Smartest Big Brands In Social Media

We are honored that our Graco Baby Products brand was called out as one of the 10 Smartest Big Brands in Social Media on Mashable - February 6, 2009 - by the author: Samir Balwani. Our Graco social media efforts specifically related to Flickr community building around our products was called out. We are very proud of our Graco Baby Products social media efforts. These efforts are being led by Kim Lefko, VP of Global Marketing, and Lindsay Lebresco, Public Relations and Social Media Manager. There are also several other Graco team members actively involved with the program including Karen Hartzell.

In addition to our Flickr program, we also have a Graco Baby branded blog, car seat microsite titled "Ready For The Road Ahead," and several Twitter accounts: GracoBaby, LindsayLebresco, and KarenHartzell. Recently (December 19, 2008) we launched a new, redesigned Graco Baby branded website.

It takes several dedicated and passionate people to bring these programs to life and drive them to success. It also takes the support and guidance of agencies that work with us as partners. I want to call out two of the agencies that have actively supported these efforts: Converseon and the LBi Atlanta office.

I also want to call out another organization that has helped educate us on Social Media Marketing and Interactive Marketing: Forrester Research. They have some of the best analysts and researchers in the business and are wonderfully knowledgeable. They are also well connected throughout the industry and are great at networking you with peers and high quality agencies, consulting services and technology partners.

Finally, if you are looking for a place to start with social media marketing, get the book Groundswell by Josh Bernoff of Forrester and Charlene Li of the Altimeter Group.

Fastest Growing Internet Demographic User Group Is ... The Over 70 Year Old Crowd

Per the Pew Research Center, the fastest growing Internet User demographic is the 70 year old and up crowd. This is both amazing and fantastic and shows the true power, compelling nature and ubiquity of the Internet. Here is an eMarketer report that summarizes the finding: The Online Generation Gap Narrows.

This report also points out that when you are developing your social media and interactive marketing plans you must consider all demographics, not just the 25-45 year olds.

Also, through simple observation of my 90 year old grandmother as she emailed her friends and performed online banking and financial services management, I knew this had to be the case.

The Social Media And Interactive Marketing Evolution Marches On

Even in a challenging economy, the social media and interactive marketing evolution marches on. The movement to a society dominated by the online, broadband, and mobile world continues. You can see this change happening when firms like Amazon.com continue to grow and thrive in what some consider one of the worst economies in decades. You can also see it in the investments firms like P&G, Wal-Mart and Target are making in their eCommerce and interactive marketing efforts.

Here are some interesting articles, events and happenings:

• Fun With Sharpies by David Meerman Scott is a fun and interesting look at the Newell Rubbermaid Sharpie Blog based on a discussion I had with David in early January, 2009. A lot of credit for the success of this blog has to go to Susan Wassel our lead Sharpie blogger and Sharpie Tweeter (@SharpieSusan).

• The Uni-Ball brand has also started experimenting in the social media ecosystem with a Twitter Avatar (@UniBall_USA). The Uni-Ball brand also launched a powerful advertising campaign and YouTube Channel.

• David Meerman Scott also wrote an outstanding piece on the social media efforts of the US Air Force - US Air Force Web Posting Response Assessment. The chart provided in the blog post is an outstanding tool that can be easily adapted to the private sector. It is great to see a Federal Government organization being so progressive in this area.

• I also had the pleasure of speaking at the University of Georgia, Terry School of Business on social media and interactive marketing. I discussed how Newell Rubbermaid interacts with consumers through these efforts, career search opportunities and the challenges that are out there for branded products and services in the ecosystem. Kathryn Moore ran the Terry School of Business Marketing Club event. She is a 2nd year MBA graduating in the Spring and would be an outstanding hire for any company looking for a smart, agressive marketing communications professional. I highly recommend her. I also had the pleasure of meeting and listening to the keynote speaker, Sandy Carter, Vice President of Marketing with IBM. She is a well respected leader in Social Media Marketing and has written a book "The New Language of Marketing 2.0, How To Use ANGELS To Energize Your Market" and has a very popular blog: Marketing 2.0: From A Whisper To A Scream.

I am looking forward to a very bright 2009 in the social media and interactive marketing ecosystem. There is a lot to be excited about.