New Rubbermaid.com Launches

We launched the new Rubbermaid.com website last night, September 16, 2009.

The new design is focused on home organization solutions and integrates consumer generated product reviews from BazaarVoice, advanced where-to-buy services from Channel Intelligence, and affiliate marketing services from Commission Junction (@CJnetwork).

The site was developed by LBi Atlanta (@LBi_Atlanta) on a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, Commerce Server, Microsoft SQL and Biztalk server platform hosted at Rackspace.

Jim Deitzel was the lead E-Marketing Manager and Imran Khan was the lead E-Business Program Manager on the project.

We are thrilled and excited to unveil this next generation website and look forward to its continued evolution.

From Zero to Community: Practical Advice for Growing and Nurturing an Online Community

I will be on a webcast tomorrow, September 17, 2009 at 3PM Eastern with Aaron Strout, CMO at Powered, and Rachel Happe, Principal and Founder, The Community Roundtable (@theCR). We will be presenting: From Zero To Community: Practical Advice for Growing and Nurturing an Online Community.

Rachel will be presenting her Community Maturity Model and community management best practices. I will be discussing our Sharpie - Uncap Your Creativity, Graco Baby - From The Heart and Rubbermaid - Adventures in Organizaton communities and social networking efforts.

Hope you can attend.

Newell Rubbermaid Social Media Marketing Blog Posts And Articles

It has been a very active past couple of weeks for the Newell Rubbermaid social media marketing teams. We have received positive recognition for our efforts from several influential social media marketing, PR and communications bloggers. Below are a list and links to these articles and blog posts:

• Fortune 500 Series: How Newell Rubbermaid Uses Social Media by Jennifer Leggio - Jennifer wrote an article based on a series of email interviews with me. She also writes a well respected blog: Mediaphyter A Communications Cocktail and can be found on Twitter at @Mediaphyter.

• A Blog Should Feel Like A Gift: 10 Ways to Improve Your Corporate Blog by Kami Hyuse - Kami and I first met at the University of Georgia Grady School of Journalism and Mass Communications CONNECT 2008 conference. She writes an excellent blog: Communication Overtones focused on what else, marketing communications and public relations. She is also a social media expert and excellent resource for new ideas and programs that work. Kami can be found on Twitter at @Kamichat.
  

• People Don't Trust Company Blogs. What You Should Do About It by Josh Bernoff - Josh wrote a highly controversial blog post and Forrester Research report on the general mistrust consumers have with corporate or brand blogs. There was considerable discussion on Twitter and in the blogosphere about this report. I think what was missed in all that discussion was the excellent corporate or brand blog framework proposed by Josh as part of his Groundswell blog post and research report. He also identified those doing brand blogging correctly including our Rubbermaid blog. Also, I believe the trust issue is important to consider and evaluate. I personally believe trust will grow as brands get better at blogging and developing content that is focused on problem solving, how to, fun, creative uses and opening a communications path for consumers to interact with brand employees. Josh Bernoff is also the author of the Groundswell book a great resource on social media marketing. Josh can be found on Twitter at @JBernoff.

• Rubbermaid - A Corporate Blog That Organizes The World by John Cass - John wrote a wonderful blog post on the Rubbermaid brand blog based on an interview with Jim Deitzel - The Rubbermaid blogger. Jim can be found on Twitter at @JimDeitzel and also manages the @Rubbermaid Twitter account. The blog post focuses on the Rubbermaid's blog goal of reaching out to professional organizers and those striving for a more organized lifestyle. The Rubbermaid blog specifically focuses on how to better organize your home. Several Rubbermaid Marketing Communications team members are active content contributors. John Cass blog is: PR Communications and he can be found on Twitter at @JohnCass.

• What Works For Newell Rubbermaid by Jennifer Leggio - Smartbrief also highlighted the article by Jennifer.

A very busy couple of weeks and I want to extend my appreciation to all the authors referenced above. As usual, I learn as much from them as they from me and the Newell Rubbermaid social media marketing teams and I value their perspective on the social media ecosystem.