Social Media & Knitting: A Match Made in Heaven

It is easy to see that the omnipresence of the Internet, social media, and networking tools have drastically changed the ways in which people communicate with each other. Time and space become insignificant - if you want to see someone, you can use Skype. Hungry,  but don't want to talk on the phone? Order your pizza online. Improvements in technology have allowed us to communicate instantly with people all over the globe. This phenomenon has helped to bring together people with the same interests, and those people can easily create communities in which to share their passions.

One such community that has flourished over the past few years is the online knitting community. Once considered a solitary activity, knitting has evolved from a household task to a creative activity in which fellow knitters can share their creations. The invention of the knitting machine in the late 19th century eliminated the need to make basic clothing, and allowed knitters to create beautiful pieces for their own enjoyment. Naturally, if you create something gorgeous, you want to show everyone... right? Right. Enter Ravelry.

Source: Ravelry.com

The knitting community has clearly embraced the Groundswell in nearly every aspect. Ravelry, the largest online knitting community, currently has 1,323,934 registered users, with 86,414 of those users visiting the site in the previous 24 hours. This sheer amount of users is incredible in itself, but what Ravelry has done for the knitting community is even more impressive. Ravelry allows users from all over the world to collaborate on projects, ask for help and opinions, and provide feedback for designers and yarn companies. (For more on Ravelry, see my previous post.)

Many yarn companies have taken Li and Bernoff's advice: "Why build it if you can join it?" (p. 173) With such an active community as Ravelry, yarn companies have no incentive to build communities of their own, because they will not be as successful. Instead, yarn companies are creating presences in Ravelry groups, by adding their yarns to the database, creating fan groups, and listening and talking with the Groundswell.

For example, WEBS, the largest yarn store in the country, provides discount codes for certain yarns on their Twitter and Facebook. Only people who "like" WEBS on Facebook can use these codes. By providing an incentive for spectators to participate in the Groundswell, WEBS increases traffic to their site, which will eventually offset the cost of the discount.

Source: WEBS on Facebook

By participating in Ravelry forums, yarn companies can also provide an outlet for their customers to provide reviews on certain yarns, get customer support, and ask for advice. Most of the posts are from knitters who are extremely enthusiastic and passionate about their favorite yarns, so these yarn companies are also gaining free publicity from word-of-mouth.

Online knitters are also embracing other tools to share their projects, like Flickr and YouTube. My Flickr (also on the right side of my blog) shows photos of projects that I've completed. There are also photo tutorials on Flickr that will teach other knitters particular techniques or stitches. YouTube is also popular for video tutorials. To this day, I can't do Judy's Magic Cast-On without watching Cat Bordhi's video!

Source: frecklegirl on Flickr

Often times, the Internet is given a bad reputation for allowing people to become anti-social. However, in this case, I would argue that the Internet and social media have actually facilitated in-person group meetings. For example, the founders of Ravelry recently traveled from Boston to Wisconsin for the Madison Knitters' Guild Knit-In. Jess and Casey travel frequently, and they usually give presentations on Ravelry and how social media has impacted the knitting community. They also blog about their experiences during and after the conventions!

Conventions like the National NeedleArts Association's yearly trade shows and the New York Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, New York bring together knitters who would normally only interact via the Internet. Jess and Casey also facilitate Ravelry meetups, where Ravelry friends can meet in person!

Social media, including forums and rating systems, have radically changed the way in which knitting is viewed. Now, knitting is "in." The whole "do-it-yourself" (DIY) culture is extremely popular, and knitting holds a special place in that culture. Ravelry is like the online "home base" for knitters around the world. An old-fashioned activity like knitting could have faded away very easily, but the online knitting community has allowed it to flourish. I can only imagine it will become even more popular over time.

For more information on my sources, please see my Delicious homepage. And follow me on Twitter to continue the conversation on knitting and social media!

Social Media & Knitting

Tahki Stacy Charles: Brand Monitoring Report #2

Introduction and Background Information
As I have previously mentioned, the company I chose to monitor is Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc., a yarn company. Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc. encompasses four yarn brands: Filatura Di Crosa, Tahki Yarns, S. Charles Collezione, and Loop-d-Loop by Teva Durham. However, I chose to monitor the parent company instead of single brands. To continue my monitoring of this company, I used the following social metric tools: Addictomatic, SocialMention, IceRocket, and TrendPedia.

Twitter
Similar to previous weeks, most of the tweets about Tahki Stacy Charles have been from Vogue Knitting and Yarn Group. Unlike last week, however, TahkiYarns and FilaturaDiCrosaYarns have both showed up on the “Top Users” list on SocialMention, which means that they were both tweeting more than they have over the previous month. This increase is probably due to the Colorplay Challenge contest I mentioned earlier, in which contestants design scarves made from Tahki yarns. In addition, Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc. recently released a free pattern for their S. Charles Collezione brand yarns, called the “Elaine Oversized Pullover.” This has generated a bit of buzz on Twitter, with people re-tweeting the link to the pattern.

Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc. has improved their Twitter presence by tweeting more often. For example, TahkiYarns tweeted:

By tweeting questions such as this one, Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc. is more likely to spark a conversation among its followers and create buzz about their products.

Blogs
Since my last report, many of the blog posts mentioning Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc. have been written in Russian, so I was unable to determine if they were positive or negative in nature. I found one blog post where the poster, Geraldine, was asking for suggestions on which yarn to substitute for a pattern, and she was thinking of using Replay by Tahki Yarns. She also linked to the Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc. website, which will help to increase search engine results for the company.

Geraldine was leaning towards either coral or crimson, which do you like?

YouTube
Since my last report, Stacy Tahki Charles, Inc. has linked their Twitter and YouTube accounts, so I saw many posts from Twitter saying “I liked a YouTube video,” with a description of the video. Many of these videos were from the TNNA fashion show I showed in class. However, the company has not posted any new YouTube videos. This is understandable, as it is difficult to convey colors and textures through online means, such as videos.

Ravelry
Ravelry is clearly the area in which Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc.’s marketing strategy shines. Clearly, it is the perfect place to reach their target audience. In the “Friends of Tahki Yarns” group, fans of the yarns discuss their knitting goals for the year of 2011, and much of the group is actively discussing the Colorplay challenge. Other threads include users searching for extra skeins of specific colors or yarns.

User “judisohn” posted about errors in a pattern written by the company, which is a great example of Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc.’s outstanding customer service. Within a day, a sales representative for the company (user “AnneBeanVA” posted to apologize for the errors, and offered to contact the designer to fix the problems.

The immediate response placated “judisohn” and preserved Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc.’s reputation. Although the post is not new, it still shows that the company is focused on its customers.

Target Audience
The target audience of Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc. is, of course, knitters who will buy their yarns. However, it is difficult to reach many knitters via the Internet, since much of the target population consists of older individuals. This portion of the target audience is usually labeled as “inactives” or “spectators.” Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc. has done a great job in reaching the “joiners” in their target audience through Ravelry, an online knitting and crocheting community. By creating a Ravelry group dedicated to their yarns, they are able to listen to the groundswell, respond quickly to problems, and spark new conversations.

Strength, Sentiment, Passion, Reach
The SocialMention snapshots over the past two weeks show that Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc.’s sentiment and passion scores have both increased from the previous month, which is good news for the company. This is probably due to the buzz created by the Colorplay challenge, and the fact that the company tweeted more often than it did in the past month. The number of positive mentions increased, which helped boost their sentiment ratio.

SocialMention Stats Mid-March to the end of March

Unfortunately, the low reach percentages still pose a significant problem for the company. By focusing most of their efforts on reaching their target audience through Ravelry, they are missing the users who are not part of that community. Ravelry forum posts and projects will show up in Google searches, but if the viewer does not have a Ravelry account, they will not be able to view the pages. However, this may provide an incentive for people to join Ravelry, since it is a free community.

The extremely low strength percentage is also an indicator that Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc. is not being mentioned frequently in social media outlets. The only sure way to fix this problem is for the company itself to start tweeting and blogging even more. By focusing most of their efforts on Ravelry, the company is missing the bigger picture.

Suggestions and Goals
Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc. has done a good job in identifying their target audience, but they have not done such a good job in reaching their customers through a wide variety of resources and technologies. Because Ravelry is a closed community, anyone who is not a registered member cannot view forum posts. This poses a problem to Tahki Stacy Charles’ reach percentages, since those pages are not visible to much of their target population (the “inactives” and “spectators”). By taking advantage of other outlets, such as Facebook, Twitter, and blogs, Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc. would be able to increase their reach percentage significantly. In my opinion, they are focusing too much time and energy on Ravelry, and not enough on other areas that can reach more people.

As mentioned in my previous report, strength is the likelihood that your brand is being discussed in social media. Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc.’s strength percentage is abysmally low, at 1% or even 0% each time I have taken a snapshot. This is directly linked to the problem I mention above, in which TSC, Inc. is focusing too much on Ravelry, and not enough on other social media outlets. Companies cannot wait for others to discuss them -- they need to initiate the conversation themselves. By taking charge of the situation, Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc. would be able to spark more conversation and activity, and their strength percentage would increase. Sometimes the groundswell just needs a little push.

Tahki Stacy Charles: Brand Monitoring Report #1

Introduction and Background Information
I’ve chosen to monitor Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc. Tahki Stacy Charles is a yarn company that encompasses the following yarn brands: Filatura Di Crosa, Tahki Yarns, S. Charles Collezione, and Loop-d-Loop by Teva Durham. Each yarn brand has its own Facebook, Twitter, and Ravelry page. Ravelry is an important social network for yarn brands to utilize. For more information on Ravelry, see my previous blog post here. To monitor this company, I used the following social metric tools: Addictomatic, SocialMention, IceRocket, and TrendPedia.

Marketing Strategy
Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc., uses a marketing service, The Wool Wide Web, to manage their web and social media presence. The Wool Wide Web helps yarn companies and specific yarn brands implement social media marketing strategies. Some of the services The Wool Wide Web offers include: Social Media Campaign Creation, Social Media Monitoring, an E-Newsletter service, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Google Adwords Campaigns, Google Analytics & Webmaster tools integration, WordPress websites, Branding Strategies, Retail Support Programs, Designer and pattern support, and ghost blogging.

The advantage of using an outside service like The Wool Wide Web is that companies with little or limited knowledge of the groundswell or social media technologies do not have to spend the time learning how to use them – they can hire a company to do it for them. This allows the yarn companies to focus on creating new products. Companies hire outside designers for advertisements, why not hire a company to market for you?

YouTube
Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc. has its own YouTube channel; however, the company has only uploaded one video. This video is an interview with Stacy Charles and Diane Friedman of Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc. Another top result when searching for TSC, Inc. was Yarn Group, a subsidiary group of the National NeedleArts Association. Yarn Group uploaded a video from the TNNA Spring/Summer 2011 Fashion Show, which features models showing handknit garments made from Tahki Stacy Charles yarns.



Aren't those cardigans gorgeous?Blogs
Many of the blog posts I came across were reviews of specific yarns, such as this review of Tahki Stacy Charles Cotton Classic. The review mentioned that the yarn has a very pleasant texture and is great for beginners since it doesn’t split easily.

Look at all those colors! (Source: yarn.com)

Another blog post from Knitting Daily promoted a contest being held by Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc. – the Colorplay Reader Challenge. Knitting Daily, of Interweave Knits, is running a contest to win $250 worth of Tahki Yarns. To enter, you need to create a multi-colored scarf using at least 4 colors of Cotton Classic or Cotton Classic Lite. Readers will vote on the most creative knit scarf and the most creative crochet scarf. Contestants will use patterns provided by a professional designer. Tahki Yarns is also offering a 10% off coupon for your purchase of Cotton Classic or Cotton Classic Lite if purchased for the Colorplay Reader Challenge.

Topics, Tone, Strength, Sentiment, Passion, Reach
By looking at SocialMention at a few intervals across a couple months, I was able to determine some general trends about Tahki Stacy Charles. In general, the topics mentioned are the yarn brands themselves – but beyond that, they were either positive or negative reviews. Also frequently mentioned were sales or discounts currently being offered on Tahki Stacy Charles yarns. The general perceived tone was positive, while negative reviews were extremely rare. According to SocialMention, strength is the likelihood that your brand is being discussed in social media. Tahki Stacy Charles’ strength was quite low, at only 1%. This shows that overall, Tahki Stacy Charles was not being mentioned very often.

SocialMention Stats Mid-February to Mid-March

The sentiment, or the ratio of mentions that are positive to the mentions that are negative, was neutral overall, ranging from 12:0 to 13:1. This means that for every 13 positive mentions, there was only one negative mention. Passion, or the measure of individuals who are talking about your brand will do so repeatedly, varied greatly for Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc. It varied from 72% in mid-February to 43% in mid-March. Tahki Stacy Charles is only being mentioned by a few repeat users, like Vogue Knitting. Reach, or the measure of the range of influence, ranged from 4% to 11%. These percentages are calculated by using the number of unique authors referencing your brand divided by the total number of mentions. TSC, Inc.’s reach percentages are an indicator that they are not reaching too many users.

Conclusion and Future Monitoring
I will continue to monitor Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc. to see if their reach and strength percentages increase. We might see some entries into the Colorplay Challenge competition, and that would definitely increase the company’s web presence. In general, TSC, Inc. could benefit from posting more YouTube videos, because that would provide users with more ways to find out about Tahki Stacy Charles’ yarns. So far, I would say that Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc. has gotten its feet wet in the Groundswell, but it needs to become more involved to make an impact.

5, 6, 7, 8...

Chapter 9 of Groundswell describes how to help the groundswell support itself through online communities and forums. The most important point to remember in maintaining an online community is that once you build it, you need to support it. A community that was created but has only 3 posts in a forum thread is not going to last very long. People who are looking for help will not turn to a sparsely-used community for answers.

While reading this chapter, I was strongly reminded of a community that I helped maintain - DanceStudioOwner.com. In order to get the whole picture, you'll need a little backstory... so here goes!

My family has been involved in dance for several years now. My younger sister started dancing at Kathy Blake Dance Studios after attending a friend's birthday party there in middle school, and my mother was hired as the KBDS Costume Manager a year later. I became involved when I started working as an office assistant, and eventually I worked my way up to working as the sound technician for recital week. My dad works as KBDS' "tech guy." As you can see, we all spend a LOT of time at the studio.

Over the summer of 2010, I had the pleasure of working for Suzanne Blake Gerety, the vice-president of KBDS and co-owner of DanceStudioOwner.com, a community for dance studio owners. While working for Suzanne, I learned the ins and outs of running an online community. I plan on completing my internship for the MSPC program with Suzanne this summer as well.

DanceStudioOwner.com's home page gives users quick access to its wealth of resources.

I like to call DanceStudioOwner.com a "dance studio in a box." It provides dance studio owners with any resource they could ever need. Dance studio owners can purchase a membership to the site to access all its features, including articles, support forums, podcasts, and printable resources (such as handbooks and coloring pages for younger students). The resources on the site cover virtually any question a studio owner could come up with, from "How do you deal with bossy parents?" to "How do you handle late payments?" to "How do I prevent injuries?" DanceStudioOwner.com (DSO) covers the gamut of issues that could arise in the dance world.

Similar to Massachusetts General Hospital's CarePages system, DanceStudioOwner.com allows dance studio owners to focus on making their business profitable by helping them with the smaller (but still important) details. CarePages allowed patients to focus on resting and getting better while allowing them to stay in close contact with their family and friends (pg. 155). DanceStudioOwner.com also inspires people who are passionate about dance, and brings them together in a virtual community where they can share their passions.



DanceStudioOwner.com created this video to share the passion of dance.
By building passion, DanceStudioOwner.com can build up their reputation through users' testimonials. Like Li and Bernoff say, "Why not let your fans buzz about you and build passion for your programs?" (pg. 164). Similar to Proctor & Gamble's beinggirl.com community, DSO addresses dance in a more encompassing way, not just by advertising products. Because the DanceStudioOwner.com forums discuss the entire dance studio ownership experience, it creates a safe space for users to discuss their experiences without feeling like they are being shouted at.

Suzanne Blake Gerety, a co-owner of DSO, has mastered the concepts of being a trust agent. She is especially good at being a human artist - or someone who is able to communicate with people in a real and meaningful way. (Follow her on Twitter!) Along with Kathy Blake, her mother and the other co-owner of DSO, she is able to relate to the members of the community and help them through their small business journey. By helping the groundswell support itself, DSO was able to create a vibrant and welcoming community of dance studio owners around the world!

I've Got You In My Sights

Some of you may remember the tragic shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in January. If not, you can get the background story from this CNN article. Long story short, Giffords (D-AZ), was shot while speaking to her constituents outside a supermarket. She is currently recovering and undergoing therapy at the Memorial Hermann Medical Center in Houston, Texas.

An innocent meet-and-greet turns violent.

A few weeks prior to the shooting, Sarah Palin had begun a new phase of her campaign, called Take Back the 20. Palin made the mistake of using images of gun crosshairs to target the districts of Democrats who voted in favor of the recent health care legislation. Giffords' district falls under this category. A spokeswoman for Palin denies any connection between the violent imagery and the shooting, and Palin herself later denied she meant the image to look like a gun sight. Below is the offending image, in its entirety:

What happens online, stays online.

It is completely foolish to believe that Sarah Palin's staffers never considered this imagery to be violent in any way. The groundswell told Palin's staffers this with an intense backlash against the image. When you Google search "Sarah Palin crosshairs," you will find thousands of blog posts about her insensitivity and foolish behavior. Like I mentioned earlier, if you make a mistake, the groundswell will call you out on it.

In addition to the SarahPAC website, Palin used Twitter to promote the map as well, tweeting "Don't Get Demoralized! Get Organized! Take Back the 20!" with a link to the image. She also tweeted "Commonsense Conservatives & lovers of America: "'Don't Retreat, Instead - RELOAD!'"

...But she didn't intend the map to come off as violent.

Palin's campaign could have benefited from a policy of controlled transparency, in which information is released in a controlled fashion. In addition, her staffers responded to the faux-pas in the worst way possible - by quickly removing the image from her website with no explanation. No, I'm not saying she should have kept the image live, but she should have publicly apologized for the mistake at the same time. Palin still has not apologized for her mistake, and the TakeBackthe20.com website no longer exists.

If you want more information about the shooting, watch this!

This scandal provides an important lesson - sometimes you can be too transparent. Sarah Palin showed the groundswell that she was fallible... a little too fallible. This illustrates the boundaries between radical transparency and controlled transparency, and when it is appropriate to use one method over the other. Hopefully Sarah Palin and her campaign staffers will learn from this mistake, and listen to the groundswell before jumping in.

Enter at Your Own Risk

In chapter 9 of Groundswell, Li and Bernoff reveal the bonuses of embracing the groundswell. In this chapter, they mention an example from Credit Mutuel, a Canadian bank. Credit Mutuel launched an extremely successful website, called "Si j'etais banquier" (or "If I were a banker"). This innovative campaign prompted customers to enter suggestions on how they would run the bank if they were bankers. Now, I realize this program may not sound that innovative, but it was in a very subtle way. Instead of saying "tell us what to do," the bank is asking "What would you do if you were us?" (pg. 188). See the difference? It's the small details that really matter the most.

While reading this example, I was reminded of another advertising campaign referenced in the Trust Agents book I mentioned a couple posts back. GM tried to embrace the groundswell, and failed miserably. In 2006, General Motors launched a campaign to advertise their new Tahoe truck. In this campaign, GM asked users to take video clips of the Tahoe, mix them into their own media, and upload their videos to YouTube. People did exactly this, but the videos that many consumers produced were negative statements about the Tahoe's environment... not what GM wanted to see. Below is one of the user-generated advertisements:

I don't think this is exactly what GM had in mind...

GM learned from this mistake by creating GMNext.com, which featured a wiki for people to share stories about the cars they loved. This website was an overnight success.

Do you see why the first campaign failed and the second succeeded? Don't worry, I'll break it down for you. The Tahoe campaign failed because GM blatantly asked people to advertise their product for the company. In the GMNext campaign, GM asked people to share their passions. It's another subtle difference, but it had a HUGE impact. GM tried to embrace the groundswell, but instead, they just angered it. GM had not considered the potential effects of agency, in which users can transform the intent of messages as they get transferred through social media. The users who created environmentally-conscious advertisements re-interpreted GM's ideas to reflect their own interests. Li and Bernoff warn their readers about jumping into the groundswell, and advise companies to wait until they are ready to face the consequences.

Li and Bernoff also mention later on in the chapter that in order to successfully implement a strategy that embraces the groundswell, like a creative advertising campaign, you need to be prepared to let some of your control go. They assert two main points: (1) No matter what kind of business you're in, your customers can help you, and (2) embracing your customers takes a balance between skill and humility (pg. 193-194). After you allow customers to make suggestions, you can't just stop there. You need to implement those suggestions, or the groundswell is going to call you out on your lack of responsiveness. By allowing both good and bad feedback to be viewed by customers, you will increase your company's transparency. Consequently, customers will be more willing to trust your company. Showing that you are fallible will improve your reputation as a trust agent.

In short, don't be afraid to dive into the groundswell... but don't complain when things don't go your way!

It's a people driven economy, stupid.

Is social media just a fad? Take just 4 minutes out of your busy day to find out... I bet you'll be surprised! (Full screen it for the full impact.)

How "Connection" Erodes Intimacy

The perceived need to be constantly connected to all of your friends is becoming a problem for face-to-face, personal, and private interactions. The networked public has brought about a general shift in attitudes -- what was once private is now public, and nothing is off-limits. The social networking technologies have even seeped into one of the most private aspects of a person's social life -- their love life.

About a week before finals began in the Fall 2010 semester, a new social network emerged, quietly at first, but then spread like wildfire. I'm talking about LikeALittle. LikeALittle is formatted similar to Twitter, and it has separate pages for different college campuses across the country. The basic concept behind LikeALittle is to provide a space for students to "flirt" anonymously with other students. Here you can see the example that is auto-populated on Clark's homepage:

Who wouldn't want to receive a message like that?

After a "flirt" is posted, other students can comment anonymously on it, and users can choose to "like" a post, or even send a private message to the author. Personally, I think it's a brilliant idea! It allows shy students to flirt with other students in their "native language," via the Internet. The site has exploded since December 2010, and I would not be surprised if they released a smartphone application soon. They are constantly hiring new staff.

Most of the posts on LikeALittle are innocent enough. Some examples include: "laughter is the best cure, and you're so good at it. i'd be your girl, if you just noticed it," and "Cute tallish one. I've seen you glancing :) Come say hi already!" However, some of the posts can get inappropriate quickly, which is why LikeALittle recruits moderators to make sure everything stays lighthearted and fun.

Students can use LikeALittle to say things they normally wouldn't in person.

Although I love the idea, I admit it becomes a little problematic. Whatever happened to passing a note across the classroom, or hesitantly asking someone to go see a movie? Sites like LikeALittle make those first romantic interactions less serious, and somehow less real. Because it is completely anonymous, its users are more likely to post things they would not say straight to that person's face.

The LikeALittle creators are taking advantage of the ideas of blurred boundaries, because they know they can reach their target audience at any moment. LikeALittle has also linked with Facebook, which is a smart strategy. By connecting their site to Facebook, the creators of LikeALittle can tap into the network of Joiners (using Groundswell terminology) and encourage them to become Creators or Critics.

The LikeALittle authors have established a community, much like Procter & Gamble's beinggirl.com. Their community was established around the problems young girls face every day. LikeALittle was established around the problems faced by shy students who want to meet new people. Since LikeALittle is not selling a product, they don't run the risk of shouting at their users.

If only it were that easy! (Source: http://globalthoughtz.com)

Personally, given the choice to make an anonymous "flirt" on LikeALittle or to actually speak to my crush in person, I would choose the offline interaction. Because LikeALittle is anonymous, the chances of your crush actually figuring out who you are are slim to none. If you seriously want to try and go on a date or even start a relationship, LikeALittle is not the way to go.

The Importance of Authenticity

While reading Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies, I have been reminded in many instances of another book I read for my Organizational Communication class last semester, called Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputations, and Earn Trust.

Trust Agents complements the messages in Groundswell by emphasizing the importance of authenticity. To become a "trust agent," you need to recognize that the web is becoming much more humanized, and you need to use that knowledge to your advantage. Like in Groundswell, Trust Agents also warns its readers not to get caught up in the minute details of the technology and tools themselves.

Don't let the Groundswell overwhelm you -- or you could end up like this!

Chapters 5 and 6 of Groundswell, "Listening to the Groundswell" and "Talking with the Groundswell," respectively, emphasize the importance of tapping into your customer base by listening to what they want, and responding to those requests, and the difference between shouting (mass advertising) and talking (having a conversation).

In chapter 5, Li and Bernoff talk about the importance of listening to the groundswell. According to Li and Bernoff, the Groundswell has radically changed the balance of power. Anyone can start a blog, anyone can create a website. Anyone can publicly say anything they want about any topic! This can be scary to companies -- because their brand, their identity, is no longer in their control. Li and Bernoff state that "your brand is whatever your customers say it is. And in the groundswell where they communicate with each other, they decide" (pg. 78).

Here's an example. Every girl wants a ring from Tiffany & Co., right? Nothing bad can come out of that little turquoise box. This may be true for most people, but if Tiffany can't keep customers happy after the purchase, those unhappy customers could blog about it -- ruining the reputation that Tiffany has established for itself. One rude Tiffany representative could bring down the entire reputation of the company. Do you see how volatile these identities have become?

Every girl's dream... or is it?

For companies, there is only one way to find out how their customers are defining their brand, and that is by listening. There are two main ways to effectively listen to the groundswell - by brand monitoring, or by setting up a private community. Successful strategies will involve both listening elements. A private community gives you all the information you would receive from a focus group, and more. It is essentially a natural setting where consumers talk to each other, and you can listen into their insights. Brand monitoring will allow companies to hear what their customers are saying about their products. The Charter Institute of Marketing provides some tips on how to effectively monitor your brand:

Social Media Brand Monitoring - CIM's Top Tips

Uploaded by HartJayne2432.

If your company does not have a significant online presence, your company will fall by the wayside. Other, more technologically-aware companies will succeed. It's as simple as that. In chapter 6, Li and Bernoff propose a concrete way in which businesses can increase their online presence. One of these ways is to start a blog. However, a blog cannot be written by a company. A company cannot expect its clients to identify personally with a blog post authored by "Kraft Foods." The last thing consumers want is to be inundated with even more advertisements. Like Li and Bernoff say, do not shout at your consumers (pg. 101). Li and Bernoff stress that by creating a blog, "shouting doesn't work ... If you put up a blog, they [consumers] will comment and expect you to pay attention to those comments" (pg. 102). To increase the effectiveness of a company blog, its authors must act as people. Shocking, I know! However, the average blog-reader or commenter (a.k.a. spectators or critics, in Li and Bernoff's terms) would much rather read a post from a human being, not a corporation. Wouldn't you?

Procter & Gamble recognized this subtle difference between shouting and talking. They established an online community, beinggirl.com, which is centered around the problems that young girls face every day. Yes, Procter & Gamble is a for-profit company, so they do participate in some advertising, but it is nice and subtle. Beinggirl.com features a section called "Ask Iris" in which girls can ask a psychologist any question. The only time specific products are brought up in conversation is in the signature: "Good Luck, Iris, for beinggirl.com, brought to you by Always pads & pantiliners and Tampax tampons." In Li and Bernoff's words, "What's delivered here is a big dose of sensitivity with a small dollop of information and a tiny brand message. This really is talking with your customers" (pg. 120).

Don't waste your money on expensive mass advertising. Just listen and respond, and you can invest less money in more effective ways.

Where my stitches at?

I have been an avid knitter and crocheter for about two years now. I think the younger generation of knitters, such as myself, view the craft differently from those of older generations. For example, I use the Internet to look up patterns and techniques.

One resource I came across that I use every day is Ravelry. Ravelry is a virtual community for knitters and crocheters, which offers many resources, like forums to talk with other crafters, collections of patterns, and even a database of yarn! Ravelry is a great way to connect with other knitters and crocheters around the world. I use Ravelry frequently to ask for help when I get stuck on projects, and the members are very willing to help each other out!

Here is the Ravelry login page (Click on the photos for a larger view):

See the Boston Terrier in the middle? That's Bob. He's Ravelry's mascot! 

In order to use Ravelry's resources, you need to sign up for a free account. But after that, you can organize your own knitting and crocheting projects, yarn stash, and your needles and hooks.

This is my profile:

Profile pages are like your "home base" on Ravelry.

My profile page shows my username, my profile pictures, some information about me, a thumbnail of my blog, and a collage of some of my finished objects. It also shows how many projects I've finished, how many patterns are in my queue, how many projects, patterns, or yarns I've saved as my favorites, and how many friends I have.

This is my project page:

This is just a small sampling of some of the projects I have made.

As you can see, there are tabs across the top to navigate to the patterns, yarns, forums, and groups pages, among others. The links on the left-hand side correspond to my profile. People can see what projects I've made, projects in my queue (projects I plan on knitting but haven't started yet), projects, yarns, or patterns I have saved in my favorites, and patterns I have in my library. You can also hook up your blog to your Ravelry profile, so other Ravelers can see my blog posts, too!

The numbers underneath each project correspond to how many people have commented on my project, or have added my project to their favorites list. Cadmus, my angry cat, is my most "favorited" project, with 38 favorites!

Most people use Ravelry to search for patterns:

I spend at least an hour a day deciding what to make next!

Ravelry's search function is excellent. You can narrow down your choices to only knitting patterns or only crochet patterns, or you can choose to show only free patterns. You can search by category, keyword, or tags that other people have used to categorize their projects and patterns. Ravelry is also a great way for designers to post their patterns for sale or for free use!

Another great feature on Ravelry is the forums:

I ask people for help on the forums when I get stuck!

Ravelers love to chat. And they love to help and encourage each other too! I've used the forums many times to ask for help if I get frustrated with a pattern or don't understand the instructions. I've also used the forums to participate in "swaps," where I'm assigned a "swap partner," and we send each other themed gifts (usually yarn is involved in some way). I've kept a pen pal in Montgomery, AL from a journaling themed swap!

Another way Ravelers chat is through groups. The forums pictured above are actually the forums of specific groups that I am in. I'm in the "Yarnaholics Anonymous" group, the "College Knitters" group, the "We Love Lucy" group (a fan group for a knitting blog), and the "Boston Terrier Owners and Lovers" group. In the Boston Terriers group, for example, people like to post pictures of their dogs wearing handmade sweaters!

This is Jenny's dog, Franklin!

Ravelry provides crafters around the world with a great way to communicate and organize their crafting supplies. I even persuaded my mom to sign up! I love sharing my finished projects with fellow Ravelers, and I especially love that I can ask for help when I get stuck. I usually receive a response within an hour, since so many people use Ravelry -- 1,186,900 people, to be exact! That's a lot of crafters!

At the time of writing this post, 3,957 users were online:

There are even Ravelers in Pakistan, Romania, and Hungary!

Most of the users live in the United States, Canada, or the United Kingdom. But Ravelry connects users all across the world. Ravelry also won a .NET Magazine Award for the Best Online Community, beating out both Facebook and Twitter for first place! This just goes to show that social media can help create specialized communities for any interest, not just general friend-adding ones.

Welcome!

This blog will be used for my Social Media and Marketing class, to complete class assignments and to document my experience learning new things!