“This initiative has been designed to give people a forum to talk about their passion for coffee and generate excitement around the Caffè Ritazza brand. While raising the profile of the brand is one of SSP’s key aim, the company believes that by providing a platform for dialogue and feedback from customers, the campaign will also be the foundation for a number of improvements. “We want to empower our customers to co-create the future for our brand.”

We at Mighty Media Group embraced the opportunity to create a cross channel campaign that will include insight gathering through fun Facebook polls, spontaneous competitions on Twitter, and some exciting things to post on Pinterest.

At the pinnacle of the campaign is a tribute to all things retro and yet made new through digital technology and a digital Sliding puzzle created in the classic “15″ style which originated in 1880.

The puzzle was under the creative direction of Stephenie Rodriguez and developed by the clever team at Zoo Advertising - a fellow Australian creative agency. To have a sneak preview of the puzzle, click here >> Slider Puzzle.

The Caffe Ritazza project is spearheaded by Lucie Sellier, Mighty Media Group Digital Project Leader (Europe) and Rebecca Platt, Community Manager.

Role model for female entrepreneurs - Sung-Joo Kim deemed the most 'inspirational speaker' at the Travel Industry's biggest B2B event.

If you happen to have been in the Grand Hyatt in Seoul today, you were probably attending the Moodie Report’s premiere event – The Trinity Forum.

Never heard of it? You probably wouldn’t unless you are in the C-suite of the three major stakeholders in the airport commercial business – landlords, retailers and brand owners. The Trinity Forum is acknowledged as the industry’s leading platform for debate and today although there was a diverse representation of each sector in the Grand Hyatt Seoul Ballroom one theme resounded from each panelist and speaker – the inclusion of social media in the travel communication mix and the increased use of mobile technology as means of understanding the mind of the customer, enhancing the frequency and improving the quality of messaging to drive longterm sustainable revenue through loyalty and advocacy.

One such advocate for social technology was one of Asia’s most impressive women – Sung-Joo Kim who told how her company actively incorporate social communication platforms like Facebook urging attendees to ‘use what they use’ making reference to SungJoo Groups youthful female consumer audience stressing importance of building meaningful and lasting relationships through digital interaction.

Andrew Carter, Managing Director, Bacardi Global Retail Travel opened a riveting panel discussion titled “Raising the Quality Bar” by dislodging a ballroom of 400+ executives (80% male over the age of 45), asking them to kindly stand up, turn to the left and raise up their thumb. Whilst having them upstanding, he articulated his belief that the long term measure of a company should not be profit alone but articulated the thumbs length (pointing to his thumb) and measured in LIKES (as in Facebook) as a sustainable means of driving relationships with consumers.

Also participating in the Quality panel discussion,  global food travel retailer’s champion of innovation gave us his first impressions.

“Social media was not on the menu today – it’s a formal discussion topic tomorrow however every speaker here mentioned the importance of social media to enhance the consumer experience.

The industry is behind in the general adoption curve and this was a travel retail epiphany. It is evident that social media has to play a much bigger role in long term collaboration and for every sector of the three stakeholders present increased willingness to pay and willingness to visit (footfall, traffic or penetration are the industry terms) are two significant benefits of our attention and engagement. I feel it has an untapped potential and those present recognised the opportunity that exists to message and drive value at all points within the trip chain.” – Rick Stavast, SSP – The Food Travel Experts Chief Marketing Officer.

Positioned as one company leading the engagement charge SSP are not presently paying lip service to their peers and Stavast’s presentation articulated the need to re-humanise the journey through a refreshing narrative using a first person photo journal of his trip from Zurich to Seoul.

SSP Australia were the first food and beverage retailer in Sydney International Airport to develop a social engagement program in October 2010 using a digital platforms Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Tumblr.

A quiet achiever with by far the largest social audience in the Australian travel retail space growing from a zero base according to Social Mention in September 2010,  SSP Australia presently have a combined fan/friend community numbering over 48,000 and extend a digital handshake to those landing or leaving the 7th Most Social Airport in the World according to a Facebook’s published report.

Expect to see the world’s largest travel retail innovators moving from beyond a social media presence to a full court press with the further integration of geo-location, near frequency SMS coupons and mobile payments. But can they play together and will the customer ultimately win?

A Shoutout from Shoutlet

A good community manager is a vital element in a social media marketing ecosystem. In fact, they manage the vibrant jungle. Part hostess, sometimes referee, provocateur and community health practitioner they demonstrate a hybrid set of attributes that is often hard to hire for based purely on the A4 paper CV. Experience does not necessarily equal ability in this integrated digital role that requires skill, passion and personality. Technology can be taught but personality is quintessentially non-transferable.

Kristel Tamkivi is one community manager we salute today who is part of our social media services framework supporting our client SSP – The Food Travel Experts in Australia. As the voice of the client, she spends her day as Twitter’s @jenfreshonthego and works tenaciously to assist foodies, airport staff and travelers have a more delicious journey in and around Sydney Airport’s International Departures T1.

Kristel takes great delight in engaging the community with relevant travel and aviation news, local airport happenings and ultimately SSP food and beverage deals and offers relevant to Sydney International Airport. “Jen” is a helpful friend and the go-to-gal of Departures – T1. It is through social media SSP helps travelers “discover” places to sit and enjoy free wi-fi spots, recharge an Ipad without sitting on a floor, sample a glass of fine Australian Shiraz or a coffee made by a trained barista. People can better plan their airport experience because they are better informed and Kristel articulates well what is otherwise beyond customs and security in real time.

Ask her husband what she does and he will tell you she gets paid to Tweet and Facebook all day. (Spiro, you are partially right but you deserve the full explanation!)

What does Kristel and other Community Managers like her at Mighty Media Group do, exactly?

A Community Manager is the voice of the customer to internal R&D, marketing and brand managers, operations and ultimately, a customer centric C-Suite. A digital native at the core, the role is responsible for all communications, online advocacy, social media, the creation of social experiences, and curates content distributed on earned media and social networking platforms. Thick skinned and cooler than a penguin napping on a glacier a Community Manager exist at the forefront of a company’s marketing and messaging and is truly at the front-line of online and mobile interactions.

Described as a Web 2.0 communications role the position requires the ability to utilize existing and emerging online tools and person-to-person networking skills to create relationships and ultimately build the company’s brand so that the customer has a seamless experience.

While no two days are ever the same a Community Manager at Mighty Media Group role may include:

1. Content creation - writing blog posts, articles, newsletters, communications materials, and material for social media channels. She writes and maintains a blog about travel and food Sydney International Airport titled TravelBytes on Tumblr.

2. Social media marketing – creating, managing and growing the company’s presence through blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and other strategically relevant online properties. Kristel maintains a growing photo-centric community on Flickr as well as Youtube video channel.

3. IRL Experiences/Events and event planning – Unique to a high transit environment, Kristel’s friends and followers have limited or lots of time on their hands and depending on their reasons for following Twitter’s biggest foodie at Sydney Airport. In a very anonymous environment where emotions run a full gamut (from fear of flying, sadness of a farewell, anger from delays and anxiety from increased security) folks appreciate her online advice and assistance and value both the information she shares as well as how she extends her digital handshake into real time memorable interactions and experiences. Local food spotters like @yrlocalmarkets, frequent flyers and those interested in a behind the scenes look at what is like to work in catering for a global organization like SSP get surprised and delighted to ‘press the flesh’ and meet members of the SSP Australia marketing and operational teams coordinated by Kristel.

4. Public relations – (not in Kristel’s present scope but often relevant) managing incoming media requests and building relationships with trade/industry journalists who are interacting online; creating, executing and measuring media campaigns.

5. Customer relations – the Community Manager is often responsible for customer support – answering questions however they come in (, e-mail, Twitter) and managing any online feedback forums such as Flyertalk, Urbanspoon, etc.

6. Communications/Marketing Strategy Execution – the Community Manager is responsible for collaborating and executing strategic marketing/communications plans to provide direction for the company’s public-facing communications. His or her input during the ideation process is essential. She knows the way in which her friends and followers like to be engaged, and rather than a pure push out, can assist with getting the pitch to resonate with the audience. Every social platform has its own spoken and unspoken tribal etiquette that is less likely to be appreciated by those who do not frequently inhabit it.

7. Analytics – Using Mighty Intelligencia social listening suite and Shoutlet Reporting circles back to the group with information and insights on community health, growth, and provides engagement metrics as well as making monthly recommendations on ways to improve communication, optimize offers or enhance SSP’s products and units through testing and new initiatives.

Community Managers are at the hub of online messaging and it is not surprising that it is one of the fastest growing careers in the digital space as companies invest in building their community. Kristal is passionate about her work and passionate about SSP Australia’s brands.

Does your Community Manager do something not on the list? Do tell!

If you are actively observing this behavior and you have never experienced a troll, detractor or a bozo be afraid.

Be very afraid.

This either means that you are completely irrelevant (and you should be reviewing your content strategy) or it means your haters are assembling elsewhere, rallying a tribe and you are about to be ambushed.  To thank for this wisdom – Richard Bartle, social anthropologist/scientist. He drew a correlation between online player types most common in gaming environments and the way that people derive similar emotive satisfaction from their pastime, entertainment or sport – synonyms for game – on social networks. We refer this as gamification). Bartle’s theory on player behavior indicates that there are less than 1% who take pleasure in bringing everyone down in every dynamic environment. Scott Stratten calls them trolls. Hannah Ireland refers to them sweetly as ‘detractors’.  Guy Kawasaki, refers to a keyboard commando in a Brooks Brothers suite and C-Suite job title as a ‘Bozo’.

Many experts in social media advise to simply ‘block the haters’ and eliminate them, their posts and their presence. This is a natural reaction to criticism but begs for a closer look and more consideration.

Don’t despair. The presence of a hater is a good thing…it means your community is vibrant (alive) and like any healthy ecosystem will require the presence of natural bacteria to thrive. Haters are everywhere and don’t necessarily need a reason to vent.  They also inhabit places you aren’t necessarily looking such as forums and message boards.  (We always recommend monitoring brand health, company keywords and phrases that include suck, hate, etc. to uncover pockets of discussion, sites of relevance, etc.)

In the event of a social media faux pas such as the #QantasLuxury debacle or an unexpected attack of Twitter trolls do yourself a huge favor – Be the bigger man.

1.  Keep your eyes, ears and mind open. (Is there any truth in the negativity that you can extrapolate?)
2.  Publicly own your mistakes. (The earlier, the better.)
3.  Take it Outside (Bring the negative discussion into a private forum like DM, email, or better yet have someone who is qualified to make amends pick up the phone and have an escalation plan.)
4.  Convert the Concerned. Make them a “disciple”. Whilst wiki give a pretty weak definition I think the term articulates how historically people get connected to a cause or an idea to the point of self inconvenience and personifies loyalty beyond reason. Having digital media kits and a strategy in place for those who you can educate and empower to teach others is practical.

Appreciate that the person who is willing to write 140 of characters of contempt is emotionally engaged in your brand, product or company right now. You have someone’s attention. They crossed the psychological chasm from lurker to being a creator and there are approximately 100 people behind them staring at their screens and clutching their proverbial pearls if you believe in Researcher Jakob Nielsen’s theory of “Participation Inequality“.

Instead of knee jerk inclination to block, wait. Breathe in, exhale. If your community is engaged (the highest state of social marketing nirvana) then you might not have to do anything. Those truly switched on are usually the first to defend the environment for which they are rewarded and garner respect for their participation. Develop a sensational advocate program and harvest a thousand flowers.

Have you any advice on managing negativity? We’d love to hear your suggestions and examples!

According to the Herald Sun this afternoon the four social media “monitors” hired by Qantas to moderate social media interactions and content were no match for the negative groundswell that broke out across micro-blogging platform Twitter when users and followers were given the opportunity to share their thoughts around their interpretation of a Qantas luxury in flight experience in 140 characters using the #qantasluxury hashtag. Hashtag contests (when well executed) are traditionally good social activations because it is very easy to monitor entries, can be done spontaneously, and shows the level of engagement of those in a social graph.

So far so good…however, faster than a virus mutating in Contagion, the #QantasLuxury hashtag reached national trend status in under 60 minutes following the diatribe of frustrated Twitterati giving negative comment cards in 140 characters about the recent outage of service, declining quality of inflight amenities and the lack of sensitivity around the plight of underpaid baggage handlers following a months worth of strike and serious bouts with labour unions.

@TheHeraldSun pronounced #qantasluxury ‘a PR disaster’ at 1:01PM referring to the #qantasluxury campaign as an epic #fail as comments were tweeted and re-tweeted as the commentary made its way to traditional newsrooms with impressions estimates being cited at more than 1,400,000. More interesting than the rabble rousers riding the trend of the moment the campaign was scrutinised from a strategic point of view as insensitive:

So, what can Qantas do now?

1. Own It: After three hours of the Twitter jab-fest Qantas responded with a light-hearted approach in its stream drawing further criticism for the delay in response time so soon after the very public appointment of the four social media ‘monitors’.  In the instance of social media back-firing having an actionable protocol in place and an escalation policy to prevent the conversational bush fires from bellowing out of control is a requisite part of good planning and should happen in minutes rather than hours – especially within peak times for a brand’s discussions which should have been monitored and flagged in the listening phase of this marketing exercise. ‘Launch then lunch’ is a big social media no-no.

2. Dig Deeper: Besides measuring the size of the discussion and the sentiment of those using the hashtag to share their views, Qantas has a size-able portion of current meaningful data. Filtering it (like panning for gold) using a taxonomy of keyword classifications by context and relevance (product, service, baggage, price of tickets, air-related, ground-related, and also irrelevant) would deliver significant insights on what mattered to most people today. Sliced and diced effectively, the data could also yield other useful information including key influencers in travel whom were not part of Qantas’s social CRM presently and uncover those more likely to share favorably about the brand if giving a reason to do so.

3. Make Good News Travel Faster: Fortunately for Qantas Twitter has a short memory. Whilst today’s trends are tomorrow’s digital fish n’ chips wrappers, Qantas should take their deep findings from today’s Twitter bursts and align their marketing objectives with their corporate communication strategy more efficiently. Using their Twitter stream in a sensitive and appropriate way Qantas could use consistent storytelling that resonates with their customers resulting in advocacy tomorrow.

Remember, make meaning from mayhem.

Stephenie Rodriguez

Recently I had the privilege of participating in a notable social media iteration that demonstrated effective one-line strategy in the fine food and beverage sector – Champagne Day 2011 (#champagneday2011 and #champagneday).

On Friday, October 28, 2011 Twitter’s foremost champagne authority in the Southern Hemisphere, Jayne Powell (@champagnejayne) kicked off Global Champagne Day 2011 combining a physical happening into a digital event.  Although not a direct affiliate of any brand or champagne regulatory body, Jayne exhibits what the author Tara Hunt refers to as “whuffie” – she is nice, notable and networked as a trusted authority. She has also recently authored a beautiful coffee table book on her subject of passion titled Champagnes – Behind the Bubbles.

Around this virtual event/happening day, Jayne created a remarkable, intimate and exclusive experience in Sydney as the sun rose in other parts of the world. She hosted a small blended attendee list consisting of authorities and experts, taste-makers and tummlers at the American Club. (Getting the right mix of attendees is a critical part of event marketing in both online and off line executions. Taste-makers are those who actively influence others on a particular topic like fashion because of what they do and tummlers are those unique individuals who have an uncanny ability to connect and engage their audience on a number of topics just because of who they are.)

Seated with the every amicable @NancyGeorges we experienced a champagne tasting of an exquisite range of fine champagnes including notable drops Champagne Pierre Gimonnet Blanc de Blancs, a lovely Champagne Tattinger Brut Reserve, the Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve, Champagne Pommery Cuvee Louise, and finished the day with the “Mac Daddy” of packaging Armand de Brignac. We listened, we tasted, and we shared. (Note: Whilst the social element of face to face connectivity was present ‘shared’ translates that we tweeted, photographed, and took video footage that was published into our respective social graphs.)

This in real life event generated a wave of social media mentions on the day and connected each attendee with an online champagne-centric community by effective use of #hashtags as well as created some interesting rich media content (social articles like pictures, videos and tweets) that captured the moment and left yet to be discovered in traditional Google and YouTube searches in perpetuity. (Organic SEO at it’s best!)

The results…see for yourself.

#ChampagneDay 2011 Thank You from vintuba on Vimeo.

Three Points to Ponder:

• What is happening in your business world that could be leveraged with other partners around the world?
• If you participated in an event like this one for your business, how would you effectively track online interactions – do you have the tools?
• How could you use a groundswell event such as this one to benefit your business, product or service consistently over time – do you have a strategy?

Need some help? Contact us.

Steve Jobs was truly one of the most brilliant men of our time. As we celebrate and remember him we also reflect on some of the wonderful inspiration points he left us with.

Steve Jobs once said “There’s a phrase in Buddhism, ‘Beginner’s mind.’ It’s wonderful to have a beginner’s mind.”

As a strategist, I often work with companies that are at the beginning of their understanding of communities and the significance the community plays in a post GFC economy where marketing resources are scarce and creativity is now a necessary job skill for any marketer. There are no more safe little squares or boxes. Consumers are anywhere and everywhere, and now more than ever we need to approach this now developed digital communication ecosystem with eyes filled with wonder and curious innocence.   Steve’s Beginner’s mind is Zen practice in action. It is the mind that is innocent of preconceptions and expectations, judgments and prejudices.

Steve Jobs and Apple set out with a beginners mind and built one of the most powerful companies in the history of technology. Driving both the product development and their sales are thousands of people who are part of the Apple community of gadget fans – innovation junkies who are passionate about Apple products and how they are empowered by using them. Admittedly, I am one of them.

Apple’s success was no accident. Steve Jobs said “We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here?”

Today, other companies like Sephora, Giffgaff, and Verizon are purposefully putting a dent in the universe and harnessing the power of their communities for greatness. Shifting from Likes to Loves, this greatness translates into real meaning in call deflection, increased revenues, and brand advocacy. These organizations are making great strides to follow the groove that Apple carved over the past 20 years being a lovemark brand that really knows the mind of their customers. They also have one thing in common – a vibrant and well curated community.

On October 12^th I’m part of a crew who’ll meet and tweet on all things related to communities and as well as debate the definitive role of an enterprise community platform in effective social media planning on a panel with Monty Hamilton (Telstra) and Su Amaranayaka (MYOB).  This event is to be held in Sydney at the Arthouse on Pitt Street and the night hosted by Lithium as part of their “Likes To Love” World Tour.  Bring your thirst for knowledge and a cocktail and join the discussion. Click Here for a full program and to register!

REGISTER HERE>> http://www.lithium.com/conference/likestoloves/sydney and Tweet it up #LTLTour

This is a snippet from my personal blog post today on http://www.StephenieRodriguez.com:

Today someone sent me a link to this video in an email. The subject just said this: “Hey Steph – I Get It.” My friend Brian Solis @brianSolis (author of Engage - a must read for marketers and forward thinkers) sheds some light on the important role the Digital Sociologist plays in what I refer to as “social marketing architecture“.

Leave me your thoughts and comments please. It makes this blogging thing way more fun.

In the world of SM the objective is the reach of one to many, and with a morning starting with a 9am Ustream and spent making a v-blog which was posted on Amazon and You Tube and the creation of Ustream and, articulating the values of a positive corporate culture by putting our undertakings on record, and making conscious demonstrations of what we intended and committed to do as we proceed to grow our company, a lot of of happiness had been delivered well before morning tea! Of course then the rest if the day was followed by a hell of a lot of Tweeting.

Though MMG’s professional success is of the reach to the many through the mighty web, in the world of Digital and Social Media, the power of the one to one is still valued. That afternoon (inbetween tweets), the team took the time to brainstorm and discuss how we could improve our internal dialogues with one another to ensure that we are working together and WoW-ing those whose lives we touch. We came up with our what we believe will become our brand values and it was based on what we synchronized today in our participation in the process. We resonated that it is the journey and being happy in the process to celebrate the wins and each other. Then at the end of the we were WoW-ed each with a pair of shoes, Fendi rubber elegant t-strap sandals with the gold emblem for the mature 26 year old French Masters Degree Grad and sparkly platform stilettos for the 19 year old intern who is passionate about her life and opportunity. Mighty Media Group CEo, @DigitalGodess got down on one knee and proposed us to ourselves, giving the shoes to commemorate this day, the Official Happiness Day, so that we remembered no matter where we go that Happiness is a journey and attainable around each experience and interaction.

We are grateful to have been inspired, grateful to inspire and grateful that we could share our story as an inspiration to others who want to make a difference in each others lives and in the lives of others be it by touch or tweet.