In Community, Marketing, Social Media

Trey Pennington at PRSA Tar Heel, and some passionate bandana fans

Last week I had the privilege of attending the monthly networking luncheon for the local (Greensboro) chapter of the PRSA. Aside from a general desire to get out and start meeting some local practitioners from my adopted new home town, I was very interested in seeing what the guest speaker, Trey Pennington, had to say about social media.

Now, in general it’s easy to rapidly tire of the same rehashed social media tips presentations, typically with recycled titles like “7 CRAZY ideas for TAKING OVER THE WORLD using social media! YEAAAH!”

What matters are the real world examples. I don’t really care to hear about general concepts anymore, but I absolutely love hearing about interesting ways companies are seeing real value in their use of social media as part of the marketing and communications mix.

Which brings us back to Trey. Fortunately, he spent little time on the general stuff and lots of time telling a couple great stories about companies I’d never heard of and how they use (or, in one case, deliberately decided not to) social tools. The one that stuck for me is Carolina Manufacturing, the Greenville, SC manufacturer of…bandanas.

Featuring Products Made In The USA - Bandannas, Doggiedannas, Handkerchiefs and More - The Bandanna Company.gif

Though bandanas might not be in everyone’s wardrobe, at least since the early ’90s (unless you’re Bret Michaels, of course), they really are a perfect product to build a social media marketing effort around.

Why?

Because they all have a story, and there are small pockets of deeply passionate people who love telling them. You’ll have to see Trey talk to get the full story, but the marketing director for Carolina Manufacturing, @MaddenKim, discovered micro-communities of passionate fans of the company’s distinctive bandanas.

Dog lovers, cyclists, not-quite-retired ex-rockers, celebrity tycoons…even while bandanas generally faded from pop culture over the years, these small groups of hard core fans kept up their love, found each other online, and created their own conversation and communities around the iconic head gear.

The really cool part of the story is how Kim and team found these micro-communities, embraced them, and made their personal passions part of the brand’s story. A small but wonderful real world example of how a company can tap into practical social media marketing.

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  • http://davidhorne.me david horne

    Very Cool. I appreciate you sharing that. I was unable to attend that luncheon. Did he share anything about monitoring social? Stories? Predictions?

  • http://treypennington.com treypennington

    Wonderful write up. Thank you for sharing.

    I moderated a marketing panel at an all-day conference last Saturday. Kim was on the panel. She tells me she is amazed at the reception to her story. I told her it's a classic social media story that everyone should hear. If a textile manufacturing company (a company SO far removed from the digital age) can stumble into marketing success through social media, anyone can make a difference with social media.

    Kim is an exceptional speaker. I'm looking forward to seeing her hit the speaking trail. She was kind enough to let me include her story in my upcoming book, Spitball Marketing, so you'll be able to get more of the story soon.

    David, I did touch briefly on social media monitoring and am happy to address whatever questions you may have. Feel free to comment here, or, if you want to move the discussion to your blog, just let me know.

    As far as predictions go, I predict:
    • companies will tire of the social media gurus they hired to head up the new silos created as a knee-jerk reaction to the explosive growth of social media
    • companies will begin to invest more heavily in research
    • marketing, public relations, and other communications professionals will begin to see we absolutely dropped the ball, muffed the shot, and generally blew it in fulfilling our jobs to those who hire us. As a general trend, we pooh-poohed social media, wished it would go away, and made fun of the evangelists. Now we're beginning to see we should have been the ones constantly scanning the environment to bring in emerging technology into our companies.
    • web monitoring and research will see explosive growth, though there are so many offerings now it's immensely confusing to know what to do, where to start with monitoring. That'll give rise to the short-term pre-eminence of monitoring consultants who will help companies select monitoring tools and services.

    How's that for predictions?

  • http://twitter.com/MiChmski Michelle C

    Hi Kevin,
    I'm just discovering your blog with this post :)

    Thanks for sharing this résumé of the event, I wish I could have been there in person. What a great way of showing, too, the way that social media (monitoring and engaging) can hold together niche communities.
    It makes you think that maybe there's still some hope left for mom-and-pop shops. If I might make my own prediction, I predict that there will be a backlash and simultaneous embracement of social media as people realize that we can use it to differentiate ourselves and embrace our differences (cultural, political, etc), while we are also embracing common references that allow us to have.. more in common.
    If brands are listening to what consumers have to say, they can tap into these needs to be different/similar that may only pertain to a niche market, or are shared with numerous communities. Stories like Kim Madden's are especially inspiring because she is a living, breathing example of what can happen when you tap into a shared interest (and are a little creative).

    @Trey, do you have a slideshare?

  • http://www.socialmallard.com/ Kevin Briody

    David, Trey, Michelle – welcome, and thanks for the great comments!

    My two cents worth of predictions: At my agency we're (finally) starting to see social get more and more baked into strategic marketing and advertising plans from the start, rather than bolted on at the end with string and duct tape. As a result I believe savvy brands will start to demand that *all* their inhouse marketing/PR/communications staff get smart about social media rather than fobbing it off to specialists after the core plans are already baked.

    What this means for agencies is that while the market for pure specialists will remain strong, they'll need to build a solid understand of marketing and PR at the strategic level if they want a seat at the table during the critical planning stages. You can't just be a “Facebook specialist” anymore and expect to win the big projects.

    100% agree with Trey on the rising importance of monitoring and analytics. It is a significant and growing part of our work already and there is a whole crop of social media agencies that specialize in using tools like Radian6, Visible, Sysomos, etc, synthesizing the data and producing usable insights. Social media analytics are starting to gain visibility and validity within larger enterprises, who are increasingly willing to invest more in quality tools and analysis. I think that SAS' entry into the field this past week, at a relatively quite high price point and clearly targeting F500-sized companies, is one more sign of this.

    Again, thanks all for the great conversation!

  • http://davidhorne.me david horne

    Insightful as always. Thanks Trey. Michelle, interesting, I can see their being a backlash and embrace as many social folks have over promised and under-delivered. This seems to align with your thoughts Trey of dropping the ball. Kevin, I think it has always been about strategy. Finding the what is valuable and fits into your business goals is where monitoring seems to offer great return. As the tools and platforms change the research and analysis will help us know where the puck is going. Success leaves clues. Integrating new media into overall marketing and client experience will be key.

    I appreciate and learn from all of you thanks.

  • kimmadden

    A lot of very good conversation and insights. I am delighted our story is a part of it. Speaking as a social media newbie, I think it is exciting to see the entire landscape of building brands change. I find social media an incredible tool for listening to what is important to our customers . . .grassroots marketing at it's best . . .authenticity and relevance all rolled up in one. I agree with @Michmski about having hope for the-moms-and-pops. People like @treypennington are helping us newbie's of the world overcome fear of social media and jump right in . . .