This week, in addition to the usual crowd of dogs and people in the Long Meadow was a photo shoot for a music group.

A Golden Retriever puppy wandered over to the photo shoot, and as the owner walked over to get the pup, he said he saw one of the band members grab the puppy by the collar and kick it.

Some words were exhcanged, and I thought it best to walk over and back up my friend. I pulled out my phone and took a few pictures of the band.

My friend was quite upset about what they did to his pup, and wanted to find out who the band was,  so  he asked that I post it on  Brooklynian .

I say this a lot, but again,  you don’t own it once you hit the Submit button.

Brooklynian is a local hub for several neighborhood online bulletin boards. The Daily Slope ( the Park Slope bulletin board on Brooklynian ) is where I posted a note about what the band did to the dog, asking if anyone could help identify the band.

There were about 3,000 views of the post in 3 hours, and 50 replies to the post. Almost all of the posts were snarky attacks on the band members, and 2 suggestions for how one could identify the offending band.

The Brooklynian and its neighborhood boards is a helpful site, but the boards seem to be more a place for people to try to out-do each other in sarcasm and bitterness. A popular target for Daily Slope participants are people with baby strollers.

A popular blogger, F***** in Park Slope, with 1900 followers, linked to the Daily Slope post on Twitter:

So the floodgates opened. A few hours, a few thousand more views, more snarky replies.

Curbed and Gothamist both pick up the story:

More views of the Daily Slope post, and many replies. The band has become the latest punching bag for the regular commentators.

“I seriously want to find out what band this is. I would like to show up at one of their shows and kick them. Guy sitting on the ground is dangerously close to mullet territory.”

“Oh my God, what is with the guy in the vest and offensively tight jeans? Is this a Strawberry Fields Forever revival? In response to what these shitheads did to that poor little dog, I would have grabbed these ugly bitches by their collars and kicked them in the f******* head.”

“More evidence that Brooklyn is going downhill if you can’t even walk your Golden Retriever puppy (possibly the cutest sort of puppy ever) in Prospect Park without having to look out for assholes on the prowl.”

A regular poster commented visually:

Douche Bag Nation : Born Entitled

After a few hours I added a note that we wanted to ID the band here, not devolve this post into name calling. But that had no effect.

Then the Village Voice calls and emails me, asking to contact the dog owner. I decline his request, knowing my friend does not want to be the lead story on the local news. The Voice does write a post on their site.

The band is identifed as Surefire, and soon they issue a denial, calling me a “lackey” and my friend “a bitter man” and accusing us of slander and using “shock and awe” techniques.

It is awesome and shocking the power one has by hitting the Submit button, especially if you write about puppies. [ note to all bloggers wanting to increase viewership... ]

I added to the original post on the Daily Slope the Surefire’s denial, but that I still believe my friend.

I posted a reply to the Village Voice Surefire response, and got nailed by a few commenters there, so its not just the DailySlope that is a home for anonymous snarkiness.

When I post online I use my real name.  I think its important and I believe it adds crediblity to the what your are saying. Something posted under an assumed name doesn’t have the same heft.

The band handled this badly from the start. A simple “Hey sorry for any misunderstanding here, we’ll move to a different part of the park” instead of a heated conversation in the meadow would have made for a better outcome. After the fact, it be a good thing for the band to reach out the original poster, but that hasn’t happened. Instead the band has gone the verbose name calling route – never a smart move.

I did not think this one post would spiral into the name calling it did. It was certainly an effective way of using social networking to find out the band’s name. [ To date the original post had 16,000 views and 239 replies. ]

But one has to keep in mind, when you post something like this, you can’t control what will happen afterward. A lesson for people, bands, and corporations.

But that’s what happened.

Wow.

Ford asked that I make a video about why I would like a car for the summer, so in true Gardenfork fashion here’s what i did. Get one of the Labs, sit on the stoop, talk for a bit, show video clips of the Labs and the show.

Evidently, one of the execs at Ford likes Yellow Labradors, so I was given the green light to become part of the Fiestamovement.

Charlie, Henry, and the Gardenfork Ford Fiesta

Before signing on to this deal, I did some research on the car, as I wouldn’t say yes to just any deal with anyone. “Down to earth” is the most used phrase to describe me on Gardenfork, ( see the iTunes reviews here ) and I wanted to make sure this is something I really wanted to do. Ford Motor is a natural for me, I was raised on Fords.

My first car was a 1949 Ford F1 that my dad bought my brother and I , it was in pieces, we rebuilt it.

I currently drive an 82 Ford F150

I had drinks with Mark Fields, President of Ford North America, while checking out the Ford Fiesta in NYC before I signed on with Ford.

Here Sam De La Garza, Ford’s Fiesta brand manager, and Judy Gnant, Internet Influencer check out the car at our NYC Fiesta Tweetup.

In addition to meeting Mark Fields and Sam De La Garza, brand manager for the Fiesta, I met Scott Monty, who is now head of social media for Ford. I met Scott at Podcamp Boston a few years back. Seeing that Scott had a hand in running this program made me realize this was going to be good and it also sunk in that this was a pretty amazing social media campaign for a large multi-national company like Ford to undertake.

Many social media campaigns are, to me, pretty much window dressing. Lots of companies are shouting, “Hey, we’re on Twitter!”, or “Let’s make a viral video!” and that’s about it. The Fiestamovement was going to be different, and very big. neat.

I asked Ford what they wanted me to do with the car, and their answer was “use it in your life.” So I have.

Though I like compare myself to Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs and Alton Brown of Good Eats, I still have a day job doing handyman and painting work, and the Fiesta is my truck. ( You can fit eight foot long 2×4s in the Fiesta, BTW)

No surprise, but tons of people know about the Fiestamovement. A client was helping me take tools to the car, and when he see the Fiesta, I get the surprise look. “How did you get one of these?” Proof positive that the Fiestamovement is more well known than Gardenfork…

I covered the back seat of the Fiesta with a sheet for Henry and Charlie

The Fiestamovement is being managed for Ford by Action Marketing Group, a bunch of hard working people from Colorado who have done a really good job managing 100 blogger web video types, which is no easy task.

The Fiestamovement has gotten a lot of press just for the sheer audacity of it. Give 100 social media types a brand new car, with few restrictions.  Some pundits have said from the get-go, “What will they do when something goes wrong?”  Well, I’m on the inside, and I haven’t seen anything go wrong yet.

I’ve seen many things go right.

People have different reasons for participating in this. Everyone who was chosen has some sort of presence on the web, many of them with huge followings on Twitter or Flickr or YouTube.

Then there’s me. I’m not an internet superstar, I call myself a D-list internet celebrity. Though I did get recognized at my neighbor’s potluck dinner last night. “You’re the guy in the videos!”

But everyone chosen is what I call an Internet Influencer. My pitch to Ford was that while my audience may not be the exact demographic fit for the Ford Fiesta – I think i’m the oldest person with one of the cars – the people who watch Gardenfork and Real World Green make the buying decisions for those kids who want a Ford Fiesta.

Jill Hanner is one of the Fiesta Agents whose show is a perfect fit for getting the word out about Ford’s New Fiesta

Grace Piper, Jake Bronstein, and Sarah Austin, all Fiesta drivers + internet influencers at a recent Fiesta event at God’s Love We Deliver.

Sarah Austin’s (www.Pop17.com) Ford Fiesta

So far, the Fiestamovement has gone great for me. I’ve never had a brand new car before, and when I drive it around NYC, it gets noticed. Many just stare at it, some come up and ask questions. I have Fiesta biz cards that I leave on the windshield when its parked for people to get more info.

One person walked up to me in my neighborhood, Park Slope, and says “I’ve seen you and your car for a few weeks now, been checking it out.”

Another runs up to me at a stoplight and yells, “How did you get this car?, I’m buying more stock in Ford!”

Many of the people who talk to me bring up the fact that Ford did not take bailout money from the government, and they are glad to see Ford making a European style car.

Almost everyone wants to know the cost of the car, which hasn’t been set yet for the U.S. Market, I’m pretty sure.

I get a lot of suprise looks, as the car looks very European, and people are surprised to find out its a Ford. On the highway, I get a lot of Hondas and Toyotas pulling up along side, then they linger while checking out the car.

How the Fiesta fits in with Gardenfork

The Internet Influencers who were given a car all have different reasons for wanting a Fiesta. I look at this as a major international brand partnering with Gardenfork. [ Gardenfork is the 3rd most popular cooking show on iTunes ] To me its an integrated marketing project. ‘Here’s a Ford Fiesta Eric, go use it in your shows”

Which is exactly what I’ve done.

still frames from the Ikea Hack Salmon Smoker episode

The viewers of Gardenfork and Real World Green expect advertising. Quite a few people have emailed me to say, “we need to get you some advertisers”.  And a number have pitched the companies they work for to sponsor the show. Its amazing and humbling that people like the shows that much and want to help me succeed with them.

A recent email from a viewer went like this: “OK,  Eric, you’ve got Ford on board, when is the TV and Book deal?”

When I first got the car I went a bit overboard with talking about the car, especially on Twitter, using the #fiestamovement hashtag. It got to the point where close friends said, “I’ve hidden your profile from my newsfeed on Facebook” ( my Twitter account is plugged into my Facebook page )

I was and still am real excited about the car and the campaign. Now I am a bit more measured with the Twitter posts. When I post about the Fiesta, its either a picture of it in a neat place, or a note about some feature, especially the gas mileage, which is quite good ( about 35 mpg mix of city-hwy for me ). When I do talk about it, the tweet or post has substance to it.

I’ve found the Ford  Fiesta to be a great car. I compare it to the Honda Fit or Toyota Yaris. The interior is much warmer, the edges not as hard. And it definitely has a European feel to it, one would expect to see a Volvo logo on the hood, and then you realize its a Ford.

So that’s the Eric Ford Fiesta Story so far, you can check out my profile on the Fiesta Movement site, and i’ll be back to post some follow-ups here soon.

Good popsicles, but what i liked as well was their unique business cards.

The only improvement i would suggest is their website stamped on the reverse side. Its a must have.

I love word of mouth marketing. Its how I’ve gotten work all my life. With the rise of the web as a tool for people to communicate, word of mouth marketing has gotten even more fun.

But, as Andy points out in the first 10 minutes of his course, not all Word of Mouth Marketing has to involve the internet.

The Layout:

When you’re asked ( or told by your boss ) to attend a one-day class, the usual drill is you go to a hotel conference room with bad lighting, uncomfortable chairs, and that ever-present hotel meeting room aroma.

Gas Pedal’s one day Crash Course is the polar opposite. I have never been in a conference room like the one we were in. It was just a fun room, a mash-up of Pee Wee’s Playhouse and Southwestern design. Casual furniture, small tables, plenty of snacks, nice lighting: a very comfortable place to spend the day.

And the food was great too. Healthy plus some decadent snacks.

The Presentation:

What immediately struck me was the lack of pretension Andy Sernovitz has. There’s no MBA, PhD, etc. on a powerpoint slide. Its just this regular guy who clearly enjoys talking about Word of Mouth Marketing, and the concepts and ideas just roll out of his head.

Lots of interaction as well. In the class was an eye doctor, and during the course of the day Andy and the group came up with several very cool ideas for his practice.

The day was broken up by several exercises we did as small groups. Normally there is a lot of eye-rolling when you are asked to do this sort of thing in a class, but this was fun. I learned stuff.

And what we learned you can put into practice in the Real World. Andy calls them the Five Ts:

Talkers : find out people who will talk about you

Topics: Give people a reason to talk

Tools: Help the message spread faster and farther

Taking Part: Join the conversation

Tracking: measure and understand what people are saying.

I’m always thinking of how someone or a business can improve their marketing, so now, I’m always walking around thinking ” OK, who are the talkers for this business”

I had dinner with a friend who is doing marketing for a Cosmetology school. And the first thing I asked him was ” Who are their talkers?”

We came up with 2 quickly: those who are enrolled or have completed the school, and beauty salons that have employed people from this school.

I suggested my friend buy Andy’s book and take the Word of Mouth Marketing Course.

Getting ready for the day of the class I attended, I actually came prepared. I brought a pen and a pad to take notes ( its unusual for me to be this prepared ) But Andy is 2 steps ahead of me, he has a clipboard, a cool course book, and a bag of swhag with my name on it. And the swhag is smart shwag, stuff you will use, like a cube tap, which is a hot item in an airport when you’re delayed for hours.

The course book includes all the powerpoint slides and plenty of room to take notes. Its now a great reference tool for me.

Andy pushes the idea of thinking out of the box, your talkers are not always the most obvious ones.

A good example he brought up in class was Las Vegas Casinos. Who are your talkers? One might say travel agents, websites, friends who gamble. Andy told us of one I did not think of: taxi drivers. You get in a cab, want to go to a casino? the cab driver makes a suggestion.

How to get the cab drivers to talk about you? One casino, before their grand opening, invited Las Vegas cabbies and their families to stay at the casino-hotel for a free weekend. It cost a bunch of money, but those cab drivers, when asked which casino they like, will remember which one they stayed in for free. And they will remember that weekend for years.

Andy also talks about marketing on the web. One of the things he said that sticks in my head. ” Email is the only advertising we ask for ” wow. never thought of it like that. All the people who sign up for the Gardenfork – Real World Green newsletter are asking for info, but expecting advertising as well.

Another point Andy makes: Make it as easy as possible for someone on your website to tell a friend about you or your site. YouTube has 13 ways to tell a friend on each page; put a Tell A Friend button on each of yours, and include one in your emails as well.

The Gardenfork – Real World Green email newsletter has a big ” Forward to a Friend ” button at the top of the email.

Andy also has a blog with a bunch of fun thoughts and picts of the way people market and do things thoughts. I’ve put it in my Google Reader list.

In short, this course is a must-take for people looking to grow their business. Its down to earth real world marketing ideas. You will have a lot of ” ah ha! ” moments during Andy Sernovitz’s Gas Pedal Word of Mouth Crash Course.

And, in the meantime, buy a copy of Andy’s book, Word of Mouth Marketing, How Smart Companies Get People Talking.

Carol Wallack and Valerie Sanchez of Sola Restaurant in Chicago were nice enough to sit for a moment and allow me to ask them about how they use a weekly email and their website to keep in touch with their customers. Their use of social media to connect with their customers has been very succesful, watch this video and you’ll learn what they did right and wrong as they started to use these web tools.

Here’s a big red flag from the get-go: an email from Twitter saying someone is following me, but the name of the person is off somehow. What’s wrong here:

• ALL CAPS , my father uses all caps in his emails still. I keep telling him its rude, he doesn’t listen.

• What an odd name; what or who is AISIJWOODS?

I don’t have a problem with companies using Twitter, but this one isn’t thought thru clearly.

• there is a lack of personality here. Obviously, we know someone is sending out these Twitters, but there is no person associated with this. Its just ‘EnviroMetal’

• the fact that EnviroMetal follows 1,195 people and only 68 are following EnviroMetal is a red flag. People vote with their feet; or in this case, mouse clicks.

Digging thru the web links, I’m betting Jim Woods of the Steel Recycling Institute sends out the Tweets. This isn’t very obvious, as the links are really small and buried at the bottom of the EnviroMetal web page. Looking thru both  the EnviroMetal and the associated  Steel Recycling Institute websites, there is no ‘Contact’ or ‘About’ page, and no email address provided to contact them, only a phone number; another red flag.

If you’re going to step into the Social Media fishbowl, master Web 1.0 first. Few people will call you, many will email you.

My suggestions:

Make it personal. A better Twitter name would be EnviroMetalJim, its easy to remember, and its a lot better than AISIJWOODS. [ My twitter name is EricGardenfork. ]

Make the bio honest. The Green social media people know they’re being pitched by the steel industry, so be upfront about it. Transparency is big in social media:  “I’m Jim, and I am the green outreach coordinator for the Steel Recycling Institute.”

Make it readable. On your Twitter page, don’t put green type on a green background. Its hard to read. Make it as easy as possible for the end user.

Page 1 of a Google search tell us Jim’s email address:   jimw@recycle-steel.org  and from looking in LinkedIn,  I’m guessing Jim is about 35 years old, and he lives in Pittsburgh. He is the Director Public & Education Relations of the Steel Recycling Institute. But one shouldn’t have to look for this on Google, it should be front and center on the sites.

Both websites associated with this Twitter account, http://www.sustainable-steel.org, and http://www.recycle-steel.org/ , have some interesting information, but by having no easy way for someone who might want to blog about them to contact them for further info, EnviroMetal’s outreach efforts will be futile.

But there is a glimmer here, in one Tweet, Jim offers up a Roscoe lunchbox for whoever gets the most people to follow him on Twitter, which, though I’ve never seen a Roscoe lunchbox, it sounds very cool. Bloggers like swhag just as much as movie stars.

]]> http://ericrochow.com/2008/07/15/using-twitter-as-pr-tool-how-not-to-do-it/feed/ 3 http://ericrochow.com/2008/07/02/gardenfork-gets-great-placement-on-itunes/ http://ericrochow.com/2008/07/02/gardenfork-gets-great-placement-on-itunes/#comments Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:38:08 +0000 eric http://ericrochow.com/?p=407 Just wanted to share this with you, as I think its pretty cool. On the iTunes hobby page Gardenfork is up there with some of the big wheels of the video podcast world, and it ranked #4 of all hobby podcasts. Right alongside our friends from The Wood Whisperer. Neat.

Of the two, Mr Culberson is using Twitter for what it does best, which is to have a brief conversations; answering back to queries from followers, he is following 768 people. Mr Ryan is using it more to announce what he is doing at that moment, he has 332 followers, but is not following anyone.

Mr Culberson is also using the Qik, ( here is his page on Qik ) which allows you to stream video from your cell phone. He tried to use Qik in the Oval office, but the Secret Service did not allow it, so he did a Qik from outside the White House

This, I think, is great. Using social media tools to reach out to people who would probably not call their office, write a letter, or attend an event, can now connect with their representatives and have a say in politics.

Today I learned that Mark Frauenfelder of Make Magazine has a blog, Dinosaurs and Robots, which I learned about from Make Magazine’s daily email. While reading about Mark building a chicken coop, ( which i will share with Gardenfork viewers on The Green House ) I found a link to Toolmonger, a blog and podcast.

Bang, I see the first few posts and I am hooked. For some people its puppies, for some its infants; for me its tools. Whats not to like with subject headings like ” 1 Beer Projects”?

I knew exactly what they meant by that term. And when they say beer, I know what kind of beer: Lawnmower Beer

‘LawnmowerBeer’ a phrase I claim to have coined, is an inexpensive lager, preferably a old Milwaukee brand, like Pabst Blue Ribbon, the kind your dad let you take a sip of when you worked in the yard.

Toolmonger, as a blog and podcast is a social media success story, and will blossom in the future as it serves a passionate niche of people, many of which love to share, and I believe marketers want to reach.

Primo Water sells water in large 5 gallon containers at retailers and you return the container for it to be re-used. Its individual water bottles are made with a plastic that is derived from plants, not oil. This way of selling bottled water is what I term practical green. If you need to have bottled water, this is a practical green way to do it.

A big thank you to Matt.