gWhiz I like gDiapers

As a new mom, I heart gDiapers. As a marketing communications professional, I heart the community they’ve built around their brand.

I learned about gDiapers last year in a Chatelaine article and thought I’d try them out. They work really well and are easy to use and I plan to keep using them.

A mom and pop shop based out of Oregon, gDiapers marries the convenience of a disposable diaper with the eco-friendliness of a cloth diaper. Essentially, they consist of a washable, cotton outer little “gPant” and a plastic-free biodegradable diaper liner called a “gRefill”.

The liner gets lined with a paper insert that is 100% biodegradable and can be flushed down the loo, tossed into the compost or even the garbage. The insert will biodegrade within 150 days which is considerably less time than a typical disposable diaper (it takes 500 years for one disposable diaper to bite the dust).

Using the disposable liners can get expensive but not any more expensive than buying disposable and the company also offers gCloth inserts as another earth-friendly alternative to work with little gPants.

Moms and Dads across the US and Canada love gDiapers. And gDiapers is deeply engaged with its customer base.

You just have to visit the gDiapers fan page on Facebook to see how much. Customer post photos of their little ones wearing gDiapers. They also give feedback to gDiapers and ask questions about using the product. Not only does the gDiaper team respond to these questions and use the page to engage with customers, other customers also answer questions and offer advice.

If you go to the gDiapers website, there are multiple ways to join the gDiapers community including CEO Jason’s blog, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and more. And through the company website you can call their 1-800 number to speak to a member of their “Diaper Therapy Team” who are ready to answer customer questions and provide assistance with using gDiapers.

Shipping to Canada from the gDiapers website is expensive. They’ve told me that the company is looking for ways to broaden their distribution in Canada but there is no timeline yet on when this will happen. An economical solution is to go to a local retailer that sells gDiapers and purchase two or more of the gDiaper starter kits. It’s actually cheaper to do this than to pay for shipping from the gDiaper website.

Alternatively, there is another website called www.nappyshoppe.com that sells gDiapers and has much more economical shipping rates from the US.

They key here is that gDiapers listens and makes the effort build real dialogue with their customers. In doing so, they’ve created a brand experience where customers feel like they are part of something really fun. Oh and of course good for their babies and the planet.

*images used are from the gDiapers website

Social media isn’t rocket surgery

Those are the words Amy Mengel cited as the mantra of last week’s Inbound Marketing Summit. In her post Five reasons corporations are failing at social media, Amy summarizes why companies aren’t finding success with social media. And as Amy writes, it’s not because social media is hard to do.

When you boil it down it’s about listening to your customers, being helpful by offering your knowledge and giving them interesting content to share and thereby advocate for you.

The failures Amy wries about are really a lack of preparedness and commitment to the process. But I’d also like to add this: A big question a company needs to ask before implementing a social media strategy is how do their core audience (aka customers) use social media, if at all? This may seem like an obvious question to ask but I think part of the reasons for the failure many organizations experience is a lack of this understanding. If your customers don’t read blogs, there’s no point in setting one up on your site to engage them in dialogue. Ditto for Twitter, Facebook and other social tools out there.

But if your audience does use social media, and you as a company are committed to using it to engage them via this channel, you need to be aware of how to use it effectively. There are tons of examples of companies who have implemented social media strategies with great success – hint: google “social media success stories”.

The pitfalls that Amy lists come from forgetting a key point: social media is about connecting with people. Your customers aren’t stupid. If you’re not contributing something of value to them via social media, they will ignore you. And it’s not about using social media because everyone else is. Find out first how your customers use social media (if at all), then create a plan to engage them in a way that provides value (to them).

Social media isn’t “rocket surgey” but it does require thought, planning and dedication.

The Sixent Song

Last year when I worked for Ramius Corporation, one of my interns – Shannon Harvey – wrote a song promoting Ramius’ social networking site Sixent. The song is written to the melody of Don McLean’s classic ditty, American Pie, and provides all the details of why Sixent is a great tool for managing and sharing your online life the way you want.

So here it is…The Sixent Song.

‘I Am T-Pain’ app gives me iPhone envy

I’m suffering from iPhone envy. It’s been going on for some time now but peaked to an intolerable level yesterday upon watching The Ellen Degeneres Show. (I’m on maternity leave and have been sucked into daytime talk shows in lieu of being able to participate in regular adult conversations during the day).

Yesterday on Ellen, T-Pain made a surprise appearance to announce his new iPhone app – I Am T-Pain. Basically the app allows you to change the pitch of your voice so you sound like T-Pain when he sings using the Auto-Tune microphone in many of his songs. The app also comes with a few T-Pain songs you can sing along to. You can record yourself singing and then share your hits with your friends on Facebook, etc.

Yes a bit of frivolity but talk about fun. And also great marketing by T-Pain. Not only does he make money from the app (it retails for $2.99 on iTunes), but this is an easy way for him to get his songs shared across the social web because it’s a fun way for people to share a personalized version of those songs. That’s social marketing at its finest.

Now…how to convince my husband to get me an iPhone for Christmas…

Girl Geek Dinner Ottawa on CTV

Girl Geek Dinner Ottawa (GGD Ottawa) will be featured on CTV Ottawa’s Tech Now on Sunday, September 13 as part of the 6 p.m. local news. The interview is with the GGD Ottawa co-founders: Kelly Rusk, Veronica Giggey and myself, and gives us the opportunity to promote GGD Ottawa to the community.

FYI – did you know that the core audience of CTV’s Tech Now is primarily women between the ages of 18-34?

The interview also gives us the opportunity to get the word out about how social media, technology and all things geeky are offering exciting opportunities to women.

If you get a chance to see the interview, let me know what you think!

Social Media Breakfast Ottawa 10 with David Crow

So wow…already there have been nine Social Media Breakfast (SMB) Ottawa events this year. I’ve managed to attend most of them and they’ve all been fantastic learning/networking experiences.

SMB Ottawa 10 is slated for Wednesday, July 15 with guest speaker David Crow of http://davidcrow.ca/

David is Microsoft Canada’s User Experience Evangelist and has helped to organize great events such as DemoCamp and Founders & Funders.

For complete details on SMB Ottawa 10 and to register, visit: http://smbottawa10.eventbrite.com/

Digital snacks are yummy

At today’s Social Media Breakfast Ottawa (SMBOttawa), guest speaker Brady Gilchrist of Admodo offered some valuable insights on the way people are consuming information in this “age of abundance” [of information]. And of course, the affects social media has on business as a whole.

Brady broke it down like this…

Mass media = the individual is a voice in the wilderness

Social media = the individual becomes a voice in the crowd

So with social media, your opinions count and are valuable contributions to the crowd (think community).

Near Web = everyone of us hunched over our laptops

Mobile web is coming on strong making it even easier to be connected everyday and all the time. The apps you can download to your iPhone (lucky you) are the “digital snacks” you can use/consume easily and at low cost. Brady says that as the price and cost of entry to create digital snacks lowers, that’s where you see the “unboxing” of newspapers into thumb-controlled media.

Therefore, traditional newspapers can actually be enhanced by social media. Think the GlobeandMail live blogging on issues of the day with a richly engaged readership base. The newspaper becomes the social medium where people gather to appreciate and hear what others have to say. Which means everyone has the opportunity to be the voice in the crowd.

If you embrace how people snack on information via the social web, and see it as a “yummy” opportunity and not something to stifle or dismiss, then as a business you create opportunities to increase your relevancy in an age where word of mouth is king.

Far Web = mashup between TV broadcasting and the Internet

For cable companies, the far Web disrupts traditional business models as more Internet TV becomes available. It’s silly for media companies to ignore this phenomenon or to try and stifle it. Brady indicated that no one with buying power is watching commercials therefore the TV advertising business model is flawed. As he said “the TV revolution will be blogged before it appears on TV.” By that time, it will be too late to do anything about it.

These new technologies on the market today seem to come out of the blue and change all the rules. If you’re a business leader and you’re not paying attention to social media and its potential impact on your business, it’s to your detriment. Social media can be seen as an early radar system for future trends.

Brady is not saying that digital snacking or social media are the solutions. Its the power to connect that is. It’s the ability to map our interests and what connects us as a collective (again that idea of community). Therefore, it’s all about understanding the power of word of mouth (WOM). So for marketers, the rules for participating in these conversations are to be present, connect with others and talk about what people care about. A lot of companies don’t get the idea of this. Of contributing value.

Reach then, is no longer as important as interaction. So don’t guess at what people want; know and understand your audience.

Social Media Breakfast Ottawa 7 is March 11

The next Social Media Breakfast Ottawa (SMB Ottawa) event is scheduled for Wednesday, March 11th.

What:  Social Media Breakfast Ottawa 7

When:  Wednesday, March 11, 2009 – 7:30 to 9:00 AM

Where:  Gowlings, 160 Elgin Street, 26th Floor, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

How:  Purchase your $10 ticket at smbottawa7.eventbrite.com

Guest speaker is Brady Gilchrist

In the early 1990s, Brady founded Marshall Fenn Intermagic, one of Canada’s first online agencies. There, he helped many major brands discover the possibilities of the Web. Brady has developed and implemented online strategies for clients including Motorola, Shell, Toyota Dealers, Covad, Cincinnati Bell, Ford, Acura, Microsoft, McDonald’s (Global).

He built the online practice at GJP Advertising as Senior Vice President of Digital and most recently was the EVP and CSO of Ottawa-based Fuel Industries. Brady is currently providing strategic services under the BlueScience brand and leading the startup of Admodo. In the past two years, most of Brady’s efforts have been focused outside of Canada. 

At SMB Ottawa 7, Brady is going to talk about the fundamental changes in media, how we relate to advertising, and what that means for businesses.

More details availabe on the Social Media Breakfast blog.

Sourcing the crowd at SMB Ottawa

Well the weather sure can put in a wrench in things (so can transit strikes but that’s a whole other story.) Bryan Person, planned guest speaker for today’s Social Media Breakfast (SMB) Ottawa event got stranded in Boston. After three flight cancellations he had to admit defeat. He wasn’t going to make it.

Disappointing as that is, today’s event was still great. Organizers rallied and brought together Joe Thornely of Thornley Fallis and ProPR.ca and moderator James Lewis (Executive Director of the Canadian Interactive Alliance) to lead a discussion on social media happenings in 2008.

What I and many other attendees enjoyed is how they actively sourced the crowd for input during the conversation. We talked about all kinds of social media faux pas and successes – from the Sarah Lacey incident at SXSW earlier this year to the successful use of social media on Obama’s political campaign.

The conversation took a turn at this point when we as a group started talking about social media etiquette. Is it polite to microblog while speaking or moderating at a conference? (Joe’s own experience is cited here.) Is it polite for the audience to microblog when the panelist or speaker doesn’t get a chance to respond in real-time?

Bob LeDrew said you have two options in that latter situation: ignore the Twitter conversation or adjust and accept this new form of communication. Most conferences project the Twitter stream on a screen. Speakers have every option to respond to the conversations taking place on Twitter and involve the conversation as part of their speaking stint.

It was also pointed out that people who attend conferences but aren’t on Twitter feel isolated and antagonized from what is essentially a water cooler conversation happening around them of which they can’t participate. I understand to an extent but if the Twitter stream is projected on a screen for all attendees to see, what’s to stop you from turning to the person beside you and voicing your opinion in face-to-face dialogue?

That person beside you may just be on Twitter and can tweet what you just said for you. There. You’ve joined the conversation. But that’s beside the point. Nothing replaces face-to-face communication. What Twitter does is make the water cooler conversations happen in real time. There is no need to wait until the speaker finishes. It’s not disruptive to what the speaker is saying, or at least, it doesn’t have to be.

So when you do get a chance to ask the speaker a question, or chat about the conference track over lunch, you’ve had the opportunity to process a myriad of opinions and that can extend your face-to-face conversations into deeper and more provoking (and dare I say interesting) discussions.

We then turned to how some organizations ban social media sites like Facebook and Twitter from the workplace, which is a real shame. The powers-that-be think these sites are a time-waster so they ban access. Um…if someone is going to waste time at work, they’ll do it anyway whether they have access to their Facebook profile or not. It’s a shame too because sites like Twitter (and even Facebook) can be great tools for expanding your knowledge and building business relationships.

And what about those Gen-Yers entering the workforce. They and their younger counterparts grew up with these technologies. It is so ingrained in their lives that they will expect to be able to use these tools in the workplace. And if they can’t, they’ll go work somewhere else. As Jeff Parks contributed, there is already a reverse mentoring taking place where the young are teaching the old about using these technologies (and the value therein.)

Rob from Bloggeries voiced his opinion that 2008 is the year of the social media hangover. We are now in the real time web and we have accounts on all different kinds of sites: Facebook, Twitter, Digg, SocialMedia, FriendFeeed, etc. It can be a bit daunting.

Another point mentioned this morning was that interpersonal skills in the workplace are becoming more important than technical skills. This ability to play well with others is also important in the online world. In a timely way, this point relates to something that Sue Murphy blogged about today: “Why Being a Good Friend Makes You Good at Social Media.”

Whether you use one social media tool or multiple, no matter how far you stretch yourself across the social web, it’s important to be authentic. To be kind and honest, to help others and to be a good listener.

It will be interesting to see where 2009 brings us. What are your thoughts?

Opportunity knocks…with Seth Godin

Seth Godin – a marketing guru, best-selling author and entrepreneur – is inviting the right candidates to participate in a six-month “apprenticeship/not-internship/graduate school/charm school track-changing opportunity.”

The idea is to offer people looking for change the opportunity to shift their careers / career direction without having to invest heavy dollars into going back to school. He’s willing to do this for free.

Yes – free. But there is a catch. Seth has some requirements he needs candidates to fulfill:

• You need to be willing to relocate (his office is outside NY at zip code 10706)
• You must speak perfect English
• You can’t smoke
• You have to be nice and smart with good references
• Your business background doesn’t matter – it’s what you’ve done and how you’ve done it that does
• You must apply by December 14, 2008 and be available to start the program January 19, 2009

In this program that Seth calls an alternative to an MBA, he promises to deliver an experience where the selected candidates will do real work (both for Seth and on their own projects) and gain useful knowledge and experience.

And Seth is clear in that he intends to get as much out of it as the selected candidates. As he says,

This is a guided quest, one that delivers value to you (from the learning and the doing) and to me (from the teaching and from the work you’ll produce.)

I think this is a really neat idea and a great way for someone like Seth to give back to his community. If you are interested and think you’re the right candidate for Seth’s non-MBA program, you can access the full application and program details here.

Good luck!

ps: Seth is holding a conference call on Thursday, December 4th so you can ask lots of questions and get a better understanding of the initiative. Conference call details are available on his Squidoo lens (aka page) at http://www.squidoo.com/Alternative-MBA.