Molecular Voices » Kathleen Gambale

Kathleen Gambale

Posts written by Kathleen Gambale

May 28

Bring the Social Experience to Life

The social-sphere of twitter, ratings & reviews, blogs, etc. are as popular as Cabbage Patch Kids and jelly-bracelets were in my era, yet they still aren’t available at Target or Macy’s. Yet they can and should be; and retailers just have to start thinking of how to do this – how to make these part of the tangible in-store experience. Why?

Last week as I was shopping at Babies “R”Us, I noticed a guy carrying a laptop around. I thought he was a store employee and approached him to ask a question. He responded by saying, “No, I don’t work here; I just want to be able to read the customer ratings & reviews while I shop.” His comment really made me think. Why isn’t this social experience that we have with retailers online a part of their in-store experience as well? Wouldn’t it help better bridge the gap between online and offline for a more seamless, consistent shopping experience? Over the past several years, marketers have made tremendous progress integrating online and offline marketing, e.g. using email coupons to drive shoppers to the store, etc. Now it is time to make the actual shopping experience more integrated – especially with the power and popularity of social media components like ratings & reviews.

In a live store you are able to touch, handle and experience a product first hand. To combine this with the online social interaction of learning what other customers felt and experienced with a product could really make the shopping experience complete. Retailers could do this with kiosks stationed around the store, with signs by highly rated customer products, “star” ratings on product shelves and that’s just the taste of the many possibilities. Retailers like Babies “R”Us and Target who have established, widely used online rating & review systems could hugely benefit from such integration. Also, sellers of high ticket items such as car dealers, or home, appliance, and furniture retailers could also reap the rewards.

And, you may ask, what about that ever persistent quandary of negative feedback? This integration may actually offer retailers another way to tackle that first hand. What better way to combat unsatisfactory commentary, than having your sales people demonstrate a product and prove it’s real value to customers – live!

Beyond, creating an integrated shopping experience, this would help marketers answer the core issue of trust. Consumers no longer trust brands as they once did – they trust each other – and that goes for the in-store experience as well. When you are shopping, you want to know, “how did other customers like me feel about this product?” Wouldn’t this type of integrated experience make you feel more comfortable with the retailer – wouldn’t it encourage you to make the purchase?

posted to: Digital Marketing, Web 2.0 & Social Media | No Comments »

February 25

8 Quick Tools for Successful Tweeting

by Kathleen Gambale

In these uncertain times, marketers are seeking to decrease spending, while increasing engagement – driving social media as a bigger component of their strategies. Yet these outlets are not completely free. They do require constant maintenance and investigation of new ways to earn the attention of your audience, engage them, and get them to interact – and Twitter is no exception. In order for Twitter to be an effective marketing tool, you must attract not just many followers, but the right ones. So how do you do this? Here are 8 tips and tools can help.

1. Look Beyond Your Rolodex

Often when you follow the right people it accomplishes two goals. First, these people will reciprocate the follow and second, their thought leadership will add value to your page which also attracts more followers. To find the right followers, try looking beyond your Rolodex at these groups. Once you have exhausted all those you know of in these categories, try looking at who they are following. This may give you access to other industry leaders you haven’t already heard of. Also keep in mind; you don’t have to actually “know” a person to follow them.

Clients
Analysts
Writers
Bloggers
Publications
Conferences
Employees
Sister and Parent Companies
Professional groups
Supporters
Vendors

2. Make Ever Character Count – Say the Right Things

This is your chance to flaunt your stuff to your customers and industry. Show em’ what you got. By doing this, it ups your chances of engaging customers, improving customer service, gaining media interviews, and receiving conference speaking spots. That is why it is so important to make sure your page isn’t full of “I just ate nachos and had a Guinness” or “Can you believe Madonna and ARod?” type Tweets. Though nachos and Guinness are tasty, they don’t really spice up your page.

3. Remember to RT

Yep it’s true, you can do more on Twitter than Tweet – you can “Re-Tweet”. Re-Tweeting is officially defined as re-quoting someone’s Tweet. Usually when you come across an interesting Tweet and you want to publish on your page, you Re-Tweet it. This is a way of crediting the person who initially created it, while sharing it with your audience. You do this by writing in RT; the @ symbol; followed immediately by the Twitter name of the person you are Re-Tweeting; and lastly ending with the phrase/link you are Re-Tweeting. So what is the value of doing this? This is a great way to provide your followers with more thought leadership. And remember, the more valuable your page is for people, the more people will follow you!

4. Don’t Fear the Report Card – Use Grader.com

You can’t get grounded anymore so get your grades! This site does an analysis on your Twitter profile grading against other profiles on:

The number of followers you have.
The power of this network of followers.
The pace of your updates.
The completeness of your profile.
The score is based on your twitter profile in relation to other profiles that have been “graded”.

5. Get in Tight with Mr. Tweet

Twitter is more than just a social media site, it is also a bit of a popularity contest. The more followers you have, the more credible your page appears, and the more people will want follow you. So, how do you get popular? Get to know Mr. Tweet. By following him on Twitter, he provides you bi-weekly updates with advice on who you should be following (that you are not), as well as usage statistics, and more. It is a great way to find additional quality people to follow – which can lead to more followers for your page!

6. Let Your Fingers Do the Walking

Twellow.com and JustTweetIt.com are just two of the Twitter directories out there where you can register your profile. This is yet another way to promote your page. The directories are organized so that other users can search by categories, which make finding you easier than just using the “find people” function.

7. Take TweepSearch.com for a Test Drive

TweepSearch allows you to search key words in users’ bios and location information. This can really help you find the right way to follow. Hopefully, they will return the follow.

8. Recycle – It’s Not Just For the Environment

This tactic doesn’t just have value for the green movement. It is also a great way to increase your exposure. When you upload a new deck to SlideShare, release a new video on YouTube, or send out your newsletter, announce it on Twitter. This may seem like old news to you, but it probably isn’t to everyone. And remember, repetition is not always bad. The old print tactic of showing the same ad multiple times still has value in this new world – so use it. Repetition will expand the audience that sees your message and can also help break through media fragmentation.

posted to: Web 2.0 & Social Media | 3 Comments »

August 20

Vote for Molecular at SXSW 2009 and Discover the Secret Sauce

by Kathleen Gambale

We all know that the SXSW conference rocks as perhaps the premier gathering of the brightest minds in emerging interactions. What you don’t know is that Molecular could be amongst the 2009 presenters – but we need your help to make it happen…

Molecular’s own Darryl Gehly has put together a star-studded panel featuring Joe Ventura, Senior Communications Manager, Nikon USA and Jeff Fleischman, SVP Customer Experience for Global Direct Banking, CitiBank. If selected, these experts will show you why it’s not only critical to participate, but how you can use the customer conversation to help you take the lead in your industry. But to do this, we need your vote…

Learn why you must engage your customers, and create time with them. Participating in an open and authentic dialogue with customers can not just give your brand time with customers, but also help you to better understand them and their motivations. It is this customer insight that is so critical to building a solution that that will surpass both customer expectations and the competition – creating a new landscape where your brand is the sole player.

Interested in being the sole player in your industry? Discover the secret sauce at the 2009 SXSW Interactive show by voting for Molecular’s panel. Click the button below to vote!

posted to: Molecular at SXSW | No Comments »

May 29

Where will you be in 700 years?

by Kathleen Gambale

Because the plastic water bottle that you drank from yesterday will be JUST STARTING to decompose!

That is why, STARTING TODAY, Molecular is embarking on a new Green Team mission to drastically reduce the water bottle recycling and waste we produce each year. Though recycling does reduce landfill waste, it requires tremendous energy. So the best way to combat this problem is by reducing the amount of bottles we use overall, with recycling as a secondary option.

So, from May 29 forward, Molecular will be ceasing to order bottled water and replacing all water coolers with filtered faucet water. Each office has had a water filtration system installed which will provide fresh, clean, purified water for drinking. Also, to make this change as convenient and easy as possible, Molecular’s Green Team has purchased a metal water bottle for all employees. As you may know, metal is a safer drinking container than plastic.

This is an important initiative for Molecular in our effort to becoming more environmentally responsible. We realize it will not be as convenient as grabbing a pre-filled plastic water bottle, but each small effort such as this can help preserve our planet for future generations. Below are some shocking statistics that demonstrate the importance of this effort.

· In 2006, Americans drank about 167 bottles of water each, but only recycled an average of 23 percent. That leaves 38 billion water bottles in landfills.

· 8 out of 10 plastic water bottles become landfill waste.

· According to the Beverage Marketing Corp, the average American consumed 1.6 gallons of bottled water in 1976. In 2006 that number jumped to 28.3 gallons.

· It takes over 1.5 million barrels of oil to manufacture a year’s supply of bottled water. That’s enough oil to fuel 100,000 cars.

· If everyone in NYC gave up water bottles for one week they would save 24 million bottles from being land-filled; one month would save 112 million bottles; and one year would save 1.328 billion bottles from going into the landfill.

posted to: Molecular News | No Comments »