Chris Kieff, our director of marketing, sat down with Mike Lewis of NewMarketingTV to talk about Gannett’s MomsLikeMe.com, what new marketing is, and some tips for others trying to jump into social media.
MomsLikeMe.com, the world’s largest interconnected network of social media sites, is a network of 80 sites across local markets (learn more here), where members can form groups, share content and interact with other members across the entire community. Users can access all of these local markets through one single sign-on and bring content from one city to another. This web of local sites allows Gannett to sell marketing locally or nationally, all from one single place.
For Chris, new marketing is finding a better way to communicate with a customer in an environment where he or she feels comfortable. Ripple6-built platforms allow marketers to engage target audiences in the familiar environment of their own social networks. This encourages members to spread content, whether it’s from a friend or a marketer, to their private social network in a way that’s comfortable and safe for them.
Chris points out that “It’s about listening and then figuring out where your audience is…the key is to be where the users are comfortable. Social media is a way to get where people are and become part of the users’ conversation – [not talking at them]“.
For those trying to leverage social media, Chris recommends to listen first – get onto twitter and subscribe to blogs. Then comment on and get involved in those places and communities. Definitely don’t just jump in and promote yourself right away — “you wouldn’t do [this] at a party” argues Chris.
Please welcome Cyndi Zaino to the Ripple6 blogging team. Cyndi is an Account Manager with Ripple6 and is also a blogger in her own right with her blog TheMarketingBackpackwhich receives our highest recommendation.
Social Insights™ enables marketers to tap into existing social networks for digital ethnographies.
October 28, 2008
New York, New York – October 28, 2008. Ripple6, www.ripple6.com, a leading provider of social media services to enterprise class marketers and web publishers, announced today the launch of Ripple6 Social Insights™, the first service that enables marketers to tap into online communities for consumer insights and conduct ongoing research within existing social networks.
With Social Insights, a company establishes a space that’s available across multiple community sites. Members of these sites are recruited to the space, where there are multiple levels of interaction and insight potential. Added learning is enabled by an overlay with Ripple Analytics, the industry’s only embedded word-of-mouth analytics tool.
“Marketers are searching for a better way to gather consumer insights,” said Sang Kim, Ripple6 CEO. “Social networks create tremendous opportunities and we’re inviting marketers into them. This service is at the forefront of a transformation in research, from artificial settings to more natural and authentic environments presented by online communities.”
Each implementation of the program allows researchers and members to communicate in a private setting that’s integrated with the member’s social network. They can post and comment upon messages, photos and video, as well as with one-to-one private messages. In addition, a separate “Observation Room” is created for the research team to privately share opinions and suggest deeper probes for the moderator.
“This is a smaller, faster, and nimbler research model than the community interaction methods otherwise available today,” said Ned Hickok, President and Founder of N3 Research & Consulting. “It expedites the functions of a focus group and then extends their benefits by drawing on groups in their ordinary surroundings and using the technology to generate a deep understanding of what they’re saying and doing.”
Social Insights is a component of Ripple6’s enterprise social media platform, a set of solutions that help companies implement their business strategy in social media. The software utilizes the company’s patent-pending Ripple technology to develop consumer engagements and relationships, deploy social marketing and generate consumer insights.
Social Insights programs run for a minimum of one month, but can run much longer. The pilot program is available now, including the company’s MomJunction.com property and it taps into all of Gannett’s 80 local MomsLikeMe.com properties. For more information, visit www.ripple6.com.
About Ripple6, Inc.
Ripple6™ helps companies implement their business strategy through social media. The company provides an enterprise white label social media platform to create consumer engagements and relationships, enable social marketing, generate consumer insights, and facilitate commerce and collaboration. It is easily customized to incorporate a brand’s look and feel for integration into an existing web site or to create an entirely new site. Ripple6 is based in New York and its list of partners includes Gannett Co., Meredith Corporation, and Procter & Gamble. For more information, visit www.ripple6.com.
Social Insights™ enables marketers to tap into existing social networks for digital ethnographies.
Ripple6, www.ripple6.com, a leading provider of social media services to enterprise class marketers and web publishers, announced today the launch of Ripple6 Social Insights™, the first service that enables marketers to tap into online communities for consumer insights and conduct ongoing research within existing social networks.
With Social Insights, a company establishes a space that’s available across multiple community sites. Members of these sites are recruited to the space, where there are multiple levels of interaction and insight potential. Added learning is enabled by an overlay with Ripple Analytics, the industry’s only embedded word-of-mouth analytics tool.
Marketers are searching for a better way to gather consumer insights,” said Sang Kim, Ripple6 CEO. “Social networks create tremendous opportunities and we’re inviting marketers into them. This service is at the forefront of a transformation in research, from artificial settings to more natural and authentic environments presented by online communities.”
Each implementation of the program allows researchers and members to communicate in a private setting that’s integrated with the member’s social network. They can post and comment upon messages, photos and video, as well as with one-to-one private messages. In addition, a separate “Observation Room” is created for the research team to privately share opinions and suggest deeper probes for the moderator.
“This is a smaller, faster, and nimbler research model than the community interaction methods otherwise available today,” said Ned Hickok, President and Founder of N3 Research & Consulting. “It expedites the functions of a focus group and then extends their benefits by drawing on groups in their ordinary surroundings and using the technology to generate a deep understanding of what they’re saying and doing.”
Social Insights is a component of Ripple6’s enterprise social media platform, a set of solutions that help companies implement their business strategy in social media.The software utilizes the company’s patent-pending Ripple technology to develop consumer engagements and relationships, deploy social marketing and generate consumer insights.
Social Insights programs run for a minimum of one month, but can run much longer. The pilot program is available now, including the company’s MomJunction.com property and it taps into all of Gannett’s 80 local MomsLikeMe.com properties. For more information, visit http://www.ripple6.com/platform/socialInsights.aspx
This week our partner Gannett brought up their 80th site in the www.MomsLikeMe.com network. This is the largest interconnected network of local social media sites in the world today. We’ve actually finished the rollout with over 80 total sites!
What makes MomsLikeMe so uniquely successful is the that fact that all of the sites are interconnected. For Users this means a single login at any site gives them access to all of the content on every one of the sites. When a mom in Indianapolis finds something she likes in Baltimore, she can “Ripple” it to her group of friends back home. And her friends can share it with their friends and on, and on.
Now, because we’re dealing with moms and children and sensitive data, any user can limit use of their information, photos, etc. As a matter of fact, a mom could decide that any info, could change from being public to being private, even after it’s been shared with others. So we’ve given moms a great deal of control over their data, photos, and the things they write about and share online.
Control over your data, how it is used, who has access to it, especially after you have released the data publicly is exceptionally important when we create online social networks. We’ve built it into the Ripple6 platform so our customers and most importantly the users, don’t need to worry about it. Get in touch with us if you’d like to know how we do it.
So if you’re a mom or you have one, or know one, (and if you don’t fall into one of these categories let me know too) let your mom friends know about www.MomsLikeMe.com and have them check it out at one of these convenient locations:
MomsLikeMe.com has over 80 convenient locations to serve you:
Alexandria, LA
Appleton (Eastern Wisconsin)
Asbury Park (Jersey Shore)
Atlanta
Baltimore
Bangor, ME
Binghamton, NY
Brevard County, FL
Boston
Buffalo
Burlington, VT
Central Jersey
Charlotte, NC
Cherry Hill (South Jersey)
Chicago
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Columbia, SC
Columbus, OH
Dallas – Ft. Worth
Des Moines
Denver
Detroit
Elmira, NY (Twin Tiers)
Ft. Collins, CO
Ft. Myers, FL
Grand Rapids, MI
Great Falls, MT
Greensboro, NC
Greenville, SC
Hartford – New Haven
Hattiesburg, MS
Honolulu
Houston
Indianapolis
Ithaca, NY
Jackson, MS
Jackson, TN
Lafayette, IN
Lafayette, LA
Lansing, MI
Little Rock, AR
Louisville, KY
Los Angeles
Macon (Middle Georgia)
Miami – Ft. Lauderdale
Minneapolis – St. Paul
Monroe, LA
Montgomery, AL
Muncie, IN
Nashville
New York City
Orlando
Pensacola, FL
Philadelphia
Phoenix
Pittsburgh
Portland, ME
Portland, OR
Raleigh – Durham
Reno, NV
Rochester, NY
Sacramento
Salem, OR
Salisbury, MD
San Diego
San Francisco (Bay Area)
Seattle – Tacoma
Shreveport – Bossier City
Sioux Falls, SD
Springfield, MO (Ozarks)
St. Cloud (Central Minnesota)
St. George (Southern Utah)
St. Louis
Tallahassee, FL
Tampa Bay, FL
Washington, DC
Wausau (Central Wisconsin)
Westchester (Hudson Valley)
Wilmington, DE
Now I need to figure out what to get someone for a 80th site-a-versary. Do you have any ideas? Please let me know in the comments.
Photo credit: Flickr, Uploaded on August 8, 2005 by ritchielee
Going back to school for anyone can be an interesting experience, bringing up the memories and the emotions of those halcyon days when you were carefree. The days when you explored the furthest reaches of the mind, (and possibly the body ) The days when you considered the great questions of the human condition. You had deep discussions with your friends long into the early morning hours, arguing over the pros and cons of the greatest ideas of history.
Image via Wikipedia
But for most of us when you go back to your old school you never get a chance to revisit these old pursuits. The pursuit of knowledge, the pursuit of looking for ways to improve the human condition, to better the world. That is, for most of us. But not for Sang Kim in his recent visit to Columbia.
Our CEO, Sang Kim, was invited back to his Alma Mater, Columbia University this week. Sang had the distinct pleasure of explaining how social networking worked, and how Ripple6′s social network platform works in detail to a class full of students of Columbia’s prestigious School for International and Public Affairs (SIPA). And he had the pleasure of the return of one of those early collegiate discussions about how social networking can benefit people from the perspective of international affairs and public policy.
The discussion ranged far and wide covering topics about how Social Media in general, and specifically Ripple6′s platform could help to solve some of the world’s problems. And we now believe that Ripple6′s technology can help with some of these problems. So we’re going to do some work here at Ripple6 to see what we can do to make our technology a little more friendly for public policy and charitable organizations. We can’t discuss specifics now, it’s a bit too early. But we can tell you that we’ll do our small part to help make the world a little bit better.
What do you think Social Media can do to help the public and charitable sectors? Why don’t you let us know in the comments below?
) The days when you considered the great questions of the human condition. You had deep discussions with your friends long into the early morning hours, arguing over the pros and cons of the greatest ideas of history.
