Category Archives: Case Studies

Megaphone image from MorgueFile.com

Case Studies

Why I Now Ignore My Klout Score

Drew Hannush by Drew Hannush (13 Jan 2011)  |  2 Comments

I’ve heard a lot of opinions lately on Twitter about the usefulness of a “Klout” score.  Well, I finally figured out mine!

I think its a load of bunk!

Okay, it does have some usefulness. Think of Klout like your daily horoscope. If you really dive into it, Astrology is made up of more than just the Sun sign registered in your daily paper. Its a collective all the other influencing signs and the people you surround yourself with.  That is why the Sun sign horoscope is so vague, because it only encapsulates one aspect of the personality. In the same regard, that Klout score you see slapping you in the face takes the opposite tact, it tries to encapsulate the whole, yet it misses the mission.

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Homeless Man Ted Williams and His Golden Voice

Case Studies

The Golden Voice of Ted Williams Shows Social Media at its Best

Drew Hannush by Drew Hannush (5 Jan 2011)  |  4 Comments

It seems fitting, after ending up 2010 with our best of viral videos, that we start 2011 with a feel good viral video case study.

Have you seen the Ted Williams video that is spreading across the Internet yet?  No, not the “Splendid Splinter” of Boston Red Sox or Cryogenics fame.  Instead, a homeless man who is causing a great sensation with a YouTube Video displaying his “golden voice.”

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Case Studies

Creating More Passionate Fans With Social Marketing

Drew Hannush by Drew Hannush (7 Dec 2010)  |  6 Comments

It was the Friday evening after Thanksgiving and I was sitting at a local cigar bar (Highway to Habana) in Greenville talking with one of my oldest and best friends. During the conversation, I fired up my Droid and decided to look something the Pittsburgh Penguins schedule.  When I opened the phone, I noticed I had a new email and my curiosity got the better of me.

When I opened my inbox, I discovered I had a new Twitter follower…@JRRichards.

To the average bloke on the street, that probably means nothing. But to me, I knew (through following my favorite band Dishwalla on Facebook) that J.R. Richards was the lead singer of the band.  

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Captcha

Case Studies

Don’t Let Your Website Hurt Your Social Marketing Promotion

Drew Hannush by Drew Hannush (2 Dec 2010)  |  7 Comments

Recently I was asked on Twitter to enter a contest.  It was one of my favorite vendors, so I decided to give it a shot.

An excellent idea and a good use of social media marketing, right? Well, in theory, but the execution changed a happy customer into a frustrated one.

Here’s what happened:

The first thing I did was follow the link in Twitter.  Success, I was at the vendor’s forum page and all I had to do was post my response.

But then the trouble began.  Immediately I was sent to a log-in page.  I must admit, I have been with this vendor for six years but haven’t once logged into their forum…and good luck finding my introductory email from way back then.

So I had to go recover my username and password.  Easy enough, right?

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ok-hand-chair

Case Studies

Don’t Remove The Chairs: A Barnes & Noble Case Study

Drew Hannush by Drew Hannush (1 Dec 2010)  |  3 Comments

The Sunday before Black Friday I went to my favorite local Barnes & Noble store to kill some time before heading to the mall to get a cord for my mp3 player. This is a normal procedure for me…over the years Barnes & Noble has become my favored spot for doing a little investigative shopping while also enjoying a much favored Grande Mocha extra-hot.

With 45 minutes to kill before the mall opened, I started browsing the business book section and found one that I was interested in. I started looking through the first couple of pages and realized that I was getting interested in the book. I decided to walk over an isle or two to see if I could find a comfy chair to dig in a little deeper. To my disappointment, all of the soft chairs that formerly littered the store were gone (apparently with the remodel).

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rockmelt

Case Studies

By Invitation: RockMelt vs LiveFyre

Drew Hannush by Drew Hannush (22 Nov 2010)  |  16 Comments

Update: This case study is made stronger by the comments included at the end from a very pro-active CEO. It shows that social media works.

Thanks to Google, “beta” has evolved into an invitation only club and proving ground for online software. It has worked well in some cases for Google (Gmail) and bad in others (Wave, Buzz).

Other companies have been quick to adopt versions of this style, with some modification.  Two recent examples are RockMelt and LiveFyre.

RockMelt is a social media browser that hit the market like a storm a couple weeks ago through building a community of beta users and allowing them to recommend the product to other beta users.  By all accounts, the success in the first week was phenomenal.

LiveFyre, on the other hand, is blog plug-in software that makes commenting on blogs simpler and actually entices users to do so. From a user’s standpoint it is an incredible tool and one in which the blogging community has desperately needed to inspire feedback.

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spam

Case Studies

Spam, The Catalyst For Social Media’s Success?

Drew Hannush by Drew Hannush (1 Nov 2010)  |  Leave a comment

Yes.  But not how you think.

Remember when you first started to receive spam?  Mostly it was just an annoyance in your daily browse through email.  But then it started to become a job to delete all of those pesky automated messages.

So how did this advent of unsolicited spam mail help kick off the world of social media?

By making advertising truly annoying for the first time.  Up until then, we accepted being marketed to as just a part of watching TV or driving down the street listening to the radio, or reading a magazine.  But with the advent of spam, we really started to pay attention.  A movement began.  We no longer accepted being “sold to” by traditional methods.

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