Of course it’s just for fun, but grassroots, guerrilla marketing-style ads for WGN Radio’s John Williams are showing up in some unusual places. And social media is pushing them out even further.

John Williams is a little upset. He’s noticed that afternoon-drive host Garry Meier gets billboards. New morning host Jonathon Brandmeier gets billboards. But not him. So he’s asked listeners help him out. It’s all in fun, but sometimes that’s what good advertising is about. I found out about this through social media — which is helping give his campaign a further push.

A porta-potty at a construction site in Berwyn, IL asks users to listen.

A sign asking to “Save Millington Post Office” is re-appropriated for John Williams.

A post-it note ad left in a free copy of “Coffee News.”

Lynn Genter’s snowman decal promotes John Williams from the rear seat of her convertible.

Pzazz Gifts & Home Decor in McHenry, IL is giving shoppers a 15% discount for mentioning the John Williams sign.

Austin’s Barber Shop in Beloit, WI placed an ad on the ceiling.

WGN’s Traffic Reporter, Leslie Keiling put a sign up in her local Jewel Osco.

John Williams’ own sign in WGN Radio’s Showcase Studio in the Tribune Tower.

Recently the Daily Herald in suburban Chicago ran a front page story exposing “the tactics” of one local candidate who used interns to post positive comments online.  I’m surprised that anyone is surprised.

While I think it is wrong for volunteers to post multiple comments as if they came from more than one person, or to lie in their comments, I don’t have any problem with supporters going online in droves to support their candidate.  The forums exist because the online sites created them.  So why complain when they’re used legitimately? Plus, I’d rather have them posting things than filling my mailbox.

I also think there are plenty of other things wrong with campaigning that makes complaining about this “tactic” seem silly.  Recorded calls come to mind first, but that’s only because if I take the time to get the phone, there better be someone real on the other end.  I don’t even like getting recorded notices that my photos are ready.  Send me an email!  Campaign advertising in general is extremely suspect, simply because they cannot cover all the issues.  Rather than try to clear the murky waters by telling us why the candidate is good, they instead use fear to try to convince us that the other candidate is bad.  They say it works, but I think that’s because no candidate has the guts to stick to a 100% positive campaign (if you’re out there, give us a call because we’d love to represent you!)

Basically, I’m always looking for a good, honest person who will stand by his/her convictions, especially in the face of some hard attacks.  But in today’s world fear seems to be the only clear catalyst for voters.

These online comments mean nothing to me, regardless of their quality or quantity.  Both sides have their supporters, and both sides can put their messages everywhere.  I’m not buying any of it.  After all, how do we know those supporters know anything about any of the issues? Indeed, nearly all of them demonstrate that they’re not like me (hopelessly adrift in the gray middle ground) simply by being such an ardent supporter of one side.  Their passion is a bit disturbing.

But when it comes to promoting businesses, online comments are very powerful.  Readers of those comments are not so jaded, likely because other than a few companies who’ve been caught paying people to promote them online, the comment section is somewhat innocent and often helpful.  Sure, some people are overly supportive while others are overly negative.  As reported in another post, those on the extremes tend to wipe themselves out, lending more credibility to the less passionate reviewers who tend to be specific in their reviews about what they liked or didn’t like.  In fact, if a comment seems helpful (whether positive or negative), the reader might soak it in, accept it, and maybe even spread it.  Plus, business reviews aren’t so complex.  You either like it or you don’t.  The less selling readers see, the more likely they are to accept it.  Maybe our trust of these straight-forward reviewers is based on the idea that they are like us — they were unsure of the product or service as well, took a chance and tried it, and are now telling us about their experience.

So go ahead and ask those satisfied customers to post their opinions online and tell them to be totally honest.  You can even recommend the sites that could help you the most.  I wouldn’t publish a list for all to see (no sense giving disgruntled customers a forum), but I wouldn’t hesitate to ask for help from those who like me.  Heck, I often ask clients to talk with potential clients about my work.  Why not ask them to do it online?  After all, it’s 2010.  Technology and information rule.

More important than having online reviews, however, is adding links back to your site in posts related to what you do.  If there’s a story about prostate cancer screening, why shouldn’t a hospital post a comment promoting their screening facility?  It’s helpful information, right there at the readers’ fingertips.  Don’t forget to track the link and send people to the right page, preferably one with an appointment scheduler.  If you’re writing these comments, be yourself.  There’s no need to be anonymous, nor is there any need to paint yourself as a happy patient — even if you are.  Instead, tell them you work there (it’s the ethical thing to do) and would like to invite them to your facility.  Simple as that.

I can assure you that this works — and it costs nothing compared to buying an ad on the same site or in the print version.  We do this all the time, with much success.  I think the value here is that our posts are directly associated with an unbiased report.  It’s a lot like having an ad for a mosquito repellent on the same page as a story about the upcoming attack of the little blood suckers — except you didn’t pay for the space.  What’s more, although you’re promoting your product or service, you also look helpful to the reader, so long as you’re honest about your intentions and don’t oversell.

So don’t hesitate to comment online to promote your business.  It’s not the bad thing political campaigns are making it out to be, and it is extremely cost effective.

Utilizing Social Media sites for your business has already been proven in many cases to be a smart marketing move.  Think about it:  Marketing is all about getting messages out to the target audiences in order to drive traffic, interest and sales.  What better way to do this than to engage in dialogs with your customer base?

The key to effective Social Media marketing is not the number or quality of Social Sites you create.  Rather, the real work is driving people to your sites so they can be engaged.  After all, just because you build it, doesn’t mean anyone will see it.

So while it’s important to create and manage your sites effectively, it’s also imperative that you promote those sites everywhere you possibly can.  Everywhere.

Company emails go out 24/7 to vendors, customers, coworkers, etc.  While the employee’s signature line is normally not thought of as a place to sell, it is a place to promote.  This is evident in the number of emails that come across with the signature line that says something like “Please save our planet.  Only print this email if absolutely necessary.”

But rather than just promoting your “green” stance, why not also provide links to your company’s social media sites?  It’s not hard, and they do generate clicks.  You will need  a programmer to do this, but it’s not that hard.  And once it’s done, it’s done.  Every email that goes out will have links back to your sites for all to see.

Here’s an image of my digital signature that is always at the bottom of my emails.  Clicking on the image will take you to my social media page that lists all my links.  Try it.  Then try it with your business.  It really works.

Augmented Reality might just be the best thing that has ever happened to Plain Old Regular Reality.

What is it? I’m sure by now you’ve seen Google Earth. You were probably amazed by how you can browse different parts of the globe and see detailed information simply by clicking on icons in it’s 3D topographical view. Augmented Reality uses that same principle, but applies it to the real world by using the camera on your Android Phone (coming soon to iPhone) as a lens — live in real time. An application called World Browser from a small company called Wikitude overlays information on available points of interest or landmarks simply by pointing the camera at it. Your smartphone becomes a realtime docent, a guide, Rick Steves in the palm of your hand.

If that isn’t cool enough Wikitude’s World Browser can also display live 3D renderings of things that aren’t there. For example, the World Trade Centers (video below). Philipp Breuss-Schneeweis, founder and CEO at Mobilizy, an Austrian tech firm, was in New York on 9/11 and feels a personal connection to the Towers. In remembrance, Mobilizy has created ghostly towers that rise up from the real Ground Zero in New York. Here it’s used as a haunting virtual memorial, but I’m sure you can imagine how this technology would help builders, architects, city officials and others view what a building or structure would look like in a specific space. The possibilities are endless. From incorporating social network data, geo-tagging, gaming and more.

I love visual data. And people are creating new tools to view data visually on the web at an exponential rate. Two former Google programmers, Elad Gil and Othman Laraki, have just launched curious little website called TownMe.

The site is just starting out and there are big plans to add more robust features, but right now the most interesting part is the creative spin they put on U.S. Census data. They layer “heatmaps” on top of a Google maps to show population concentrations. Unfortunately, right now it only works for major metropolitan downtown areas.

Maybe you’re looking for a Cougar. TownMe will plot out the neighborhoods where you are most likely to find their highest concentrations. In Chicago, you’ll find the most on the Near North Side. What about Yuppies? Plot them too. Same goes for Sugar Daddies, Baby Daddies and even people overextending themselves on rent. Until they are able to drill down more targeted metrics it is only a toy but it’s still worth keeping it on your radar.

Well it took awhile, but the porno industry has cast their shadow over Twitter.

Oh come on, you noticed, didn’t you? Perhaps you have been gaining an unusual amount of followers recently whom you have never met?  I know I and others have.  While my ego got a boost initially (hey, who doesn’t want followers?), further analysis showed that these potential followers were nothing more than linkers to porno sites.  Fortunately, I was able to block these “business” people before they got on my list.

You see, the pornography industry is one of the most technologically advanced industries in the world.  They have driven new advancements from the printing press to live streaming video on the Internet. The question isn’t why are they on Twitter — the real question is what in Ron Jeremy’s name took them so long?  You see, if one porno site follows 100,000 Tweeters, they might in turn be followed by about half of those people — all for virtually no cost.  If only 1% of the followers turn into customers, then that’s 500 more customers earned with very little investment.  Not bad, eh?  The good new is that this same thinking applies to virtually all businesses — even if they’re not the oldest in the world.

Today, many businesses’ best asset is their digital content. Twitter is a powerful medium for attracting potential customers. But there’s a problem with the porn industry trying to exploit social media. Social media is transparent and is based on your real identity. There’s no hiding. No late-night anonymous surfing. If a porn site starts following you and you follow them back you’re, well, exposing your interests to the world. Even if they’re not really your interests.

Many people set their accounts to automatically follow anyone who follows them, or they simply accept all followers without question simply to build their lists. But now you cannot just set it and forget it or accept it and forget it. Take some time and clean up your follower list. There are several tools to do this including TwitterKarma.

The point to you? Be selective and check out who your followers are. This one move could save you from having a rather difficult conversation with your spouse or your boss.

Below is an embedded video from YouTube. The link has been circulating for a little while now, but it is quickly picking up steam. Maybe it’s the message of hope that we all need to hear so badly in these trying times. Maybe it’s the daedal presentation. Maybe it’s another sign that social media brings millions of people together. Anyway, watch and enjoy.

Sadly Michael Jackson died last afternoon. Where did people go to find breaking news information?  Far and away the sources were Twitter and TMZ. Twitscoop posted this incredible video of the trending topics cloud.

But wait, wait, wait — before we all talk about the irrelevancy of mainstream media and how most people found out about Michael Jackson dying via Twitter, Facebook (likely because many people let their Twitter accounts update their Facebook status) and TMZ — lets not forget something very important: fact checking.

Fact: Mainstream media indeed is becoming irrelevant as a source for breaking news. However, despite some huge enormous blunders, mainstream media really does a decent job every day of making sure the stories they run are correct. And while early reports of Michael’s death were reported correctly with new media it also could have been a false alarm. Last night Jeff Goldblum was also reported dead (he’s not) and Harrison Ford had been lost at sea (he is not) and earlier this week that Patrick Swayze passed away (not yet). Those stories didn’t go far though. It is the mainstream media outlets that help the smart people who use social media to cull out rumors from garbage.

It seems like there are two camps, and I sit squarely in the middle. In the first camp are those like TechCrunch, who run an excellent blog, but like to self-servingly point out how mainstream media is a bitter and crabby old geezer who needs to defend themselves against their own demise. (Actually, the Chicago Tribune quickly gave themselves a largely unjustified pat-on-the-back by defending their sister paper for doing the “heavy lifting” on the Jackson story yesterday.) Both new media and old are complaining about each other without naming names.

In the second camp are those who almost have to wipe the foam from their mouths as they talk about how they hate new media, calling it at worst dangerous and at best silly.

Personally, I think there is a place for both in this world. We are all currently scrambling to define the roles of each, but the key thing I think everyone should remember is that I don’t think the dust will settle on this for a long, long time. Printed and traditional mainstream media is still extremely valuable. New media and social media serve the purpose of getting breaking news out to many people quicker than anything ever before. It’s all just media, whatever form it comes in and both will continue to evolve for years to come. Let’s all play nice together as best as possible.

A close associate of mine recently spent five minutes explaining why she hated Rush Limbaugh. I asked her how often she listens to him and wasn’t surprised by her answer. “I’ll catch him two to four times a week” she said, adding for emphasis “it’s horrible.” Rush claims 20 million people listen to his program, but I wonder how many of them are just like my associate.

So why does she listen? Why does she make an effort to tune into a program she admits drives her crazy?

I believe it’s because in areas where people have strong, sound opinions, they want to express them positively and debate with those who they believe are “wrong”. And now, thanks to the ubiquitous nature of blogs and forums, those opinions can be expressed.

In meetings about social marketing, negative posts against the client are the number one action they fear. I understand that. After all, nobody wants to see something negative written about them, especially in a place where everyone and anyone can see it, and certainly not in their own blogs.

But I tell our clients that negative posts are going to show up anyway, and I’d rather know about them and handle or respond to them than let them go unchallenged. In many cases, those who post negative comments write them in such a way that anyone who reads them will recognize the irrational logic behind them. Take this example of a comment Sherman Hospital received after “Tweeting” a surgery (by the way, the patient agreed to do this and her family followed the surgery via the tweets while sitting in the waiting room. Also, this story was picked up by every major newspaper in our area, WGN TV news, Huffington Post and many other media outlets).

———————————

“An advertising employee from Demi and Cooper in Illinois is texting tweets about a surgical patient undergoing hysterectomy and oophorectomy at Sherman Hospital with the da Vinci robot.
Gee, I guess just about anybody can get in the surgical suite these days
and send out live messages and pictures while they’re at it…. How would
you like 2 advertising execs witnessing your surgery and tweeting and
snapping pictures about it to send outward to just about anyone in the
world? Am I truly the only person who finds this a wee bit wrong?

Since neither Dr. Raja Chatterji or Dr. Humberto Lamoutte see to be
oncologists, it’s so refreshing to learn that over 1,000 people on Twitter
got to read and see images of what may well have been a completely
unnecessary oophorectomy, as well. Lovely.

Can any hospital sink lower? Yeah, probably. I can hardly wait…

In the meanwhile, thank you Sherman Hospital for providing me the most
disgusting media story of the day.

(name removed for privacy)

p.s. If this is the kind of medicine the “next” generation would like to
see…heaven help us all… It’s bad enough that so much technology of
today has removed the REAL human aspect of person-to-person contacts (while
providing us a quick tool for ease in “communication”), but when virtual
reality replaces reality and voyeurism stoops this low, well, it’s not for
anyone’s education. It’s just sick voyeurism. Ask yourself this — how
many of those unknown entities who signed up for the tweets on these
surgeries are secretly waiting for ‘the mishap’ to occur that makes their
time all that more memorable and well-spent? I bet it’s more than one…”
——————————————-

Wow, how’s that for a tough comment? This reminds me so much of my friend’s interest in Rush and her inability to just ignore what she doesn’t like.

So why did this woman take so much time to tell us how disturbed she was by the tweeted surgery? Obviously we hit a nerve. But her comments were totally inaccurate. As I mentioned, the patient approved of the tweets and her family loved the communication. As for voyeurs, she’s right. People were fascinated in a good way, and I’m not just talking about the many medical students who followed the procedure, but also the many women and men who have this type of procedure on the horizon. Their feedback was great.

So the bottom line is that Sherman Hospital took a chance and saw some tremendous positive media coverage because of it. But with it came some negative responses which were expected.

Was Sherman right to open themselves up to criticism while trying to further their mission? Of course. Life is all about taking calculated risks, otherwise we’ll all just remain stagnant. Passing up an opportunity like this because you fear negative comments shackles you to the status quo — and that’s not where any forward thinking company should be.

So go ahead, take chances. And when you get some negative comments, relax. You cannot please everyone, and unfortunately, many of those who you cannot please would rather write you to complain rather than just ignore you (like my associate who cannot ignore Rush).

Get ready for surgery in the 21th century! On Thursday, April 2, at 7:30 a.m., Sherman Hospital will be the first hospital in Illinois to provide live “Tweeted” updates of a surgery — but not just any surgery — it will be a high-tech robotic surgery using Sherman’s da Vinci surgical robot. And we at Demi & Cooper are proudly running the program. Through the social-networking site Twitter, Sherman officials will provide a running commentary, updates of activities and photos of the procedure. Twitter users will continuously receive messages of 140 characters or less, called “Tweets”, by following Sherman at http://twitter.com/shermanhealth. It’s just one more example of some of the cutting-edge things we’re doing as part of the robust social media services we offer to our clients.

“Sherman Hospital is committed to becoming one of the best community hospitals in the nation,” says Christine Priester, Director of Marketing and Public Relations, Sherman Health. “This is an example of our forward thinking and dedication to educating and connecting with the community.”

The procedure, a hysterectomy, will be performed using the da Vinci Surgical System, a sophisticated robotic platform designed to expand surgeon’s capabilities and offer a minimally invasive option for major surgery. For the first time ever, future hysterectomy candidates will be able get an idea of what is involved with the procedure in a way they would never have been able to before.

Raja Chatterji, M.D., and Humberto Lamoutte, M.D., both OB/GYNs and surgeons on the medical staff at Sherman Hospital, will be performing the operation, slated to last two hours. Both Drs. Chatterji and Lamoutte received extensive training with the da Vinci Surgical System before receiving certification in 2007. Dr. Chatterji received his medical degree from the University of Cincinnati College Of Medicine, and Dr. Lamoutte received his medical degree from the Louisiana State University. Both physicians had residency at Charity Hospital in New Orleans.

Be sure to follow @ShermanHealth on April 2nd to watch the live hysterectomy. And while you’re on Twitter, why not follow Demi & Cooper too? Then you’ll know about events such as this one, as well as learn about the many different ways we use Tweets, blogs, eblasts, and other social media strategies to help our clients.