*Updated*
Cancel all of your Sunday night plans and get ready to spend the weekend in front of your computer.  On Sunday at 11:59PM, Facebook is finally allowing all Facebook Fan Pages (with over 100 fans) to pick up their unique URL.

This means that you’ll be able to stake claim to a personalized URL for your company that looks like this: http://facebook.com/cocacola instead of this: http://facebook.com/cocacola/page?=3928347283278.

Earlier this month, Facebook began the URL selection process by allowing Facebook Fan Pages with over 1,000 followers to select their URLs.  This left many smaller brands scratching their heads as they pondered why Facebook would exclude them from the name gold rush.  But, on Saturday night, everyone will have the opportunity to play in the sandbox.

So what does this mean for your company and why should it matter?

Having a shorter, personalized URL will allow you to place your new, easy-to-type Facebook URL on advertising on marketing materials.  And you’ll also be able to increase SEO for your Fan Page.  It’s just another way to get your name in front of potential customers, and an opportunity to trump the competition.

So don’t forget to log in and claim your name before someone else does.  Because once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.  And believe us, it’ll go fast.

For more information on Facebook’s URL selection process, visit here.

MGH is blogging and tweeting live from the 140 Characters Conference today.

Created by Jeff Pulver of VOIP fame, the 140 Conference (#140Conf) brings together some of the biggest names in the Twittersphere under one Broadway theater roof. Celebrities, journalists and marketers have come from all over to discuss Twitter and its impact on the “now.”

We feel honored to be a part of one of the first conferences of this nature and look forward to connecting with the tweeters of the world.

If you’re interested in following along, you can read live updates via Twitter’s search feed or check out the live video stream.

Update 9:22AM

Jack Dorsey, co-founder and Chairman of Twitter,  just finished up.  He discussed how Twitter has changed from “What are you doing?” to “Where are you going?”  If you actively follow along with Twitter and keep up with the hot news items and the sentiment of the people, you can actually almost glimpse into the future.  It’s about knowing what’s happening right now and being able to make assumptions on the future of everything.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday, Google announced another game-changer in the world of online interaction. Their brand new Wave system will undoubtedly completely alter the way people communicate online for years to come.

Ben Parr, at Mashable has put together a great walkthrough of all of the features of Google Wave. In an attempt to not be redundant upon his article, I urge you to read his complete guide to Google Wave to get a full feel for all of the features Wave offers.

Google Wave gives users the opportunity to participate in real-time discussions with any number of people in their networks. What may begin as an email between two colleagues, can transform into a collaborative, wiki-type document that can be simultaneously contributed to by a whole team of people.

By creating a Wave, you are able to share photos, documents, links and videos by simply dragging and dropping them into the Wave. Due to the open API within Google Wave, you will be able to embed it into your blog or website where visitors are able to interact within the wave directly from your page.

“It is what email would look like if it were created today, not 40 years ago”, to quote Lars Rasmussen, the lead developer of Google Wave.

Google Wave is filled with great productivity tools like a very intuitive spell checker that takes the context of your sentence into consideration before determining if a word is misspelled, a very useful playback feature that shows all of the changes made to a document and by whom over time, and a translator that translates your message in real time as you are typing.

I strongly recommend you take the time to watch the live demonstration of Google Wave, you will see the power and potential that the system offers. Congratulations Google, you are the winner of 35 MGH WOM points for Wave!

Posted by Rusty

Today, we must say goodbye to our intern, Andrew Winfield, or as we’ve come to call him, Tuna.  This is our farewell blog entry (and my recommendation letter):

As I’m sure many of you have experienced, it’s not easy to find good interns.  Many view internships as another course requirement, and ended up treating it as such.  The work that they produce is mediocre at best, and it takes more time to explain the task than it would for you to do it yourself.

But such has not been the case with Tuna.

From the moment he started with MGH, Tuna worked hard to develop the skills necessary to complete the tasks that were put in front of him.  He quickly grasped many of our tactics, and developed a real passion for what he was doing.  Tuna put in long hours, and many times, was able to take on projects that were not required of him.

In addition to the pheonomenal work that he has produced,  Tuna’s attitude has been one of the most positive we’ve ever come across.  Within the first week of working here, it felt like he had been here for years.  He’s been a great team member and an even better friend.

We hate to say goodbye to him, but look forward to seeing what he’ll do in the future.  ANY organization would be lucky to have him as a member of its team.

Thank you, Tuna!

Enter cheesy graduation song:

Yesterday, Google rolled out a whole new tool box of search options that will prove to be nothing short of a game-changer. Users will now be able to search for terms based on relevancy, recency, content type, reviews, etc.  This means that sites like Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and review sites will have a much larger impact in the search world.

In addition to refining your search, Google has now integrated rich snippets. “Rich snippets could include things like the average review score, the number of reviews, and the price range for a local restaurant”. This puts user-generated content much more into the forefront of any given search.

This new iteration of Google search continues to prove the value of user-generated content. The companies who will make an impact in the early stages of this evolution of search are the ones who are already harnessing the power of their customers by engaging them online and encouraging them to share their thoughts and experiences.

Here at MGH we are obviously strong believers in letting consumers be heard, and are extremely excited that their voice is now an even more integral part of search results. Go do a search for your favorite product with Google’s new search options and see for yourself the power of customers talking.

Walk into a room full of people and start a discussion about social media. I’d be willing to bet that the conversation will quickly gravitate to one of three topics: Twitter, Facebook, or MySpace…and for good reason. However, the conversation shouldn’t stop with these social media power players; there’s a lot to be said about utilizing smaller, niche, networks that fit with your brand message

Take, for instance, Reebok’s latest campaign for their new EasyTone tennis shoes. According to Reebok, the shoes work your leg muscles just by wearing them because their “built-in balance pods that create natural instability in your step which forces muscles to adapt and encourages toning.” Sounds awesome but with all the fitness gimmicks out there, how can consumers know if they’re the real deal?

Reebok partnered with SparkPeople, a diet and healthy living community with over 3 million members, in order to promote these revolutionary shoes. They seeded the product with a select group of active SparkPeople members and tasked them to provide their honest feedback on a designated forum thread.

Positive comments were then selected from the thread and used on banner ads that were posted throughout the community. These ads direct members to a page that includes more information about the shoes, a store locator, fitness tips, fun activities, and a link to the group with the feedback thread.

Why this campaign rocks:

3. The community allows for natural discussion about the product. The whole point of SparkPeople is to encourage individuals to incorporate healthy habits, such as diet and exercise, into their lifestyle. The Easy Tone shoes allow people to easily incorporate fitness into their everyday routine. Talk about a perfect fit. (get it?)

2. The banners with the member contributed quotes are far more effective than traditional banners. Others will be more interested to click on the “Learn More” button when the product is endorsed by the same person that is providing them support day in and day out with their own weight loss journey.

1. The uncensored feedback forum thread is a huge asset. If you start at the beginning of the forum and read through, you can see the members’ perception of the shoes change over time. At first, they stated that they wouldn’t purchase the shoes themselves in the store. However, as time goes on you can see those same members state they they’ve grown to love their shoes and are assuring others that they’re worth the price.

If individuals cannot notice the promised effects of the shoes while trying them on in the store, it may greatly influence their purchase decision. However, thanks to this thread, any of the other 3 millions SparkPeople members that read it now know that the shoes are, in fact, worth the hefty price tag, even if they do not immediately feel the results. If you read through the thread, you can see the mission accomplished as several other members have already stated their intentions to purchase the shoes.

The moral of the story is, if you want to utilize social media, don’t just jump on the first bandwagon that comes your way, you may find your target audience walking another route.

Written by: Kim (@kimberwom)

There’s something special happening in Baltimore right now.  Something almost indescribable.

The best way to explain it is to say that there’s a social media revolution happening in and around the city of Baltimore.  That’s right - a social media revolution.  And if you’re reading this, you’re about to watch a beautiful (and somewhat nerdy) flower blossom.

Each and every day, we witness a whole new flock of businesses and consumers joining the many social sites that we’ve been following for a quite some time now.  They’ve heard the buzz about these new communication tools, and they want in.  They’re expanding their personal networks, but also fueling a growing machine that’ll eventually connect each and every individual in and around the city of Baltimore.

On top of that, local web developers and marketing teams are developing ideas, sites and tools that are positioning the city as a major player in the social media realm.  Here are a few examples of what’s happening (if you haven’t already heard):

VisitMyBaltimore.com

Developed by FastSpot for the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association, this reincarnation of a previous video-sharing site serves as an aggregator for all things Baltimore on the web.  Driven by three primary content areas - Watch, Look, and Listen - the site pulls in videos, pictures, and ‘tweets’ from the user’s accounts on the major social sites (YouTube, Twitter, Flickr).  The site’s users utilize this constantly updated content to define local attractions, events, restaurants, etc.  The site is years ahead of its time, and will undoubtedly be “mimicked” by other destinations.

*Disclaimer* The Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association is a client of MGH.  The site is still awesome though.

600Block.com

There are an endless number of consumer review sites floating around the web right now, but 600Block.com is the one that finally got it right.  Local reviews of restaurants, attractions, and stores written by those who know them best are what make 600Block special.  Users create their “scene” in order to receive updates about the city’s newest dining options to the drink specials that can be found in town on a random Tuesday night (you have no idea how handy this can be).  Rumor has it that there’s also an iPhone application in development.  Okay…it’s not a rumor.  I saw it, and it’s awesome.

Beehive Baltimore

What do you get when you shove a bunch of developers, designers, and entrepreneurs into a room?  Most of the time, a lot of arguing and bickering.  But that’s not the case for Beehive Baltimore.  Beehive’s mission is to provide a common workspace for Baltimore’s creative professionals, hoping that ideas will be “cross-pollinated” (get it?) and that the business community will be better off because of them.  For a minimal fee, anyone can spend the day at Beehive and bounce ideas back and forth between the center’s attendees.  It’s a new way of doing business, and one that’s sure to produce results that will benefit the city as a whole.

It’s been said that Baltimore would be more aptly named “Smalltimore”.  Cliché, yes. But as these connectivity tools continue to develop and become populated by the city’s residents, we might need to request that name change.

Image c/o Grufnik (Flickr) http://www.flickr.com/photos/grufnik/

Written by Ryan Goff (@ryanatmghwom)

We receive a lot of questions about getting started on social networks, and many clients are interested in learning more about it. Obviously, as true believers in word of mouth marketing and social networking, we get a thrill out of recommending ways to become active, but there are two questions we ask prior to any community development: Are you ready to listen? Are you ready to respond to customers’ feedback openly?

If the answer to either of those questions is no, then MGH WOM would most likely explain why we would not recommend a social media campaign and work to see what other advertising and/or marketing solutions would best meet the clients needs.

The thing is, we want our client’s campaigns to succeed as it is a reflection of our recommendations; however, if they do not have the authority or capacity to listen and respond, then we do not want to put them in a position to fail. Period.

A few weeks ago, I read a blog entry (via @whatsnext) about the reasons a company should not use Twitter, and it got me thinking about our duty to clients to offer them solutions that just aren’t fun and new, but effective.

BL Ochman, the author of that blog entry, was right on when she said companies should NOT tweet if it needs to protect its updates, needs to be approved by legal or if the company is not going to respond when people direct tweets at it. Put simply, it’s just not wise for a brand to be in any social forum where they can’t/won’t/don’t want to interact and respond. And, if that’s the case, that’s okay. Social media just isn’t the place for them…yet.

That said, we honestly believe that there is no better way to connect with customers and receive open and honest feedback than through emerging social mediums. But, it has also become absolutely necessary to realize what is required to make it successful.

We would love to hear your thoughts on this. Do you think social networking is for everyone? Would you recommend becoming involved on a network if you knew the company couldn’t respond in real time? Discuss.

Written by: Ashley (@ahrycyk)

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• Putting Twitter’s World to Use
• Twitter: A Marketer’s Duct Tape
  

Earlier this week rock band Kiss announced that their entire 2009 North American tour will be determined by public demand, making it the first ever fan-routed tour. The band claims “No matter where the fans say -from stadiums to cornfields -if there enough votes KISS will be there!”

By going to Kiss Online fans can “Demand” Kiss play in their town and watch the tour unfold by monitoring the updated city rankings. In order to keep things fair for smaller towns, the competition will take population size into consideration as opposed to solely going off of total votes.

The site also empowers fans to spread the word and get their friends to vote, by arming them with tools such as widgets and the ability to easily share the site on Facebook, MySpace and other online outlets. Additionally, fans are encouraged to create and post videos online in order to motivate their hometown to vote. The best of each town’s videos will be compiled and shown on the jumbo screen before each concert.

MGH’s Take

We expect a lot of acts to follow this fan-routed tour strategy in the future. Here’s why:

On the most basic level, it just makes sense: what band wouldn’t want to know exactly where their fans are? This campaign will provide KISS with the locations where they are more likely to have higher ticket sales. I think it’s safe to say that’s useful information.

Looking ahead, this campaign will provide more insight into exactly who their loyalists are, since, in order to demand KISS come to your town, you must provide your gender, year of birth, and email address. KISS already plans to re-engage fans once the tour is set by emailing them with the opportunity to purchase tickets on pre-sale, before they are offered to the general public, as a thank-you for taking the time to vote

By giving up a little bit of control, KISS is making their fans feel valued, which is building loyalty and a sense of community. What does the band get in return? Not only are their fans planning the tour, they are promoting it and creating an awful lot of buzz for free.

KISS’ fan-routed tour ideology can be applied to much more then touring North America. Can your loyalists play a more active role in any part of your brand or company? The loss of control may well be worth the pay-off.

Written by: Kim (@kimberwom)

I know spring officially started a couple of weeks ago, but, for me spring does not officially start until Masters Weekend, and its finally here!

Unfortunately, I cannot be glued to the television as much as I would like for the next four days, so I have put together a list of the best places to enjoy the Masters on the web.

Twitter

The Masters is a hot topic on Twitter right now. Head over to search.twitter.com to join in on all of the conversations happening about the tournament.

To get constant tournament updates in your Twitter stream, follow these accounts as well.

@the_masters - The official Masters Twitter account

@Masters_AUG - The official Augusta, GA Twitter account

@waggleroom - A local (Baltimore, MD) blogger who is tweeting about the tournament

@golfchannelnews - The official Golf Channel Twitter account

@PGATOUR - The official PGA Tour Twitter account

Websites

When reading about the tournament isn’t enough, head to one of these websites to get up-to-the minute leader board standings, live streaming video, and interviews from all of your favorite players.

The Official Masters Website - You can also download the Masters widget and share it on all of your social networks.

Augusta.com

CBS Sports

iPhone Apps

When its time to head out of the office for lunch, don’t forget to take the Masters with you, using either one of these free iPhone apps.

These apps both allow you to stream video from the event, check in on the leader board, and take virtual tours of the course.

The Official Masters app (iTunes store link)

2009 Masters on AT&T (iTunes store link

Whichever way you choose to follow the Masters this weekend, you have no excuse for missing any great shots. Enjoy the tournament, and feel free to tweet along with me on Twitter and @RussWalters.

Written by: Rusty (@russwalters)

Apparently Google is now getting into the business of making a business off of Twitter. According to Ad Age, Google is now offering businesses the option to incorporate their Twitter feed into Google AdSense ads.

The first client to utilize this service is Intuit’s Turbo Tax, who is trying to increase their Twitter followers in the last two weeks before taxes are due. Naturally, the ads link users to Turbo Tax’s Twitter profile, instead of their main website.

There has definitely been a shift in focus in how brands are exposing customers to their products. Before, everything was about control. The brand shared what they wanted to share about their product through their official website and that was it. Now, the focus is very shifting to engaging customers personally.

Although Skittles represents an extreme example of a brand “getting social”, I would not be surprised to see corporate websites in the not so distant future change to nothing more than a hub that directs customers to the brand’s social media profiles. (This trend can already be seen in the music industry).

I award Inuit 5 MGH WOM points for not being afraid to get social and lead their customers to interaction instead of corporate messaging.

Related Articles

• Who Will Monetize Social Media?
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As you may have seen, Nielsen recently released a survey surrounding Twitter’s latest user stats. Not surprisingly (to us at least), they cited a 1,382% visitor growth in the past year and touted the average user’s age to be between 35-49 years old. So what does this mean for you and your brand? It’s simple…

Just like our boy @garyvee said in this video, it’s become necessary for companies to constantly search what is being said about their brand on Twitter. He gave the example of a soup company searching the term “soup” to see the real-time conversations occurring, and we 100% agree that companies need to be regularly searching Twitter to keep abreast of current conversations.

By having full access to these conversations, companies can now watch and respond to comments that are being said about their brand. This is quite a shift in the normal brand-to-consumer paradigm, and Twitter is single-handedly leading the charge with this new way of looking at customer interaction.

Related Articles

• The Future of Twitter:  Social CRM
• Using Social Media as a Brand Management Tool