HP provided 31 “HDX Dragon” computer systems to 31 carefully selected bloggers/influencers to give away to lucky readers on their own sites over 31 days (one per blogger). A key success factor, HP/Buzz Corps really took the time to to know the bloggers. Each blogger was allowed to set their own contest/giveaway rules that were customized to the respective audience and goals.

The bloggers created their own custom marketing materials (microsites, graphics, logos, videos, RSS feeds) and shared/cross promoted with each other. The net relationship was more of a partnership with each other and HP vs. a traditional product giveaway program.

Impressive Takeaways
During the promotion, the 31 bloggers heavily promoted the contest, HP, the HDX Dragon and each other, demonstrating the collective power of the community banding together. Each participating blog site not only saw a 150% – 5,000% increase in traffic, but also sustained traffic levels for several months after campaign was finished.

Impossible to achieve with with traditional media, here are the results based HPShopping.com, month over month data:

• 84% increase in sales on the HDX Dragon System
• 14% increase in overall traffic
• 10% increase in overall consumer PC sales
• 50 million impressions (Alexa data)
• Treasure trove of consumer feedback and traffic stats to be used in future planning and development
• 10,000 reader/entrant videos on YouTube.com and Blip.tv
• 380,000 links discussing the giveaways (per Google)
• 25,000 entries received by the 31 participating blogs

Costs
$250,000 for the 31 computer systems given away including shipping, software, etc. Zero dollars spent on media. While the costs for Buzz Corps aren’t available, they’re likely to be in the $75,000-100,000 range (my guess). Even if they were higher, they were worth every penny for the amount of exposure and good will created for HP. Mucho props to them for pulling off such a successful social media campaign.

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I’m very happy to share this guest interview with David Griner, a social media strategist for Luckie & Company and the mastermind behind The Social Path blog. Also a contributor to Adweek’s AdFreak.com,  he has done social media work and training for Little Debbie, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, to name but a few of his clients.

I was particularly interested in the role AGENCIES play in working with (or on behalf of) their clients engaging in social media projects.

Q: When doing outreach to possible online community leaders and other individual people within a client’s target audience, how/when does the agency disclose they’re a hired gun vs. the actual client? Does it matter?

David: I think it only matters to the extent that you want the recipient to know that you’re legitimate. I generally just say I’m a social media coordinator for a certain business, then my agency info is at the bottom. I’m rarely the first marketer to ever contact a blogger, so they usually understand the role that agencies and consultants play.

Q: When is it acceptable to write/post material such as blog posts or Twitter updates for a client? Traditional media has ghost-writing, but is this acceptable in social media?

David: Personally, I think there’s nothing wrong with starting a blog or Twitter feed with client approval and helping launch it with content. It helps establish a tone, frequency standards, response policies, etc. But you definitely always want the goal to be that you’re phasing in the client as the content producer. A big part of that relationship is helping clients figure out how they’ll staff these things. They look to us for a realistic expectation of time and workload. I think this training and structuring is a far greater challenge than the fun work of simply maintaining a feed.

Q: How does an agency respond when a client replies, “Social media tools are free. Why do I need an agency anymore?”

David: My agency has been pretty clear that, when it comes to social media, we’re not in the content management business. It’s simply not an efficient use of our clients’ time and money. We see our role is two-part: First, help strategize and develop social media tools that are right for each specific client. Second, work closely with the client to incorporate these tools into their corporate structure and strategic goals.

Is it possible to do all this without an agency, consultant, etc.? Absolutely. But the company will have to draw the resources from somewhere, and turning to someone experienced with social media (and trustworthy) generally saves a business from a lot of headache and false starts.

If a client is shutting the door on your agency because they don’t feel it’s worth bringing you in to help with social media, it’s probably a sign of a bigger problem with the relationship. In my experience, clients have generally seen it as an affordable investment with an agency they trust to look out for their interests long-term.

Q: What advice would you give to an ad agency or PR firm about using social media to build and nourish a brand vs. trying to maintain control?

David: I feel strongly that social media channels should be in the clients’ hands. It makes them more effective, more honest and more influential. That said, I think these channels will prove to be vital marketing and PR tools for agencies down the line. I think you can nourish a brand and maintain control of its social media presence in the short term, but without corporate buy-in for the long haul, we’re just playing with toys.

Q: Finally, if you were a business executive interested in social media, what would you be looking for from your agency?

David: I’d want someone who was light on ego, heavy on smarts and experienced with social media from both ends of the marketing equation. Most of all I’d be looking for someone with accountability, someone in it to help my business succeed and not just fishing for a case study.

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For sake of easy understanding, the following is a metaphor to explain how a search engine may find and index your website.  Imagine you want to learn as much as possible about a brick-and-mortar business named “Spacely Sprockets” that is located in a neighboring city. You haven’t been there before, but your friend mentioned it  over beers¹ yesterday.

As you set to learn as much as possible about Spacely Sprockets, you drive to the nearby city and see the Chamber of Commerce/Rotary Club sign² that lists Spacely Sprockets as one of its proud members.  Good to know you’re at least in the right city!  A few blocks later you see a street named “Spacely Sprockets Avenue”³. You’re impressed that Spacely Sprockes has a street named after it; clearly they’re legitimate business and have been around a while.

While driving down the avenue, it’s easy to spot the business as “SPACELY SPROCKETS” lettering clearly adorns the face of the building⁴. Excellent — you found it!  Now what heck the do they do?

You walk into the business and introduce yourself to the receptionist.  You notice a large sign⁵ in the waiting room bolding stating “Spacely Sprockets: Innovative Sprockets for Automotive & Aerospace Manufacturing.” Interesting, but you want to know more.

The receptionist invites you tour the office space to learn more about the business. Of course no receptionist would do this in real life, but bear with me — this is a metaphor!

You walk down the corridor and see a building directory sign⁶ for the various divisions of the business: Sprocket Research & Development, Human Resources, Marketing & Communications, Engineering, Sales, Manufacturing, and Customer Support. You’re really inside the mothership now!  You’re getting an insider’s access to learn about Spacely Sprockets.

You turn right into the Manufacturing wing⁷ where you quickly find yourself amongst robotic arms quickly welding sprockets as employees do final assembly.  Boxes finished of finished products labeled “Wheel Assembly Sprockets” and “Rubber Coated Spockets” and “Titanium Sprockets” whiz by on conveyors.  A nearby sales engineer notices your interest and invites you to share a cup of coffee to learn more about his line of Aerospace sprocket products.

He takes you to a side room whose walls are covered in product posters and schematics⁸. You’re about learn more than you ever wanted to know about aerospace sprockets.  After the sales engineer talks your ear off, you’re ready to meander thru the facility by yourself.  You thank him for his time (and coffee) and set off alone.

Everyone at Spacely Sprockets is busy working so you’re able to walk around unnoticed.  You can listen to conversations naturally occurring in the customer support boiler room, in sales and product development. You start to hear the some comments repeated over and over such as “…our sprockets are indestructible”….and “…we have the fastest delivery in the world….” as well as “…we use a patented titanium alloy in all our products.”  You’re not exactly sure what this all means, but it’s said so often you have to take notice⁹.

Hours have passed by since you started your unannounced visit and you’ve decided you’ve had a day’s fill of sprocket information.  Perhaps a lifetime’s worth.  You thank the receptionist for your unfettered (and truly unimaginable) access and drive away.

It’s dinner time, so it’s best to stop for some food and drink.  A ha!  The local bar and grill looks great¹⁰.  You enter and take a seat at the bar to order the daily special.  A group of young guys sits at a nearby table arguing over which Spacely Sprocket is best used in a motorcycle.  Their enthusiastic conversation, likely encouraged by by the empty pitcher of beer, can’t be ignored by the other patrons.  You can’t help but listen in and be entertained by how these vocal Spacely Sprocket customers candidly discuss the company you’ve just toured.  You make a few amusing mental notes, finish your sandwich and head back home.

And that’s basically what a search engine does.  24/7/365.

Here‘s a review of the 10 examples and how they relate to optimizing your website for search engines. Remember, you’re a search engine – not a human being.

1. You learned about the “Spacely Sprockets” business via a conversation in social media, say on a Facebook wall posting or blog comment. Since you’re a self-respecting search engine and haven’t heard of this business, you’re determined to find more information.
2. A local Chamber of Commerce/Rotary sign could be a 3rd party directory listing such as AngiesList.com, a city website listing local businesses or a link from someone’s blogroll. It doesn’t matter — it’s just a link from another place. And the more credible the referring site is, the better.
3. Spacely Sprockets Avenue equivalent to a domain name. Having the actual company name in the domain is great; having your primary product in it (”sprockets”) is even better.
4. The building lettering for “SPACELY SPROCKETS” is the page title (TITLE) tag. It’s the name displayed in the very top of the browser window.
5. The “Spacely Sprockets: Innovative Sprockets for Automotive & Aerospace Manufacturing” poster is equivalent to the (H1) heading tag. It’s the hit-you-over-the-head-with-what-we-do statement displayed in big letters on a web page.
6. The building directory sign is a site’s navigation system and/or your sitemap page. It gives site visitors and search engine spiders a quick summary of what’s located where on your site and how to get there.
7. The “Manufacturing” wing is equivalent to the name of site section that houses information on all the various type of Sprockets created.
8. The “side room whose walls are covered in product posters and schematics” represents a product/family specific web page/section. It has all the nitty gritty product details including specs, available sizes and ordering information to name but a few options.
9. The phrase “You’re not exactly sure what this all means, but it’s said so often you have to take notice…” represents keyword density. Terms and phrases that are repeated enough to comprise 2-3% of web page’s total page copy get noticed more by search engines.
10. Finally the “local bar and grill” represents a typical 3rd party blog where anyone can comment and debate the merits of Space Sprocket products.

While search engine optimization is an art/science unto itself, this metaphor gives you an idea of various steps involved in getting a website properly indexed and what you can do to increase the chances of it happening.

Phew — long post!

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