Denver: Thursday, June 21st; San Diego: Tuesday, June 26th

In today’s fragmented marketplace, brands are returning to the art of storytelling to communicate their message: they’re designing powerful multi-media narratives through content development, distribution and promotion. Successful brands know how to tell, augment and refine stories that effectively engage, delight and inspire customers to connect more deeply with the brand and of course, to pass along to friends. In this session, we will explore why content is the future of marketing, and how brands can leverage content-share across the web to gain and keep the attention of customers and prospects. The panel discussions include experts from Sanuk Footware & CareFusion in San Diego and Boppy in Denver.

Topics Include:

• Identifying the stories and story-tellers within your organization
• The art of SEO and Social Media in content success
• Content strategy basics – development, distribution, promotion
• Making the most out of each story – platforms, partnerships
• Energizing brand advocates to carry the story forward

SAVE THE DATE
The Denver event date will be Thursday, June 21st; and the San Diego event will be Tuesday,  June 26th.

• 8:30 – 9:00 AM Registration, Breakfast & Networking
• 9:00 – 10:00 AM Presentation & Questions
• 10:00 – 10:30 AM Networking

Who Should Attend:
Marketing Execs, CMOs, Marketing Directors, Search Strategists, Social Media Directors, Social Media Managers, Analytics Managers, Business Strategists, Product Managers & Brand Managers for national consumer brands and retailers.

- Specialists to lead discussions on optimizing marketing channel mix, storytelling through social media platforms -

Red Door Interactive, a strategic partner dedicated to ensuring businesses engage their customers wherever they are, will have two experts speak at the San Diego American Marketing Association’s “Art of Marketing” seminar Thursday.

Crosby Noricks, Director of Social Media, will present on “Storytelling Through Social Platforms” while Mikael Greenlief, Senior Media Planner, will present on “Understanding the Consumer Path to Purchase: Optimizing your Marketing Channel Mix.”

Greenlief’s presentation will focus on how the traditional models used to measure marketing channel performance are broken, how to effectively measure the individual influence of each marketing channel based on their efficiencies and how to tie these channels back to their contribution on the most important metric of all, ROI.

Noricks’ presentation will focus on how to leverage various social platforms to reach and inspire a digitally-connected audience. From content creation and curation to distribution and amplification, attendees will walk away with an understanding of how their stories can be told via social media and the strategic direction to make it happen.

More information is available at http://sdama.org/2011/11/05/art-of-marketing-2012/

By Crosby Noricks, Director of Social Media
Featured on Fast Company

We sing the praises of brands that appear to effortlessly lead the social conversation–Tom’s Shoes, Virgin America, Chipotle–while simultaneously hitting “refresh” on our Facebook likes, completely missing the point.

The numbers game (fans, followers, traffic, sign-ups, sales) will always fail as long as we fail to connect to what the customer cares about: footwear that makes a difference, a travel experience that makes flying fun, fresh food and great music. Marketing strategies will maintain their mediocre successes as long as we keep expecting engagement and loyalty from our customers without giving them the same consideration. However, by investing time and resources to develop great gobs of gorgeous content with compelling, interesting messages worth sharing, the scales will tip, the pendulum will swing.

Whether your goal is to galvanize public awareness around an important social issue or showcase new spring denim colors, aim to deliver relevant, sharable content for your customer across multiple touch points that connect to their life moments.

Here are some considerations when introducing strategic content strategy into the mix:

Start with what you already have. Content development and process begins with the organization. Perform a communication audit of existing collateral, creative assets, and positioning from the perspective of the customer. There are likely many existing content resources that with a bit of shine can be revitalized into powerful content marketing pieces–just take a look at the amazing photography that the New York Times  incorporated into its Facebook timeline. However, be a fierce editor, ruthless about sending things to the cutting room floor. Ask yourself honestly, “Is this any good?” “Do these images make me feel the right kind of something?” “Is this worth sharing?” In addition to reviewing existing materials, gather opinions about content opportunities and upcoming milestones from staff members. Involve your entire organization in a creative brainstorm to uncover the compelling stories that are already happening, ripe for the telling.

Let the social conversation lead. Some of the best advice I’ve heard about writing is to “listen to your audience and they’ll write your copy for you.” The social web is a goldmine for business intelligence. Make a point to listen and learn from what people are saying about you, your competitors, and the world at large. When you find out what is inspiring, challenging, or cracking up your customer, you’ve hit the jackpot. Take a look through trending topics on Twitter, top videos on YouTube, and your own social feeds for inspiration.

Abide by your customer’s to-do list. As the editor in chief of your organization, develop an editorial calendar that takes into account key dates not only in your industry, but those that matter to your customer. Your annual sales meeting or tradeshow booth might be a big deal to you, but what about it is interesting to your customer? How can you bring them into the fold? Maybe it’s a series of quick “nice to meet you” videos for your Facebook community with the C-suite, or a Twitter contest to crowdsource the name of this season’s new laptop bag, then announced via live-feed during a special customer Q&A. For clothing brand Free People, the music festival Coachella was an important enough event to warrant a how-to video on DIY body paint for on-trend festival decoration.

Make transmedia your best friend. Get the most value out of investing in content by including multiple platforms and varied content around singular campaigns. During the planning phase, consider the different ways to connect to your audience and decide ahead of time to develop and integrate several of these platforms into your approach. Behind-the-scenes still shots at a video shoot can be published to Instagram, and money-saver tips used as website copy can be turned into a series of illustrated JPEGs and posted to Pinterest. Of course, it’s not necessary to always use every platform, but it is necessary to consider each platform.

Now is the time to augment the traditional marketing conversion funnel with a strategic content strategy. Whether you imagine your brand storytelling like the great American novel, celebrity blog, or must-see television comedy, know that sales are a natural outcome of placing value, connecting your brand to the broader issues and ideas that interest your customer.

Read the full article, here.

Stephanie Buck, Mashable

Social media is all about user/customer interaction — that much we know. But many businesses value staff engagement as well. Pinterest’s collaborative approach encourages employees to not only get to know each other, but also to communicate their personalities and tastes to the wider public.

Marketing and communications agency Red Door Interactive recently launched a Pinterest project that encourages staff members to contribute ideas and inspiration for its new office. The board, titled “San Diego Office Inspiration,” encourages 63 staff member contributors to pin interior design, architectural and decor ideas for the new office, which they’ll be relocating to Oct. 2012.

“We value the opinions and aesthetic preferences of all our employees and have really enjoyed their discoveries as well as seeing the engagement on our collective suggestions,” she says.

And the sky’s the limit when it comes to inspiration. Red Door’s new office space will be significantly bigger than its old digs, and the staff was not given a budget cap. “This was unrelated to budget — it was more about collaboration, contribution and of course, inspiration,” says Noricks. “We encouraged a ‘dream big’ approach to creating the ideal office.”

Turns out, the staff is dreaming about gymnastics-inspired meeting spaces, giant hammocks and vertical gardens for its new office. Noricks adds her two cents: “I’m personally voting for the treadmill desks and a photobooth!”

Read the full article, here.

See the Red Door San Diego Office Inspiration Pinterest Board, here.

- Companies provide exclusive backstage access straight from the runway using integrated initiatives including Infographic, Facebook contest, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr and more -

SAN DIEGO – February 15, 2012 – Red Door Interactive, a strategic partner dedicated to ensuring businesses engage their customers wherever they are, launched a multifaceted social media campaign for Creative Nail Design (CND) coinciding with CND’s 15^th Anniversary at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York.

 Each season, CND works with designers to develop custom nail styles that communicate the point of view of the current collection, like the Groovy Pinwheel Manicure CND created for Nicole Miller this season.

Now, CND Fashion Week extends to social media via a content strategy that includes real-time Twitter updates and daily blog coverage from CND Co-Founder and Style Director Jan Arnold. Backstage photos and videos are shared via Instagram, YouTube and Tumblr. Runway looks and nail style close-ups are pinned from the blog to Pinterest. An Infographic called “The History of Nails at Fashion Week,” explores the evolution of the nail trend, and a daily Facebook give-away invites fans to choose their favorite runway nail style from the FW12 shows.

Fans can follow along by visiting the following:

• CNDWorld on Twitter
• CND on Facebook
• CNDVideo on YouTube
• CNDWorld on Pinterest
• CNDWorld on Instagram
• CNDWorld on Tumblr
• CNDFashionWeek blog

“Each season, the digital conversation surrounding fashion week gets bigger, as does the focus on nails as the ultimate fashion accessory,” said Elyce DeBrown, Director of Marketing at CND. “We’ve been behind-the-scenes for 15 years and are thrilled to be working with our partners at Red Door Interactive to tell the CND Fashion Week story through social media.”

The overall CND Fashion Week strategy is collaborative by nature, and allows the brand to focus on capturing visual content, while Red Door extends those activities online, providing the technical capabilities and expertise to drive awareness, social share, influencer coverage and conversation.

“In the fashion industry – much like many other markets – consumers are looking to feel a personal connection with the brands they love,” said Crosby Noricks, Director of Social Media for Red Door Interactive. “Social media allows for this, but only when the strategy strikes the right balance between personality, immediacy and value. We’re proud to be able to do that for CND!”

 ”The History of Nails at Fashion Week“ Infographic:

About Red Door Interactive, Inc.
With offices in Denver, San Diego and Carlsbad, Red Door Interactive, Inc. is a strategic partner dedicated to ensuring businesses acquire, convert, retain and engage their customers wherever they are. The firm holds more than a decade of expertise in successfully developing and executing communications initiatives across all touch points to deliver real, measureable results. Clients include Cricket Communications, CND (Shellac), Rubio’s Restaurants, Inc. and Charlotte Russe. Find out more about Red Door Interactive at http://www.reddoor.biz.

 ###

© 2012 by Red Door Interactive, Inc. All rights reserved.

Mashable
Anne Buehner, Associate Social Media Strategist, Red Door Interactive

Toasting the new year is not what it used to be. Which comes first – a kiss from your loved one or uploading a photo of the ball drop to Instagram?

This type of midnight social media madness provides a great snapshot into the lives of the consumers who may buy your product or service in 2012. It’s time to take direct aim at your audience, or at least try to satisfy their appetite for moment-to-moment content.

With 2011 in the rearview mirror, you’re likely forecasting a fresh social media/instablogging strategy for the new year. You’ve probably heard that a brand relationship needs to mirror a personal one, but which self-publishing platforms can really accomplish this esprit de corps? One of the easiest ways for brands to leverage warm and fuzzy feelings is to play in the same social spaces as your friends and family would.

However, it can be difficult to decide which platform is the right fit for your brand – in addition to the standards Facebook and Twitter, of course. Which sites help brands keep up in the real-time content race? Which sites really drive engagement? Here are a few I see as emerging leaders.

1. Tumblr

Brands use Tumblr to create a community and to build a following fast with its quick and easy setup, seamless tagging and sharing capabilities. Existing brands also use the short-form blog to breathe life into content through a host of mixed-media that includes photos, links and video. However, you don’t want to shoot from the hip with Tumblr — it requires a content strategy, branded “look and feel” and management approval to re-blog other images. You’ll want to use Google Analytics to track traffic since Tumblr does not offer a reporting platform. Tumblr also does not have the best reputation when it comes to collaborating with brands on advertising opportunities.

Anthropologie recently launched a Tumblr blog called Etymologie. The posts are inspired by reader-submitted words and the content is more lifestyle-driven, rather than promotional. Ace Hotel uses a Tumblr called Everything Will Be Okay, with a philanthropic focus and subtle “get a room” reference to its hotels.

The Tumblr platform isn’t just suited for big timers; it can work for a small companies looking to find fans in a target audience of 34-years-old and younger.
 

2. Pinterest

Brands use Pinterest to build brand personality and inspire trends and influencers through instant social sharing. Pins are typically centered around major life events such as weddings and holidays. Users create theme-based collections through the site’s virtual pinboards. Dialogue is generated through the simple act of Pinning, Repinning, Liking and commenting on images taken on a smartphone or from the web. Pinterest presents a helpful tool for brand direction by analyzing what is frequently Pinned and why.

With over 400,000 visitors per month – and rapidly growing – Pinterest is a huge referral source for brands. Real Simple recently reported that Pinterest drove more traffic to its website than Facebook in the month of October. Smaller brands should take note of Cabot Cheese, which uses Pinterest to curate photos of food that can be made with its cheese — other boards include fun photos of cows, farms and Vermont.

While the site’s list of etiquette states “avoid self-promotion,” aka soft sell, it does not include stipulations around contests. Lands’ End took advantage of this in December with the engagement contest Lands’ End Canvas Pin It to Win It. The promotion encouraged users to browse its modern clothing line and make Boards for a chance to win apparel.

3. Instagram

Brands use Instagram to showcase products, services, events or just a behind-the-scenes look through a feed of photos, instead of a slew of text. The photo sharing application for iPhone uses dazzling image filters, and features cross-posting to other social networks including Twitter, Facebook profiles, Flickr, Foursquare, Tumblr and Posterous. The goal is to attract new fans with Instagram’s search and keyword function, and to draw engagement through likes, comments, @replies and #hashtags. Instagram provides relatively seamless integration with dozens of third-party applications, including Statigram, which offers analytics.

Brands with an existing following can thrive on Instagram. In 2011, more than 150 million images were uploaded to the platform in less than a year by more than 8 million users. Popular t-shirt company Threadless is a great insta-success story, recently passing 70,000 followers, some of whom submit their own designs.

One big drawback: Instagram is still not available for Android, and the application doesn’t integrate with Facebook brand pages. What it does do is make your pictures look good – really good. For me, Instagram feels like a safe space, where I can sift through gorgeous real-time photo updates from friends, family and my favorite shoe company, all in one place.

4. Tout

Brands use Tout to create real-time, 15-second video status updates captured from Apple and Android smartphones, and then distributed through social networks. Instant video sharing is on the rise as more and more consumers use smartphones. Tout offers integration across multiple platforms such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, and does include analytics. It’s essentially video Twitter.

Brands that want to utilize creative ways to showcase new products or services, make announcements, give a behind-the-scenes look, or “tout out” to show appreciation for fans or staff may want to experiment with this platform. You might remember when Shaquille O’Neal famously announced his retirement from basketball via Tout. Similar to Instagram, brands without a decent following shouldn’t start with Tout first, but add it on to their existing social strategy.

Tout is still in its toddler stage, asking for suggestions from its community to help drive the product road map for the platform. Perhaps you can help navigate how Tout would best suit your brand.

I also think Tout requires client management, and doesn’t really work in the B2B space. You can’t share Tout directly from your smartphone to YouTube, only to Twitter, Facebook and email. You can cut YouTube videos down and then upload your favorite 15-seconds to Tout.

No matter what platform you choose, if you’re providing springboards for spontaneity around your brand, you generate a more transparent, empowering and compelling message for the audience — one that can help build and strengthen communities at a rapid pace with the snap of a camera, Pin or click.

Understanding and developing a strategy around these tools gives your brand control over the real-time moments that today’s connected generation craves. After the midnight toast, it’s time to Pin, Tumble and Tout.

Image courtesy of Flickr, libraryman

View original post on mashable.com>>>

eMarketing & Commerce (eM+C)
Crosby Noricks, Director of Social Media, Red Door Interactive

I admit it. I’ve been hooked on reality show “Project Runway” since its inception nearly seven years ago. I’ve had to work hard not to ask industry friends for a sneak-peek of the show results that recently took place during SS12 Fashion Week. The show is a bit of a guilty pleasure to be sure, but as someone who writes a blog for fashion PR professionals, I can also claim that it’s my job.

By day I’m the director of social media for Red Door Interactive, where I support a wide range of companies from Charlotte Russe to Quiksilver. My time is spent working with brands to develop strategies to help them listen to and engage with customers and prospects by listening to their comments, asking questions and getting feedback. Recently, a lightbulb went off in my head: my two worlds aren’t very different from each other. The rules set for the designers on “Project Runway” aren’t far from the best practices followed by marketers on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other similar platforms.

Your customer is the fashion police
Renowned fashion expert Tim Gunn is quick to point out in a poignant but humorous manner the clear no-nos “Project Runway” contestants are committing in their efforts to become the next fashion superstar. Likewise, Facebook users have a way of outing a company when it crosses the line. They tell their friends to avoid a look such as the “Tennessee tuxedo” (denim on denim).

TweetDeck and HootSuite have similar features that allow those on Twitter to block and report spam. The platforms themselves are a hotbed of activity any time a brand is perceived to have done wrong — e.g., Urban Outfitters and one Etsy designer’s necklaces. While brands occasionally get away with taking a risk, it’s best to not go against Facebook’s promotional guidelines. Those that are successful are technically skilled and have great presence and personality.

Watch your tone
“Project Runway’s” Judge’s Take segment is a brutal portion of the show where garment industry experts tear up contestants’ offerings at their seams, particularly when they try to dazzle them with their level of knowledge by throwing out tired fashion clichés. Vicious as it may be, it’s an opportunity for the contestants to hear from experts who aren’t typically enamored with hype.

You can’t speak to the judges in the same way you would a casual shopper. Yet when it comes to social media, many companies of all industries tend to use the same unidirectional, unoriginal communication style on their Facebook and Twitter feeds as they do for their email, direct marketing and conventional advertising.

A lack of research into customer preferences and lifestyle interests can lead to an inauthentic, dismissive tone where incentives and sales take the place of true customer service. The digital format demands content producers develop original material and work with nontraditional media sources. This includes moving beyond working with bloggers as glorified models, but as people who become true brand collaborators.

Pull a fast one and you’ll get pulled over
Gunn can spot a scam a mile away and will call a contestant out faster than a fashion mall store steals from the runway. It’s not pretty when it happens, but the biggest impact is most likely the stigma placed on the perpetrator, who’s now labeled a fake or fraud.

By reading foursquare tips, Yelp and Facebook Reviews, it’s clear that a carefully constructed web presence means nothing in the face of honest customer experiences. Moreover, large brands and even PR firms have been known to attempt to control and seed messages on these sites, inviting interns or providing heavy incentives for positive reviews only.

Bilking the system, be it for a $100,000 cash prize and a chance to create your own clothing line or for an increased review ranking on a popular online platform, will always come back to haunt the originator.

The teaching point is this: Much like a budding designer fresh out of school or worse, a budding reality star, brands have a lot to learn when it comes to respecting social communities, providing unique opportunities and content, and allowing space for transparency and authenticity. After all, just because one knows how to sew a hem on a pair of pants doesn’t mean they’re ready to send couture down the runway.

Read Article on eMarketing & Commerce Here>>>

September 9, 2011 – Welcome to another RDI Click! post. Click! is a weekly collection of digital news highlights from Red Door’s most inquiring minds.

Click, enjoy and learn.

We’ve done the hard work for you.

Marketers Plan To Increase Social Media Spend - MediaPost
“CMOs are planning to increase their spending on social media substantially over the next five years, according to a Duke University survey. The 249 CMOs of U.S. companies said they will increase their spending on social media from its current level of 7.1% of their overall marketing budget to 10.1% over the next year and to 17.5% in the next five years.”
Read More

Will Yahoo Shakeup Bring Renewed Focus On Mobile? - MediaPost 
“Yahoo’s lack of an aggressive mobile strategy may not have doomed Carol Bartz, but the burgeoning mobile sector is another key arena where the Web portal has been overtaken by rivals like Google and Facebook. The contrast is especially sharp with Google, which has made no secret of its ambitions for dominating the mobile space as computing and the Internet increasingly shift to handheld devices.”
Read More

What 2 Billion Smartphones Mean for Customer Service - ClickZ
“Customers own the conversations that they start, and they are free to start whatever conversations they want. It’s a free world, eh? Brands (including their employees, representatives, and paid advocates) own whatever response -including no response – they see fit to offer to a customer-initiated post or ongoing conversation. That same “free world” works both ways: After all, as U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney put it “Corporations are people too, my friend.”
Read More

Brands award customers points and gain appeal through online rewards programs - Direct Marketing News
“Companies are focusing their rewards programs online because that’s where their customers are. “People are online spending, so tying rewards to places like Amazon.com and Zynga and enabling them to use reward points by clicking a button makes it much easier,” says Elizabeth Crosta, VP of public affairs at American Express Co. “Ultimately for us, the more people redeem, the more customer loyalty we create.”
 
Read More

A comprehensive list of noteworthy news can be found at http://bit.ly/nuUyKP . Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter if you’d like up to the minute updates on our latest posts @reddoor.

APPAREL INSIDERS LLC
Crosby Noricks, Director of Social Media, Red Door Interactive

We could argue until Betsey Johnson retires (never!) about which department should “own” social media — marketing, PR, branding, customer service? (Short answer: like your BFF’s closet, social media was made for sharing). In fashion, however, some of the greatest social media success stories occur when PR is at the helm. A quick glance through Lucky Magazine’s relatively exhaustive list of fashion brands on Twitter shows that in addition to social media darlings DKNY and Oscar PR Girl, Tibi, Elizabeth & James, and Stuart Weitzman all promote a decidedly PR-centric approach to social media. And why not? In-house fashion PR reps are connected to the day-to-day of office goings-on. In the know about everything from upcoming press placements to celebrity dressing, the fashion PR perspective can effectively extend the brand personality into social by providing “behind-the-scenes” content and, by engaging with fans and followers, build long-term rapport and loyalty between brand and consumer.

Yet, for many fashion publicists, their professional background is more pitching media than PPC, more credit checks than custom application development. As a result, the ins and outs of platforms like Facebook and Twitter are often misunderstood and misused. Here are five ways fashion brands are getting it wrong when it comes to social media strategy:

Fashion has a Police; Facebook has Promotional Guidelines
While it is remarkable how many fashion brands still have profile pages instead of business pages, the single biggest faux pas on Facebook is fashion brands that run contests on the wall. These contests often come in the form of status updates asking fans to post a picture or leave a comment for a chance to win something. The skinny is that while you can promote your contest on the wall, you must use an application to manage the actual entries. Solution: commit Facebook’s Promotional Guidelines to memory and then find a Facebook-approved vendor or developer to help you execute Facebook contests or sweepstakes.

Full Article>>>

August 19, 2011 – Welcome to another RDI Click! post. Click! is a weekly collection of digital news highlights from Red Door’s most inquiring minds.

Click, enjoy and learn.

We’ve done the hard work for you.

Android Owners Use Apps Twice as Much as Mobile Web - Mashable
“The average Android user spends 56 minutes per day using his or her device to surf the web and use apps. But the latter takes up two-thirds of that time. The top 10 apps account for 43% of all the time Android users spend on mobile apps. The top 50 apps account for 61% of all time spent. There are a total of about 250,000 Android apps in the market at this time.”
Read More

What does your social media voice say about your brand? - SmartBlog on Social Media
“What kind of voice you use for your social communications can say a lot about your brand. How you frame your social media communications depends largely on the industry you are in, your social media goals and the kinds of information you’re trying to convey. Each voice has its own strengths and weaknesses. There are times when each voice is the most appropriate.”
Read More

5 ways to use mobile barcodes (before they’re obsolete)- iMedia
“Mobile barcodes are everywhere. From bus benches to the shelves of major retailers, the chunky codes have become integrated into nearly all media. At the same time, many pundits and trend-watchers rally that mobile barcodes are already on the way out, obsolescing by advances in image recognition and near-field communications (NFC).”
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7 Back-to-School Must-Reads for the Business Bookworms- Marketing Profs
“September always seems to be a month of new starts, new learning and new challenges—and probably more so than the New Year. Here’s a pile of books, to share in hopes that you’ll find them interesting, motivating, and inspiring!” 
Read More

A comprehensive list of noteworthy news can be found at http://bit.ly/nuUyKP . Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter if you’d like up to the minute updates on our latest posts @reddoor.