John S. Wolfe

The panel (from left): Brandie Feuer, Becky Armendariz, Morgan Durant, Jay Baer and hostess Carey Pena of Channel 3.

It was a full house Tuesday night at the Mission Palms in Tempe to hear the Arizona Interactive Marketing Association panel on the impact of social media in business.

Some highlights:

Jay Baer, President, Convince and Convert, one of the nation’s top bloggers on the subject: He cited the example of Vitamin Water (http://vitaminwater.com/), which is now directing customers to a fan page at Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/vitaminwater). The company used it to invite “fans” to suggest a new flavor, running a contest as “crowd-sourcing.” Baer encourages his clients to think before they act – what do they want to accomplish? How will it be social? He also believes that companies need to wrap social media into their marketing and sales departments, instead of treating it like a unicorn in the corner. Study your customers and see how they use social media and look for ways to connect with them. A tortilla company is boosting sales by sharing a daily password on Facebook and Twitter that gives customers $1 off if they say the word to the cashier. The “oral coupon” is a way for businesses to assess its return on investment for social media.

Rebecca (Becky) Armendariz, public relations specialist at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center: Banner also uses Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/BannerHealth), although there are some limitations to its use because of privacy concerns. But the hospital did use the page to alert employees and visitors to the tragic death of an ER physician on New Year’s Eve. Armendariz said it became a memorial to him, with a lot of interaction. It allows for “virtual town halls” with employees. She also emphasized the need to include social meeting planning in the marketing calendar.

Brandie Feuer, director of interactive marketing for Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas: One of the hotel’s success stories with social media was a “flash mob” that performed a spontaneous dance in the middle of the casino. The dance to a unique song (“PHamous”) has totaled more than 1 million views on YouTube. Feuer added that the music is now a ringtone and high schools have asked to use it at their dances. She said PH has had some quirky hooks for attention, like an employee pumpkin-carving contest and some photos with red cups. The difficulty in promotion is realizing that most of the celebrities or high rollers aren’t too excited about publicity.

Morgan Durant, senior manager of corporate communications for US Airways: In an industry facing serious profit challenges, airlines have not had a lot of additional manpower to delve into social media, said Durant, who flew in from Philadelphia just before the blizzard hit. He said airlines know that customers are having conversations about travel, but the decision is how and when to participate. He does follow some online forums and jumps in with his full name and title to address complaints or misinformation about US Air. The company’s first foray into the field was with Twitter (http://twitter.com/usairwaysnews). It announced the return to flying in October of Capt. Sullenberger, the pilot of the plan that crash-landed in the Hudson River in January 2009, and then reported on it in “real time” by using TwitPics with its tweets. Durant is exploring how to use Twitter more to provide information like flight statuses to customers.

AZIMA meets on the second Tuesday of each month at the Mission Palms. The topic for the March 9 meeting is “Is Social Media a Waste of Money?” with William Leake, CEO and Founder,
Apogee Search.