A couple of weeks ago, Ogilvy North America announced via an old-school press-release a partnership with Technorati around the mysterious "Conversational Marketing System." At least one online pundit raised a skeptical eyebrow (while tapping her ever-so-pointy high heels...).
So, I talked to Peter Hirschberg, the Chairman of Technorati, to understand the skinny behind the press release.
Essentially, Technorati pulls together blog posts, videos and photos (things with RSS feeds) on certain topics and then serves them up in a custom interface/aggregation sponsored by a client. It is actually a great way to connect word-of-mouth to brands and more importantly the customers of those brands.Â
My question: What is the Technorati Conversational Marketing System?
Peter's answer: It's hugely applicable to PR. It allows a brand to embrace a community publicly and to get close to them. It began with Paramount's movie, An Inconvenient Truth. We found word of mouth and put it on the page.
We could find out who writes on topics via Technorati. An editor can choose from the feed usually just to keep things on target, not to weed out disagreements. We added an advertising component with the Dixie Chicks release, "Shut Up and Sing." The interactive ad unit pulls the RSS feed content from Technorati - the conversations on a particular topic - and essentially syndicates the blog content. we create widgets that blogs can add to feature syndicated content, as well.
Here's a screen grab of the movie version to give you a sense of what an early version included:
A convenient full disclosure: I take it for granted that you know I work for Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide. I also run the 360 Digital Influence business within that agency. We design and execute digital strategy around social media. We were not a part of the original announcement but the spirit at Ogilvy is that we are all digital and my team is just as likely to take advantage of the partnership as any other part of the Ogilvy empire. Oh and our parent, wpp has an investment stake in the Weinstein company which supports the Dixie Chicks. I think that about does it.
I am pretty certain that the creation of ad units with topical conversations syndicated inside is what appealed to Ogilvy NA. It will be interesting to see how another member of our tribe wrestles with the issue of "control" of content in relation to a brand. It's one thing if you are a brand of controversy like the Dixie Chicks - then having vigorous disagreements right there on the page is part of the brand experience. But it's another if you are a food, car or oil company.
Here's my take:
- We have been aggregating conversations for our clients already and I know using Technorati to create these feeds via search strings or scope search - Peter calls this a "metatorial" process - is a really smart way to go.
- They have created content management or, rather, RSS management interfaces that allow the administrator to pick and choose what posts to include. Remember, Peter's premise is that this only makes sense to help keep conversations on target, not to weed out disagreements.
- NOW BEFORE YOU GET YOUR KNICKERS IN A TWIST: Yes someone could over-edit. The tempatation to do that on a brand that doesn't embrace controversy has got to be pretty high. Peter has a great extra doo-dad which I love: you can add a link right on the branded page that will take you to "See what people are saying on Technorati." That would take you to the unedited search results. Peter's point is that folks can figure out how to get that pretty quick anyhow and that a brand would get some cred from being that forthcoming.
- I would go a step further. Simply make certain that whatever descriptor is adjacent to the feed content is labeled "select feeds" or the equivalent. If you are really bold, you can add a link to a "selection policy" page that makes it clear what your criteria is. I have my doubts as to whether most brands would do this.
I love when brands embrace conversation. Now here's another set of tools that in the right hands can introduce what people are saying about an issue more places.
http://johnbell.typepad.com/weblog/2007/02/ogilvy_...