Measuring Local Community Influence – Module 8

In a previous post last week – when we discussed influencers – I mentioned one of our larger “local influencers,” the Minnesota Star Tribune. This local paper is one of the most widespread newspapers in Minnesota, and it constantly writes articles on GMI’s “goings-on,” performance, products, and more.

We measure the press coverage we get in the paper by looking at both the positive and negative articles they might write.  I’ve also discovered that we have personnel within the marketing team that analyze articles and press for both positive and negative comments.

I would suggest that GMI measure their local influence by looking at everything from articles in the MST, to reviews we get on sites like Glassdoor, ComputerWorld, etc. This provides the perception of the company both within the community, and as a nationally top-ranked employer.

We can use a wide team of analysts, as well as computer based software to analyze contents and comments, and then utilize that data to react and change (which is what many departments within the company that handle this sort of thing actually do).

One great example of a reaction by one of the locals to our decision as a company to support same-sex marriage can be seen here. Lets just say that his demonstration didn't go quite like he planned…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxpF7DaeC1A

Twitter Measurement – Module 8

GMI has two major Twitter feeds – General Mills, and General Mills Careers. For this post, we’ll focus on the General Mills Twitter feed, which can be viewed at https://twitter.com/GeneralMills. We will compare GMI’s feed to the primary Kellogg feed located at https://twitter.com/Kelloggs_US.

In my view, this feed is used to capitalize on two major outlets/ returns for the company, those are:

   1.)  Direct interactions with customers

   2.)  Pushing marketing and product related material.

For example, this contrast presents itself immediately upon observing the feeds latest tweets:

One post wishes all those on the east coast safety during Hurricane Sandy, while the preceding post helps a customer that “needs to find Count Chocula cereal for reals!” locate some.

Personally, I think we are reaching and engaging our target audience (by interacting with them directly), as well as making sure the content is relevant (i.e. cereal related material / marketing).

When we compare our Twitter feed with that of Kellogg’s, (our largest direct competitor), we see some marked differences arise.

On Twitter Counter, we can see that GMI has several thousand more followers over the past three months (and that number is increasing) when compared to Kellogg’s feed.

Screen 1

We can also see that GMI has a better re-tweet rank than that of Kellogg’s.

Screen 2 and 3

Finally, we can see that GMI’s and Kellogg’s BrandTweet stats are relatively similar. 

Screen 4 and 5

When we view the two feeds closely, we can see many similarities in their content and conversations. Both companies market product, interact with customers, and discuss events occurring locally (i.e. The World Series). I would not, however, that Kellogg’s recent tweets seem a little less “company focused,” in that they seem to be discussing the World Series rather heavily as of late.

In the end, I feel that GMI is on a much more company/customer-focused utilization of Twitter. While we do seem to acknowledge and discuss external events (i.e. Hurricane Sandy), our feed is eccentrically customer and product focused when compared to our biggest competitor. I would advise GMI to continue to interact directly with customers, and possibly expand the number of feeds to include unique feeds for each region we serve (i.e. U.S., UK, etc.)

Blog Measurement – Module 8

The blog I will evaluate for this post is entitled A Taste of General Mills, and is located at:  http://www.blog.generalmills.com

As you will not doubt see, our blog is subtle, yet contains a nice mixture of content, flash, and a soft, welcoming blue hue. It is also fully integrated with the likes of the social media titans (i.e. YouTube, Twitter, etc.)

However, some of the metrics related to the blog are a bit disappointing to say the least. The first metric – Raw Author Contribution – calculates as follows:

Our RAC in Post/Month for the life of the blog comes out to be:

483 posts / 17 months of blogging = 28.4 PPM

In content created, the RAC for the past 30 days would be:

700 words / post (average) / 17 posts = 41.17 WPP

The next metric – Conversation Rate – ought to pose a red flag to General Mills, as the ratio of comments to posts is absolutely abysmal.  

Our CR for the month of October would be:

0/17 = 0!!!

Not a single person has made a comment on one of our blog posts in the past month!

Our Technorati Authority rating is:

0 (I assume) since I couldn't find the blog using any method on Technorati.com

In order to measure the costs of this effort, we could need to include the costs of hosting the blog, as well as the costs paying employees to maintain and write for this blog (that few people seem to read). 

Finally, we could then take that calculated cost and calculate the opportunity costs of having them focus on something else (i.e. an actual job related task), as I imagine the OC of the blog is rather high based on these metrics.

Personally, I wonder if a blog is really a necessary marketing / exposure tool, or if it is simply being done to ensure that we’re “covering the media bases.” It seems to me that our other social media outlets (i.e. LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) are all much more active than the blog in terms of comment to content ratio. In all honesty – after considering the potential time wasted on this effort – I would suggest that the best thing GMI could do to “improve” the blog would be to shut it down and focus those resources elsewhere. After looking over these metrics, I seriously wonder if anyone outside of the marketing group would miss it.

Mobile Measurement – Module 8

There are several differences when it comes to evaluating desktop users objectives when compared to those of a mobile user.

To my amazement, our top-level domain (generalmills.com) doesn't have a mobile version. I’ll assume this is for two reasons:

   

   1.)  This domain is really designed to be the corporate General Mills site, and as such, someone might assume (incorrectly in my opinion) that the majority of “everyday consumers” will never visit the site.

   

   2.)  Someone simply hasn't gotten around to making one yet (we’re a big company, and we manage more than a quarter million domains globally.)

However, you will find that other, more consumer-oriented sites (with consumer oriented content) DO indeed have mobile versions in place. (i.e. bettycrocker.com)

When a user on a desktop computer visits this site, they could be looking for anything from recipes, to product information, to app downloads. Our mobile version of the same site is more focused on what we believe to be the content our mobile users would want:  quick access to recipes and coupons, as well as our “Main Ingredient” recipe engine that allows you to select some things you have in your fridge, and subsequently suggests one of our (or a users) recipe utilizing those ingredients.

While our top-level domain has yet to go mobile, our other brand sites like Betty Crocker and Pillsbury all follow a similar, user focused format – offering quick access to the most pertinent, consumer focused information with a few simple clicks.

GMI measures mobile users much like those on the desktop (i.e. unique visitors, time-on-site, etc.), but we also have a few goals aligned with these sites (i.e. # of coupon downloads, # of recipe lookups, etc.) 

I am positive that our sophisticated analytics tools measure the activity on these sites to a depth I am legally prohibited from discussing J

I would suggest that GMI design a nice mobile version of our top-level domain, and deploy it ASAP. This would afford those interested (i.e. shareholders, local community members, general consumers) quick and easy mobile access to company public documents, contact and stock information and more. 

In my view, not having a mobile version of the top-level domain hinders our mobile strategy in ways that could (and should) be prevented. 

Content Consumption – Module 8

Over the past five years, both the content I consume, and the methods I use to consume it have changed drastically.

I’ve been an avid reader my entire life, and as such, I have a massive shelf full of books covering everything from your standard thriller, to your political diary. Funny thing is, that shelf essentially stopped gaining content over the past few years – as everything I read these days is neatly digitized on my iPad. J

The same goes for things like newspapers and magazines – all-digital on my iPad or read for free on the web. In fact, I get the majority of the days headlines from Google News – my first stop every morning.

While I might still read a print copy of a work, it would be essentially for one or two reasons:

   1.)  For some reason, what I want to read isn’t available in digital format.

   2.)  I want to retain a copy of the printed work because it has some monetary or sentimental value.

I find that I now consume content almost constantly, and through a myriad of devices depending on my location and situation. For example, I will often read the NYT on my iPad at home on the weekends, but will strike up Google News on my iMac before heading out the door for work.

If I’m in a meeting, I might glance at something on my iPhone, or view that same content on my MacBook at my desk.

I don't think there is any doubt that – over the past five years – I have made a significant shift away from physical media (i.e. paper, discs, books) toward digital media (i.e. digital mags, e-books, e-news), and would never look back. Put simply, the e-media is cheaper over the long term, more relevant and up-to-date, and can be consumed, organized, and retained much easier than physical versions of the same content.