Blog Entries

Measuring the pain with the Vitrue SMI

strutton@vitrue.com — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0100

This Media Post article (Online Buzz About Motrin Ad Already On the Wane ) highlights our ability to follow trends in social media with the Vitrue SMI. Karlene Lukovitz spoke with our CEO, Reggie Bradford, about the Motrin story earlier today. "That fact that people care enough to tweet or blog about Motrin indicates that there's passion about the brand. Motrin should now be able to take the feedback, continue the conversation, and harness that passion for the positive," said Reggi [...]

Post Election Analysis

strutton@vitrue.com — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Here's an update on the 2008 election data from the Vitrue SMI. It's interesting to compare the popular vote to the share of voice between Obama and McCain going into election day.

On 11/2
Obama Vitrue SMI score = 7140 (54.1%)
McCain Vitrue SMI score = 6050 (45.9%)

On 11/3
Obama Vitrue SMI score = 7140 (53.2%)
McCain Vitrue SMI score = 6270 (46.8%)

On 11/4
Popular vote of election
Obama 53%
McCain 46%

Updated chart with data [...]

Obama and McCain Proving Social Media Marketing

strutton@vitrue.com — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100

In a recent article, AdAge names Obama the Marketer of the Year. From the article, Linda Clarizio, president of AOL's Platform A said, "I think he did a great job of going from a relative unknown to a household name to being a candidate for president." and Angus Macaulay, VP-Rodale marketing solutions said, "To see what he's done, to be able to create a social network and do it in a way where it's created the tools to let people get engaged very easily. It's very easy for people to participat [...]

Is McCain a more social brand than Obama?

strutton@vitrue.com — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Today's Vitrue SMI scores show that McCain not only caught up with Obama, but is slightly ahead. Looking at their respective brand's Social Share of Voice, we see McCain (35.6%), barely edging out Obama (34.6%), while Palin (26.3%) completely towers over Biden (3.46%).

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Vitrue SMI featured on Forbes.com

strutton@vitrue.com — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100

If you haven't seen the article on Forbes.com featuring the Vitrue SMI, check it out.

Yesterday we spoke with Elizabeth Woyke who afterwards crafted the article "Tina Fey For President!" (Blogs and social-networking sites have spoken: Tina Fey should run for president.) on Forbes.com. The articles is great and shows a unique use of the Vitrue SMI. Elizabeth talks about the rise of the political brands in social media over the past 2 months. Here's a chart that shows more detail [...]

Should the soup wars go social?

strutton@vitrue.com — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Yesterday in "Brandweek" (article link) I read about the recent soup wars that have been waged between Campbell and Progresso. Basically each brand is slinging the MSG mud like two politicians in the throes of an election. While the article talks about running full page ads in the NY Times, I wonder if these brands considered social media? I tend to think harmful additives in food is a topic consumers will be passionate about.

Using the Vitrue SMI tool I discovered that Campbell [...]

Measuring Social Media Just Got Easier - Vitrue SMI

strutton@vitrue.com — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Measuring your brand's conversations across social media has often been a challenge, if not almost impossible. Well, I'm excited to say that's changing! A team of social media experts here at Vitrue have recently developed a new marketing metric to help marketers, and advertisers gain insight into their brand's conversations. The Vitrue Social Media Index™ report is an easy to understand measurement of you [...]

What do bicycles and social media have in common?

strutton@vitrue.com — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Well, if you're the state of Missouri, a lot. Next week (September 8th) Missouri kicks off their 2nd annual Tour of Missouri International Cycling Race. This year the tour will include an online social community where fans, tourists, teams and Tour personnel can upload and share content. The social network is called Fanzone and is integrated with the Tour's main site. The social community i [...]

Social Media And Agencies: Tools For Success

strutton@vitrue.com — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

At Vitrue we have a long track record of creating successful partnerships with some of the greatest publishers, brand marketers and agencies. How each of these partners taps into social media can differ in approach, needs and expected results. In the latest Adotas article, Reggie Bradford our CEO, discusses how agencies can focus on their core competencies and l [...]

Vote for Vitrue on AdWeek's People's Choice Buzz Awards

strutton@vitrue.com — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

The Vitrue powered Ben & Jerry's Imagine campaign has gotten plenty of buzz, and rightfully so. Ben & Jerry's hit the sweet spot with a new flavor, a cool social app, and a cause everyone can appreciate. You have seen Ben & Jerry's Imagine haven't you?

So it was of no surprise when I learned that Vitrue [...]

Case Study: Ben & Jerry's Social Media Program

strutton@vitrue.com — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Brandweek recently featured Ben & Jerry's social media program (powered by Vitrue) in a case study. Brandweek found a 42-fold increase in engagement and concluded the program strengthened relationships with loyalists and introduced Ben & Jerry's to younger audiences. Read the full case study at Brandweek.

The Ben& Jerry's program utilizes Vitrue's mosaic application (marketing description here). Personally I think the Mosaic demonstrates a great a [...]

Vitrue.com a Fresh Look and New Content

strutton@vitrue.com — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

This past Friday we launched our new company site. Our goals were to simplify the navigation, present our combined offerings (post acquisition), and highlight some of the client work we have done. Take a look around and let us know what you think. Yeah, that's right, our new blog has comments enabled (don't ask, just comment). We are here to participate in the conversation.

BTW, we know the blog looks a little canned, we plan to turn our attention to it next. Drop us a comment and let us know [...]

Vitrue acquires UGENmedia

strutton@vitrue.com — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

The office is filled with energy and excitement this week with the news of the acquisition. Just in case you haven't heard, we acquired UGENmedia. This acquisition is significant and positions us as the leading social media marketing company for blue chip brands. The official press release as well as UGENmedia's web site has the basic details. As a product director at Vitrue, I'd like to dive into one specific area of our new combined strengths.

Right off the bat, our product strategies overl [...]

How to target the affluent through social media

gretchen@vitrue.com — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

BizReport's Kristen Knight dives into targeting via social media with our CEO Reggie Bradford. Excerpt below, or click through to the BizReport site for the complete read.
According to Reggie Bradford, CEO of Vitrue, a social media company, there are some proven methods to attracting the right target base through social media. First, social sites need to be monitored. According to Reggie, affluent consumers what to trust a website. Whether that is an ecommerce hub or a social message board, [...]

Safely Building Your Brand on UGC

gretchen@vitrue.com — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Another great article by our CEO Reggie Bradford on Adotas. Reggie dives into 3 excellent tips to help ensure brands safely harness the power of UGC. Excerpt below or click through to the Adotas site for the full article.

News flash: the much-hyped Web 2.0 is here. When it arrived may still be up for debate but for the savvy company and interactive marketer, the discussion that's really worth having is wha [...]

UGC And Travel: The Sky’s The Limit!

gretchen@vitrue.com — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Reggie Bradford, our CEO, recently published an article at Adotas about user generated content and the travel industry. Below is an excerpt or click over to the Adotas site to read in it's entirety.

The Travel Industry Association (TIA) of America estimates annual travel expenditures at more than $730 billion. World figures, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council, were valued at $2.97 trillion last [...]

User-Generated Content: The Functional Level Re-examined

gretchen@vitrue.com — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I read an interesting interview with Founder and CEO of Real Travel Inc., Ken Leeder, in EyeforTravel on March 6, 2008. In this article, Mr. Leeder contended that the idea of "Travel 2.0," or the interlacing of social media with travel companies' consumer outreach, may in the future be linked to social networks like Facebook. He pointed out an alleged disconnect in intentions between people v [...]

Vitrue CEO says entrepreneurs need perseverance and timing

gretchen@vitrue.com — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Check out Allen Maurer's piece about Vitrue and Reggie at TechJournal South.

Reggie Bradford, CEO of Vitrue, which helps companies create video-centric social networks around brands, says that working with startups from WebMD to N2 Broadband and Vitrue, he’s learned that perseverance and timing are key virtues.

Reading Between the Trend Lines

gretchen@vitrue.com — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0100

In a press release from January 7th, Will Beresford, strategy director at beyond analysis, makes ten predictions on the future of social media and business in 2008. While we've all had our fill of forward-thinking projection pieces, Beresford provocatively asserts in supposition number 6 that "the interest in large social networking sites as the next best thing in advertising will fall away as quickly as it has arrived." The elephant in the room to which this contention is clearl [...]

Meijer Empowering its Consumer to Create Ads

gretchen@vitrue.com — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0100

"Have you ever wanted to make a promotional video or Television Commercial? Do you get tired of seeing the same old commercials over and over? Could you do a better job selling that story?"

This is what Meijer, a Midwest retail supercenter, is asking its consumers to do - create consumer generated ads. Engaging your consumers and letting them guide the messaging of your advertising campaign is a great way [...]