Bill is so straight, Jerry has to play the clown. It doesn't work, but I wish it did.

- Start listenting. Either using search engines to type in your own company and product names or those of your competitors, see what links come up first. Do they include product reviews, blogs or comments? If so, see if you notice common threads. For extra credit, retain the services of a buzz monitoring company to help you create a more complete understanding of what consumers are already saying.
- Tap your own databases to understand what your best customers think about you. Use email and surveys to find out what makes you special, and if your best customers fall into specific categories such as small business owners, new parents, camping enthusiasts, etc.
- Form a short list of topics that covers both what people are saying about you and what your best customers care about. If they overlap, you've got your starting subject matter, if they don't, decide which seems to be the most positive and go with that.
- Start small on your own site. There is a reason why blogs are the most popular social marketing tactic. They allow you to control content and place it on your own site. Additionally, you get some improved SEO. Remember that only a small group will read the blog, most likely your best customers and other enthusiasts. Make sure you ask them what they want to read about and post to the niche, not the masses.
- Simple integration with other campaigns can make it easier to justify social tactics. Adding a widget to a display campaign is a great way to increase viral behavior and can function as a test without blowing your display budget.
- (Yes, you've hear this before.) Align your goals with measurement. If your goal is to directly drive sales, then social marketing tests will not fare very well. Social marketing works best for branding, buzz and driving intent. To really measure ROI, you need to start thinking about where people go after they see your social marketing, perhaps to search engines or your own website. This is where you can start measuring incremental value.

With Jupiter as the acquiree, driving up to Cambridge into the home turf of the acquirer was a bit intimidating. They're bigger, more tech focused, bigger. However, I was happy to realize pretty quickly that we work together just fine. It was not a meeting to 'Forresterize' us. Rather, we all brainstormed together, and found that our ideas played well off of each other. David Card's media savvy was a great compliment with Jeremiah's Silicon Valley take on things, for example.
It was a brainstorming session, but I did notice that Jupiter usually cites more data when coming up with ideas, from my end, it often includes executive survey data as well as consumer survey data. Also, Jupiter is in New York, so we definitely think more about content and the consumer while they have more coverage around vendors and tools. Together, we probably have the deepest bench of any analyst firm when it comes to social marketing (ahem, social computing.)
Speaking of data, I am excited to learn more about Technographics and how it compares to our own consumer data. I'm also now officially allowed to run Groundswell projects (let us know if you are interested!) Also, expect a few "Big Ideas" coming from the group next year, as well as some more definition around what we each will cover.

I was also briefed this week by Omar Tawakol, the CEO of the new behavioral targeting startup, BlueKai. The company takes an innovative approach on behavioral targeting not unlike a behavior exchange. The company is partnering with a rich list of retail and research sites, who sell their data, which is then bid on across a network of advertisers and sites (even some networks) to provide a true market value for each behavior. Of course, for behavioral targeting to really work, scale is key, which is what they are working on now.

The FTC write-up notes:

According to the testimony, behavioral advertising may provide a variety of benefits to consumers, including free content, personalization of ads, and a potential reduction in unwanted advertising. Consumer research has shown that consumers value online ads that are more personalized.

Jupiter's surveys show that only 28 percent of online users prefer well targeted ads to random ads, but it seems intuitive that well targeted advertising is desireable in general.

The FTC seems to be leaning towards self-regulation not government regulation. I am a fan of self-regulation for a few aspects: how data can be collected and stored, which personal pieces of information can be targeted, and how often. However, there are still some issues that might need government oversight, notably with consumer privacy. Oddly, the FTC contradicts itself on privacy issues. They seem to believe NebuAd's claim that the data is anonymous, but then voice concern on sensitive issues:

In particular, "Without adequate safeguards in place, consumer tracking data may fall into the wrong hands or be used for unanticipated purposes," the testimony states. "These concerns are exacerbated when the tracking involves sensitive information about, for example, children, health, or a consumer's finances."

Just as AOL said that their search data was anonymous, but many proved how easy it was to identify people, behavioral targeting data carries obvious clues. How many people in Pittsburg are looking for a cure for insomnia, drive a pontiac and have a child entering college? Probably not many.
The FTC must create guidelines around privacy, for example to determine whether those who misuse user data can be prosecuted and who is held responsible for the ownership of the data. In this case, NebuAd or the ISPs.