People from around the world communicates with Alecia Dantica all day, but do not know if he is young, older, male or female.What his supporters on Facebook and Twitter do know is that it's nice, sometimes daring, and a blue and gold box of popcorn Garret. That is the symbol of the popular fast food chain based in Chicago that attracts crowds of tourists and locals here and in New York.
And when Dantica sends a "virtual box" of popcorn to a follower in Twitter is innovating the way companies advertise, joining a growing list of social networking experts hired to handle Twitter, Facebook and similar web portals.
"My day begins on Twitter and never really ends," said Dantica. The executive remains glued to his Blackberry at all hours to meet their contacts in different time zones. "This is my family crazy, but good."
Multinational corporations such as Ford and Coca-Cola are beginning to use social media to spread a positive image, establish good communication with customers and correct misinformation, said Adam Brown, director of social media for Coca-Cola.
"By having the most recognizable brand in the world, we feel an obligation or responsibility to respond when people talk about us," said Brown.
Best Buy gave the talk of the world of social sites this summer to announce the creation of a job as head of marketing in emerging media. One requirement was that candidates had more than 250 followers on Twitter. (When that drew criticism on the Internet, the electronics store had a new job description of work).
Dantica, who is studying a Ph.D. in communications with its emphasis on building brand identity in Internet communities, says there has been an increase in sales when it has sent messages to Twitter since he was hired by the company in June.
"I really believe in the power of conversation in social portals" he said. "Some days we talk of time. Other days we speak of''Chicken Dance.''Some days we talk about recipes and popcorn parties and Garret shipments out to a wedding." Dantica mentioned popcorn in your messages to Twitter and has secured funds to their customers for special functions, but has never asked users of the portals that go to buy popcorn.
The sell through social websites is much more subtle. "In the social portals have to be social," said Nora Ganim Barnes, a marketing professor and director of the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. "The biggest mistake companies is to use social sites to hawk products. That's not like it."
The companies of the Fortune 500 are those that take longer to adopt strategies to buy social portals, Ganim Barnes said. However, nonprofit organizations have been the fastest.
"It's free," said the expert. "They never had such access to the media before. Investigations of Ganim Barnes and colleagues demonstrate a growing familiarity with social websites, even among the biggest brands in the world.
"It goes far beyond Twitter, MySpace, Facebook or blogs. It is encouraging people," said Ganim Barnes.
The incredible speed with which they develop social websites, Twitter in particular has forced businesses to adapt, "said Brown, Coca-Cola. "If you do not respond in about three or four hours, perhaps better than no answer," he said.
For example, a Twitter user complained about the difficulty of requiring a trip with all expenses paid which had won through My Coke Rewards program. In just half an hour, Brown was connected to the user on Twitter, talked with him by phone and solved the problem. Shortly after the user changed his avatar on Twitter for a can of Coca-Cola Zero.
Like Brown, Scot Monty is working to create a social strategy for your enterprise portals, Ford, where he works as a multimedia communications supervisor in Michigan. "Best of Web sites like Twitter and Facebook is that it is a personal conversation," said Monty. "You can lead who made an initial comment, but you're going in a public square."
Whether a business is large or small, Monty recommends those interested in accessing social websites to inform themselves before embarking on the adventure. "You can not go to a party, start out your card and leave. On the internet portals same thing happens," said Monty.
Dantica, Garrett popcorn, said he answered every time someone mentions your company on Twitter, either negatively or positively. And if one of his followers in the arcades is having a bad day, Garrett Popcorn is normal to send some boxes.
"Popcorn is fun. My brand is fun," said the executive. "Talks are already taking place. My job was to join them. This is the best job in the world."
