Amex’s Facebook App Pushes 9/11 Volunteerism

If American Express’s new app-based initiative is any measure, Facebook-driven marketing wrapped around the commemoration of the September 11th attacks is probably something consumers should expect to see more of in the next three weeks.

Amex is debuting an I Will Volunteer app, which allows Facebook users to search a “9/11 Day” database and to pledge their participation for goodwill activities by location. While signing up, they can share the commitment with their friends on the social site in order to encourage further volunteering.

For New York City-based users, as one local example of the national effort, there are hundreds of projects available. Here are a few examples:

- On Sept. 9, there will be a Broadway-based event held in Time Square where more than 200 Great White Way performers will sing “New York, New York” in commemoration of the 10-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Volunteers are needed to assist in distributing materials.

- The same day, there will be a New York Mets tribute at the ballclub’s Citi Field. Volunteers can help at staff tables during the first three innings of the Mets game, handing out information about the 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance.

- The 9/11 Memorial, an ongoing project, is seeking dedicated help for the coming weeks to support its visitor services staff near Ground Zero.

ClickZ News asked Timothy McClimon, president of the American Express Foundation, about whether or not launching a marketing campaign around 9/11 had unusual sensitivities compared to normal goodwill efforts.

McClimon replied via email, “We want to tap into the power of social media to help drive what we hope will become the largest day of charitable service in U.S. history. And as a long time members of the Lower Manhattan community – we are especially sensitive to the feelings surrounding 9/11 and want to ensure the National Day of Service is a meaningful and appropriate tribute.”

Amex’s effort builds on another Facebook-based goodwill item that it launched last week. With its Friends of Japan app, the credit card company is donating $1 for every “Message of Hope” post that users write on Amex’s Japan wall.

The pledged monies will go to The Japan Platform, a nonprofit dedicated to the earthquake victims of the country’s catastrophe that occurred in March.

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Neolane Shares the Secrets to Unlocking Social Marketing ROI – SYS

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What’s the value of a Facebook fan? What are consumers getting in return
for “Liking” a brand? Where’s the tipping point between loyalty and
revenues in social marketing? Conversational marketing technology
provider Neolane,
Inc. examines these questions and suggests a social marketing
adoption roadmap in a new white paper, “The
Real Secret to Unlocking Social Marketing ROI.”

Social media has forever changed the way brands interact with customers
and prospects. Yet, few organizations are maximizing the revenue
potential of these captive audiences. Neolane’s white paper reveals the
secret to unlocking social media ROI: applying proven direct marketing
techniques to social channels in order to convert anonymous fans and
followers into personal, sustainable and profitable relationships. By
moving from basic listening and mass marketing to interactive,
one-to-one dialogues, social
marketing programs can be more in line with consumer expectations
and ultimately contribute directly to increasing corporate revenue.

“While many brands have succeeded in building large communities of fans
and followers on social networks like Facebook, too much time has been
spent listening instead of trying to derive meaningful information from
those interactions, which has contributed to ROI remaining elusive and
difficult to assess,” said Mathieu Hannouz, senior product marketing
manager, Neolane, Inc. “Organizations must transition away from
ineffective mass marketing approaches that have become the norm in
social marketing. They should start by applying direct marketing
techniques focused on delivering consistent, personalized messages that
are coordinated across all channels, not just social media.”

The Social Marketing Roadmap: New Rules of Engagement

To successfully engage fans in a sustainable commercial relationship,
beyond simply moderating communities and listening to consumer opinions,
marketers must adapt their rules of engagement to the fundamental values
of social media: permission, transparency and relevancy. Neolane has
devised a four-step roadmap to enable brands to drive successful social
marketing strategies and maximize revenue potential. This roadmap,
broken into phases, can help marketers prove the ROI of their social
media efforts. For example, social
opt-in is a critical step to gaining individual permissions that
enables better personalization, which ultimately leads to more valuable
long-term customer engagement.

If you are interested in learning how to blend social networks with
other direct marketing channels, build dynamic one-to-one personalized
relationships with fans and followers, and accelerate ROI, please
download “The
Real Secret to Unlocking Social Marketing ROI” white paper today.

About Neolane

Neolane provides the only conversational
marketing technology that empowers organizations to build and
sustain one-to-one lifetime dialogues, dramatically increasing revenue
and marketing efficiency. Born digital, with best-in-class email and
inbound-outbound channel fusion capabilities architected into a single
code-based platform, marketers achieve results in record time. Neolane
is easy to use for both power and casual users, but powerful enough to
drive the most sophisticated marketing strategies. Future proof, Neolane
has a track record of enabling its customers to adapt to new customer
engagement challenges and exploit opportunities more quickly than their
competition. Neolane is used by more than 300 of the world’s leading
companies including Alcatel Lucent, barnesandnoble.com, Orange, Sears
Canada, Sephora and Sony Music. Visit www.neolane.com
and read our blog The
Cross-Channel Conversation.

Copyright © 2011 Neolane, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All other
brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective
holders.

About Business Wire
Copyright © 2009 Business Wire. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Business Wire content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Business Wire. Business Wire shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

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