Giving Mobs and Swarms a Good Name

Social media is often decried for creating virtual-not physical-connections. Yet that is changing as Carrotmobs and swarms are being organized online to physically bring crowds of people together. And they are being harnessed by the business community in a variety of ways: Carrotmobs look to reward environmentally friendly companies, and swarms create buzz for a business.

We like to say in the social media world, if you can answer the question-What's in it for me?-then you'll win something: a client, a sale, a follower, says Sean Owen, president and CEO of wed, an advertising and marketing agency focused on social media. That's because, he says, success in social media has three aspects: education, entertainment and, of prime importance, ego.

Doing Good Pays Off

On Aug. 21, more than 300 people visited The Bakeshop on Kelley Street in Manchester between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., six times the regular foot traffic for the Rimmon Heights bakery. The draw? The Bakeshop won a bid to host New England's first Carrotmob, where people mob a certain business at a certain time in exchange for a promise to invest the profits from those patrons (minus expenses and normal traffic) into environmental improvements.

Carrotmob organizers report that more than 115 campaigns have taken place in 70 cities and 20 countries between 2008 and the end of 2010. Denise Nickerson, the bakery owner, netted $522 beyond expenses and normal traffic, all of which went toward energy efficiency upgrades. In addition, her landlord donated a new window for the front of the store. But that's just the start. We have new customers that come in and mention they heard or read about the Carrotmob event in August and were curious to check us out," she says. "We now use social media more than ever. To be able to reach a large majority without a great cost is huge for small business."

Nickerson has Will Stewart to thank for the Carrotmob visitors. Stewart came up with the idea last April after reading about the phenomenon. He spearheaded the all-volunteer effort, which involved creating the nonprofit Manchester Carrotmob group, identifying a neighborhood and inviting area businesses to apply for a chance to be mobbed. Using social media, namely the Group's Facebook  and Twitter pages, with community meetings to explain the concept, they started spreading the word. Both Gov. John H. Lynch and Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas attended.

The old storyline is the environment and business are at odds with one another. This is a case whereby a consumer buys something, and you are helping a local business and the environment," Stewart says.

The group organized a second Carrotmob at a Manchester convenience store and is planning a third for May. They work best, he says, at a business selling something everyone needs, not a specialty store where you go when you need a specific item.

Please Join Me

Ego is a big part of the appeal of social media-as every tweet and Facebook post has the ultimate aim of getting the attention of others- so it makes sense for businesses to harness that to their advantage.

Take the swarm badge on foursquare. People earn a swarm badge for being with 49 other people who show up at the same location at once and check in. Businesses lure people in with discounts or free offers, and many also advertise their participation on foursquare with in-store signage. Like Carrotmobs, both sides win, but in this case the winners are the customers, who can brag online, and the business, which gets money and free marketing.

Owen and wed organized a swarm at a Fisher Cats game last spring, advertising the event in advance online and posting it on the Jumbotron during the game. The audience complied, pulling out their smart phone and checking in. Rick Brenner, president of the Fisher Cats, thinks his team was the first minor league team to get a swarm in the park, a good omen given that much of their audience, namely kids, are very tech savvy and will take note. It's really easy to have fans, people following us, he says. How do we use the medium [of social media] to translate that into people in the park? The swarm badge was a way to do it. Brenner can't say if people came to get the badge. But he says it got people talking and that in itself helps. What you find is people compare badges and some are a little shinier than others. If you get a swarm badge, people are going to inquire where you got it. It's a badge of honor, Owen says.

Owen sees social media as the way of the future when it comes to marketing. For businesses, the key is keeping up with social media and turning those interactions into sales.