To further examine the issues and opportunities facing brands, I turned to Julia Zauner, a marketing and communications professional with over 25 years experience in the industry. Zauner’s impressive career spans multiple sectors including hospitality, healthcare, publishing, private foundation, non-profit and real estate. She provides leadership in strategic development, internal communications, traditional and online marketing, web development and media relations for clients.

Zauner has specialized experience in online marketing and media, as well as search engine optimization, having served as an independent consultant for over a decade to foundations and companies on related matters. I asked Zauner for her opinion on some of the most prevalent questions surrounding new media in marketing and communications.

Professionals in the marketing, advertising and public relations industry are still developing strategies to harness the power of new media tools. In your opinion, what role should new media like search engine marketing, mobile marketing, social networks, Twitter, blogs and other online tools play in the marketing mix?

I see new media tools serving different roles in the marketing mix.  SEM, Mobile Marketing and other new media tools with measurable response should be treated like any marketing channel – with defined budget, conversion and sales goals. Twitter, blogs and other social networking tools can also serve as a customer relations tools – providing a means of real time feedback on products and services. Another important role intertwined throughout new media is “community building” – creating a forum for brand loyalists to share their views, concerns and ideas. Finally, the buzz factor is key. Going viral through “word of mouse” can be a huge promotional tool for a company, or a public relations nightmare!

What criteria should marketers use when evaluating new media tools as part of an overall plan?

Of course ROI is an important criterion for evaluating any media tool, but the return may not always be measurable in dollars and cents.  Does the tool help to further other strategic objectives of the organization – increase customer satisfaction, increase awareness, build reputation, disseminate information?  Particularly in the non-profit world, social networking tools can provide the type of reach and constituent involvement that organizations could never have dreamed possible only a decade ago.  It is important when embarking on a new media effort to define up front, “what does success look like”.  What do you want to accomplish and how will you measure?  Make sure the tools are in place to measure with a feedback loop into the organization to adjust that campaign as needed if results fall short.

What is the most significant challenge you’ve encountered when employing new media in a marketing and communication plan?

Where to focus our efforts is one of the biggest challenges. With many emerging new media tools, it a challenge to know which is going to best the next big thing.  New media tools require constant monitoring and tweaking.  There is no “set ‘n play” option.  You need to continuously monitor, test, and adjust.

On a broader level, I am concerned that marketing and communication professionals are spending so much time focused on new media tools, that we may be losing that one-to-one connection with our customers. It is still critical to spend time talking to customers, observing their interactions with your sales forces, understanding their needs and motivations on a personal level. This is the key to effective marketing.

Do you think new media tools are valuable in supporting long term, core brand values or do these tools work better in advancing short term, tactical goals?

New media tools have value in supporting both brand building and tactical goals. The great thing about new media tools is the high degree of measurability, the immediacy of feedback and the speed at which things can change.  Because of this, it better serves the short term, tactical goals.

However, because consumers are becoming increasing dependent on new media tools (to the exclusion of offline methods) to educate themselves about products and services, to research purchase options, conduct purchases and manage their ongoing relationships with companies, new media tools must provide full integration and promotion of core brand values.  If not, companies risk a diffused brand message and image.

There is an ongoing question of how to measure the effectiveness of new media tools in driving offline behavior. Where do you see opportunity?

Healthcare provides one of the strongest examples of how new media tools influence offline behavior.  Patients often come to doctor appointments armed with print outs from the Internet – wanting to discuss symptoms, medications, diagnostic tests and treatment options.  This is a mixed blessing for the healthcare provider.  But it does demonstrate a critical role of new media tools as a source of information and self-education.  Companies and organizations can leverage the power of educating and informing their customers and constituents to drive offline behavior – be it to take action on an important social issue, to pull demand, or purchase a new product.

Convenience is the other area of opportunity – we all want fewer hassles. Some online retailers allow customers to order a product online, then go to the store to pick up the item.  This eliminates the hassle of wandering around the store looking for something and waiting in line at the register.  At the same time, the customer gets the product right away without having to wait for it to be shipped – instant gratification. Finding ways to make the offline experience more convenient, customer friendly and enjoyable is a way to leverage new media tools to drive offline behavior.  From online ticket purchasing, to printing out boarding passes (now with a multitude of upgrade options) to scheduling spa reservations for your next resort stay, the opportunities for influencing offline behavior and up selling are endless.

Many members of the media found this to be a surprising admission, considering the @BarackObama Twitter feed has 2.6 million followers.

[See Los Angeles Times at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/11/obama-never-used-twitter.html]

I follow a handful of celebrities on Twitter, but never really thought seriously about the question. Is it a betrayal of trust to suggest communication is coming from a person directly, when in fact it’s not?

Ghost writers are often used in book publishing and speech writers are a staple of any political team.  Both are rarely credited or acknowledged.  However, the author, celebrity or politician will typically review content before it is published or broadcast.

Do people really expect for President Obama to jot off a 140-character update in between sessions on health care reform, economic recovery and nuclear disarmament? Probably not. But is it a disappointment to learn the line of communication between you and the President isn’t really there? A little bit.

For me, this also has interesting implications for brands and marketers hoping to utilize social media to build relationships. I think the key is transparency. To form a strong and loyal connection with consumers, you need to establish trust. That begins with being honest with who you are and how you are going to operate.  Marketing, PR, advertising all rely on theater of the imagination. I don’t think the magic needs to be altogether removed, but I do think it’s important that consumers know where you (or your tweets) are coming from.

JetBlue also recently launched JetBlueCheeps, a Twitter feed dedicated to communicating last minute flight deals. Posted every Tuesday, Cheeps broadcasts special rates and route offers good until 6 p.m. that evening. The tweets direct consumers to the JetBlue website for purchase. Cheeps has already built 38,000 followers in just three months.

This is a fantastic, yet simple idea. Some of the best uses of Twitter I’ve seen while exploring social media for this blog are like Cheeps – promotional or tactically focused. What’s particularly effective about Cheeps in my opinion is that the tweets drive users to a landing page on JetBlue.com, so the airline can measure traffic and sales to the site through this vehicle, producing tangible metrics for evaluation.

Videos must be 140 seconds in length, a nod to the character limit of the media tool used to spread word of the promotion. Nikon has turned to other Twittering celebs to participate, like Rainn Wilson (The Office), Chase Jarvis (professional photographer) and Justine Ezarik (YouTube star), who will also serve as the judges. Nikon will soon launch traditional advertising in support of the promotion. As the contest progresses, finalists will be asked to promote their videos and campaign for votes using social media.

The Nikon Film Festival website has a gallery of submitted videos and a Festival Tweets deck.

According to AdWeek, “Nikon hopes to differentiate itself in the crowded camera market by emphasizing its camera’s ability to shoot high-quality still images and video.”

The central idea of the promotion certainly capitalizes on the popularity of consumer created content and online social media as a vehicle to share and connect. Although I think the promotion could stand on its own without the 140-tie to Twitter and quite frankly without Ashton Kutcher involvement.  (I’ve never understood Nikon’s choice of Kutcher as brand spokesperson.) Otherwise this is a creative and positive opportunity for the camera brand to interact and promote photography with consumers.

The latest in the “taste” campaign is built around the idea that good taste is stylish. The soda’s online marketing presents a range of integrated content to reinforce this idea, including fashion, cooking, entertainment and wellness.

On the Diet Coke website, a cooking and entertaining section begins with a video introduction from Collicchio who again reinforces that “ living well doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice great taste.” Recipes, hosting ideas and inspirational tips are presented. Diet Coke is running online advertising like a unit featured in Daily Candy that drives users back to the recipe section of the site.

The website also has a celebrity style series, featuring interviews with popular Hollywood stars and designers like Heidi Klum and Hillary Duff. This is most interesting not for its content, but for how the content is broadcast. The interviews are filmed in a Times Square studio and streamed live to billboards outside, plus online to the Diet Coke website and banners on related sites like E! Online.

As highlighted in AdWeek, this “real-time marketing” is being viewed as the next step in digital media that allows instant connections between brands and consumers. AdWeek points out this tactic has its challenges as well, like loss of control for brands and smaller reach versus traditional mass media vehicles.

Based on this series of online marketing tactics, it would seem that Diet Coke has embraced digital media. However, what I found surprising is that the soft drink does not appear to have a presence in other online media. All the Diet Coke Facebook pages, Twitter handles or YouTube videos appear to have been made by fans. In fact, when you search “Diet Coke” online, aside from the soft drink’s website, a Wikipedia page and a couple Coca-Cola press releases, the results are filled with entries on the artificial sweetener aspartame or the Mentos – Diet Coke experiment.

Diet Coke may have embraced digital media as a way to talk to consumers, but does seem to have taken the next step to actually engage with their consumers.  Moving beyond what seems to be a push strategy would allow Diet Coke to more fully connect with loyal consumers and make the most of online tools.

I don’t normally pay much attention to online advertising, but since this actually caught my eye, I decided to check it out. So I clicked “Try It Now” and Pandora provided me with a handful of other bands to sample that resembled the music I currently playing.

Granted that’s how Pandora works – it finds music with similarities to your selections and introduces you to new songs and artists. But for once I appreciated that an online advertiser enhanced my experience without being too intrusive, rather than trying to distract me and adding no value.

Just based on the description, but without having used it, this seems like a pretty cool feature and one that would be useful online in general – not just via handheld. I would love to have an application that enabled single sign on, linking my email account, calendar, RSS feeds, LinkedIn profile, Facebook network, Twitter feed and so on.

What’s even more interesting about MOTOBLUR is a feature pointed out by David Armano on his Posterous blog. When a CLIQ user makes a Facebook status update via MOTOBLUR, the Motorola logo appears in the news feed.

Although Facebook already indicates when users make an update via the “Facebook for Blackberry” or “Facebook for iPhone ” tool, this takes branding within the news feed to a new level. As Aramano’s blog points out, it also begs the question as to how brands can organically further integrate their marks or messaging into the content of social networks. I couldn’t find any evidence of the same branding via MOTOBLUR in Twitter or other online media. It will be interesting to see what other opportunities it sparks.

Technology has also allowed us to move so quickly that at times it can be overwhelming too. I find myself in information overload with too many posts to read, too many photos to upload and too many status updates to comment. When I got my iPhone, I didn’t know where to begin. There seemed to be some useful options in the App Store, but a lot of junk too. So I just asked my co-workers what applications they liked best.

Now there’s an iPhone application that is capitalizing on the all-powerful tool – the friend recommendation. As highlighted in the New York Times, Chorus is a new app that lets users see what friends have downloaded and rated highly. The application lets users add friends to Chorus via Facebook, Twitter or an email account. Chorus also makes recommendations via an algorithm based on other apps the user has downloaded. There is also an App Maven feature – apps recommended by notable Chorus users (think popular, featured commenters on blogs). There are a handful of similar applications available on the market.

This seems like a promising application. It transforms word-of-mouth into an actionable tool for iPhone users. Furthermore, marketers could look to use Chorus to energize avid customers and drive user recommendations.  And once again it is a technology that opens the door for consumers to connect with one another in new, meaningful – and helpful ways.

No surprise, Facebook tops the list. This year, social media apparently passed porn as the number 1 online activity and Facebook is the leader of the pack. According to the post, the site has more members than the population of all countries in the world, save China, the U.S. and India. On the heels of Facebook come Hulu, Twitter, Google and iPhone.

New media (Huffington Post) and old (WSJ) made the list, underscoring the growth of blogs as mainstream source of information and the evolution in the traditional media model. Newcomer Bing makes the list,  hoping it’s partnership with Yahoo! solidifies it as a formidable player in the search market.

The list rounds out with two entries new to me. At number 9 is Federated Media, a group that specializes in integrated content and engagement programs, connecting independent websites and online properties with brand marketers. Work includes the American Express “Open Forum” program and the Microsoft “ExecTweets” campaign. Number 10 is AddictingGames.com, a Viacom web property boasting 15 million unique viewers, now the 3rd largest gaming site.

This list is not full of surprises, but it is interesting to evaluate sucessful properties and identify trends as we enter 2010. It seems as thought the players that provide consumers with a personal connection, give access to information and create opportunity for engagement are those that will be dominant forces in the future of the digital world.

The nudist also has a Twitter feed at fastestnudist, where he chronicles his streaks plus adds tongue in cheek commentary around other naked events, like Marge Simpson’s Playboy cover. You can also find him on Facebook or on his blog The Daily Nude.

While the videos and other online vehicles seem to have only a modest following, the nudist has been featured in several popular blogs like Huffington Post and Gawker, and even interviewed by local news outlets including the New York Post. The peak of the nudist’s coverage occurred when a clip was featured on CNN’s AC 360 last month.

Starting to sound like a coordinated effort? You’re right to think so. The New York Times reported that the world’s fastest nudist is actually a viral campaign created by Agent 16 for Zappos.com, in support of the online retailer’s clothing launch. The revelation came via the video “Ambushed,” when the nudist is stopped mid-streak and fully clothed by a Zappos team.

While the results may be smaller in scope and contained locally to New York City, this seems like a clever effort on the part of Zappos to engage consumers through online media and build buzz around a new product launch. The only question raised is one of trust and transparency. As the Times points out, several reporters were duped along the way by the character. Consumers followed his chronicles. Do they appreciate the joke and feel in the know? Or betrayed for engaging in a commercial stunt? For that reason, is there any negative rub for Zappos – or is any publicity good publicity?