Sustainability Marketing in a World of Radical Transparency. Social media technology is driving the shift towards a more open culture, a more open government, and most notably, a more open way of marketing. People are Twittering about your brand right now and the way you respond today will determine the future of brand management. At the same time, corporate sustainability marketing initiatives are getting labeled as green washing because they lack transparency that is foundational to building authentic brand trust. In this talk, you will learn how to leverage social media technology to be an Open Brand leader, transcending green washing and building trusted relationship with your customers. See current case studies of corporate green initiatives that have succeeded and failed. Learn how to show your green, authentically.

2. • Founded 1982
•Green America’s
mission is to
harness economic
power—the
strength of
consumers,
investors,
businesses, and the
marketplace— to
create a socially
just and
environmentally
sustainable society.

3. • Celebrating 25
years
• Largest & leading
green business
network
• 4,000 Members
• Seal of Approval:
Screened and
approved
members earn the
Working together with our right to display our
Seal, verifying
4,000 business members to their authenticity.
grow the green marketplace: • Brings you Green
Festivals, National
the economic foundation for a Green Pages, and
just and sustainable society. Green Business
Conference.

4. CONNECT
•Green Business
Conferences
•Social Networking
Site – The GBN
Lounge
•Connections – The
GBN online
newsletter
•The new B2B
Wholesale Guide

5. MARKET
We screen our members and
• award a Seal of Approval to
those who qualify.
Our Seal of Approval earns
businesses a listing and ad
opportunities in the National
Green Pages, print and online…
Advertising and editorial
coverage in our publications…
And exhibiting rights at any of
our 5 Green Festivals – in San
Francisco, Denver, Chicago,
Seattle, and Washington, D.C.

6. GROW
• We help our members grow, with:
• Webinars on marketing, business success, government
funding, greening your operations, growth strategies, and
more
• Expanding distribution of National Green Pages in stores
nationwide
• Free GBN member listings on GenGreenLife.com and
WorldofGood.com
• Discounted business services.
• Green Business Conferences – with presentations and
networking sessions to help you grow.
• Coming soon…New tools to help businesses along the path
of sustainability and access to government purchasing
databases.

7. JOIN US
•
 On the Web:
www.greenamericatoday.org/green
business/
 By phone: 202-872-5317
 Inquire by e-mail:
abelanger@greenamericatoday.org

8. About the Speaker
• J Shepp, Green MBA
oey
• Principal at Earthsite
Web Strategy for Sustainable Brands
• Founder of Open Brands
Social Brand Monitoring
• Internet Marketing Director for
Green Festival
JoeyShepp.com

9. The Open Brand:
Beyond Green Washing
Sustainability Messaging in a World of Radical Transparency

10. Roadmap
1. Trends
2. Case Studies
3. Principles
4. How To
5. Questions

11. Green Washing
Making environmental marketing claims
that are not true or stretching the truth.

13. Chevy FAIL

14. F FAIL
uji

19. 7 Sins of GreenWashing
1. Hidden Tradeoffs
2. Lack of Proof
3. Vague Claims
4. Irrelevant Claims
5. Worshiping False Labels
6. The Lesser of Two Evils
7. Outright Lies

20. So, Where next?

21. Social Media Is the future of
Sustainability Marketing

22. What is Social media?
• Social Networking
• Online Video
• E-Commerce
• Online Advertising

23. Interactive Marketing Growth

24. Facebook Growth
F acebook has grown from
100 million to 200 million users
in less than 8 months.
If it were a country, it would
be bigger than B razil.

25. The number of visitors to the
site in March more than
doubled to 9.3 million, up
from 4.3 million in February.
Twitter Growth

26. Social Media is a
Disruptive Technology
Old School New School
Top Down Bottom Up
Closed Open
Advertisement Conversation
Print Media Digital Media
One to Many Many to Many
Privacy Transparency

27. An Open World
Open Open Open Open
Culture Government Software Brands

28. So,
Who controls
a Brand?

29. Yesterday:
Marketers

30. Today:
Community

31. What do people Trust?
• 81% trust word of mouth
• 56% trust media editorial
• 25% company advertising
• http:/ bit.ly/
/ Dtn7S

32. Power Shift

33. The Connection to
Sustainability Messaging
• Social Media is based in
transparency and
openness.
• Sustainability Messaging
requires transparency
to be trusted.

34. Radical Transparency
Case Studies

35. Chevy Video
Contest
• What happened?
• Chevy launches a YouTube campaign to submit
user generated videos promoting the Chevy
Tahoe.
• Backlash
• Activists seize the opportunity to voice their
feelings about the Chevy Tahoe.
• GM Fast Lane Blog
• “ E on we made the decision that if we were
arly
to hold this contest, in which we invite anyone
to create an ad, in an open forum, that we
would be summarily destroyed in the
blogosphere if we censored the ads based on
their viewpoint. So, we adopted a position of
openness and transparency, and decided that we

36. #AmazonFail
• Friday: Authors discover that Amazon.com is delisting their
gay and lesbian titles in book search
• Saturday: Word spreads around the Twitter like wildfire
• Sunday: Amazon provides a few vague responses about it
being a glitch.
• Monday: Stocks have dropped by 2%

37. Skittles puts Twitter on their
Home Page
• home page into an online portal
featuring a live Twitter feed
alongside F acebook, F lickr, and
YouTube content
• so many hits the first day it brought
down Twitter
• But just two days after its launch,
Skittles was forced to rethink its
social media strategy after users
deluged the site with inane and often
profane "tweets," the messages sent
by Twitter users.
Source Link

38. jetBlue in the Beginning…
• J blogs about how it was creepy that J
oel etBlue followed him.
Moments later, J
etBlue direct messaged him apologizing and explaining
their human approach to connecting with their customers.

39. jetBlue Today

40. Intel Publishes
Social Media Guidelines
• Be transparent.
• Be judicious.
• Write what you know.
• Perception is reality.
• It's a conversation.
• Are you adding value?
• Your Responsibility
• Create some excitement.
• Be a Leader.
• Did you screw up?
• If it gives you pause, pause.

41. Zappos CEO on Twitter
• CE Tony, talks about his
O,
company, but also shares his
personality.
• Massive following
• E success story in using
arly
Twitter. Jumped on the new “ I think the way to succeed in today’ s world is to
make your business more personal. Twitter is also a
technology early. great way of doing that.”
-Tony, CE of Zappos
O

42. Many CEOs on Twitter

43. Patagonia documents
product lifecycle

44. • GoodGuide provides
the world's largest and
most reliable source of
information on the
health, environmental,
and social impacts of the
products in your home.

45. Community Powered
Customer Support

46. A call for SHARED RESPONSIBILITY
Companies Customers
1. Be human 1. Be understanding
2. Use real names and be 2. Use your real identity
personal
3. Anticipate problems will 3. Recognize that problems
occur, and set clear, public will occur and give
expectations in advance for companies the information
how you will address issues. and time required to
competently address issues.
4. Cultivate a public 4. Share issues directly or
dialogue. through a forum.
5. Speak plainly, candidly 5. Give companies the
with customers. benefit of the doubt.

47. Social Brand Monitoring

48. Open Brand Channels

49. How do I make
my business Open?

50. Thinking Open

51. Open Brand Principles
• Embrace Transparency
• Meet People Where They are At
• Customers Trust Customers
• Befriend Influencers
• Social Currency

52. Benefits of being Open
• Customers do marketing for you.
• Gain innovation from your
customer feedback
• Quicker response time to
customer concerns
• Real time insights to customer
needs
• Build loyal customers

53. How brands should prepare
• Don't Hesitate
• Prepare F Transparency
or
• Connect with Advocates
• Evolve your Enterprise
Systems
• Shatter your Brand Website

54. Social Media Marketing
Basics

55. Start with Listening
• Google Reader
• Google Analytics
• Google Alerts
• Tweet Beep

56. Page
It’s like a user profile,
but for your business
Create a F acebook Page for
your business and start
collecting Fans. Post photos,
videos and links for your Fans
to check out and comment on.
Build an active customer
community.

57. Social Networking for
Professionals
Have your employees build full
Profiles on LinkedIn, which in turn
will build a powerful profile for your
company. Many features support
company business development: J oin
professional groups, get advice from
peers, hire new employees, and get
introductions to key contacts.

58. How to Twitter
Basic How to Guide

59. What is Twitter?
• Microblogging
• Real Time
• Public
• Always On

60. Basic Twitter Use
• Personal Updates (tweets)
• Responses to others (@user)
• Sharing Links (tiny URL)
• Retweeting (RT)
• Direct Messages (DM)

61. Best Practices
• Get your user account N OW
• Tweet consistently, 1-6 per day
• Provide value to your
community
• Increase ‘ signal’ by using
# hashtags

62. Deeper Implications
1. Speed of learning
2. Ambient intimacy
3. Increased authenticity By Stephen Dinan
4. Customized attention networks
5. Increased individuality
6. Tracking global concerns
7. Personal connection to our heroes and heroines

63. Go Further

64. W e b St rat e gie s fo r Sust ainable Brands
• Web Design and Development
• Social Media Marketing
• Consulting
Fairfax, CA
415.259.4546
info@ earthsite.net
www.earthsite.net d

65. Follow us on
@ earthsite
@ joeyshepp
@ openbrands

66. Questions?