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The Big Question For Marketers
This may not be the trendiest social media news you’ve heard today, but this video poses a very valid question to any marketer.
The question is:
“Are we the baddies?”
Next time you think of some amazing campaign that will generate clicks shares and all the likes, ask yourself this question, myself included! Not only will it make you laugh, but it’ll make you think.
For now I’ll just laugh!
Social business promotes the collaboration of the internal workforce to benefit and connect with their customers.
A large majority of a company’s workforce has a lot of expertise and value to offer their clients. The problem is connecting the customer who would benefit from this base of expertise.
Not so long ago I saw several frantic posts about companies crafting social media policies to help lock down the use of social networks during office hours.
Stuart McRae from IBM presented their case study and explained how they generated social community guidelines as well as promoted the use of social media, particularly blogging. They made a conscience decision to make their business social and encourage expertise to go through the right channels. This has grown to a point where internal staff is able to crowd source their expertise and collaborate no matter where they are based or where they are on the corporate ladder.
What this did was not only enable their internal work force to learn from each other, but make use of the social channels to build their online presence within their area of expertise. How was this effective? When customers were looking for information, they found this socially active work force / community directly accessible.
The question raised during this keynote presentation was the concern of brand protection. I wish I had the exact quoted response from Lee Bryan (Dachis Group Europe) because it was quite comedic, but he illustrated a strong logical point. A businesses already trusts their employees when it comes to dealing with their clients either on the phone, email or during those long lunch meetings outside the office that you are not privy to. That and the fact that you can’t control employees thoughts, actions or… erm… body parts. Point taken. It’s takes a little trust.
Social or digital media should be seen for what it is, a marketing channel or tool available to assist internal and external marketing strategies.
This post is key notes taken from the TFM&A expo key presentations.
To see what notes I’ll be adding from other events I’ve attended visit my ‘Events for Social Wisdom’ post board.
Recently I’ve attended several events all offering social and digital media gems portrayed as trade secrets. The truth is that if you work in this ever changing and growing industry, you probably already have a firm understanding of how this rodeo runs. So why do I go? Because I think that you never stop learning, and you get great insights of how others understand and use digital platforms for brands.
I thought that to benefit my friends, colleagues and other like-minded digital souls I’d outline some key findings from these recent expeditions.
Due to continuous commitments it has taken me some time to get my act together and put some relevant posts together to share the interesting insights I found. What I hope to cover in my next posts are:
1. TFM&A Growth and value of Social Business
2. TFM&A Digital Content Planning and Promotion
3. Silverpop Email Marketing Growth and Relevance
4. London Bloggers Meetup Why Marketers Should Love Bloggers
Why do Videos go Viral?
Who better to ask than the man who watches You Tube videos for a living!?! Kevin Allocca is You Tube’s Trend Manager, and it’s fantastic to get this insight from him. Yes, he has not told us anything that we’ve not heard or seen before, but he sure hits the nail on the head.
We’ve all made assumptions based on what we think makes a video go viral. What we learn here is quite logical.
1. Taste Makers
2. Communities / Participation
3. Unexpectedness
Kevin gave us four examples, which we’ve all wondered about. You have probably watched at least one of these examples several times.
The reason why you would have watched one of these silly videos more than once is to understand why you were watching the video in the first place.
After you will reprimand yourself for adding another view to the growing 4 million plus views already there!
I speak from experience - I hate you annoying Friday song! Didn’t stop me from watching it every Friday for months, and then sharing it with the Twitter-verse more than once. Yes I’m ashamed. Sorry.
But how does this benefit a brand? Would a brand create an annoying cat video, or a meme based on a day of the week? Hopefully not. However we can take the lessons learned and apply the formula to our thinking when discussing video.
‘Taste Makers’ sure sounds a lot like PR. Sharing does not just happen, a well thought out distribution or promotion strategy is key.
‘Communities / Participation’ we can relate to engaging with a relevant target audience. If you talk to the right people, they’ll naturally want to interact.
Lastly ‘Unexpectedness’ is probably the most difficult to recreate within a marketing strategy. However one could compare it to a great piece of communication. They are tough to find, but when you get it right, you could have a campaign with legs. The word we could be looking for is creativity.
Now these are just some top-level thoughts. There is no formula to guarantee virility, but there is no harm in attempting to understand its source.
Welcome to the Facebook Timeline
There have been whispers in the wind about the timeline for months now. Some decided to happily ditch the old Facebook and use the developer version, while others already began to complain changes. It’s true that many just don’t enjoy change, but I sincerely hope that in this case everyone will see the light.
The new Facebook will give profiles more personality and character, and make it far more simpler for you to access your history. In case you have not been exposed to a timeline just yet, the timeline presents a way to digitally document your entire life, from birth to present, via wall posts, photos, announcements and events. Consider it a neatly organised social scrapbook with a visually pleasing interface.
There were various reasons for the hold up, but numero uno was privacy issues. Some have claimed that by encouraging users to fill the profile from birth, that the company had ulterior motives to capture more data. Another issues was that this could potentially encourage identity theft.
Personally I believe that privacy is the duty of each individual social user, and if you choose to hang out your dirty laundry, you only have yourself to blame. That however is just an opinion.
Back to the positive news! It has finally been released to the public, starting with New Zealand of all places, which means that within a few days we’ll all have flashy new pages to get obsessed about. I’ve been using the new timeline for two months now, and it has been a positive transition. If like me you can’t wait for the natural transition, then enable it yourself now. If you are far more concerned about privacy issues, then check out how you can take control of your privacy and more.
Love Infographics - Love Tools
This infographic is a valuable resource, particularly for designers, but also for those who work in industries where you need designers. Understanding common tools that are used, and what they are for, can help you in the production or planning capacity.
It’s also interesting to think that there are also 3 tools in my personal tool kit that I could not live without on a day to day basis. Here is a small list - maybe you might like some?
Podio - The most simple and versatile Project Management I’ve ever used.
Hoot Suite - Helps me keep read, filter, schedule, monitor and make the most out of tweets.
Google - I love all the tools that Google provides, including analytics (new real time data is blowing my mind), webmaster tools, mail, maps and YouTube.
The New Google Bar
Does Google ever sleep?
With most systems, when it does not work you tend to just get used to the way it functions. Even if it takes you ten steps to get there, when you get used to those ten steps, you just accept it.
NOT GOOGLE!
They are forever thinking about their product, and keep making each feature more accessible, simple and user friendly.
I really gotta hand it to these guys, they’re always on top of the game.
The New Google bar incorporates everything in one place across all it’s products. This is great, because no matter where you are, you will know how to access the information you are looking for. I believe this will also incentivise you to use more of Google products, because you will find it easier to try it out in the first place.
All it will do for me is make my life easier in most regards.Potentially add an opportunity or two with regards to digital marketing.
Thanks Google!
Nandos “last Dictator Standing” directed by Dean Blumberg
This is a brand that has always pushed boundaries, and really communicates what everyone is thinking, even if they didn’t know that they were thinking it in the first place. Dean Blumberg directs this entertaining ad for Nandos that hits a nerve whilst tapping into the ‘spirit of our times’.
Surely this advert caused some positive feedback? Made me think how the good guys are kind of winning, if the bad guys are slowly vanishing! I understand that this advert is strongly responding to the ebbing fortunes of Julius Malema, expelled from the African National Congress.
One thing is for sure. You won’t hear of me complaining about this advert to the ASASA. Most likely this advert will deservedly win streams of awards that will make us all forget the potential law suits.
I enjoyed a really good laugh. If it’s not viral yet, it soon will be.
Everything changes.
The price of gum.
Where we eat out.
The clothes we wear.
And most importantly… how we communicate.
You will get no better example than this memorable video from Mashable Media Summit. Speaker Tor Myhren tells us a very personal story of how he lost his virginity in the 80’s and how different that story would be in today’s digital world.
Definitely worth a watch and keep in mind when you make all sorts of generalisations about your target market. Things change, and so should the way you think.
LIVE LONDON BUS ARRIVALS
Personally I HATE busses. I’d rather take 3 different tubes than even consider standing at a bus stop sometimes. There are the unavoidable moments however, where the tube does not go, and the chilly air prevents you from going the distance.
I loved it when I saw that they had life feed boards on some bus stops, but others just have not been updated. Will they ever be updated?
Now TFL have brought in the big boy nerds and what have the little geniuses come up with? Text… text…. Really. I was suprised that this is all they had. Then again maybe it ‘simpler is better’ in this regard. No complicated scanning thing-a-ma-bobs or check in applications etc. For the everyman.
I look forward to see these live and in action. And I’m sure others just can’t wait to cuss and complain if or when they don’t work.
Power Speech - Charlie Chaplin ‘The Great Dictator’
From the past, but timelessly relevant.
Found while skimming the twitter feed today:
@ABlakeley
Posting this again, because I think everyone should hear this powerful speech about freedom by Charlie Chaplin bit.ly/svYEOx
It was the first time I’d seen this clip or hear of this film for that matter. My age gives me away here doesn’t it! It can’t be helped. However I’m glad that I did come across it because I was really inspired and moved. More so that what he says here, is still exceptionally relevant today, almost 70 years after the film was made.
“We think too much, feel too little.”
“The Aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together, the very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all.”
These were my two favourite quotes, but I was really spoilt for choice as he says so much that makes sense.
I made a connection with how some view the digital world today. It reminded me of the ‘London Riots’ and how social media was used as a medium at first to arrange the chaos and then to attack it and then to mend the city. (see #riotcleanup on twitter).
Gotta love a bit of Friday inspiration!
REALLY?!?! This made me cringe! The ‘Muffvember’ concept is bit forced and the association with the support of the ‘Movember’ cause is a little thin.
The creators claim that the ‘Muffvember’ concept was in reaction to ‘Movember’; men growing big dirty moustaches for the month of November in aid of prostate cancer and general awareness for men’s health . They consider ‘Muffvember’ the female version of ‘Movember’ and a ‘fun’ way to get involved without being a passive supporter.
With creepy skin crawling and slightly in your face names for the ‘Muff’ like the bearded clam, the hedge, the cooch, the beaver, foo foo, flower… the Muff is starting to make me a little too liberal and girl powered up! I agree that its always good to get involved, bring in the feminine side, give us a voice all that jazz… but sometimes it’s better left alone.
Not to mention the bills incurred to maintain a ‘rising sun’ or a ‘tear drop’ would be counter effective with regards to funds. Should money go to the charities / the beauticians? Unless you are some sort of contortionist or a super star with painful wax strips.
Let the boys have their fun and I’m sure the girls can think of something just as interesting, if not better, in aid of bread cancer which normally occurs in October.
How You Sell A Car - the right way!
After watching this video I wanted to hit myself on the head and say DUH! Wish i’d done it the last time I was selling my unwanted bean bags. Would have probably got a better price and it would have been more enteratining!
Loved this video because it’s entertaining, has a point and is being used as a tool. Video is not a new medium, but the way it is being used is new! Now you can sit back and ponder on what you could do with this medium that could benefit your company brand / personal brand.
Go on - don’t be lazy!
(ahem… i’m walking away now)
Google has made some new changes to Gmail once again. This time they focus on functionality and user experience to make it easier to navigate through your email and keep track of conversations.
- Redesign the look and feel to a very simple layout (this they had already achieved with their last upgrade)
- Automatically adapts to fit in any size window or you can set a customised density. (this I like a lot - but wondering if it will be the same for my double pane inbox)
- Adjust the label and chat area. (this will be helpful because I chat more than I check folders)
- Conversations have been improved to increase readability including profile pictures. (we’ve been waiting for this one!)
The big question is - when will these changes take affect? For now, at least, the new features will be opt-in which tends to be the lame geeky people like myself! So look forward to giving them a test drive just as soon as I’ve worked out how to activate it!
Is Google messing us about with all these changes? I don’t think so! I think change is good, especially if it’s such simple and useful changes such as these. Keep ‘em coming I say!
Fascinating footage - painful but definitely fascinating!
Mountain Biker, Evan van der Spuy of Team Jeep South Africa got taken out by a RED HARTEBEES at the Time Freight Express MTB race at Albert Falls Dam. Check out this crazy footage which was taken by team mate Travis Walker on his GoPro Camera - The BUCK sure does STOP HERE with Evan van der Spuy aka #BUCKNORRIS
