Social Media Revolution - Version 3

Erik Qualman - author Socialnomics recently produced and syndicated the third installment of the highly engaging, and jaw dropping Social Media Revolution video. Chuck full of statistics that are hard to believe, this video maps out the current state of this ever-expanding space. Well worth the 4:15 of your time, I highly suggest you check it out.

Best Practices for Twitter

I came across and article that was posted a few days ago on Mashable titled: 9 Lessons from Successful Brands on Twitter. Being a marketer who is constantly looking to maximize the reach and strength of my clients' owned social environments, these nine lessons resonate with me on a day-to-day level. Nearly all my brands are working to build, or have already built, ad solid presence on Facebook. Some do a better job within that environment than others in terms of how they communicate with their fans and consumers, but they are active, and responsible so the effort is tangible to their fans.

But bridging the gap between the brand and followers on Twitter seems to be more and more difficult. A direct message from a brands Twitter handle can be perceived as spam, which at best will be disregarded or at worst will creative a long-lasting negative brand experience. Having conducted campaigns to get followers, I have tasted this first hand. It's tough. It's not like buying "likes" on Facebook to be sure. Acquiring fans within the space seems best done outside it, through other owned environments or more direct marketing initiatives.

Below, I've extracted the 9 lessons and listed them out for quick access, but be sure to go through the article to extract deeper insights and tools for enhancing your ability to better represent your clients who need to become active within this space:

Lesson #1: Don't be afraid to say "I'm sorry." Showcase the people and personalities behind your brand

Lesson #2: Bring your brand's personality to life with multimedia. Have fun with your followers.

Lesson #3: Authentically engage with celebrities. With much larger followings than most brands, celebrities can easily influence your brand and your follower count on Twitter.

Lesson #4: Everyone loves a good deal. Use contest and offeres to drive excitement about your brand.

Lesson #5: Twitter's not about you, it's about your audience. Figure out what your audience wants to hear about and tweet it.

Lesson #6: Don't take yourself too seriously on Twitter. Accelerate the positive comments and embrace the negative ones.

Lesson #7: If your customers use your product and service outside of business hours, figure out a way to be responsive on twitter whenever they need help.

Lesson #8: Not every brand can be quite as much fun on Twitter as Dunkin' Donuts, but we can all learn to lighten up a little, ask questions and give away free stuff.

Lesson #9: Find Twitter chats to join by using hashtags. Consider starting and hosting Twitter chats on a regular basis.

Some great insights here worth digesting and applying to future and current initiatives.

Guerrilla Music

I live in NYC. By default that means a number of things, but one in particular inspired this post; street performers. Particularly those who spend their days passing in and out of subway cars performing diverse music and dance performances. Almost always, they are awful, making you wish you could turn your volume up even more to drown out the tone-deaf experience. Taking this idea, and flipping it on its head, isn't a marketing tactic I would have ever considered, but Max Burgundy did. Producing a guerrilla-driven, gritty, street performance, inspired by these selfless performers, ultimately created a look and feel to to this content that is truly raw.

As an artist, Max Burgundy is definitely creative. This song was obviously inspired by the performers he sees, and it resonates with me on a personal level. This is the core of any good marketing tactic; to strike a note that makes sense to the people most likely to consume or buy your content or product - whatever that might be. Forcing ourselves to be hyper-creative will in turn force you to align your media to those you want to interact with on a brand level. This is exactly what happened here, and as a result, I am sharing it.

Mobile Photos

Like the rest of you, I have my phone on me at all times. It's a part of my mental check-list every morning before I leave for work. Every night before I go out, every day when I leave my office for lunch. It's just there. My left leg pant pocket feels empty, naked and vulnerable when it's empty. My iPhone is a part of me; good or bad that's my reality.

Because it's my reality, I'm inclined to believe it is good. And not because I can check my email wherever I go or because I can check-in to Foursquare or read a review on Yelp - the value rests on the tiny, mobilized camera I have on-hand. With ever new iteration of the iPhone comes another enhanced version of the camera. A flash and better pixelation are just a couple things that make my trusty iPhone a useful item to have on-call.

Take the above photo for example, snapped using an iPhone and taken by a regular Joe who saw something pretty and wanted to keep a record of it. Having an high-res camera on you at all times gives you the ability to capture and share content in real-time with friends and family 0 and unlike the Gen 1 cameras of yesteryear (think the old side-roller Blackberry's), these cameras deliver quality images combined with social sharing options. Winning.

A couple days ago, I read an article by Shane Snow on Mashable that talked about the major factors driving this massive boom in mobile sharing of photos. The #1 Factor was "Phone Cameras No Longer Suck," aptly put and something I already touched on. I think what's even more important, however, is that there are simple apps that encourage uploads and sharing (Instagram is one I like) and obviously Flickr and FB, enables each of us to feel like an artist with fans who care about our content.

So what's the value to brands? To me that's simple; it's nearly free for brands to engage their fans, and offer incentives for them to share their experiences with others within the community, which in turn will be picked up by friends and spring-board social sharing. Putting a dollar value on social sharing and word-of-mouth is tough, but we know it's real; however difficult to articulate.

What is an Influencer?

What the hell is an influencer anyway? We all think we know what it is, but how are we defining it? What's the criteria being used to determine such a title? For over a year, I have been struggling with this. In my world, an influencer needs to have reach well outside of his or her blog, website or network of friends. They need to have multi-pronged social muscle as well - so when they flex that muscle, the ripple effect of their reach hits the right people at the right time with the right message.

With that in mind, my job is to find these people and clearly demonstrate their value to brand X. Klout is a great tool for this, and one that I have used a lot; but there were strong limits to what it could report, especially because it was pulling data from Twitter and Facebook exclusively. Just yesterday, however, they released a tool to measure social influence by topic - they call it +K.

According to the most recent articles I have read, topics are created by an algorithm, but the plan is for users to create topics on their own. Users get five +K's every day they can give to any user on any topic. As this data continues to grow, the ability to find the right "Influencer" on the right topic will become easier and easier. This was a fantastic move on Klout's part because it will put the controls in the hands of the users, and combine that data from what Klout is already pulling.

There is still the other major piece that isn't being combined with social media stats, and that's the stats of Influencer X's blog or site. Aside from Pageviews or Monthly Unique visitors, what else should be pulled to determine an influencer? Average number of comments per post? Average number of shares? Video views? Clicks from exposed links? This is obviously a serious work-in-progress. A concept that will need to be re-tooled many times over until it offers a seamless approach to this process. My goal is to find a way to combine all streams of data into one place, aggregate it, and end end up with the right result. Time will tell.

Tiffany's UGC App

My girlfriend loves Tiffany's. Cliche as it may be, she loves it. I could buy polished scrap metal and wrap it in one of their holiday gift boxes, and her eyes would light up when she opened it. As the pinnacle of class and timeless sophistication, Tiffany's has mindshare on both men and women alike. As a man, you look wealthy if you can buy it, and as a woman you look elegant if you wear it. It's a win win, which you cannot often say about gift-giving.

Recently, Tiffany's launched an application that allows customers to capture their Tiffany's moment, and upload it to a virtual map anywhere on the globe. Aptly titled: "Love is Everywhere" this app enables users to make their most memorable romantic moments live forever online. As a marketer within social media, I am constantly challenged with creating interactive brand experiences. Story telling and experiential sharing speaks to the core of the communication shift each of us interacts with every day - and the effort is a fantastic example of creative thinking and design, but they only got it half right.

One thing I avoid like the crazy drunk relative at a wedding is microsites. They are useless. Unfortunately, clients want them all the time, and creative shops big and small are banking on designing, building, hosting and managing them. Microsites die after you stop driving traffic to them, and they are not intrinsically social environments. For an execution like the above, the most logical environment for the app to live is on Facebook or Tumblr; not a remote microsite. Worse yet, there is no social sharing built in to this, which is really 101 in today's social media marketing universe.

In short, Tiffany's did a great job on the creative. It works well, it's sexy, it's fun, it's memorable and buzz worthly, but it's not in the right place, and as we all know, location is key. For more info on the details of this creative push, including the Ed Burns short film: "Will You Marry Me?" click here - http://press.tiffany.com/News/NewsItem.aspx?id=129

Location-Based Genius

I came across this today and I had to write about it. As a group, the social media team at Horizon is constantly contemplating new and exciting ways to leverage location-based initiatives for our clients. Simply creating a remote local through Foursquare to have people check-in to doesn't really cut it. Being creative is top of mind, and the above activation really caught my eye
Imagine a location-based app that downloads and streams a new album release only in a specific stretch of land. Anywhere outside of that stretch, and you couldn't download it. This does two very important thing, crucial in any social marketing execution. First, it creates exclusivity and and drives social sharing and word-of-mouth buzz and awareness through the "cool factor", and second, it is truly interactive - encouraging users to remain engaged throughout the process.

According to Bluebrain band member Ryan Holladay, "The music changes and evolves based on your chosen path within the park." The Park is a mall in D.C., which they tagged with music hot spots. By following the virtual map on the application, you could hit different locations, and download different songs on the album. The experience literally changes the more you wander around. Landmarks such as the Lincoln Memorial will trigger a new song, and evolve your experience in real-time.

What's even more interesting is that this application only works in the The Mall. Nowhere else. You cannot download it online or through iTunes. It lives exclusively in that location and the music was written to compliment the live experience of walking around and enjoying the surroundings.

What this means for marketers such as myself is clear; I have to step up my game. The beauty of the myriad socially-integrated tools such as location-based apps is that there is no limit to the potential user experience you can create on behalf of your brands.

Let's Go Viral

As anyone else in the digital media world can attest to, our clients want to "go viral." This doesn't necessarily mean they even understand what they're asking, but they know they want it - Just like they want 100K fans on their Facebook page. Many things need to be in alignment in order for a video to go viral, and one of those things is luck. You all probably know the Jennifer Aniston video for Smart Water that made a mockery of viral videos, and subsequently went viral. Though this video is awful in every way, it succeeded by having core elements in play. A celebrity, money behind it to make it look professional, and a ton of PR.

But, as the cartoon points out, most of us don't have videos that will go far past the fungal state. Lack of imagination from the client perspective, lack of funds, no solid vision for what the video should look lie, and the smacking of heads between creative shops, PR and big Media, are only a handful of barriers along the way. Couple this with brands wanting a huge bang with minimal spend, and you have set the stage for high expectations and the pressure to go along with it.

To quote Jim Meskauskas, VP - Director of Online Media at ICON International, INC, "Viral marketing isn't a strategy. It's not even a tactic. Viral is a possible outcome that brings an unplanned life to a piece of advertising." Amazingly well-put. For something to catch and spread like a virus, there is a large piece of luck. Something we cannot plan towards and align a guarantee too. All we can do is build a strategy around the dissemination of our content, and make sure our content is catchy, stylistically sound, and backed by a spend that will place it in the front of the right eyes. Even then, however, it may not catch.

Understanding Consumer Psychology

Jason Burnham, President of Telepathy, Inc., published an article today titled: The Keys to Mastering Consumer Perception and Behavior - http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/29106.asp
By diving in to the three fundamental thoughts that human beings can conceive: certainty, probability and possibility; he outlines how these cognitive functions determine what decisions we will make and what ultimately motivates or inspires the decisions we take action on.

According to Burnham: "Marketers fail to obtain the insight into how or why someone made a particular decision or behaved in a certain way. This is where the real answers to what drives consumer behavior lies." This is very apt perception on his part. Much of the current marketing tactics are based on retro-active, knee-jerk strategies inspired by previous outcomes from similar campaigns...but we don't reach back to determine the most important question; Why?

To determine Why, we first have to determine Who. And the who is broken up into three types of thinkers: Past, Present and Future. The beauty of this breakdown is in its pure simplicity. Though extremely thought-provoking, it is also so obvious. Past Thinkers want verification and store information they gather to apply to future decisions. Present Thinkers observe the world and use what they find to solve problems they current face. Lastly, Future Thinkers take what they see and apply to something they may potentially come across in the future.

Taking a quick step back, we can see how bucketing potential consumers into these three categories can serve as a fantastic starting point when developing your marketing strategies from the ground level. Because most marketers focus on the who, what, where and when - they miss the why - and thus limit their success to the very short-term. In short, a narrow focus will always garner narrow results.

In order to truly scale, we as marketers will need to retool the engine driving our efforts. By foreseeing what drives consumer purchasing habits, we can model a campaign that compliments, targets and activates buying around it. This is no simple task, however, as it requires us to reset and rethink - to contemplate a psychologically driven, tactical, and strategic approach. For myself, I am eager to give this a go. Beginning small, in an effort to test this system and learn from it. More to come.

Outreach Done Right

My team and I have executed dozens of blogger outreach campaigns; and they are all different. There is no way to predict how they will roll out. You can have a good idea of course, but each execution carries with it a set of learnings that enables you to build upon your capabilities. For me, this is the best part. The unpredictability of these campaigns is what makes them so interesting.

I just read an article on iMedia called: "Blogger Outreach Based on Quality Not Quantity" - http://www.imediaconnection.com/summits/coverage/28928.asp The article really packages the process nicely. The most important thing is knowing your publishers. Our process internally is predicated on establishing lasting, mutually beneficial relationships. Using relevant and timely content as the currency to activate them. A group of 20 bloggers can initiate a ripple effect of earned media that can garner millions of impressions; that is value you simply can't put a number on.

Over the past couple years I have worked on several CPG campaigns, where activating Mom Bloggers was the #1 priority for the client. The Mom Blogger category is the fastest growing blogger network on the web. There are over 4MM moms who actively blog, and it just keeps growing. Obviously, only 3-5 thousand of them are truly influential, but again, it's not about the numbers, it's about selecting the right ones, and bringing the right content to them at the right time. This gets them excited, it activates their social extensions, and it spreads the word virally through their collective readership.

In short, don't shy away from doing these types of campaigns, but if you do it, do it right. You can have a negative experience if you don't organize the process and execute it appropriately. Remember, know your audience, know your publishers and know your brand...only good things will come from there.

Responding to Humor with Humor

A couple months back, I stumbled on a massive series of images poking fun at Bear Grylls. I suppose no one can be surprised after the episode where he consumed his own urine in order to hydrate. Urine is nearly 95% water, and totally sterile, and can serve as a means to stay alive when in survival mode. What does this have to do with media you ask? Well, I'll tell you. But first, you have to watch the video, and you have to do some of your own dilligence to get the full picture. Enjoy.








Now that you've seen the video, and searched for the images, let me get to the point. In a recent tweet, Bear made a joke about the joke. He shot out this tweet to his fans: "In honor of all your @replies about pee drinking. am on vacation in LA. looks like I'll have to drink my own pee!"

Bear is a brand unto himself. He has a huge following and a very entertaining and wildly popular show on Discovery. He had a number of choices here, but by wearing the joke like a badge of honor, he stepped over it instead of away from it.

Twitter is a remarkable way for an entertainment brand to get the word out, big or small, funny or not funny...people see it. This tweet got picked up by mashable and a number of other online, social news outlets. When working with your clients in any kind of crisis management, I suggest the road of humor whenever possible. Won't work for everyone, or everything, and it won't solve every problem, but it's a great way to soften the blow upfront.

Cheers to Bear and his piss.

The Value of Social Marketing

This morning, I read an article on iMedia by John Baskin titled: "5 Reasons Social Media is a Waste of Marketing Dollars." http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/29053.asp Currently, I work in the Social Media and Relationship Marketing division at Horizon Media. Our group has grown from 5 people 2 years ago to 14, and we are still growing. So the point about marketing within this space being a waste of marketing dollars simply isn't accurate.

I have participated in these debates, in which the argument on the value of Social Media, and its long-term ability to increase sales, or drive tune-in, etc, is called into question. It's important to view the value of social media through a non-traditional lens. You cannot apply the value, spend and rationale of a typical media buy to activations that take place in the social space. Social Media is best at building awareness, and driving conversations around a brand. It's also an excellent way to find your most powerful targeted audience, and apply that intelligence to all aspects of your clients future marketing initiatives.

Moreover, you can change approach, direction and tactics in real-time within the social space, and gage and interpret conversations to strengthen your strategy. Having said all that... John is right on several points. Pepsi did see a dip in sales, even after their refresh project, which was wildly publicized and enormously "successful" through the lens of social media. But, it didn't impact sales the way it was expected to. My point is, it shouldn't have been expected to.

Many activations within the social space are going to be test and learn opportunities for brands. Considering the spend made versus the ROI, it's foolish to debate the value, or assume the money was not intelligently spent. 74% of consumers trust a friend recommendation over a traditional ad, and it will only increase. The voice of the people cannot be overlooked.

Tabula Rasa

As a blank slate, the mind is capable of understanding anything. My Latin teacher from high school, Father Ryan, would refer to our minds as the tabula rasa. In ancient Rome, the mind of a student was considered one of the most powerful things. A blank slate upon which anything could be drawn. Having worked for nearly 10 years now, I have seen the world of digital marketing completely change the way brands connect with consumers, and how consumers interact with brands.

Today, I decided to create a blog, and put to paper (so to speak), my life as a digital marketing professional. Self-education is the best way to stay focused and remain at the top of your game. This blog will serve as my conduit to the rest of the digital universe, and will hopefully springboard my enhanced understanding of the space.

Approaching this every-changing and ever-evolving landscape must be done with the mind of a student to ensure that nothing is missed or overlooked because my mind was too closed off to understand its value or appreciate its long-term potential impact.

Here is a great article I read on Mashable this morning: http://mashable.com/2011/05/13/likeonomics-rohit-bhargava/ This is a good place to start.