Social media marketing is not right for everyone....

I read a great article this week in BusinessWeek entitled "Beware Social Media Myths".

The piece was essentially exploring the use of social media for small businesses and busting open some of the key myths surrounding the hype and current media obsession with social networking sites and their uses.

I have edited some of the main myths below which i think are key for everyone to remember...

MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook are all the rage, but for most business owners there are better ways to stay close to customers

Myth 1. Social media sites are free:

Using social media sites isn't as easy or cheap as many people think.
Sure, most let you set up an account for free and you can integrate other services, such as your blog or Google's YouTube videos, at no charge.

But there's a significant cost: your time.

Because there's nothing worse than a site that's not current and to keep it current, someone's going to need to spend time.

This includes responding to visitors' questions, posting brilliant thoughts, adding graphics, and monitoring activity—basically trying to generate buzz.
Old information—a stagnant site, comments left without response—are death in the social networking community.

Myth 2. You need to be on all the big sites:

Besides spending a lot of time and effort, businesses who have succeeded with social networking sites generally focus on just a few of them.
Just because the media says it's cool to tweet doesn't mean it has anything to do with your business.
If you're going to to frequent social community sites, don't spread yourself too thin.

Most of the guys I know who use these things successfully pick their weapon and give it their all.

Myth 3. Social networking sites are for marketing:

Baloney. I've learned from other smart business owners that social communities are not for marketing. They're for service.

They are places to use to get closer to customers and respond to their needs. "Wherever they are, that's where I'll go,"

By providing quick and helpful customer service through these sites, you can foster loyalty and satisfaction, resulting in more sales.

Myth 4. Social networking sites are the future:

Really? Some of these cool and trendy sites aren't going to be so cool and trendy in the near future.

The percentage of Twitter users in a given month who return the following month has languished below 30% for most of the past year, according to Nielsen Wire. And MySpace recently suffered a decline in monthly traffic volumes and remember GeoCities? Yahoo! is shutting it down.

Social networking is a permanent phenomenon but that doesn't mean its main players today will be the main players tomorrow.

The above myths are not groundbreaking or particularly difficult to understand, in fact they are basic things that we all know.....but regularly forget.

You can read the full article here: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2009/tc20090522_078978.htm?campaign_id=rss_tech

Marketings Gen X vs Gen Y: Broadcast vs Digital....

Before i start, i want to make it crystal clear that i am in no way trying to incite a generational war between Gen X and Gen Y within the marketing world....i think (in general) Gen X'ers are lovely, educated & experienced people from whom we can all learn some valuable lessons....

Now that's covered.....what is it with Gen X'ers!!!

Today i stood up and presented a view of the future of the communications landscape.

I showed them the change in the online ecosystem, the change in media consumption overall and then the change in how we, as a world, are communicating...

Over 200m Facebook profiles, 65,000 new videos uploaded to Youtube per day, 4,000,000 wikipedia articles etc....and these numbers are from 2008!

I showed them the 14% (of people trust advertising) versus 78% (trust their peers) study from Nielsen.

I showed them the Dominos scandal video and the impact that it had on sales - 30% decrease in North Carolina alone...

I showed them the bad examples (pimp my kettle) and i showed them the good (starbucks)....

I showed them the king of online grassroots communication - Barack Obama - who built a community of 6m profiles on Mybarackobama, 13m email addresses, 3m facebook friends....and 88% of total funds raised from individual contributions...

PRETTY COMPELLING STUFF RIGHT??

So what happened?

.....I got heckled by the Gen X'ers.

Yep....heckled.

What did they say? Below i have outlined a choice selection of verbatims:

"Why is the internet not regulated"
"i will never join facebook"
"user generated content is not credible"
"the internet is not credible"
"i can't show my client what people are saying about them online, i would be embarresed"
"Why shouldn't we just ignore it?"
"why are idiots online allowed to upload videos?"

I was pretty much personally blamed for the downfall of Dominos pizza, it was almost like i had put the cheese up my own nose!

And when i (sarcastically) suggested we censor the internet like China they actually agreed!

They just don't get it, probably never will.

They still believe reach & frequency are key, i think Kevin Kellys concept of 1,000 fans should be our new mantra...

All i have done today in my presentation is highlight the gap between Gen X and Gen Y - but if i was telling you that all you had done for 20 years was no longer valid, you'd be pissed too...

I'd like to leave you with one parting thought

Brain Dump: Comms Strategy Framework

3 Things Every Digital Marketer Should Know In 2009

I have unashamedly lifted this from the excellent Razorfish Digital Outlook Report (2009) which you can & should read HERE


The Web Gets a Pulse

The “real time” nature of the Web is taking on a new dimension:

This year, we will close that gap between archived information and what’s going on right now. Not only is the Web becoming more social — it is becoming instantly reactive.
From twittering and yammering to live online social events to intelligent, location-awareness mobile connectivity, the Web is beginning to take on a pulse —
or, a life — of its own.
Social Web users, whether they are connected teens or digital mums, are increasingly unable to draw boundaries where their physical and virtual worlds divide, or to distinguish between their known and anonymous peer groups.

And as Obama demonstrated, there is untapped momentum in social media environments, which, when leveraged well, can create a movement of scalable proportion. However, movements cannot happen alone.
In this environment, marketers need to listen, monitor and learn. They need to understand what value they bring and how to work with their agencies and media partners to create their own dynamic experiences.

Does your brand — whether you are a media company or a marketer — have a pulse?


Fragmentation Moves Beyond Media

It is no surprise that audience fragmentation continues to challenge marketers, but in 2009, it is increasingly challenging to content owners.

Media content was once relegated to a platform with an established, advertising-supported business model: TV, print,online, mobile or out of home. But as consumer attention splinters,so, too, will the content, the platform and the media revenue
model.
With economic pressure and ever more complex distribution channels, will our business models sustain themselves? Will premium content survive? While the long tail of the Web depends on technology and data to monetize its inventory, traditional business models with long-standing histories and complex infrastructures like TV have not been as quick to change.

2009 will be a test for premium content owners, the TV and print advertising establishments and the digital world as we brace for potential and unexpected change to our business models brought on by years of continued fragmentation.

What will define the media company of the future?

The ability to let content travel across a myriad of platforms, devices and lifestyles. The will to embrace new forms of measurement, data, technology and digital infrastructure to manage complexity. And the vision to compete on the future.

When the Going Gets Tough...

No doubt the recession is on everyone’s minds as we enter a new
year.
A flat year would be a good outcome for digital advertising in 2009, and while many major publishers will see a year-over-year drop, there will be winners.

We are in the midst of a historic time,when industries that some would argue were the foundations of our economy may be challenged like never before, but there is also
an opportunity for new business models to take root and thrive.

2009 will be a tough year for all media, even digital media; it will be a time for exploring new buying methods — such as conducting business through ad exchanges — and learning how to employ social influence marketing strategies that have value for consumers and brands alike.

While growth may be curbed, there is no time like the present to innovate. Innovation will take many forms — new messages, new channels, new products, new business models.
Whatever happens, one thing is for certain: we’ll all learn how to do more with less. And be smarter for it.

Are my nuts bigger than yours?

@zoescaman's nuts are 18.43 lbs!

How big are yours - size em' up here: http://tweetnuts.com

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

I'm making an important point here so listen up!

Over the past few months i have seen numerous online engagement strategies & campaigns talked up, talked down, loved, hated, envangelised & trashed.

Many of the executions have experienced wildly contradictory reviews and caused debate amongst everyone.
We've discussed the positives, the negatives, the right way and the wrong way, the great elements which could have been done better and the fact that some shouldn't have been done at all...

We put our two cents in because we can, because we didn't run the campaign so therefore we're well within our right to criticise, publicise & exercise our opinions.

But i have just one question which i am addressing to everyone (me included):

DO YOU ACTUALLY HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'RE DOING?

We call ourselves social media experts, digital strategists, engagement planners...the list goes on (and you can find most of the iterations here on a blogpost by @anotheradwanker entitled Help name a social media guy) but do any of us really know how to run a successful 'social media' campaign?

No, we don't.

There is no formula, no handbook, no 'idiots guide to engagement planning' and no right & wrong...
It's all about experimentation, different perspectives, optimisation, try, fail and try again.

To give you examples of what i mean i have collated a few of the discussions i have come across recently surrounding some of the more controversial campaigns:

GIRL WITH THE JACKET:

Anonymous (on Mumbrella article):

While you all have very good points… a particular post caught my eye from Simon - “Ask them if they sold any jackets’
I work at Witchery and we aren’t actually rolling out the men’s range until March.
I think the whole campaign was mainly aimed at creating awarness of the fact that Witchery are doing something new.
Regardless of whether people are actually interested in the product, the campaign resulted in major publicity and has been rather controversial - an outcome significantly more successful than if simple ads were placed in regular medias.
To conclude - they weren’t interested in selling jackets, but instead creating awareness, which by judging from this blog and the media attention recieved, certainly worked!

Paul (on the same Mumbrella article):

Naked are a shameless bunch of no integrity wankers and bullshit artists. Woebetide the dumn clients like Coke and Big Pond who retail them.


SKITTLES WEBSITES (aka SKITTLEGATE)

NextBrett (on Laurel Papworth article):

Hey Laurel,
I agree the widget style branding on top of the page makes the navigation somewhat confusing.
However i like the attempt to integrate social media channels with the parent skittles brand (i.e. twitter, flickr, facebook, youtube etc).
Could probably do with some jump page style message better explaining the idea..
I say good on them for the attempt but probably leaving users confused as it comes across as some kind of stunt.

Excerpt from 'thisisgoingtobebig' blog:

Instead of reaching out into the community and showing up in our spaces, they took our spaces and brought them back to their site. Instead of sending traffic to us, they took our stuff and made it all about them. What's the point, other than generating a lot of chatter about the campaign, rather than about the product?

VIRGIN MOBILE V FEST APP

Excerpt from my blog:

Every single person there (not including freebie tickets of course) had shelled out circa $140 for a ticket which is alot of money, so i don't think i'm alone in thinking that the Festival Buddy service really should have been free for each & every attendee as an added benefit within the ticket cost.

Excerpt from @anotheradwanker blog:

It wasn't about Virgin sucking up to non-customers. It was about Virgin showing the love and saying thanks to their existing customers.All these add-ons made me feel loved by my telco. Not many brands (especially in telecommunications) can pull that off.

And there are thousands of others which you can research yourself such as Tourism Queensland, NAB, Pimp My Kettle etc etc....

My point, if i haven't made it as clear as mud already, is that there is no correct way to enter into an engagement strategy and there are no rules.

What we are doing, what we are ALL doing, is dipping our feet in and having a go!

The success or lack thereof is judged purely on opinion, perspective & objective which differ widely across different groups of people (god forbid that includes the client and the agency themselves!)

Why do you think the success stories we saw at Adtech were decades old? It's not because no one has attempted anything since, it's just that their newest experiments may not have been as triumphant...

So if you think of yourself as a 'social media expert' and believe there is a winning formula to all of this, may i (politely)suggest that you get back in your box and stay there until your ego deflates to a manageable size once again :-)

Bridging the Gap

'Bridging the gap' is another one of those catch phrases which i normally hate along with others such as 'jump in', 'get involved' and 'start the conversation'.

They have been misunderstood, over exposed & generally corrupted over time hence they now form part of one of my favourite games - Bullshit Bingo (see below & feel free to use!)

So i was pleasantly surprised in a meeting earlier on today when the term 'Bridging the Gap' was used in conjunction with a real understanding of what it meant.

We'd been throwing around different explanations & iterations of how social engagement and personalisation helped Brands connect with customers until we came up with a simple but succint way to show it (see below):

We start off with a great divide between Brands & Customers. There is no common ground, no understanding & no accessibility...

In the past we have utilised traditional media to speak to these customers but that only gets us so far...

This gives us what we can call an 'Indirect Brand Experience' where we are exposed to advertising messages but it doesn't neccessarily connect with us, whether that's due to lack of relevance, personalisation, resonance etc

So what we are aiming to do is connect with people on an individual level to create the much desired 'Direct Experience' which can drive increased purchase consideration, brand advocacy, repeat business etc which is where social engagement comes in to 'Bridge the Gap'...



Therefore what we end up with is Indirect & Direct experience:



The other key thing to note is Critical Mass. The Indirect Experience, as expensive & unconnected as it can be, does play an essential role in building mass awareness & exposure and cannot be ignored.



Therefore the Social Engagement side, whilst being at the core of any strategy and being key to 'Bridge the Gap' and build Direct Experience, can rarely be the summation of a campaign execution.

This, for me, simply & effectively outlines the challenge we are all facing in the ever-changing communications landscape.