Marketer's Lab

Twitter-scape, Twitter-sphere, Twitter-verse, Twitter-iffic

My last post, quite a while ago (ahem), covered my entree to the world of Twitter.  I was, and continue to be, appropriately suspect of the hype around Twitter and all the Social Media "stuff" out there promising great and wonderful things for marketers.  Overall, I'm much more of a believer in Twitter now.  I thought it might be helpful to share some of my early thoughts and experiences.   

Practice "monogamiscuity" - No, this is not a Bush-ism for a youth health program, but a word that captures the essence of what has worked well so far for me in the Twitter-sphere.  (Stephen Colbert, you're free to run with this one).  The idea is to follow selectively, but follow many.  By casting a wider, but still discerning net, you access a lot of valuable information without having to wade through a ton of junk. 

Relax and lurk - Content shortages are yet to be an issue in the world of Twitter, so don't feel pressured to contribute for the sake of contributing.  Making quality contributions clearly makes you more attractive to potential followers, so it's important at some level, but I know a lot of marketers stressed out about fueling the Twitter machine.  Active listening through Twitter can be super-valuable.

Contributions = value to followers - Not flying in the face of the previous point, but if building a following is important you do need to provide value to your followers.  Seems obvious enough, a pretty basic Social Media principle, but worth mentioning if you intend to develop a meaningful audience.  There's a bit of snobbery out there on the value of re-tweeting and simply aggregating the content of others, I say if you find resources you like and think would be of value by all means share them. Make your followers happy and they'll spread the word.

Urchins are everywhere - While I'm not currently being followed, that I know of, by any deposed Nigerian royalty, it's clear many of the email SPAM contingent have moved over to Twitter.  It's too bad, but I suppose inevitable that these folks would find their way to Twitter.

Twitter as a marketing amplifier - In addition to being a great stand-alone platform, I see Twitter as an amazing marketing amplifier.  Used as an extension of other core marketing programs, Twitter can extend the reach and engagement of virtually any initiative.  I feel like this integration will evolve to be the sweet spot for Twitter. 

Still lots to learn about Twitter, I'm actively searching for good Twitter marketing resources which I will of course share here.  For now it's safe to say I've moved from skeptic to skeptical fan of Twitter.

Marketing To The Sixth Sense

Sometimes I wonder about whether many of the emerging marketing technologies are really solving the real issues we have as marketers.  There are some amazing new tools out there, but there are also plenty of marketing technology "solutions" I come across that look like a technology trying to find a problem rather than a new tool to address increasingly complex marketing challenges.  I am both a big marketing technology evangelist and a huge marketing technology skeptic.  The presentation below from the TED Conference, aside from being a real jaw-dropper, gave me a new perspective on how technology and marketing really fit together. 

I have no idea who actually said this, but someone much smarter than I once said something along the  lines of "the more powerful technology becomes, the less visible it becomes".  This idea of a more seamless integration of technology to our everyday lives is already happening at an amazing speed.  What we now call "Social Media" is quickly becoming so normalized that it's already almost ceased to be something separate, but rather an extension of ourselves and one of the multitude of ways we communicate and connect on a daily basis. 

As you watch the TED presentation, think about how the experiences and capabilities Pattie Maes and her genius student Pranav Mistry showcase will alter the way we will need to communicate with the world as marketers.  If you're like me, you will come away with new resolve about the need for incredible new tools and a completely new perspective on marketing.  

Antisocial Media

I maintain a presence on a couple social networks, but I'm not on Facebook, I don't Twitter and I only post to my blog every couple days. (Pause while marketers reading this gasp and then transition to chuckles about what a Social Media loser I must be).  My Google reader,  until a recent "reader bankruptcy" where I nuked everything and started over, was a logjam of unread posts and other content.  With all the buzz about everything social, my inability/choice to limit my social stuff has me feeling a little antisocial.

Yes we're in the "age of conversation" and 'everyone is smarter than the few" and we all need to be transparent and collaborate while we watch the "world get smaller", but how much is too much?  I came across a piece by Phil Johnson over at AdAge who did a nice post on this very subject.  Phil also points to a more inflammatory post by Peter Madden who calls out "Facebook as a freak show", not surprisingly drawing the ire of many a Facebook fan. Interesting to read the comments on the freak show post, here's a couple excerpts: 

From the "You just don't get Social Media" camp:

"you seem to be echoing the standard sentiments of a neophyte user"

"Um, is this a post from about 3 years ago that's been accidentally re-published? I can't quite believe it would be current."

"Facebook is an early look at the future of digital advertising and social/consumer CRM."

"Facebook is to the future of advertising as Google was for search."

"If this article is satire, it's only mildly amusing."

"If the author is serious, then he's just one more dinosaur stuck in the tar pit that is traditional advertising."

From the "Skeptical of Social Media" camp:

"I'm tired of hearing about who posted what on your message board. Get back to work"

"Facebook, like any form or social discourse, faces the risk that the overall tone of the conversation is dominated by the lowest form of discourse." - Robert Heath

"I guess if your looking for depth in an online community stop playing in the shallow end of the social networking pool"

"a conversation consisting of "Peter is getting on a plane in Las Vegas... Brittany is having french toast for breakfast... Gary has the sniffles" is a bore in ANY medium."

Religion, politics and now apparently Social Media?  Why is this so hard?  My theory is that everyone is looking for the "right answer", when there isn't one.  Every audience is different, every product is unique and the marketing dynamics for every campaign vary.  To claim Social Media, however you define it, works or doesn't ignores all these unique characteristics. 

I am wildly passionate about the opportunities Social Media makes available, but also appropriately skeptical that it's a magical world where all your marketing dreams can come true.  If there's one thing Social Media has taught us is that there are few absolutes, probably not a bad thing to keep in mind as we evolve along together.

If A Picture's Worth A Thousand Words...

I have to admit I'm pretty enamored with web video right now.  Web video is benefiting/suffering from much of the same hype as social media/social media marketing/etc. There's a wealth of coverage about how web video works with/against TV, how publishers are monetizing it, how marketers are using it and how it fits into the overall marketing and cultural media landscape.  Riveting perspectives and ideas out there in all the aforementioned areas, but I worry with so much attention on these other areas, we might be losing sight of one of the biggest web video opportunities.  The opportunity to bring a story to life. 

I think this is what advertising icon Lee Clow had in mind when he recently said:

“The ability to use the internet in terms of great brand storytelling is still at its infancy,” he said. “The internet advertising media, cross my fingers and hope to God, with bandwidth and with some ability, is going to become more artful; it’s going to become more interesting. … But it’s going to take creative people to embrace the possibilities of what you can do on the internet in terms of advertising and storytelling and make it a little better and smarter”.

It's easy to get sucked into the gadgetry, there are a multitude of incredibly exciting tools and applications making web video more affordable and accessible.  The technologies are tactical, web video strategy should be more about stories.  Many marketers just don't use the "marketing muscles" that drive the process of creating communication strategies involving video.  Not to stereotype too much, but it seems the B2B space has the hardest time with this.  

What every marketer should be crazy excited about is the fact we now have a medium with the proven ability to communicate messages in extremely powerful ways, the tools for creating, delivering and monetizing this content are getting better everyday and consumers in every category are embracing quality web video content.  Web video is a medium for all marketers, large and small, B2B and B2C in every industry. I challenge you to think about how you and your organization are using web video, and if you're not, consider why.  You have a story to tell, think about how to bring it to life with video.

     

Smell the Coffee

Five minutes long but pretty riveting stuff. If you think you have a handle on what's happening in the world, this piece is both sobering and exciting at the same time.