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That’s it… just pondering a remark some child made in passing. Sometimes genius is in the most simple of things. Hmmm….?

Dec 06th by Shannon

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I blogged earlier about a random idea I had about consumers being an active ingredient of a marketing/advertising campaign.

The more I investigate, work in and ponder all things Social and Digital the more I can’t help but think of ‘Engagement’ as being the Hero.

There is bucket loads of information, insights and research out there that states online users in this day and age are looking for:

1. Fame

2. An experience that they can share with their networks.

3. Immortality

Brands want the online audience to swap their cash for said product/service – Brands are active online in an effort to capture those sales. I can’t help but see two islands that need a bridge.

Online consumers are looking for something specific, Brands are also looking for something specific… marrying the two could prove to be more of a win win. All this leads me back to an earlier random thought – what if consumers were enabled to be an intricate part of an online marketing and ad campaign? Literally able to jib jab themselves into copy, banner ads, videos, photos and more.

side-bar: HAH! I love how jib jab can now wear both hats: noun and verb! That’s a great measurement of success for a brand – non?

Nov 30th by Shannon

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I just read an article titled ‘Why Social Media Purists Won’t Last’ and it reminded me of a blog I should have done two months ago but didn’t. This post written by Jason Falls gives some very good arguements for how Social Media can no longer be maintained and guarded by the purists. If you haven’t read it yet, it is definitely worth the 6 minutes. This post has lots of merit and is something I do find myself nodding in agreement to. Although I wonder, if I were to take a few minutes out of my day and sit still, would this post make me uncomfortable? I’m thinking yeah, yeah it would. Albeit, only a smidgen.

In September of this year I had the pleasure of working with some very smart people on a global smart phone account. I was providing the b2b social strategy, compeltely built on insights, monitoring of conversations, supported with analytics that led to crowdsourcing and co-creation of solutions, that all supported innovation and on and on it went. The proposal was a very proud moment for me. Fast forward to the client meeting.

The client had their set of objectives, needs and ideals and I definitely had mine. I was committed to delivering a social media movement that would rival Dell, one that would be used as a case study in Birmingham’s Masters coursework for social, one that… ok. I’ll stop here.

What happened? The purist in me met the realist client and neither the two shall meet. The meeting was mediated by one of my colleagues who managed to walk the fine balance between the ideal social media solution and the parameters, restrictions and objectives of said client. A more balanced (washed down) proposal was sold and they all lived happily ever after!

What did I take away from all this? I received one incredible lesson as to why the Purist model needs to evolve if it expects to survive in today’s world. NOTE – I used the word “evolve” not “compromise”. 

The fundamentals of Social Media remain true. One person represented it best when he describe it as simply – Social >media – anyone remember who coined this? I shall do some digging so credit can go where credit due.

So yes, to Social Media Consultants everywhere, the purist days are probably not numbered… they’re over.

Nov 23rd by Shannon

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Do you care what it is exactly I want you to tweet? It’s not porn, it’s not racist or anything else offensive to your next door neighbor. What is it then? I want you to tweet a marketing message that has been disguised to appear genuinely from you. I’ll give you $250 for pressing a button! So? Will you do it?

Tempting – isn’t it? Do you think average joe with 10,000 twitter followers will find it tempting? Absolutely.

Full disclosure? I am a marketing and advertising type.  (but not one you can easily cookie cut by any means.) How do I feel about this? Bah! Not impressed. Why? Several reasons that I’ve attempted to outline below – what will this mean to our networks, relationships with friends and perception of social anything a year from now? Two years from now? I appreciate there are the full disclosure type companies but I tend to think they’ll be in the minority… most companies will work hard to hide <seed> their marketing messages as genuine tweets from mates. I can’t help but think that this is dodgy space.. why?

#1 – It’s not honest. Granted it could be argued that it is the ‘friend’ who is tweeting his love of said brand that is being the dishonest one. Regardless – when a brand is exposed in this space as acting in a way other than honest and authentic – they are in for one helluva run. The Nissan Cube, Habitat and the classic Dell brand can all testify to this harsh reality.

#2 – it’s not the way Social Media (SoMe) is done. It is a “Get Social Quick” scheme and for those of us who’ve earned our stripes know this does not work. There is no long term growth achieved. I’d even argue that this takes you one step forward and three steps back.

#3 – smells like MLM. Network Marketing. Pyramid. Whatever you want to call it. Now everybody is a mark. Now every twitter list is a dollar sign. Now every potential twitter account that befriends you is actually a robot looking to build a list to benefit from Black Hat Tweets! (That’s what I’m calling it as it feels a lot like Black Hat SEO) And when said person discovers that they are being considered a mark or seen as a dollar sign, what do they do? They revolt. (or bolt in the opposite direction)

#4 – it exploits a space that prides itself on trusting the recommendations of others. Hmmm. I wonder how long this will last. AC Neilsen can be quoted as saying- 78% of people trust what their network recommend to them.

#5-  it is setting a brand up for a beating. When exposed to be paying for fake recommendations how do you think said brand will be received by the social space? If the brand is big enough and the story is outrageous enough there will be one helluva a job waiting for some PR firm. (Hopefully a PR firm who appreciates that we’ve evolved and social media is no longer a fad)

What do you think? Am I over thinking this? Is there a place for this type of evil? HAH!

Nov 22nd by Shannon

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says Colin Powell’s 14yr old grandson.

Smart Marketers must stalk emerging media, study market trends and analyze the evolution of consumer behavior. It’s what separates the good from those that are truly amazing. 

As I was reading up on Colin Powell’s speech for his Dreamforce <sales> audience, a comment from his grandson struck me. Now I’ve heared this many times before and I’m sure we will all hear it many times after, but the Gen Z generation (the oldest age right now is 16) are not using email. They are tweeting, txting and using other forms of Social Networing (SNing) to engage.

So what does this mean two years from now? What does it mean today? Will email disinegrate or will it evolve? Intersting – non?

This blog could go in many many different directions at this stage, but Im going to put my smart marketer hat back on and say, knowing your audience is key to your success.

Nov 22nd by Shannon

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Does it belong to the PR people … or the Digital Ninjas and Social Strategists? Are there clear lines in the sand that enable both PR types and the digerati to play nice together? If you have any examples, thoughts, case studies – I’d love you to share ‘em.

Nov 20th by Shannon

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