Marobella's Branding SoapBox

I'm Not A Social Media Expert

                                          

"Please don't call me a social media expert."

That is a phrase I've heard muttered from some of the best minds in the marketing business and I'm sure I will hear more of at Ad:Tech/Chicago, this week. So this dubious distinction got me thinking. Why would this offend any of us? Isn't it something that those of us that have been accused of being an 'expert' at anything we do, would welcome and be proud to have showered upon us? 

Approaching almost the 20-year mark in various aspects of a marketing/advertising career (I know, I don't look that old) I have reflected back on other areas of marketing that I've gained deep insight into. Early on in my career, healthcare marketing when I was at Blue/Cross & Blue Shield then leapt headfirst into the digital space where I was one of the early marketers trying to crack the code on the development stages of web marketing & online advertising sometimes with a media planning bent (mostly for B2B technology brands) and then into retail marketing (mostly print) and then back to digital marketing around the time digital marketing was going through it's second inflection point - social media - now at Wirestone. 

Two things have remained a constant for me throughout my career, which I believe, have been driving values in my passion for adopting the principles of integrating the new social computing technologies not only into marketing but for other core business functions. 

First, I've always had a passion for understanding what the consumer/customer really wanted from a brand/organization. Not what they tell you in a focus group, but what are the unmet needs that maybe they don't even realize and then how can we solve that challenge?

 Second, I've always had a passion for what's next in marketing.  Coming out of school in the early 90's, that what's next was interactive media and digital marketing. I happened to be there for that inflection point in marketing. I dove in headfirst and became 'an expert', I guess. Then around 2002, I moved into retail marketing at around the time digital marketing stagnated or progressed more slowly. In 2006, I came back to digital marketing and social media was starting to take off. I was hooked. It felt like a renaissance of digital marketing - I wanted in. To me, social media is the perfect storm of my marketing passions - consumer connection, consumer persuasion, technology, brand engagement & fast-moving.

And, as I think about the other people that have risen to the forefront of the new age of digital marketing, they have similar backgrounds and have embraced the challenge of waving the flag for a new type of enterprise and a new type of commerce through the use of non-technical functions (like listening) empowered by the new technologies falling under the heading of social computing - like the new entity The Dachis Group. We can all learn from their perspective and admire their pioneering spirit to espouse a new type of commerce. 

Being a rebel by nature also contributes to my passion to demonstrate to stubborn executives that business is changing. Their way of conducting commerce is changing. They can either accept it or decide to not change at their peril. More on that in coming posts. 

So, while I might have a real passion for integrating technology & social computing throughout this new age of digital marketing & might have a real knack for it. Don't call me a social media expert. If you must, refer to me as an expert in driving business, an expert in making the cash register ring by connecting brands with customers a new ways empowered by technology. 

Thank you. 

Retail Phenomenon: Video Taping Your 'Haul'

 A very smart woman named @digitaldawn once said to me: "If it is possible, it is on the web." Her comment was in a VERY different context, but I couldn't help thinking about her wisdom while observing a new trend on the web, most specifically, YouTube. 

While doing research for a retailer, recently, we came across a bevy of videos that are known as "Haul" videos. They are video ethnographies of what people bought on a recent shopping trip. Some are really short and primitive in nature and some are many minutes and nicely done. They range in retailers from Target to A.C. Moore to Sephora and more. They are mostly younger, millennial women.

The video I've embedded above has over 55,000 views!

My visceral thought was 'Who are these people and why do they want to tell the world what they are buying." My second thought was 'Who are these people that would watch?'

After some thinking, it all made sense. 

Shopping at stores like Target, A.C. Moore, Sephora, H&M, Forever 21 etc. are treasure hunts for these girls. It is a very social occasion as they cavort at the mall, eat Aunt Annie's pretzels and shop from store to store. But the socialability of shopping doesn't stop there. It extends to telling their friends that weren't with them, their friends that live in other states or people that are in their social graphs only online but not in 'real-life.' These girls want to share the spoils of their hunt, a shopping hunt. The real-time and social web has enabled them to broadcast themselves (YouTube's tagline) and their passions (shopping) to the world. The comments that people are leave are also interesting. "Love your bracelet" or "What is the name of that makeup?" The fact is, these girls are influencers and are persuading people to visit these retailers and/or buy the brands they are talking about. 

Social Media For Universities and Colleges

                                                            One of the first rules of social media for organizations is to "let go." Let go of your control over your brand, your inhibitions, your fears and your worst nightmares. If you really believe in your product, service or offering - the people will do the right thing and tell others the truth. If they tell the truth and it isn't flattering, well, congratulations you have something to fix. We all have something to fix in our organizations, that's for sure. If you don't think you do, you're the mark at the table. 

Recently, our company had the chance to work with a respected University in Illinois called Olivet Nazarene. They came to us with a notion that they wanted to be authentic, transparent and allow others to spread the good word about their school (hey, they're evangelical christian.) They wanted to connect to prospective students and parents on their terms. So, basically we had to create an environment that 17-year olds would find cool and that their parents would understand how to navigate. ONU wanted a place where students, alumni, prospective students, faculty and staff could tell the story of the school through the use of multi-media. 

The underlying strategy was to treat the school like a retail environment and allow people to post ratings and reviews of all aspects of the school. In addition, we added multiple layers of ratings for students, parents and more, since they will have a different perspective. In addition, we basically created a shell of an experience and the content is all populated using 3rd party API's of popular social networking sites where the brand was already present. So, we subscribed to the hub and spoke social media model for this effort. 

Among other things, the primary business objectives were to give people a transparent look at the school to ensure that they make an informed decision about the school. This reduces churn and transfer rate after the freshman year, creates a more engaged, positive student body and happier alumni. Also, a by-product of the ratings and reviews area is that the leadership of the school can track trends on areas of the school they might not have heard about, otherwise. A built-in research tool, if you will. 

I applaud ONU for taking the leap into social media and relinquishing control of their brand. That takes confidence and fortitude. It will take some time for this content community to take seed, but we are confident as this year's high-school seniors are evaluating schools, they will use SEEWHATSONU to make an informed decision. 

I've Been Ning'd

Where do you find the time? 

That is a question I hear a lot from people that are trying to find time to participate in the social-sphere. Frankly, I wonder where I find the time to be on twitter, stay connected on facebook, track my old colleagues on LinkedIn and stay up to date in other places like YouTube, Namyz and Flickr. But, for all of my engagement in those social networks, none of them help me amplify my true interests by connecting with other like-minded people around topics and things that I dig.

Recently, I dove deeper on Ning. The community platform that allows anyone to create a turnkey social network and invite others to join in. I've joined networks about tattoos, sneakers, The Boston Red Sox, marketing with more to come. My involvement in these communities creates a mosaic of who I am. If someone that didn't know me wanted to take a peek at what networks I belonged to on Ning, they would probably have a clear picture of who I am and what I'm interested in. 

Being on Ning goes beyond just being a 'fan' like on facebook or 'following' like on twitter. It allows me to pop in and out of material and content that I want to engage within. People that have real passions want to learn and engage others that share that passion - it is the common thread that connects people no matter where they are in the world. 

So, if you find the time come get Ning'd. 

I Feel 26, Again.

 

I feel 26, again. 

No, not because I am taking HGH or had some plastic surgery, but because of the way I felt in the interactive (or new media, then) marketing game back in 1996. It is the same way I have been feeling, these days. I keep having deja' vu conversations when I am with high-ranking  executives in recognizable brands that are slow to adopt marketing in the communications channels their customers are adopting. Read: Socially-Enabled Media.

In 1996 and now, the consumer-canary is leading us into the social cave rather than out. The fragmentation of a person's time in how they consume information, share experiences with others, keep tabs on their social graph and become more productive is happening with a screen and keyboard, not a TV remote, pen or paper. 

When the web started to become mainstream in the mid-1990's, I remember embarking into NYC's skyscraper-jungle talking to brands like Turner Broadcasting, IBM, ADP, Nynex (now Verizon), Blue Cross/Blue Shield and more. I was waving the flag for new media and why these brands must carve out marketing budget from their other line items to invest in this new communication channel. Seems crazy, right? We have short-term memories and don't remember that there was once a time that we didn't buy things off the internet, didn't have an email address or URL on our business card. And, it wasn't that long ago. Budgets for web development were experimental until around 1999. Sound familiar?

Now, there are many people like me (inside of Wirestone and around the world) espousing the merits of finding new digital ways for brands to connect in a lasting and meaningful way. The rate of technology development is rapid and people are rightly concerned that different aspects of digital marketing could be a fad, but watch that canary and where it is leading us.  That canary keeps going to the same place and it is proving that people want to connect with others and to the brands they love. If people don't love your brand, they won't connect no matter how hard you try and force fit. 

I applaud the brands that are diving in whole-heartedly to the social-fray, like Zappos, Best Buy, Starbucks, Dell and more. These are the brands that will persevere and survive through this recession, because they had the balls to invest significantly in areas of marketing that don't have a straight line to revenue, at least immediately. They have the vision and foresight to understand that the canary is leading them to the promised land. 

Now, if I could only fit into those 1996 jeans again all would be right with the world.