Looking Ahead: User Shared Content
My latest thinking on social is related to the evolution of how we're using it. A few years ago, social media was what some now call "static social". It was text based, updating blogs and wiki's and posting in forums.
Then we moved into the UGC phase, where people discovered the ease of creating and publishing their own content. Regular people and their cats became internet sensations. We loved it.
Today and moving forward, I think social is going to be about USC, or User Shared Content. More and more people are exposed to mass and niche sources for news and entertainment. People are spending so much time socializing and discovering news/information on the web, they don't have time to "create content" anymore and honestly, most would rather read or look at someone else's.
Instead, they can share it. And they can entertain friends and family and their new global social graph, by sharing links/pix/vids with a wider group of friends than ever before, who can like it and comment on it and share it some more.
USC a great opportunity for creatives and ad agencies, whom have the ability and resources to make some kickass content that is irresistibly shareable.
Showing posts with label social media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social media. Show all posts
Friday, February 04, 2011
Monday, January 25, 2010
Great little story on rainy Monday morning to share with you. This one is about the real power of social media: connecting with an expanded social graph or social network to make good things happen.
One of our Creative Directors here at Red Tettemer has been collecting clothes to send with his sister and brother-in-law as they go to Haiti with Partners in Health to help in a few weeks. They are partnering with the organization Angel Flights with to transport the donations to Haiti and last week, found out that Angel Flights would only be able to transport the goods to The Dominican - this couple would have to find a way to move the donations from there to Haiti.
Over the weekend, my colleague's wife said, "I'm going to post on Facebook and see if anyone has any ideas of how to get these donations to Haiti." They figured it was a long shot, but why not try?
A short time later they had a Facebook message from a an old classmate in California, A. She has a good friend, D. (also in California), who has family in Port-au-Prince. His brother has a friend named R., who has his own plane in Ft. Lauderdale. R. is commissioned to take people and supplies on a regular basis to and from Haiti. Once hearing their story, he said if they could get the donations down to Ft. Lauderdale, he'd load them on his next flight and fly them to Haiti, gratis.
So Angel Flights is transporting the supplies to Ft. Lauderdale, and then R. will fly all of the supplies ( well over $100,000 worth ) to Haiti. Sometime next week, some of those strangers we watch on the news may be wearing some familiar looking clean clothes.
That's social good.
One of our Creative Directors here at Red Tettemer has been collecting clothes to send with his sister and brother-in-law as they go to Haiti with Partners in Health to help in a few weeks. They are partnering with the organization Angel Flights with to transport the donations to Haiti and last week, found out that Angel Flights would only be able to transport the goods to The Dominican - this couple would have to find a way to move the donations from there to Haiti.
Over the weekend, my colleague's wife said, "I'm going to post on Facebook and see if anyone has any ideas of how to get these donations to Haiti." They figured it was a long shot, but why not try?
A short time later they had a Facebook message from a an old classmate in California, A. She has a good friend, D. (also in California), who has family in Port-au-Prince. His brother has a friend named R., who has his own plane in Ft. Lauderdale. R. is commissioned to take people and supplies on a regular basis to and from Haiti. Once hearing their story, he said if they could get the donations down to Ft. Lauderdale, he'd load them on his next flight and fly them to Haiti, gratis.
So Angel Flights is transporting the supplies to Ft. Lauderdale, and then R. will fly all of the supplies ( well over $100,000 worth ) to Haiti. Sometime next week, some of those strangers we watch on the news may be wearing some familiar looking clean clothes.
That's social good.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
If you follow me on twitter, you know a lot about me. You know I have a sense of humor, you know I love the Phillies, you know I love my job, you see campaigns I am working on for clients, and you know my dad's been battling cancer.
There are things I don't share on twitter and keep to myself, but for the most part, I like to keep my social media...social. I try to only follow people who do the same. We don't do business with a company, we do business with people who work for the company, don't we? I buy from and tune in to people I know and like. I think many people do that. Isn't that what word-of-mouth is all about?
Social media isn't the cure for the cancer that is killing big pieces of traditional media. It also isn't the enigma that so many people may think it is. Social media, is just another media channel. A few years ago, my colleagues and I at Red Tettemer illustrated what that channel looks like:
And yes, this channel works a little differently, so did TV when it was introduced.
It's going to be ok.
More than 3 years ago, my friend Chris Heuer shared something the CEO of iProspect said, which I've never forgotten: "The Brand with the best storytellers wins." I love that. That, is the secret to social media - not much of a secret; it's something that advertising and PR have known for years.
The opportunity with social media, for creative advertising agencies, is enormous. No longer is creative chained to :15 or :30 or :60. We aren't limited by 1/4 page or 1/2 page or double trucks. We can create content and tell our stories to massive global audiences and immediately hear back from them, what they think. It's like being in everyone's living room when a tv spot airs - exciting and scary, isn't it? We can launch unfinished content, and let the customer tell us how they want it to end. We can engage our audience and give them option to buy DIRECTLY FROM OUR CREATIVE WITHOUT EVER LEAVING THEIR COUCH. That may make some advertising execs shiver, it gives me goosebumps from excitement.
I see a shift happening within the social media channel. Initially, PR seemed to dominate integration of this channel in their work, naturally, because it connected them quickly and widely with global audiences - press and consumers alike. The channel didn't have that many features and that was ok for PR because they just wanted to tell their stories.
Today and in the future, the channel has bells and whistles. And while PR will continue to work in the channel, telling stories, advertising creatives have the opportunity to stretch the functionality of the channel, create new features with their partners in interactive, and tell the stories with mind blowing creative showcasing new products and services like we've never experienced before.
You want the secret to making social media work for a brand? It's all about integration. A holistic approach to social media in your overall marketing plan, great storytellers and oh...creative that gives you goosebumps.
There are things I don't share on twitter and keep to myself, but for the most part, I like to keep my social media...social. I try to only follow people who do the same. We don't do business with a company, we do business with people who work for the company, don't we? I buy from and tune in to people I know and like. I think many people do that. Isn't that what word-of-mouth is all about?
Social media isn't the cure for the cancer that is killing big pieces of traditional media. It also isn't the enigma that so many people may think it is. Social media, is just another media channel. A few years ago, my colleagues and I at Red Tettemer illustrated what that channel looks like:
And yes, this channel works a little differently, so did TV when it was introduced.
It's going to be ok.
More than 3 years ago, my friend Chris Heuer shared something the CEO of iProspect said, which I've never forgotten: "The Brand with the best storytellers wins." I love that. That, is the secret to social media - not much of a secret; it's something that advertising and PR have known for years.
The opportunity with social media, for creative advertising agencies, is enormous. No longer is creative chained to :15 or :30 or :60. We aren't limited by 1/4 page or 1/2 page or double trucks. We can create content and tell our stories to massive global audiences and immediately hear back from them, what they think. It's like being in everyone's living room when a tv spot airs - exciting and scary, isn't it? We can launch unfinished content, and let the customer tell us how they want it to end. We can engage our audience and give them option to buy DIRECTLY FROM OUR CREATIVE WITHOUT EVER LEAVING THEIR COUCH. That may make some advertising execs shiver, it gives me goosebumps from excitement.
I see a shift happening within the social media channel. Initially, PR seemed to dominate integration of this channel in their work, naturally, because it connected them quickly and widely with global audiences - press and consumers alike. The channel didn't have that many features and that was ok for PR because they just wanted to tell their stories.
Today and in the future, the channel has bells and whistles. And while PR will continue to work in the channel, telling stories, advertising creatives have the opportunity to stretch the functionality of the channel, create new features with their partners in interactive, and tell the stories with mind blowing creative showcasing new products and services like we've never experienced before.
You want the secret to making social media work for a brand? It's all about integration. A holistic approach to social media in your overall marketing plan, great storytellers and oh...creative that gives you goosebumps.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Why I'm blogging again. (Part 2)
I decided to start blogging again because I was tired of listening to people tweet complaints about PR people. On twitter and marketing blogs, it's almost become a meme to bash PR people. Hating on PR, is the new black.
The gripes about PR people range from: bad pitches ("they pitched my blog and they've clearly never read it!"), to inauthenticity in the field or *as* a field (my friend Beth Harte struck a chord on the latter), to my own complaint of SM PR folks doing nothing but shilling on twitter.
Let's talk about PR and shilling.
First, let me disclose PR has been my career. I worked for NYC PR agencies for 11 years, on both the account side and media. The majority of my experience was spent in Media, where I focused on national broadcast and print. Because I worked in Media, I was responsible for generating or shaping the creative/programs that we sold into clients because my department was also setting the media goals and at the end of the program, we were accountable for those goals.
In 2005, I transitioned from VP Media to VP of Emerging Media at Marina Maher Communications (where I spent 8.5 great years), established and led a new department offering all agency clients "new media" services. I still generated creative, set media goals, and led execution but my focus was in new or social media.
In 2006, I moved in-house to a marketing organization to set up shop & lead social media there. Same responsibilities. In 2007, I joined creative indie ad agency, Red Tettemer, to again, set up shop & lead social media. Eventually, I assumed the responsibilities for our in-house PR practice as well. It was a natural addition to my SM job - SM platforms either support or are part of the PR approach and I had a decade plus experience in traditional PR.
I've always worked in consumer product PR, now consumer product advertising, so I'm speaking to those types of clients, not B2B or IR. I've also been always been at creative shops with household name clients, so I've been lucky enough to work with Brand teams consisting of the best marketers in the world (Hi P&G, Amazon.com, Coca-Cola, and J&J - all former clients) with decent budgets to move the needle.
That said, many of the basic PR tactics that SM people complain about today (bad press releases, mass pitches w/o research, outdated press lists) weren't part of our scope of work.
In my world of PR, we learned a client's business, did research/reviewed all the other marketing materials (packaging, R&D, advertising (creative & media plan), promotion, product launch timing), established PR objectives tied to reaching the BUSINESS goals of our clients, developed strategies that would help us reach our objectives/goals, spent time developing hot creative achievable within budget, soft sounded those creative ideas with media "friends" to ensure they were bookable or "mediable" (e.g. - would be something they'd cover) and developed achievable/measurable goals. After the client and sometimes other agencies aligned with our ideas and approach, THEN we did the work.
My approach never included: "draft press release," "develop press list," "pitch bloggers," "byline articles,"etc. Those things are PR basics. They're nuts and bolts. Most of them are ways of the old world. That's not PR in my world. Those are support tactics to help you complete the PR program; teeny tiny pieces that make up the bigger picture. The PR part for me, was always the IDEA. The "happening". The "thing" we created that told the story for the Brand, that provided value for the consumer, that interested media enough to cover it, that got people excited enough to talk about it and be proud to be a supporter or excited enough to be a new customer.
It saddens me that many people are perceiving PR as this DIY profession requiring no skills. In part, it's a Catch 22. One of the reasons PR is so valuable to a company, service or product is because it's relatively low cost in comparison to advertising or promotion/special events. Also, PR's low operational cost is appealing to untrained/inexperienced people who see it as an easy field to break into and make money as a consultant. Because there is little to no cost of entry, and little to no accreditation required, any Tom, Dick or Mary can jump in and call themselves a PR person, much like SM.
Those people, are doing a disservice a to PR as a whole. The people who segue to PR from other professions or having had no profession, are abusing the trust and investment of clients seeking prudent PR counsel.
To truly learn and understand the world of PR, I believe you must work at a reputable PR agency at least once. Why an agency vs. an in-house marketing department? Because at an agency, they live and breathe PR. A corp marketer's time is spent divided among the marketing disciplines (PR, Adv, Promotion) and usually, they are managing the agencies/people who are in the trenches doing the executions. There is a lot of practical experience you earn at an agency that you just won't learn in-house because the agency shields the client from the minutiae - that's part of the agency's job. Also, b/c a PR agency is focused ONLY on PR and not stretched like an in-house marketer covering all marketing disciplines for the Brand, you get a deeper dive into the practice and techniques. Last, at an agency you have the opportunity to work with other professionals of all levels of experience in this specific field. Those professionals are usually very smart because let me tell you, the PR agency world is lean and mean. If you're not producing, the agency cannot and will not carry your dead weight. It's do or die.
I urge people interested in getting into PR, regardless of their age, to intern or work at a reputable PR agency. To research reputable PR agencies, try: PRSA, PR Week or The Holmes Report to name a few.
And if you have questions about PR or getting into the biz, lmk.
I decided to start blogging again because I was tired of listening to people tweet complaints about PR people. On twitter and marketing blogs, it's almost become a meme to bash PR people. Hating on PR, is the new black.
The gripes about PR people range from: bad pitches ("they pitched my blog and they've clearly never read it!"), to inauthenticity in the field or *as* a field (my friend Beth Harte struck a chord on the latter), to my own complaint of SM PR folks doing nothing but shilling on twitter.
Let's talk about PR and shilling.
First, let me disclose PR has been my career. I worked for NYC PR agencies for 11 years, on both the account side and media. The majority of my experience was spent in Media, where I focused on national broadcast and print. Because I worked in Media, I was responsible for generating or shaping the creative/programs that we sold into clients because my department was also setting the media goals and at the end of the program, we were accountable for those goals.
In 2005, I transitioned from VP Media to VP of Emerging Media at Marina Maher Communications (where I spent 8.5 great years), established and led a new department offering all agency clients "new media" services. I still generated creative, set media goals, and led execution but my focus was in new or social media.
In 2006, I moved in-house to a marketing organization to set up shop & lead social media there. Same responsibilities. In 2007, I joined creative indie ad agency, Red Tettemer, to again, set up shop & lead social media. Eventually, I assumed the responsibilities for our in-house PR practice as well. It was a natural addition to my SM job - SM platforms either support or are part of the PR approach and I had a decade plus experience in traditional PR.
I've always worked in consumer product PR, now consumer product advertising, so I'm speaking to those types of clients, not B2B or IR. I've also been always been at creative shops with household name clients, so I've been lucky enough to work with Brand teams consisting of the best marketers in the world (Hi P&G, Amazon.com, Coca-Cola, and J&J - all former clients) with decent budgets to move the needle.
That said, many of the basic PR tactics that SM people complain about today (bad press releases, mass pitches w/o research, outdated press lists) weren't part of our scope of work.
In my world of PR, we learned a client's business, did research/reviewed all the other marketing materials (packaging, R&D, advertising (creative & media plan), promotion, product launch timing), established PR objectives tied to reaching the BUSINESS goals of our clients, developed strategies that would help us reach our objectives/goals, spent time developing hot creative achievable within budget, soft sounded those creative ideas with media "friends" to ensure they were bookable or "mediable" (e.g. - would be something they'd cover) and developed achievable/measurable goals. After the client and sometimes other agencies aligned with our ideas and approach, THEN we did the work.
My approach never included: "draft press release," "develop press list," "pitch bloggers," "byline articles,"etc. Those things are PR basics. They're nuts and bolts. Most of them are ways of the old world. That's not PR in my world. Those are support tactics to help you complete the PR program; teeny tiny pieces that make up the bigger picture. The PR part for me, was always the IDEA. The "happening". The "thing" we created that told the story for the Brand, that provided value for the consumer, that interested media enough to cover it, that got people excited enough to talk about it and be proud to be a supporter or excited enough to be a new customer.
It saddens me that many people are perceiving PR as this DIY profession requiring no skills. In part, it's a Catch 22. One of the reasons PR is so valuable to a company, service or product is because it's relatively low cost in comparison to advertising or promotion/special events. Also, PR's low operational cost is appealing to untrained/inexperienced people who see it as an easy field to break into and make money as a consultant. Because there is little to no cost of entry, and little to no accreditation required, any Tom, Dick or Mary can jump in and call themselves a PR person, much like SM.
Those people, are doing a disservice a to PR as a whole. The people who segue to PR from other professions or having had no profession, are abusing the trust and investment of clients seeking prudent PR counsel.
To truly learn and understand the world of PR, I believe you must work at a reputable PR agency at least once. Why an agency vs. an in-house marketing department? Because at an agency, they live and breathe PR. A corp marketer's time is spent divided among the marketing disciplines (PR, Adv, Promotion) and usually, they are managing the agencies/people who are in the trenches doing the executions. There is a lot of practical experience you earn at an agency that you just won't learn in-house because the agency shields the client from the minutiae - that's part of the agency's job. Also, b/c a PR agency is focused ONLY on PR and not stretched like an in-house marketer covering all marketing disciplines for the Brand, you get a deeper dive into the practice and techniques. Last, at an agency you have the opportunity to work with other professionals of all levels of experience in this specific field. Those professionals are usually very smart because let me tell you, the PR agency world is lean and mean. If you're not producing, the agency cannot and will not carry your dead weight. It's do or die.
I urge people interested in getting into PR, regardless of their age, to intern or work at a reputable PR agency. To research reputable PR agencies, try: PRSA, PR Week or The Holmes Report to name a few.
And if you have questions about PR or getting into the biz, lmk.
Friday, August 03, 2007
My new friend Chris Conley is the good kinda crazy. Last weekend he blogged for 24 hours for charity. I was one of the people he interviewed to create all of that content. We talked about social media here.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
So I'm sitting here at home, doing more work (but at home it's so much more pleasant, isn't it?), when I started to look at my AIM buddy list. I have a whole section there for Bots
I realized I haven't used any of my bots in ages and was curious to see if they were still active, so I clicked on the SmarterChild bot. I remember when it came out in 2000 or 2001 and I thought it was so novel. I used it for two months and then forgot about it. I played a few rounds of hangman and then wondered to myself, is the novelty and functionality of bots over?
Has social media like myspace and event sites and small business domains become so prevalent and accessible and that we no longer need Bots for quick searches or answers?
Let me know what you think.
~*~
One more thing: tres cool pic here. You click and drag your mouse up and down and will find yourself Alice in a virtual wonderland;)
I realized I haven't used any of my bots in ages and was curious to see if they were still active, so I clicked on the SmarterChild bot. I remember when it came out in 2000 or 2001 and I thought it was so novel. I used it for two months and then forgot about it. I played a few rounds of hangman and then wondered to myself, is the novelty and functionality of bots over?
Has social media like myspace and event sites and small business domains become so prevalent and accessible and that we no longer need Bots for quick searches or answers?
Let me know what you think.
~*~
One more thing: tres cool pic here. You click and drag your mouse up and down and will find yourself Alice in a virtual wonderland;)
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