On Story telling with social media

You can’t tell a story on Facebook. You can a little on Twitter, but with so many options, and so many tweets, it’s bound to be fragmented. And potentially without pictures.

you can’t really tell a story in advertising. I think the closest thing to a story is the ARG, but we’re not even sure if that’s advertising.

But what if you can tell a digital story using a bunch of different tools. What if you create a character, and let that character tell a funny, interesting, absurd story that focuses on the brand?

It’s the mashup of an ARG without the puppet masters, and the need to interact to figure it out. The story is there for people to see, and they’re entertained by it, even if it’s made up (think Lonelygirl15, without the backlash).

We’re about to try this with a acouple of brands. I’m calling it an ARG meets Theatre of the Mind, brought to you by brand X.

We have no idea if it will work, but we’re kinda interested. It’s the BMW idea. Use social media to tell a story, entertain, and perhaps encourage a certain behavior (the behavior being to consume the brand, though perhaps not right at that moment.)

It’s using social media to enhance a brand. It’s exciting, and takes some time, so I’ll be blogging a lot less.

A twitter marketing movement

Twitter.

There, I said it.

Twitter.

You respond with, please, stop talking about Twitter. We’re collectively sick of Twitter. Plus it’s Friday.

This isn’t about starting a Twitter feed. This is about starting a movement. And we’re not talking about political movements — because while that’s interesting, we’re marketers, so we’re talking about marketing movements.

The movement.

Before I start, I should make a confession: I use Entourage, the mac version of Outlook (It almost reads Enter Rage, which seems almost perfect). And I dislike on a level that some might refer to as unhealthy.

“You should let that shit go.” An IT guy helpfully suggests.

I’ve internally blogged about my desire for the 1’s and 0’s that make up Entourage to be permanently wiped off my hard drive, and then deleted again, just to be mean. (Picture the scene in Office Space where guys destroy photocopier. I would take a sledgehammer to the numbers)

So, you can imagine my smile, when I saw a mobilization of Twitter to Fix Outlook. With Twitter.

But, aside from my glee that other people hate the PC version with the same passion as me, I think this is a smart use of Twitter. it’s not, lets start a Twitter feed and rant about Outlook into the ether. It’s more along the lines of using Twitter to almost create a room of people who share something in common. In this case, it’s the desire to see something fixed. But if you think about it, it can be the desire to do anything.

And that’s kind of cool.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Twitter Creator On Iran: ‘I Never Intended For Twitter To Be Useful’ (stylman.tumblr.com)
• Twitter Co-Founder Working On “Mind-Numbingly Useless” New Site (Says The Onion) (mashable.com)

Social CRM — the new big thing was always here

I was listening to a snippet of conversation going on about social CRM, the idea of social CRM, wherein social media is a customer relationship tool.

Here’s the thing: the product and or service is the customer relationship management tool. And I don’t mean customer service. I mean if you’re in the service industry, then service the butt off your client. And if it’s a product, it better work.

Then, you have to tell people about. And it should have emotion.

Current customer relationship tool.

But I will say this: I think social media can be an excellent tool for your current customers. They are the ones buying your stuff. They might even be rebuying. They are, to quote a book, your Groundswell. They are your CRM dudes and dudettes who you can arm with the data they need to go spread the word. Because here’s the thing: by convincing Bob to buy the thing I did, I prove to myself I made a good purchasing decision. The act of convincing is, in fact, the act of validation.

That’s how social media can earn new customers, while taking care of the best ones.

At least, that’s what I’ll be trying. I’ll keep you posted.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Dedicated Social-Media Silos? That’s the Last Thing We Need – Advertising Age – Jonah Bloom [del.icio.us] (adage.com)

Blogs are all a Twitter over Twitter numbers

The number of people who will start a conversation is way smaller than the number who will join it.

If you manage a community of any kind, or if you’ve ever been at a party where the conversation died, then you know the dynamic. The Twitter numbers are sort of expected.

If Twitter ends up failing on the weight of making money, I think Twitter will be remembered as the thing that made immediacy a relevant notion for people and brands. Twitter spawned the change in Facebook that has made engaging with content simple and immediate.

Local brands would be wise to grab onto this immediacy angle since it’s something big brands will never be able to do well. Immediacy as a sort of intimate relationship doesn’t scale. A twitter-like communication channel offering relevant updates using local language cues is the local brand’s new advantage.

But more importantly, Twitter is relative immediacy. Consider, before Twitter, how one might contact Home Depot. Or Dell. Or Jet Blue. Now, after Twitter, we don’t have to contemplate it. Examples exist all over the place on Twitter search.

I’m not talking about marketing. I’m not sure of Twitter as a marketing tool on a mass level. I think Twitter is useful for local people’s streams, but not country-wide. Unless it’s a channel to contact a large company and vent.

Searching in your own network: why brands need to enter the stream

Here’s a statement sort of made by Fred Wilson:

“Passed links convert better than paid links”.

Paid links, in this case, are SEM. Search Engine Marketing. It’s an effort to chase the long tail by getting a message about a thing in front of the person who’s interested in the thing at the time they are interested.

My very un-technical definition is meant to show off something marketers have known for a long time: get the message in front of buyers and make more sales.

That’s classic SEM and the reason Googleites has gourmet chefs in their cafeteria. But things are changing a little, as Fred said. Twitter and Facebook (and other networks) are becoming ‘network’ search engines. I can go to Twitter or Facebook and write: what should I have for lunch?

Or, “what should I buy my almost 3-year old for her birthday?”

Or…insert your brand’s questions here.

That’s network search. And it’s Fred’s theory that those links will convert more than SEM links will. And I think he’s right.

Because an answer in that stream comes from people (and brands) who’ve I’ve allowed in.

The brands that enter that stream the best are the ones that are most likely to be the shared links. Which brings the obvious question: how does a brand enter the stream? How does Joe’s Dry Cleaner enter into the conversation about good dry cleaners?

I think the answer is one part brand, one part digital presence. Brand is the well-used term to denote a sense or feeling or word or notion about a product or service. that’s accomplished through marketing, advertising, product experience, WOM, etc.

That’s the first part. The second part is needling your way into the stream in a subtle way. This is a little harder. The good news: it’s dead easy if you’re doing the first part well (we get fans to some Facebook pages without really trying because people love the brands). I’m more and more convinced that historically good advertising equals fans.

But that’s just part of it. The other part is creating just enough content that people can share. Content equals many things. It can be deals: although those have expiration dates. It can be inside looks at the brand. Or it can simply be those nuggets of information that inform purchase decisions. The facts. Give people that, and you’ll give people things to share.

And hopefully, they will.

Especially if you replace ‘people’ with ‘best customers’.

Put relevant information on your packaging

This is my 10th paid by the year job. Advertising is like that, people move around a lot. In that time, I’ve collected a lot of business cards. Especially since at a couple of places I was promoted. Every business card I’ve ever had has listed a Fax number.

I’ve never once gotten a Fax.

I’m sure people do. I don’t though. So in this era of BE RELEVANT, I asked to have it taken off my new business card. (if you were gonna send me a Fax, you’re out of luck.)

I replaced it with Twitter.com/mhames. I get Tweets. I don’t get faxes.

So this has me thinking: on most products there’s a URL and a 800#. If no one ever calls it, and your analytics show no one really types in your www, then you’re kinda in my boat aren’t you? Why not put something else there like your Twitter feed. Your fancy new Facebook Vanity URL.

Be relevant. And tell people what it is they should so there.

They just might surprise you and do it.

My presentation at Entrepalooza

Presented this morning on social media at Entrepalooza in Buffalo, NY. Here’s the presentation. The gist of it, have a goal. Don’t think about this as a separate to your marketing, it’s part of your marketing. And it’s not magic, it’s actually hard work. It’s also not for every brand. Not sure if slideshare will play along, so here it is.

Digg: A real live test of ad creative

Relevant ads are “good” for consumers.

That’s the reason Google is so darned rich. When someone searches for something, Google throws up an ad relevant to the search. And Google’s new system of rewarding relevance by placing them higher and lowering the rate is a win/win for everyone. Make your ad more relevant, and Google delivers it more prominently for less money.

It’s all for the end user though – more relevant ads deliver a more relevant search experience for the end user. You know, the people who use Google.

Since it’s working so well for Google, you’d think someone would try to emulate the idea of rewarding relevance.

Enter Digg. Digg is a social news site. It’s the equivalent of e-mailing a link to your friends. But it actually works as a community of the most interesting things online (assuming you’re a male between the ages of, say, 10-25).

Digg thought, what if we did the same thing for ads that we do for articles? What if the community could Digg or Bury an ad?

Image by inju via Flickr

Talk about your instant feedback. Here’s how Digg describes it:

“The more an ad is Dugg, the less the advertiser will have to pay. Conversely the more an ad is buried, the more the advertiser is charged, pricing it out of the system.”

Holy smokes, it’s just so Capitalist. Instead of the brand that makes the most noise, it’s the brand that makes the most sense. Instead of screaming at people, it’s offering an idea. An insight. It’s marketers adding value.

It’s so very cool. And scary, at the same time. Because it’s a real live test of the ability of an agency to get it right. No arguments. No excuses. People either like it and the agency wins, or they don’t and the agency doesn’t.

Create great ads on Digg and they could, in theory, be free.

This will make it even more important that the people creating ads for Digg (assuming we take a run at it) understand what the Digg world likes and doesn’t like.

The more I think about it, the more I think this is one of those ideas that have the possibility of really shaking things up. If it works, and Digg begins making money, it will be copied.

Facebook already has thumbs up/thumbs down icons on their ads. Make them a little more prominent, and it will happen on Facebook if it works on Digg.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Digg Users Determine Ad Rates by Relevance (marketingvox.com)

The Year the Media Dies

This is great.

How brands can use social media

On Thursday, I’ll be speaking at Entrepalooza. My presentation is about how brands can use social media to rule the world. Okay, that’s not true, it’s actually called “A Brief look at Web 2.0″, but it’s more an introduction with a few ideas.

In the presentation, I introduce the notion that things are a little different now. Just think about the difference between the path to purchase 5 years ago, and the path to purchase now. Even for non-considered items. You need Google maps to navigate your way through the path these days (wouldn’t that be cool though, if Google Maps could offer you directions from your consumer to the sale?)

I firmly beleive that social media shouldn’t be a silo, but I recognize the need for someone with social media in their title within an agency at this point. Things are moving so fast in the world of marketing, that it’s important to have someone looking to figure out how it all fits into the marketing mix. Think about it this way: do you think the Burger King Facebook friend sacrafice could have been created by people new to Facebook?

So while I think that social media is merely part of the marketing mix – in the same way Radio and Billboards are – I appreciate that there’s a need for a little bit of education. Twitter, Facebook, et al. are a little different. Understanding this difference is important if a brand wants to add social media in a meaningful way to their marketing mix. That’s why it’s important to do these little “Here’s social media, and here’s what people are doing in it” presentations.

It’s like this: understand the boundaries of the playing surface before one begins the game.

So this presentation is about those boundaries. It’s got a few elements of the game in it as well. So if you happen to be in Buffalo, check it out.