We would never recommend going into a community and pretending to be something you are not. Users are pretty savvy to PR talk and will quickly hound you out. Go in and be open and honest, communicate down the appropriate channels before posting up your latest voucher code. This will get you the best results or at worst get you a polite no thank you.
Here’s a good example of a failed covert operation. Note the obvious mistake of the user name being the web address!
I spent a few hours last night being inspired by Malcolm Gladwell who was speaking on a tour for his new book Outliers. As is usually the case I interpreted everything I heard through my topical filter – which is basically the premise of what ever project I am working on at that time! That premise was social media and how as social media experts we can help companies build and maintain social brands for success.
Outliers is a word he uses to describe something or someone that has achieved out of the ordinary success (or failure) and the book attempts to explore the factors that contribute to this. The story he used was one about plane crashes and he focused on why airlines in Columbia had experienced more than their fair share.
Using the transcripts from one particular planes black box he illustrated that the crash was mainly due to:
1. A breakdown in communications where the co-pilot failed to bring the right information to anyones attention
2. A lack of honesty in communication, for the linguistics out there this was about mitigation
3. The dynamics of communication common to a group of people, in this case Columbia. (here he referenced Hofstede’s study into the cultural power distance index of Columbia – for more on that see here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geert_Hofstede )
4. The small often trivial events that go un-noticed or un-noted that eventually amount to a much more significant event. (he used a different example here too – http://www.gladwell.com/1996/1996_01_22_a_blowup.htm )
He concluded that the plane crash was not a technical error but a social error. This was a social crash.
I wonder, how many brands or companies know they are heading for their own social crash?
Are the cultural frameworks within companies or the communities with which they engage, helping or hindering social success? Are companies really aware of the small trivial events occurring out there in communities and conversations that could eventually lead to a social crash?
Interesting stuff. I am off to buy the book and read some more…..
http://www.gladwell.com/outliers/index.html
Photo thanks - http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinksage/3021131218/
User generated content is something social media has embraced heavily. Empowering the users and giving them the tools to create and share content. It seems that this trend is now spreading into video games. Dubbed the Youtube of video games by some Sony are hoping their new PS3 game LittleBigPlanet will fully realise social media and all it’s web2.0 goodness in the gaming space.
At its most simple level LittleBigPlanet offers tools for users to create their own platform levels akin to classic games such as Mario and Sonic, but the tools allow for much more than this. While the game comes with some levels on the disc Sony are largely expecting the users to create the content. The community has already shown huge levels, creating music machines that play ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’, Basic calculators, Political commentary and even a marriage proposal.
A huge community is already developing around the game after only a matter of weeks of its release. Perhaps there is a potential channel for marketing in there, creating an exciting experience based around your brand which players can interact with and spread virally. For now though I would rather look at the community it has generated acting as a microcosm (or littlebigcosm) of social media, showing that given the right tools and incentives users will create a diverse range of content. If you trust in your user you will be surprised what they can deliver.
'Credit Crunch' conjures up associated words of despair, decline and depression (no d pattern intended there). So its a good blame of the day for us – we're blaming the bad guy. But others are less inclined to cast that cloud on their conversations online at present. So shine off your optimism, hail the land of freedom and opportunity once again. Thanks to Obama, hope is the buzz right now so tap into it.
The race for President is over and the old man and the gun-toting crazy lady missed the boat*. The prospect of an African-American being the Commander in Chief would have seemed highly unlikely even just five years ago.
So how did Barack Obama and his team of campaign strategists go about making history?
Arguably one of the most important tools in his campaign armoury was the internet. Although McCain was the first to realise the importance of online during the 1999 primaries, running banner ads across influential sites, the Obama camp were the ones who implemented it to its full potential.
Through driving traffic to the website barackobama.com they managed to tally up an impressive $600m in funding by obtaining lots of small regular donations. This provided the Democrats with an enormous off and online marketing budget.
As well as paid-for methods of communication, there was a massive social media campaign, which utilised Facebook applications and groups, YouTube videos, blogs and viral email marketing in order to raise awareness for the presidential campaign.
The Democrats online marketing efforts dwarfed that of the Republicans, because they realised the importance of the internet, social media in particular, as a strategic marketing tool.
Rather than getting the people to go to them, they went to the people. By exploiting the tools that we have at our disposal in the modern world to their fullest, they reaped the rewards.
Here are our 3 favorite Obama 08 online efforts:
* Editor's note: Tom's views are his own and in no way reflect the general views of Qube Media, except for the fact they do.
We’re really pleased to give a belated big Qube welcome to Mona Walsh, our new Business Development Manager.
Previously consulting for a variety of not-for-profit and commercial organisations, Mona’s here to help our potential clients make the most of their online marketing budgets and help them achieve their objectives using Qube’s expertise.
If you’re looking to put together an effective social media marketing campaign, drop Mona a line at hello@qubemedia.net or give her a call on 01273 689 672.
With companies scrutinising their online marketing spend carefully, some mediums may lose out but Search Engine Marketing won’t be one of them, according to the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organisation (SEMPO).
They’re conducting a survey of UK businesses and their attitudes to spend on SEM during the economic downturn, and so far the results are supporting their theory, with all respondents agreeing on their ‘credit crunch growth’ theory.
iCrossing’s Paul Doleman, Chair of SEMPO, sums up their thinking: ’search engine marketing is sometimes referred to as “performance
marketing” and that is for the very sound reason that marketing
expenditure becomes directly linked to performance. In other words,‘if
my advertising isn’t working, it’s also not costing me anything.’
Read the full article at Netimperative or if you’ve got a view on it – take the survey
Google are experimenting with a Digg-like interface for their search results. No announcement of when (or even if!) it will launch but it’s definitely worth keeping an eye on. It could change the way we use search forever.
Twitter: @qubemedia
