Marketer's Lab

Do As I Say...

Is your doctor fat?  Is that same doctor espousing the virtues and benefits of a healthy lifestyle?  Is your agency pitching the values of social media but not actively utilizing social media to build their own businesses?  Apparently, that's exactly what's going on according to a recent RSW/US survey referenced in this AdWeek piece.  It seems agencies are in the same mode as many other businesses, falling into the common pattern of setting up presence on key social media platforms, but not actively participating on a consistent basis.

Social media is relentless, an always-on, 24/7/365 campaign.  It requires a steady stream of content and a level of participation that demonstrates you're an active part of the community.  Given all that, it's not surprising almost every business is struggling to figure out exactly how to tap into the benefits of social media without getting pulled into a resource-sucking social media black hole.  What was surprising to me was how many agencies are still struggling to fully embrace social media channels and tactics. 

"RSW/US (sponsors of the survey) president Mark Sneider attributed the respondents' limited engagement in social media to laziness and a lack of time."  I think Mark is probably right on the money with his assessment, which I would venture can also be applied to most businesses beyond the agency world.  If the ROI for use of social media was obviously equal to or greater than other channels, social media would be much more actively used by agencies.  At this point it seems clear even the "experts" are still tinkering with social media and working to figure out how to make it work. 

This research drives home a couple key points for me.  First, whether they've figured it out or not, agencies offering any social media services themselves need to be leading by example.  Like the fat doctor, I'm a little suspect of anyone who doesn't take their own advice.  Lastly, the exciting part of all this is it demonstrates social media is still a new, vibrant and emerging space.  Who wants to work in a medium where every tactic is known and everything has been broken down into a formula?  Social media is where the action is, personally I'm glad we all still have a lot to figure out. 

It's Not About Engagement

Engagement.  I can barely hear the word engagement spoken by any marketing/PR/agency type without rolling my eyes.  "It's all about engagement, dialog, interacting in new ways with consumers."  (generic composite quote from Social Media experts, stated with a slightly condescending tone).  We all "get" what the gurus are saying, of course Social Media provides new opportunities to engage interact with clients, prospects and peers.  The thing is, engagement isn't the end-game, it's the raw material from which meaningful business outcomes can be developed.

One of the most useful little nuggets of wisdom that has stuck in my mind over the years is the phrase "Begin with the end in mind". This idea is especially helpful when it comes to developing a concise Social Media strategy.  Social Media (SM) is capable of generating leads, improving customer experiences, enhancing brand visibility and creating or deepening relationships.  Certainly not an all-inclusive list of what SM can be used for, but a handful of the major categories most organizations are focused on. 

While all the above mentioned items are equally worthy, and not mutually exclusive BTW, they each require a different array of tools, resources and approaches.  What I see frequently is marketers who have thrown their hat into the SM ring, but are not focused on specific outcomes or clearly defined priorities.  I need to be careful not to speak in absolutes here, there are plenty of Social Media-savvy marketers out there doing wonderful and amazing things.  That said, my thoughts are validated by the recent Social Media Benchmark Report from Business.com which confirms many marketers are "dabbling" in Social Media, in the game but still working to figure things out.

I am a huge fan of dabbling, but dabbling with purpose.  Think of engagement as fire, it can be used for heat, light or internal combustion to propel your SUV, but without any forethought on purpose you're likely to end up with nothing more than smoke.      

 

Antisocial Media

I maintain a presence on a couple social networks, but I'm not on Facebook, I don't Twitter and I only post to my blog every couple days. (Pause while marketers reading this gasp and then transition to chuckles about what a Social Media loser I must be).  My Google reader,  until a recent "reader bankruptcy" where I nuked everything and started over, was a logjam of unread posts and other content.  With all the buzz about everything social, my inability/choice to limit my social stuff has me feeling a little antisocial.

Yes we're in the "age of conversation" and 'everyone is smarter than the few" and we all need to be transparent and collaborate while we watch the "world get smaller", but how much is too much?  I came across a piece by Phil Johnson over at AdAge who did a nice post on this very subject.  Phil also points to a more inflammatory post by Peter Madden who calls out "Facebook as a freak show", not surprisingly drawing the ire of many a Facebook fan. Interesting to read the comments on the freak show post, here's a couple excerpts: 

From the "You just don't get Social Media" camp:

"you seem to be echoing the standard sentiments of a neophyte user"

"Um, is this a post from about 3 years ago that's been accidentally re-published? I can't quite believe it would be current."

"Facebook is an early look at the future of digital advertising and social/consumer CRM."

"Facebook is to the future of advertising as Google was for search."

"If this article is satire, it's only mildly amusing."

"If the author is serious, then he's just one more dinosaur stuck in the tar pit that is traditional advertising."

From the "Skeptical of Social Media" camp:

"I'm tired of hearing about who posted what on your message board. Get back to work"

"Facebook, like any form or social discourse, faces the risk that the overall tone of the conversation is dominated by the lowest form of discourse." - Robert Heath

"I guess if your looking for depth in an online community stop playing in the shallow end of the social networking pool"

"a conversation consisting of "Peter is getting on a plane in Las Vegas... Brittany is having french toast for breakfast... Gary has the sniffles" is a bore in ANY medium."

Religion, politics and now apparently Social Media?  Why is this so hard?  My theory is that everyone is looking for the "right answer", when there isn't one.  Every audience is different, every product is unique and the marketing dynamics for every campaign vary.  To claim Social Media, however you define it, works or doesn't ignores all these unique characteristics. 

I am wildly passionate about the opportunities Social Media makes available, but also appropriately skeptical that it's a magical world where all your marketing dreams can come true.  If there's one thing Social Media has taught us is that there are few absolutes, probably not a bad thing to keep in mind as we evolve along together.

Google and SpotMixer Mix It Up

One of the biggest obstacles, amongst many, for marketers thinking about tapping into the benefits of web video is how to create decent video content.  The natural follow on challenge is what to do with the content once you have it.  SpotMixer and Google are working together to offer a solution that addresses these issues pretty effectively.

SpotMixer provides a decent set of templates and a wizard that allows you to very easily create a "spot".  SpotMixer customizes the wizard process and options based on the selections you make on the front end.  The screenshot below shows the options if offers.  

Once you've got your spot created, you then have a multitude of options for how you would like to distribute the content.  Distribution options include a network offering as well as CPM and CPC based options.  The screenshot below shows how you can easily select your options. 

Like any template based solution, there are tradeoffs in terms of the ability to do exactly what you want.  Most of the examples on the SpotMixer site could be considered more slideshows than video, although there are a couple that do use actual video footage.  Despite some of the limitations, the distribution options and integration with Google adwords combined with what seem to be extremely reasonable prices, make SpotMixer very interesting.

   

The Marketing Vortex

I was sucked into the marketing vortex by a white paper I came across a couple days ago called Modular Media Technologies produced by a firm called Real Time Matrix.  Vortex happens to be a Real Time Matrix product that provides an interesting combination of video, rss aggregation, custom categorization and tracking capabilities all in a highly brandable, slick interface.  Essentially a widget on steroids, Vortex provides the ability to easily distribute content via social media applications such as FaceBook and iGoogle and also offers a desktop version.  Current clients include Major League Soccer (MLS), TechCrunch and Social Media Today, case studies on these clients are featured on the site.

Anyway, back to the white paper... All vendor white papers have an implicit, and sometimes annoyingly explicit, "salesy" element, but this paper provided some interesting perspectives outside the typical vendor hyperbole.  As you would expect it showcases Vortex as a great solution in the space, but the paper does a decent job of talking through the big picture and providing some context for the various portable media technologies.  Modular media/portable media/widgets/etc. are evolving as extremely powerful tools, this piece is a great way to deepen your understanding of the space no matter what you call it.