It's Your Obligation To Make It Better.....

I watched Julie & Julia the other day on a flight there and back from Washington. I really enjoyed the film. Why? Because Julia Child and Julie Powell (and Nora Ephron for that matter) are originals.

It's been sitting with me every since. I can't explain except to say, that I think that it's just such a rare thing. To be an original. And if you think about this whole Web 2.0 thing, when everyone's littlest thought or latest photo can be published without efforts beyond pushing a button, it's got to somehow make you think that it's going to be harder and harder to find true originality.

Slidehshare, the blogosphere, experts on every subject that is related to the word digtial....it's so chalk a block filled with imitators, chart creators and general wanna bees. People who take other people's ideas without any reference to the original thought - and by the time the third party person four degrees away starts quoting them, it's like they've actually said it and not say, Marshall McLuhan, or some obscure sociologist that I've never heard of, who in fact actually did.

I've heard the phrase before that it's ok to copy someone, as long as you make it better. And I guess after all that's exactly what I'm trying to say. It is ok to copy someone. But, it is (especially if you aren't going to give the original creator any credit) your OBLIGATION to make it better.

So i say to you, to any of you who care to listen. Make it better.

I dare you.

Stories & Finding The Heart in Social Media

I've been thinking about storytelling quite a bit lately. It seems to be the new buzz. The new positioning. The new way old companies are trying to sell what they do in a networked way.

And let's be clear. I love storytelling. I love the idea of storytelling. I love the role that storytelling plays in our culture. I believe that storytelling has an important role within the context of an overall strategy for digital marketing.

But I don't think storytelling can be the heart of a Social Media approach. Why? I found this quote from the Head of ZeusJones that I love...

The web isn’t just a communications medium, it is a medium for interacting with people. Storytelling is inherently one-way, in fact, the main use for stories in the history of humans has been to teach. Using the Web for teaching and one-way dissemination of information are a waste its talents

And he is right.

Storytelling Is Us Talking To You About Us In An Entertaining Way

It can't be any other way because that's why storytelling is:

- Stories are narratives
- Stories are used for education, preservation of culture, to instill moral values and to elicit and disseminate information and knowledge

There are times we need to tell a story. Long form video (with a great Social bent), content in the form of audio, text, photos all contribute to tell a great story. But it's still all about us. How do we become about something more? Something that maybe involves YOU?

From Stories To Memes To Movements

It's not enough to tell a story. Entertaining people online is TABLE STAKES. If you want to stay relevant you have to be more, take a stand, risk with your customers.

Igniting Movements

To create deeper meaning, we have to stop being about need states and start connecting to a deeper core.

Four Elements To Any Movement

CONNECTION TO YOUR PUBLIC
- Connecting to something fundamental which lies at the core belief system of customers

A DIFFERENTIATED STORY
- Take that insights and tie it back to your Brand. Connect to something deeper and make it meaningful through storytelling (see storytelling has a role)

A CULTURAL CONTEXT
- Find the shared ideal (what some call in injustice frame) that is a collection of ideas and symbols that illustrate the significance of the challenge and how you can collectively come together to alleviate it

A CHARISMATIC LEADER
- People don't follow or join Brands that don't matter. You need the credible, authentic knowledgeable leader who is believable, honest, creative and fallible

Tying those elements together are what are going to make something more than a story. More than just entertainment. But about something bigger and greater that is co-created between a brand and their customers. And that's what I think we should all be striving for.

Harry Rosen's Blog & Understanding the Dynamics of Slow Social Media

Mondoville linked to an article today talking about the #FAIL of Harry Rosen's blog efforts. As part of an overall campaign urging Canadian men during these difficult economic times to have confidence, Harry Rosen started a blog. The blog had a few videos by prominent Canadians (Rob Guenette of Taxi, and Porter Airlines CEO Robert Deluce).

I had actually gone to the site myself but apparently, I was only 1 of 1000 people leading Harry Rosen's Director of Marketing Sandra Kennedy to say:

"Only about 1,000 people had visited the blog by the end of the campaign, making it an embarrassing and expensive flop."

I have to say, I don't think the tactic here is to blame. I think the bigger challenge that many marketers are going to have to face is the fact that you can't build a Social Media presence (whether that is a blog, Twitter presence or Faceook fan group) quickly enough to employ a Social strategy for a short term campaign.

I wrote a post a while back about how "Slow and Steady Wins the Marketing Race" and Mitch Joel has a post called "In Praise of Slow" that I've linked to before.

Both posts essentially have the same theme. There are some types of marketing that require time (like utilizing Social Media). Why?

- Because it's about getting to know each other
- Because it's about providing value over time
- Because you are not the star and I'm not your fan
- Because my participation contributes to your success
- Because Social Media is not a broadcast channel and the dynamics are different
- Because ecosystems are organic and relationships can't be created they have to emerge over time

Community is about curation and that doesn't happen over night regardless of your new campaign and a communications calendar time line.

So did Harry Rosen's blog fail? Maybe it did. But maybe it didn't have to. And while their lesson learned was "that their customers are too busy running the world to stop and read blogs" I don't buy that. The real lesson here should be in the effort required for Social and the underlying dynamics of Slow Social Media.

Media Spend Gets Funneled Beyond The Promise

e-marketer came out with a new study "Social Media Brand Buying And Beyond" (Catchy title!) that had some really interesting stats in it. Firstly, all the clients out there concerned that they aren't moving fast enough and don't know what's going on? Well not to worry. You are in great company as many executives are feeling the same.

But the chart that I thought was the most interesting was this one that shows a huge decline in the belief that TV drives brand building has decreased by 16% (and newspapers by 17% - oh poor newspapers!).


It's interesting to me because it really depends on what one means by brand building. Is awareness building the brand? Because TV is still the best tool to build mass awareness from a purchase funnel perspective. But that mass passive media message in TV is all about a promise. What marketers and executives seem to be finally acknowledging is that a PROMISE is no longer enough. In a digitally empowered world you have not only promise but DEMONSTRATE. As Peter always said "interactive media becomes an EXPERIENCE of the brand". And ultimately that's what builds trust, deepens engagement and creates longer term value whether that be a experience be in-store, with a customer service rep, a community manager, or within digital media spaces online.

1mtweets.com

In the past year, I've had a really close friend whose Mom has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. It's one of those things that until it touches you, you can't imagine the horrible impact that something like that has not only on the person who is experiencing it, but on their entire immediate and extended family. From what I've seen, it's just a terrible process of helplessness as they watch someone they've known as a wonderful intelligent and connected person starts to disappear right before their eyes and they can't do anything about it.

Today, Jordan Banks launched 1mtweets in memory of his grandparents. Trying to get 1m tweets and have those that do donate $1 to the cause.

I've always loved the Web particularly as a means of social change and now I"ll add 1m Tweets to my list of great examples. Check it out yourselves and spread the word.

Those Who Can Do And Write Books About It

When I got an earlier copy of Mitch Joel's book, Six Pixels Of Separation . At the time, he told me that it really wasn't a book for 'people like me' but hoped I'd enjoy it anyway. And just to be clear, I think what he meant by 'people like me' was that with my 13 yrs or so of experience in digital marketing, I might find the book too simple perhaps. Or not insightful or filled with new ideas?

Well, Mitch knows I love to debate and challenge him on a good day so I'll do it again here. Rather than not liking the book, I loved it. Why?

It's not that the ideas were earth shattering for me. It they were, I'd be nervous to keep my job. But what i loved about the book and why i think every digital marketer should read it, is Mitch's no nonsense style that puts a lot of very complicated and sometimes hard to understand concepts into really simple terms. Similarly to how I felt after seeing Mitch speak, I find myself often using both his examples and his manner of telling stories when speaking to my clients.

On top of that, I also plan to buy the book for about five entrepreneurs I know who are all small business owners looking to market themselves online.

Net net, I highly recommend you grab a copy whether you be sophisticated digital marketer or a newbie looking to expand your marketing tool set. And it's simply a MUST READ if you have your own business and want to learn how to market yourself online.

Those who can do AND they apparently write books about it too. Congratulations Mitch!

DISCLOSURE: Even though Mitch is one of my bosses I wouldn't have bothered to write this if I didn't mean it. I just woulda not said anything and hoped he didn't notice :)

Real Mobile Web? How About A Regular Old Fake One?

I just came back from the cottage which is its own little island somewhere in the middle of nowhere, six hours by car from Toronto. The weather was awful. Lots of rain. Lots of mosquitoes. But like the troopers that we are, we made the best of it. The 9month year old did great. Happy as a clam singing away in his baby chair watching the rain fall come down as if it was an episode of baby Einstein.

To make us all feel better (the non-self-entertained babies) I thought I would bake a peach pie. We had the perfect peaches. And made a special trip for some butter from the watershed. And with all that effort and expectation, I realized that I couldn't quite remember the measures for the pastry.

No problem right? The mobile web. So i pull out my trusty cell phone to do a little mobile surfing.

Now this is not as easy as it sounds. Cell phone reception is sketchy at best and email only downloads a few times a day. To get the browsing capabilities it's a careful balance of angles and acrobatics as I stand on one leg on a rock that sits just off the front of the main cabin with my hands stretched upwards to get a signal.

As you can imagine, once i get Google up on my screen, I'm pretty happy and want to get my recipe information as quickly as possible as to not lose my reception momentum. I plug what I'm looking for and what do you think I get? Well, to say the least, the worst bunch of impossible to browse on a mobile phone websites you have ever seen. Downloading links after links that seem to go in mobile circles never quite landing at a simple page with my simple pastry for my potentially mood changing pie.

Read a post today about someone wanting a 'real mobile web', but dammit, i'd just be happy with a regular old fake one.

Just in case you're wondering, I winged the pastry. It wasn't half bad and the mood improved greatly.