I spoke a few months back to a specialist service provider group about how to better use social media to support them in marketing themselves.

It was an extremely enjoyable group, really keen to investigate how they might best bend the new channels to their goals, build fan followings and start sharing content in pretty much anyway possible. Things started out much as they usually do, explanations and discussion about the risk of getting involved, how long the management of this should really be taking.

After a couple hours interacting with these guys two things occurred to me.

Firstly, they were all capable marketers. They had understood a consumer audience, engaged them with storytelling that allayed their fears and lowered barriers to purchase and/or engagement with their brands, and had been able to describe a (sometimes solid) return on investment for their activities.

Secondly, they were all building a fence around social media through the way the planned and executed activity. Campaigns were planned as facebook audience specific, with incentives that had nothing to do with their business and whose call to action didn’t make it off the platform. It manifested as a common problem with using social media as part of the marketing mix, how do you deliver a result to the business and not just the platform.

This is a big problem.

I’m going to get a little Mr Miyagi on the answer though. “Make social media perform as part of the marketing mix by making social media a part of the marketing mix.”

I’ve come up with a few questions/points.

1) What is value to you as a page owner?

I’m guessing you didn’t get into social media to develop a large fan base, to push for an incremental increase in likes each week, or to chase a higher level of engagement that would be seen favourably by the Facebook Edgerank algorithm.

Increasingly, I do a lot of work in the digital space, and I have learned to love the data. It teaches you what is working, where your traffic comes from and where they go when you leave. Digital is utterly fantastic in its ability to measure the actions of your audience but that mountain of data delivers a risk too.

As a business owner, you need to go into any marketing activity with an idea of how this will provide some value to your business and define some measures that will show that this is happening. You might want to foster a discussion around the experience people have when they do business with you. Very few businesses are ultimately guided by an ability to to build and engage a social media audience as an end, unless of course, your name is Mark Zuckerberg.

Engagement can be a fine indicator that the efforts you are making are having a connection with your audience, but it is not the overall end goal. As an industry, we should stop trying to convince clients that it is, spending some time and understanding their business would deliver stronger ideas and better campaigns.

Thinking about how your social channels form a part of your marketing mix and what role they play in moving someone through the consumer journey that ultimately makes you money is an important part of being successful in this space. It might also increase the perception of value we can articulate if we could show how many likes equal a profitable action.

2) Here’s another social media guy talking about the conversation.

Possibly the most overused few words in social media today. Everyone, from the bright eyed newbies hammering out content plans, through the the “only digital I do these days is in powerpoint” director types can agree that social media is about a conversation.

It seems interesting to me, then, that so many companies are ignoring this. It seems like many online see conversation as two or more people saying what they want to say, in the same place. That to me, sounds like a lengthy trip to the third ring of hell. Conversation at its best represents speaking, listening, learning, understanding and acting on the contents of what’s being said. I’m not really sure I can believe that asking an open question form and burying your head in the sand constitutes the same thing.

The widely hashtagged fails from Qantas, Woolies and Coles are not notable because of the LOLs they give industry observers and the echobox of the twitterverse, but that they demonstrate such poor conversations. The results highlight the fence that these brands have put around their social media efforts.

If Social was an integrated part of their businesses some of the feedback would provide actionable improvements to their products, offers and images in the market.

3) What utility are you delivering to your fans or connections?

As a page owner, decide at the start what the page will deliver for the audience and what the page will deliver for you. Use this as a lens for everything you do.

It’s probably also important to note that many people of facebook see the channel as ‘theirs’ so it’s probably wise to balance the content value equation squarely in their favour. Delivering utility is the route to building an audience that stays with you over time.

Nice old video of Steve Jobs, talking about what makes a difference.

I’ve seen plenty of holograms.

You could even go so far as to say that I’m a fan.

The technology has come from a place where you you could almost dispel the reality for long enough to start dreaming it was real.

People have performed on stage with holograms. There have been resurrections before, but I thought Tupac at Coachella last night was a big step up.

Yeah, he still may look a little ghost like, but that probably helps with the impact. The renders of the side lighting on the stage though, that looks unreal.

Truly, world class production right there folks.

Amazed.

Frankly, this is just one of the coolest pieces of video I have seen anywhere.

The power of music to transform lives and aid memory and brain function is epic.

At Hill+Knowlton, we spend an awful lot of time ensuring brands have a great story that they can articulate anywhere. This video got me thinking though, does a brand have a soundtrack to go with that story? Can you give it one?

I’m going to try and find out this year.

We talk a lot about the power of surprise and delight as a mechanic for delivering engagement with your audience in social media. Often times it has displaced traditional thinking that consumer promotions and sweepstakes are cost effective ways to engage a large audience with a brand. These old methods raise the expectation of a large group, who enter/engage. A small number then win, usually in a not so visible way, over the phone or by email.

Surprise and delight turns that logic on it’s head, a brand engages a small audience, with low/no expectation and over-delivers,most effectively in a public place or social media where the reaction can be leveraged or at the very least surfaced in front of a group.

I love this example from TNT in Belgium, it’s not about product giveaways or a hula girl flashmob, just a true wtf? moment for anyone who self selects as wanting a bit more drama by pushing a big red button.

Love the work.

Despite the late nights and early mornings that surrounded his arrival, the occasional late start due to a troublesome feed or tactical nappy change, I believe that becoming a dad has helped me become a better manager, a better communicator and a better Creative Director. Here’s why:

1.  The world is an incredible place, if you just remember to try and look for it.

Humans are machines for pattern recognition. It allows us to feel comfortable in the lives we lead and push the fear of being chased down and eaten by sabre cats out of our minds. More than a little unfortunately, it also robs us of the ability to see what is really in front of us. Watcing my son’s fascination with the contrast of a yellow and balck warning sticker on the bus, or the noises a textured wall makes when you run your nails over it reminds me that there are opportunities for great experiences everywhere. I just have to remember to look.

2. Always do the voices.

I love to read to my son. The reactions you can get from a little time and a sliver of performance is tremendous fun.

My day job is about telling stories as well. Reading to my son reminds me to take the time to breathe life into the stories I tell for my clients, giving them tone, cadance and range. It’s a seemingly tiony thing that makes a big difference to the type of attention you can get, and the length of time you’ll recieve it.

3. Surprise returns amazing emotional response.

When everything is new, it is easy to deliver a surprise. Blowing up a balloon is greeted by giggles and smiles and much clapping of hands.

It’s ok to do things that you’ve done before. The key is rembering that comms are not designed for you but for your target audience. It is completely ok, if not great, to repackage things that have been seen before into a new package or experience that surpirses your audience.

I’m certain that there will be many more things that Otis will teach me as I watch him grow up and try not to drop him on his head.

Whatever you think of his intentions, the effect is mesmerising.

I’ll be spending this year trying to keep the same type of giggling enthusiasm for the creative work I’m lucky enough to undertake on a daily basis.

Gulf Restoration Network / interactive postcard from Gab + Fraser on Vimeo.

Ever wonder what happens to a creative after they win a Young Lion? They keep on creating beautiful communications.

My mate Frae won a Young Lion a couple of years back, after many years of working for little or nothing, based only on a belief he could do the job and do it well.

He now lives in the land of clocks and chocolate delivering ideas around the globe; the video above showcases the latest piece of work he and his creative partner have been been involved in.

I love the use of thermodynamic ink, the message strikingly clear that your hands can make a difference. I also love that in an increasing digital world, there are still ideas left that leverage the power of touch in building a memorable connection.

I’d encourage you to show some support and share it, and to go lend a hand if you have the time and resources to get to the Gulf Coast.

Here’s a fun little project we just executed last night for our clients Air New Zealand and Positively Wellington Tourism.

Our friends at Host scripted and filmed the video, not to mention edited it in a single evening.

I wrote the script for the in restaurant announcement, and you can hear me dulcid tones from about 1.13 on. I don’t expect that this will be the start of a lucrative voice career for me, but if you’re reading this and you work for Pixar, I’m certainly open to offers. Kudos too to our wicked press team, for driving the story out of the restaurant and into the media. You can read the Australian article here.