Daily Axioms

Metropolitan Home magazine closes | L.A. at Home | Los Angeles Times

mikferrara@gmail.com (TechnoDad) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:27:00 +0000

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/home_blog/2009/11/metropolitan-home-magazine-closes.html

DuPont's Social Media Campaign Goes up in Flames

mikferrara@gmail.com (TechnoDad) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Twitter Trending Project- Day 3

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Otis) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:37:00 +0000

#Gourmet, #Cookie, #Elegantbride – Oh My!
In the wee hours of the morning, Gourmet, Cookie and Elegant Bride were trending on Twitter. Why? The New York Times announced today that these Conde Nast publications are closing. Declines in advertising pages continue to impact the longevity of Conde Nast, as they closed Domino and folded Men’s Vogue into Vogue this past year, according to the NY Times report. Can we please say it again? #Saveprintnews

Throughout the day, #Gourmet has been the one publication to outlast the others in the trending topics. No wonder, though—it’s been around since the 1940s!

#Woolworths
Numerous tweets spread across the feed in support of Australian retailer Woolworths' re-branding efforts, but apparently it looks a bit too much like Apple-- and that’s what the fuss is about. Though, the majority of Twitterers think Apple is being a bit too much of a bully and a little paranoid. One guy’s sarcastic tweet says it all. Still, Woolworths is getting sued in hopes that they will cease and desist in making 3-D green apple peels remotely resemble a silver one with teeth marks.

Seeing as how Apple is so huge, I don’t think this is doing them any favors. It’s like David vs. Goliath and I think, unfortunately, David is going to lose--thus the bully moniker. What do you think of this trending topic and the future of Woolworths. Woolworths? They’re still around?!

#TMobileSucks
It’s always fun when cell phone providers get thrown under the bus, specifically when unhappy customers trigger responses in other people that are, well, unhappy customers too and want everyone to know that #TMobileSucks.

We found that it’s not T-mobile in general that sucks; rather, the SideKick. A data outage continues to enrage Sidekick owners. The slamming of the smartphone is all over Twitter and everyone’s joining in by mentioning the brand in general-speak, too.

According to users and the Danger service reps of T-Mobile Sidekick, what aren’t available are e-mail, Internet, and contacts. Well, yeah, I’d be ticked too if those were the services that have been down for 4 days. I guess Catherine Zeta-Jones will have to find a new company to endorse now unless T-Mobile continues to not address the millions of Twitter users who have made this a HUGE trending topic.

Day 2- Twitter Trending Project

noreply@blogger.com (Sara Emily) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:04:00 +0000

topic # 1-- #WeLoveGaGa

exploration:

For the most part, news and Friday leads the trending topics today... Wait no.. is that tween pop culture in the mix? From around 11:30 am to 12:30 pm #WeLoveGaga trended with the Olympics, Google Wave, David Letterman and Friday related verbiage. From 11:50 to 11:51 am 833 tweets with the hashtag came through. 100 pages of search.twitter.com resulted in only an hours worth of tweets. We were confused, why love Lady Gaga now? Why not at the VMAs when she sported five beyond haute couture outfits? Are fans just having a random surge of Lady Gaga passion?

the.truth.

It really began with Sir. Perez Hilton’s twitter account. Perez has 1,510,756 followers and around 10:30 he tweeted…

From here gaga enthusiast groups GagaNews, Gagadaily, LadyGaGaPlease, gagatribe, and the houseofgaga all began encouraging retweeting and tweeting the hashtag. Soon Twitter exploded with Gaga fans and tweets. “Ironically” this trending and attention comes at a perfect time for Gaga. Gaga has had new stuff and bad luck lately…

Her tour with Kanye West “Fame Kills” fell through today and Lady Gaga announced she will be going solo for a tour. While officially the tour was canceled due to “artistic differences”, rumors are circulating that ticket sales “sucked.”
Gaga will be performing her new single “Bad Romance” for the first time on SNL tomorrow night.

Several of the fans who tweeted mentioned several times that the purpose of tweeting and RT was to get #WeLoveGaga onto the trending list. So, we will end with a question, Does it defeat the purpose of the trending list if people are hashtagging just to get it on the list?

Twitter Trending Project- Day 1

noreply@blogger.com (Sara Emily) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:33:00 +0000

topic #1-- #quanda

exploration:

What is qanda? As we scrolled through the tweets the conversation topics went from gay rights to Christopher Hitchens and religion to a graduates special issue… wait what? We thought qanda was a term relating to atheists or gay rights… where did this graduates issue come in? Then we stumbled upon this tweet….

Kritz29 @LasyaC hey, #qanda actually means q and a!! haha and all this time we thought it meant sumthing sick.. Hehehe

7 days ago from web

the.truth.

Maybe we didn’t think it meant something “sick”, but we thought it meant something. Twitter’s unusual topics such as #MoneyAintAThang, evoke elaborate fantasies that make us believe there are hidden meanings all over Twitter. Sorry to say folks, qanda is just q and a. Deal with it.

This all stems from ABC Australia. At 9:30 pm October 1, 2009 there was a Q&A panel discussion live from their TV studio including Anne Henderson, Sally Warhaft, Father Frank Brennan, Waleed Aly, and Christopher Hitchens. The show tweets out announcements on its Twitter page with 1,224 followers. The show sparked strong reactions throughout the Twitter Community which is why around 8:30 am CST Anne Henderson also became a trending topic.

topic #2-- #why
exploration:
#why? Why not! It seems that people think other people are listening and what that calls for is a lot of why this and why that tweets, not necessarily conversation. We've been following this trending topic for quite some time and have found tweets ranging from "Why do women stay with evil men who hate them?" to Why am I waking up with someone's elbow in my face." The major state of mind was just the need to tell people why; almost like pleas for change or a call-to-action. There also seemed to be the need to just rant about anything that came to mind. See what we mean?

Might I add that I agree with this guy's Twitter bio...

the.truth.
#why can't be better spelled out than by visiting here. Ladies and gents-- why is just why and can be multi-interpreted. No wonder #why this has been trending all day.

Announcing the 30-day Twitter Trending Project

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Otis) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:06:00 +0000

It’s October (at least that’s what everyone's saying on Twitter) and in the spirit of a new month, Sara and I are announcing a new social media endeavor called the 30-day Twitter Trending Project right here on our blog. Why?

It never ceases to amaze us how many people check the Twitter search feed on a topic that’s trending and tweet out, “Why is [blank] a trending topic?” hashtag and all. While the comment appears on the feed, it doesn’t really add value to the feed. Here’s where we come in.

For 30 days, we’ll be your Wikipedia (not counting weekends--we’ve got plans). Sara and I will pick out the odd, rare and newsy topics that are trending on Twitter providing you all the juice as to why it’s trending and all the hearty analysis…but we’re no Dan Zarrella.

To give you an idea as to when we’re watching the Twitter trends, we’ll start first thing in the morning when we arrive at our desks at 8 a.m and will post summaries by end of day every day. Come Halloween night, we’ll provide a summary of what we found to be the major topics of conversation and why it may or may not be a frightening find.

You can check out our blog every day to see the results. Feel free to participate in the 30-day Twitter Trending Project by adding your own two cents as to why certain topics are trending either by sharing your own blog entries or commenting on ours.

Stay tuned for TTP- Day 1 and our TTP Pumpkin...

Tim and Sara

What Did You Have for Lunch Today? A Lesson in Social Media.

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Otis) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:39:00 +0000

This Daily Axioms post is courtesy of Nicholas G. Porter, a young and upcoming PR pro and social media junkie.

Today for lunch, I had a cheese sandwich, celery sticks and a bottle of Dasani water. Did I just commit a twitter faux pas?

According to Shel Israel, author of Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods,” I did not. Israel explains:

“…Twitter lets people behave online more closely to how we behave in real life than anything that ever preceded it in history. It's kind of past now, but there was this whole wave of admonition of nobody cares what you had for lunch, and to be honest that's absolutely false. If I said that I was in a restaurant in Atlanta, [Georgia,] you'd say, "Oh, where did you go? You didn't by chance try the..." and we have a conversation that way. We care about the details of life. When you bring this into business, I don't think many members of your audience ever bought or sold anything from a conversation that starts with, "Are you going to buy something?" It begins with small talk."

While I agree that Twitter allows a new kind of conversation in business, I disagree with the notion that the Social Media Elite is done holding the “what I just had for lunch” tweet in disdain. This is because like many, they would like to see more people using Twitter to spread useful information instead of pointless babble. However, you have to admit that Israel makes an excellent point about consumer relations and that acting natural is key. So maybe sharing what you had for lunch shouldn’t automatically delegate you to the 9th ring of social media hell?

After all, the social media experts all say the same thing; Twitter and social media does not work unless you are honest, friendly and let your personality shine through. The details of our lives do matter. So is it possible that the SM Elite have been talking out of both sides of their mouths?

What do you think? In the meantime, here is what I’m having for dinner…

Why Too Many Followers Dumbs Down Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (Sara Emily) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:19:00 +0000

Followers do not equate community. Social media necessitates engagement and interaction and the number below your name does not measure either one.

Oxford Anthropologist, Robin Dunbar, Ph. D., spoke to AARP magazine’s Hugh Delehanty about social networks, “Robin Dunbar, Ph.D., has concluded that the cognitive power of the human brain limits the size of the social networks we can sustain. In other words, he says, the outside limit for human friendships is roughly 150.” He goes on to note that adding more people to your network will result in experiences similar to watching television, lacking intimacy.

beginnings.of.dumbing

The lack of intimacy and community dumbs down or diminishes the potential impact and uniqueness of Twitter. A sense of community may have been easier to attain before the April Ashton Kutcher versus CNN extravaganza and Oprah appearance accelerated Twitter’s transformation into a mainstream application. Loyalty and feelings of community are more difficult to attain as the application goes mainstream. The growth isn’t expected to stop with predictions of 26 million users by the end of 2010. This growth is pushing organizations to analyze the type of community they want to create on Twitter and followers are an important part of that community.

empty.conversations

Having too many followers can result in wasted time spent on polite, generic conversations. The @ is dominating Twitter. When you are receiving two to five calls for conversation for every tweet, keeping up is daunting. How many calls are truly meaningful? Ensure yourself that those who follow you are following to engage with you or your brand, not just raise their hands when you take attendance #cyberbathroompassaholic. When you run into those old high school “friends”, the ones you haven’t spoken to in years, an awkward courtesy conversation ensues. After two sentences you have exchanged absolutely no real information. Two days later the only thing you will say is “Oh, I ran into Georgia”, but how many of you use that cellular telephone to extend communication beyond the previously exchanged two sentences? While there is no ethical way to avoid face to face encounters, herein lies the beauty in the cyber social network. Avoid meaningless conversations by keep follower numbers manageable.

Maybe you know who your interactive followers are; maybe you understand the level of intimacy and engagement you have with your “real community”, but how about those active tweeters looking for their next topic or conversation? Do they know? How does it look when you have 3,000,000 followers? Those high numbers may be repelling active tweeters #unintentionaltweetswatter.

start.cleaning…

1. Unproductive stalkers: These followers follow and engage, but the topics are inappropriate and the tweets confusing #adultkidspeak. Resulting in wasted time.

2. Phantoms: The nine percent of people who are considered completely inactive or dead people. (In the human realm, considering people you never communicate with or who are deceased in your “community” would land you a multiple personality test, a nice completely white room and possibly a jacket designed by the American Psychological Association.)

3. Spammers: Twitter began deleting them late July, but whenever spotted, delete them instantly.

don’t.be.this.guy

In conclusion, we all love to feel important, but bet your importance and impact on the quality of your relationships, not the number of your followers. Clean up your account, before the Twitter gods need to stick a proverbial bar of soap in your account and clean it for you #strictmothers.

Welcome Loca!

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Otis) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:26:00 +0000

Introducing Sara Loca-- Axiom's newest intern who will be blogging from her cube...

With my entries, I hope to explore how the entertainment industry is using social media and get off-topic once in a while. I am passionate about social media and talking; therefore, I blog. I should tell you about myself before you read my posts and let you know that my last name is more of an adjective than a noun.

social.media.
Through Facebook I was able to reconnect with a friend from Italy that I hadn’t spoken to in 14 years. I went to Scotland to see her this past May. Social media also allows me to keep in touch with cousins in Italy and replay my mother’s fantastic Italo-disco days. Professionally, social media has pushed me to be creative and accept that anything is possible. Live from our basements, power is relative.

evolution.of.sara.loca.
I was born crying, pudgy, and stubborn to a Michele (Mike) Loca and Jane Hilleren, November 1 in Milan, Italy. My parents were part of the Italo-disco movement in the 1980s, which resulted in fantastic dress up clothes and me. My dad left home at fifteen to play music at an American base in Germany where soldiers traveling in and out of Vietnam stayed. He once played for the Shah of Iran. My mom is on You Tube. I unfortunately didn’t inherit their musical gifts. I failed miserably at the violin and virtually lip-synched through show choir in high school. In 1994, my family moved from the metropolis of Milano and the Loca family to the suburbia of Bloomington, Minnesota and the Hillerens. I had to learn English, the lunch line, and casual outfits.

At my high school open house I only allowed a single picture of the 6th to 9th grade years to be displayed. Adolescence, enough said. My high school years were consumed by my passion for dance. That passion hasn’t died, but expanded into a passion for the arts in general. Coffee shops, travel, performing in local shows, and public relation classes pretty much sum up college.

The four warm days of the year I love being outside in downtown or uptown. I love to read. It’s the most smartest way to learn (see what I mean:). Ithaca is my favorite poem and Fahrenheit 451 is my favorite book. The Odd Couple II has been my favorite movie since 5th grade. The likes of Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, Erykah Badu, Sting, John Mayer, Adele and Sergio Mendes tickle my ears often. In another life, I inherited millions of dollars and traveled for years. I love to explore new cultures and meet new people. Don’t ask me about sports.

I am only passionate about sports gossip or when I know a player…

exhibit.a:
At a baseball game, junior year of high school:
“How many quarters are there?”
exhibit.b:
Having spoken to Amir Pinnix on the bus for an entire semester and attending a majority of the home games:
“So how’s the wide receiver coach treating you?”
exhibit.c:
I still couldn’t tell you the position my brother played in football for six years.
exhibit.d:
However, I do know that Joe DiMaggio was furious when Marilyn Monroe did her infamous white dress Seven Year Itch photoshoot.

In conclusion, I hope you benefit from and/or are entertained by my future posts. Most of all, I hope to start conversations.

Ciao,

Sara LaLaLoca
The intern

Taking Time To Comment

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Otis) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:23:00 +0000

Just when I thought 'social media expert' was really just a nice way of saying “I’m a Twitterholic, a Facebook junkie, blogging nut—and hey I can say ‘meme’, too”– an encounter with a PR pro on Twitter changed all that.

rachelakay @AxiomPR I haven't cmted yet - but doesn't mean I won't. I like to take time to craft comments but have to prioritize against my task list.

It never crossed my mind to think that those who comment on blogs take time to craft their thoughts -- a process that may or may not take all day -- making sure their work/client priorities come first. I assumed frankly that online users were just standing by waiting to call someone out on something when a blog post link came across the Twitter feed, or just simply commenting for the sheer effect of gaining more people to their own blog by retweeting something as their own. Beth Harte calls those types of people “social media leeches”. Danny Brown can’t stand them, as he’s all about keeping the tweet associated with the originator.

I’m humbled knowing there are people out there who don’t have a get-rich-quick scheme driven by their quest for more connections on all social networks; that they’re really trying to provide value to the space. If I were running a consumer business, I’d look for the social media experts who actually take time to do things, like commenting on blogs. That alone surely guarantees quality work.

Here is a list of some people that I’ve connected with—and that doesn’t mean on LinkedIn or they’re following me on Twitter. These are the social media types that actually offer quality conversations and take the time to comment:

Rachel Kay (rachelakay)
Amber Naslund (Ambercadabra)
Amanda Vega (AmandaVega)
Jason Baer (jaybaer)
Arik Hanson (arikhanson)
Beth Harte (BethHarte)
Danny Brown (dannybrown)
Peter Shankman (skydiver)
David Meerman Scott (dmscott)
Sarah Evans (prsarahevans)
David Armano (armano)
Graeme Thickins (GraemeThickins)
David Spinks (DavidSpinks)

Sure, this list is small what should that tell us about the social media majority? Who are people you think add quality and new depth to blog conversations?

Best Sharing Practices for Twitter... Amidst all the Freakin Noise

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Otis) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:24:00 +0000

Twitter is noisy. Period. So how do you get your content to stand out much like PR pros try to do when pitching to reporters’ e-mail? Essentially that’s what you’re doing, right? You’re pitching your content to the Twitter feed of those you’re following and who are following you—in order to build trust.

Social media pros will tell people to read tweets, not write them, so you can develop a base of friends that can then turn into friends for the remainder of Twitter’s existence. (That’s a LONG time.) Here I’ll share with you the best ways to share tweets on Twitter without severely annoying the masses:

Retweets
Retweets are severely losing their legitimacy with so many choosing to retweet as a method to gain followers, not necessarily endorse the content of what that Twitter user wrote or said. If you want to legitimize your retweets, customize your retweets by adding a quick comment at the beginning of the tweet, indicating you’ve actually read the blog post or understand the tweet’s context.

Info not found
There’s nothing more frustrating than when a Twitterer comments on what they’re doing or reading and doesn’t share the link to the info they’re addressing. If it is possible, you should provide the link. Cmon’ now—you don’t do this to reporters needing the scoop so why do it here, right?

Track your links
Thanks to Bit.Ly, you can see the amount of impact your tweets have on the Twitter populace. Of course, it cannot be said enough that your impact is really dependent on how much you interact and how dependable you are in the space, but by setting up a shortened and measurable URL with a service such as Bit.ly, you can see what tweets people are drawn to on your feed. You can then learn something from your trial and error method and verify your feed’s audience.

As far as using Bit.ly in your Twitter bio linking to your source Website, is that really a good idea if your goal first and foremost is to build trust or gain someone’s approval?

Talk first, share link second
Whoever coined this phrase I don’t think is really talking about sharing links secondly after firstly communicating. I think sharing links is allowed when you feel you’ve got a friend rather than an acquaintance.

BTW, that doesn’t look this…

@Twitteruser1: Wow, really enjoyed the post about Soap scum in your bathroom. Can’t stand scraping that stuff off.

@Twitteruser2: Thanks! My wife and I are working on remodeling our bathroom. We’re sick of it!

@Twitteruser1: Nice. Hey, you should check out our company blog that will give you all the free paperweights you’ll ever need! [link to site]

Time is Everything
The more of your time it takes to read Twitter users’ posts, access Web sites and touch on key points that hit that user’s brand or personality, you will see more @ replies coming from that person as opposed to none at all. Again, like a reporter expects a PR practitioner to know their beat, it’s key that you know the Twitter user outside the Twitter community. When you have a link to share, don’t be surprised if they retweet it with a “Great post!” simply because they like you and want to do you a favor.

Please Comment
It seems more people are commenting on blogs by using the Twitter feed in place of the comments box on a blog. Some comments applications have honed in on this and it has allowed for better comments tracking, but I really don’t think retweets should count as comments under blog posts. If it’s not offering value to the context of the blog entry, is that really a comment? Please comment – bloggers will love you for it, and they’ll seek you out on Twitter for taking the time to do so unless they’re totally above themselves.

These are just several ways you can maximize your tweet reach in sharing links on Twitter but is by no means a closed list. Feel free to comment on how you feel you can legitimize your tweets so that they won’t mirror the trashcan a reporter so often uses with a bad pitch.

@-Kissers of the Social Media Kind

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Otis) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:59:00 +0000

PLEASE NOTE: This post in no way reflects the opinions of Axiom Marketing Communications. These are my own thoughts after reading countless blog entries suggesting people just spend too much time on social networks...

Everyone seems to be ranting about social media offenses lately, so here’s mine… Enjoy.

Boy, I have to say that I want to take a whip to some of these linked-happy people that are part of social networks to build community. Social media gurus and experts will tell you it’s all about relationships, but what type of relationships are those exactly? I'd say deceptive ones.

I feel as though we’ve really abused the issue of trust in some ways, and have actually redefined the notion of it by simply kissing up to blog writers via comment, retweeting Twitter posts—and for what? Their approval? Since when is approval even remotely close to trust? Being connected is all about approval, not about trust. Somehow social media has blurred those lines and people are listening to it. Really, that’s what it has boiled down to, has it? To get the social media celebs of the world to notice you and approve of you so you can get more subscribers to your blog, more followers to your Twitter account, and suddenly you’ve made it and now have a purpose in this very noisy environment. If your goal is to get a high profile social media celeb to reply to your Twitter feed, goodness-- seek help. I’m finding more and more that people are trying to define their very existence and purpose by the number of friends they have on Facebook who will reply to or ‘like’ their status updates, or reach a life-changing number of followers on Twitter. For some, 100,000 is simply not enough. One conversation I had with a social media participant suggested applications like Qwitter somehow make them feel “ugly” and therefore non-following potential. What’s next? Failed marriages due to more time spent on building a Web community than on family? Yes, spouses are getting angered by their partners’ non-existence outside of the computer screen.

Seriously, this mindset of importance is happening ALL around us. Admittedly, I have been an @-kisser, trying to be more ‘strategic’ than natural on Twitter mostly, and I’ve found the same thing time and time again: it’s all about being natural. The minute you’re forcing something to go through to reach your targeted audience, you will fail, because it reeks of being contrived. Maybe… just maybe… the 3-5 hours on Twitter reading people’s tweets and replying to them will make up for it, but I don’t want to wait around to find out.

The fact of the matter is, though, social media is only natural when there’s not an agenda behind it. By agenda, I mean trying to become the leading voice of social media, trying to retire early because your workday is entirely founded upon getting more fans and followers to believe what you are saying. Trying to push more books through by commenting on how pretty someone’s hair looks in a Twitpic. It sounds mundane, BUT it is happening. News media is doing it, too! Again, I ask, how does that equate to any level of trust?

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come in contact with people who boast his/her strategy to build community. If you feel you can trust the @-kissers of the social media kind, great. As for me, I'll just do what comes natural and hope to be-friend the all-natural types.

On-brand or off-brand… on Twitter?

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Otis) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:15:00 +0000

As said in a previous post, most experienced marketers would say that it doesn’t do a company any good to delineate from brand-centric messages in the social space. This is completely and utterly the wrong counsel, especially when referring to noisy platforms such as Twitter.

If your company’s Twitter account isn’t growing, ask yourself this question:

How many times do I tweet with someone and not at someone? You’ll know exactly when you’re doing this, as the realization of it will manifest itself in the form of seeing your Twitter followers drop one by one, or that your feed is covered in corporate announcements. Okay- perhaps Apple or Google could get away with corporate announcements, BUT brands that are trying to build awareness should stick to conversing with their followers. I know you’re excited to share the latest and greatest news about your company, but remember the issue with all twitter users is trust.

Another key thing to remember about social media channels is they were never meant for companies to be a part of. It’s just yet another opportunity to meet consumers where they’re at—in terms of their passions, interests, buying decisions, and dilemmas. Social media is human at its core so it shouldn't be rocket science, but it is to companies who really just want to talk about, well, themselves. Picture the same approach happening at a retail shop. This is how the consumer-to-service person's dialog would go:

(Customer walks in)

Service guy: Hi! Try our Jalapeno Cheddar cream cheese! Here's a coupon!

Customer: No thanks, I'm just browsing.

Service guy: Piggly Wiggly just acquired Payless and we'll be selling shoes, isn't that great?!

Customer: I don't care.

Service guy: Ok, but definitely tell your friends!

Customer: Look. I like your store, but I'm feeling a bit suffocated. Can you lay off for a second so I can ask you a question?

Service guy: Uh...

Customer: Where do you keep the Miracle Whip?

Service guy: Um...

Customer: I'm leaving.

Here's a refined learning scenario-- the ones companies should definitely adhere to:

(Customer walks in)

Service guy: Hi! Try our Jalapeno Cheddar cream cheese! Here's a coupon!
Customer: No thanks, I'm just browsing.
Service guy: Piggly Wiggly just acquired Payless and we'll be selling shoes, isn't that great?!
Customer: I don't care.
Service guy: Ok, but definitely tell your friends!
Customer: Look. I like your store, but I'm feeling a bit suffocated. Can you lay off for a second so I can ask you a question?
Service guy: Sure.
Customer: Where do you keep the Miracle Whip?
Service guy: Aisle 5
Customer: Thanks.

(Customer walks to Aisle 5, and discovers Miracle Whip is at a bargain price).

Customer: Hey, look everyone! Miracle Whip is on sale at Piggly Wiggly for $1.25!

So... when using a platform like Twitter, keep the message off brand more than on brand so that you can focus on your customers and turn them into fans for life. Agree or disagree? (I’ve really gone back and forth with this one).

Interns or VPs: Should Passion Trump Experience?

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Otis) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:20:00 +0000

A while back, I held the position that interns should clearly not tweet on behalf of a company. And if companies are looking to hire social media interns, what should the criterion be? Jay Baer of the Convince and Convert blog brings up a valuable argument about the issue of being passionate – as opposed to my formerly held view: experience.

I’d still be biting my fingers to suggest that an intern should be the social media point person or spokeperson, which is why I’ve bawked at several companies hiring ‘social media’ interns instead of holistic learning and involvement recurring at all levels.

BUT if you are passionate about social media, should that be more important than experience? Do interactive marketing VPs know more about site infrastructure and less about building conversations online ? Are there search-marketing analysts who can provide sound strategies on e-commerce distribution channels and not necessarily sound strategies on how to build a Facebook Page that will act as a mechanism to promote FREE product giveaways? Do C-suite level executives understand the importance of FREE STUFF in general anyway? Southwest Airlines does. Coke does. Why do they get it and so many companies don’t? Who’s running the show and does that really matter?

In the summer of last year, I learned more from the online behaviors of one of Axiom’s interns who had a real passion for social media than I have from listening to a VP of Digital Marketing for a leading integrated PR/advertising agency. While this intern had some experience, he didn’t boast 20 years like the other guy did. He just had passion and that was enough to really listen to him.

Suddenly, 20 years of the baby boomer methods become somewhat obsolete and Gen Y soon take the lead as the most sought-after contributors to the social media space that... actually know how to keep fans on a Facebook Page, provide comment-geared content for a blog, acquire 2,000 followers on Twitter by simply talking more off-brand than on-brand – a strategy that is looked down upon by most experienced brand marketers. So regarding experience, I stand corrected when it comes to truly knowing social communities.

Who are we listening to now that social media is never going to go away? Gen Y interns or baby boomer VPs?

The Twitter death: what if it just died?

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Otis) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:15:00 +0000

It was a frantic day in our office yesterday as we were working on hashtagging measurement for a marketing campaign we put together using Twitter. We were excited to see the results, the impressions numbers generated as a result of Tweetreach. Then it happened: no Twitter for a full day. No fail whale disclaimer or a screen full of robots announcing technical difficulties. Twitter just wasn’t working.

Yes, we all know why. It was the attack on Twitter that left it dormant for 2 hours at most, for some. But for us here at Axiom, we didn’t have tweeting power all day, and it caused some concern as to whether or not our key influencers for the promotion could tweet. It turns out they could.

The non-existence of Twitter for a day led us to revisit a question that has been subconsciously in the back of our minds and our social media “what ifs?” What if Twitter just died? Well, we thought about it as a team and came up with 50 things that would happen if Twitter went kaput. (Update: List has been added to from comments) Let’s keep the list going with your comments and maybe we can reach 100, if not more.

So here it is without further adieu…

1. Facebook would become popular again
2. What’s Twitterberry, Tweetie, and Tweetdeck?
3. Maybe some would use the actual telephone
4. Blogs would have a voice again
5. People would actually read blogs as opposed to skim them
6. Journalists would have their jobs back
7. Journalists would take ownership of newspaper sections they actually cared about
8. No more Twitter lingo; it only would remain when someone would recall Tweetie bird from Looney Tunes
9. People wouldn’t lose their jobs
10. People’s opinions would not be heard
11. People would know how to talk in complete sentences
12. There wouldn’t be popularity contests
13. HR departments would have one less place to monitor job candidates
14. Employers would have one less place to monitor employees
15. PR and creative agencies would have one less thing to confuse their clients about.
16. No one would know and have to know about certain things
17. Dogs would have owners
18. Monetization would be less of a topic of conversation
19. Biz and Ev would have to think of something else
20. FriendFeed might see some more ink time
21. People wouldn’t have the need for URL shorteners
22. The phrase “140 characters or less” would become obsolete
23. Followers would be considered stalkers
24. Brands would have to pay more for Facebook advertisement
25. 6-7 hours of work would be achieved during the day as opposed to 3-4
26. Ashton Kutcher would be bored unless shooting a movie
27. “#” would be that button underneath the 9 on your phone’s keypad
28. ‘Tweeted’ would sound like another term for ‘goosed’
29. Birds wouldn’t feel like the third wheel
30. Social media enthusiast, gurus, ‘experts’ would have actual work to do
31. People wouldn’t be so chatty
32. Microblogging would be an event for midgets or dwarves who aspire to be Web writers
33. Media outlets wouldn’t be thinking so hard about mergers & acquisitions
34. The Twitter wiki would be silenced
35. Chuck Norris would cease to exist or he would bring twitter back to life.
36. Online dating would become relevant again.
37. Customer service would remain the same.
38. Smartphone sales would plummet.
39. Apple and PC's would still try their best to differentiate themselves.
40. Anderson Cooper 360 would be 27 seconds short because he wouldn't have to repeat "And find me on Twitter" 14 times throughout the show.
41. Parents wouldn't feel uncool because they still don't know anything about tweeting.
42. Traditional spam e-mails would make a resurgence, yet still get deleted.
43. The "fail whale" would become the term used to talk about dumb jocks, instead of crashed websites.
44. THE_REAL_SHAQ could resume his work on his free throw shooting.
45. 14 fewer car accidents would happen because of people not tweeting.
46. Social media "experts" would go back to being good ol' fashioned computer nerds.
47. The Cars for Clunkers program would still run out of money.
48. Foreign affairs would still remain foreign to the majority of society.
49. Political candidates could focus their attentions on improving their communities, instead of trying to "out-tweet" their competition.
50. 140 characters would be a hip, crowded bar.
51. Verizon Fios would have to remove their Twitter monitoring system and so would mlb.com (Major League baseball.)
52. Jack Dorsey (Twitter founder) would come up with a new business idea, because that's what he does.
53. My spouse would stop making fun of me for being on Twitter.
54. RT would have no special meaning anymore
55. Comcast would continue to send unqualified people on unnecessary calls.
56. Conversations would involve people you knew and concern topics other than social media
57. Some possibilities for connection and learning would be closed off.
58. Don't worry, if Twitter really died, there would be an app for that.
59. The world would keep spinning.

How to avoid controlled contest tweets

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Otis) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:38:00 +0000

The beauty of social media is it’s a process of refinement, and I’d say that based on my own trial and error of tweeting out controlled contest messages, it really doesn’t work to impact the value of the brand.

Due to the increased noise level of contest tweets on Twitter, I’d caution any company to create a formalized contest tweet strategy. True, that with a formalized strategy, you can control those who RT your contest or promotion, BUT it really misses the mark of communicating the brand’s personality, and in this day and age, brands DO have a personality. If you’re trying to be warm and friendly, the approach then looks robotic, autonomous and a bit non-approachable—even if it’s F-R-E-E.

Earlier on, Axiom did a Twitter contest known as Twegg Drop to raise awareness for a non-profit. We created a formalized Twitter strategy and after evaluating the key performance indicators, we felt it would have been better to have followers and contest participants originate their own tweet, in turn, conveying the gut instinct of the brand, not what the company wanted the person to say about the brand. After all, who wants to feel “forced”?

There are a couple of ways you can avoid controlled contest tweets:

Witness the power of a hashtag: Because hashtags are simple word aggregators, it makes it very simple to get your message across WITHIN the right context. Dell has a contest right now for free notebook computers, and I have to say the set-up is all wrong:

“I just followed @DellDigitalLife for a chance to win one of 10 Dell Mini netbooks! More info at: http://bit.ly/DellTwitter.”

Where is the hashtag? Yes, the impact of this tweet can be measured thanks to URL shorteners like Bit.ly (we use it here at Axiom!), but inclusion of a hashtag makes the message much easier to find. How about #DellMiniContest? Suddenly, all the tweets are pertaining to the contest, not just @DellDigitalLife when you perform a search.

Avoid using ‘ I followed’ anything: Talk about brand selfishness, it’s a huge turn-off to keep the message focused on you and not on the person with whom you’re sharing the message. It’s really simple to fix this “I followed because” business by simply allowing the person in the Twitter space to take control, meaning give it up to them to recommend the following:

Wow! Check out this great contest by @DellDigitalLife! Win a free dell mini http://bit.ly/DellTwitter #DellMiniContest

With this example, it’s not obvious to follow Dell but if you want to know more about the contest, it’s definitely implied.

Now, Twitter is definitely a place where your contest can go viral—especially if you’re Google or Best Buy. Adding these simple nuances to your Twitter contest will definitely increase the outreach and give you KPIs across the board—tonality and all.

What about you? Any strategies you’ve used for Twitter contests that you’d like to share.

Hypothesis: If social media is free, then interns are

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Otis) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:48:00 +0000

Such is the hypothesis concluded by a number of PR agencies and firms who are announcing unpaid internships, and in turn, receiving all the free knowledge of the social media space.

Why do practitioners insist on handing off what I would call ‘Web intricacy’ to interns, much like they do with pitches to top tier daily reporters—of which a phone call-up that’s meant to be a conversation becomes a quick hang-up instead, due to lack of understanding of client and reporter’s area of interest???

Frankly, I’m a bit flabbergasted by this approach, as I think the real selling points of social media cannot result from just being part of the different communities online, nor quick research: It’s knowing the best practices and best tools to get the job done. That is something that cannot be taught overnight or during the course of a summer.

While a social network offers easy sign-up, a social network is also very intricate. VERY. On a constant hunt to conceive the most effective public relations campaigns that integrate social media strategies, I have to consider what channels will provide best opportunity for linkback and quality word-of-mouth buzz that results in long-term brand engagement. Brand evangelism/advocacy, remember? Anything less than that equates to the lifespan of a surfacing trending topic on Twitter: it’s off the chart and out of people’s minds the very next day.

I also think throwing interns to learn all things social media actually dumbs down the value of social media, because after all, interns are meant to push paper. Right? WRONG. Get what I’m saying? Let’s treat our interns like account workers, like a part of the team, not so what have you got for me people in a basement.

Hear me out. I’m all for interns learning about social media, but don’t let them be the backbone of your agency’s understanding of it. Everyone in the agency must learn, not have one individual learner.

Thoughts?

Chill Out with @McCafeYourDay and Iced Coffee

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Otis) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:27:00 +0000

While a great Fourth of July was due in part to a grand fireworks display from my lake cottage pier, a letter postmarked by McDonald’s McCafe division really hit the spot. It was a note from Jessie @McCafeYourDay providing me with a free drink coupon for any McCafe beverage-- because I do enjoy a once a week binge on McDonald’s newest brand craze, and I just so happened to tweet about it.

It’s really no secret that iced coffee is 2009’s hottest summer (or should I say coldest) beverage. With that being said, a number of gas shops and mini cafes, including 7 Eleven and Dunkin Donuts, are tapping into its saleable exponential potential—particularly among the teen girls and moms demographic. This report shows iced coffee has surpassed iced tea sales as a morning breakfast drink, and at 68%, iced coffee is clearly a woman’s creme de la creme.

Realizing iced coffee’s double-digit sales growth ability, McDonald’s opened up McCafe in a big way. Everyone has seen the ads tailored to different ethnic demographics, and of course, the infamous accent mark that boasts a better day being ‘possibl-ay’. Now who helped put that accent mark together?

And they’ve launched BIG on Twitter. In popular day-association fashion known to loom about Twitter and Twitter’s trending topics, McDonald’s is rolling out Free Mocha Mondays. Each Monday starting on July 13, McDonald’s will be giving away free mochas until August 3, 2009. Though, I’d think that, since a major demographic of theirs is teens and moms, they might want to extend this into the back-to-school period. Nothing says a new school day like a big iced coffee beverage to awaken the tired senses.

If you’re interested in coffee-- hot or iced-- and you’re looking for something more quaint, check out this Nashville coffee joint and their lovely aromatic tweets.

I have to say that I admire McDonald’s interest in segmenting their brand entities and getting @McCafeYourDay out there to compete with the tweeting likes of Starbucks and Caribou Coffee. McDonald’s as a global brand has underwent ‘reinvention testing’ time and time again, and once again has come out on top with the ‘I’m lovin it’ principle. And while they can’t own the Twittering coffee space entirely (that’s Brad @Starbucks), they can sure own a hefty cup of it, thanks to Jessie and the many other McD’s associates involved in the company’s social media strategy. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go pick up my free iced mocha and try to retain what's left of my manhood.

I’m a Social Media Rat-- Get Me Out of Here!

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Otis) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:30:00 +0000

Lou Diamond Phillips may have won the not-so-hit TV reality series, “I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!” But when it comes to determining the winner of the social media rat race, the chances of finding “one”—let alone a frontrunner—are slim.

If you’ve been trekking the path of social media tools and analytics research, social media webinars and conferences, and flat-out social media involvement in every Web space imaginable, you’re one of the rats that is eager to find more stars in the caves and sewers. While we see reports on executives saying they don’t have time for social media, my realization of time is just that, too: how many hours can I spend conditioning myself to be the frontrunner for all things social media? What does social media director, manager or consultant mean anyway if we’re all on the same path of knowledge evolution? Some of us are farther along than others, but never in the lead. Repeat. Never.

While I don’t want this post to come off as a half-glass-empty opinion piece, it may remind us all that, while we’re sojourning the Web, making connections, building communities and linkbacks, accessibility is what makes the space remain very small. Eventually you’ll end up at Kevin Bacon again, thanks to a very tight-knit community of social media rats.

This couldn’t be more apparent than with the number of LinkedIn updates I receive. It’s not just connectivity within region, it’s nationwide connectivity and unfortunately, you’re probably not a ‘fave 5’ if someone broadcasts more than 500+ connections. If that’s not enough, my Twitter account, as well as my PR friend’s Twitter accounts, boasts the same name followers. Don’t even get me started on Friendfeed; it’s a community-driven paradise and the professional/person grouping tags don’t help the cause. If you haven’t figured it out by now, we’re all sharing our connections whether on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Yammer, FriendFeed, etc (enter site here), so play nice on the track everyone.

The social media rat race in perspective
Picture this: The whistle blows and you’re off. You’re jumping the same hurdles that 100 other participants have already completed, though some of you are approaching those hurdles differently. While some of you make it over, some fall or lag behind. Your heart is pounding and you can hear a similar beat—about 500 human heartbeats coming up from behind you, passing you, because you decided to skip conditioning for a couple of days. You’re tired, run-down, and overwhelmed by the rushing crowd. You only have two options: announce you’re a social media rat and cancel yourself out of the running OR stay in the game realizing there is no finish line.

What do you choose?

It's Complicated with Peter Shankman (Facebook pun to prove a point)

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Otis) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:08:00 +0000

UPDATE: This post has been modified, as I have come to find out from Peter himself that he researches and engages with the services he promotes. In particular, Peter has used both MyMediaInfo and Vocus at one time or another, and when HARO took off, he was no longer in need of their services.)

Relationships have their good days and their bad ones, and let me start off by saying Peter Shankman is a great man. His superpower, according to his Google Profile, is talking really fast. Believe me, he does, as I’ve seen him in-person up on stage wowing hundreds. But I have a gripe, however. While I appreciate HARO and all of its media goodies pertaining to Axiom’s client base, I don’t much care for the sponsored product touts in the start of the e-mail.

This is the kind of thing that turns people away from social media. I’m not referring to prospect PR clients or businesses here. If anything, monetization is good for business (WE ALL KNOW THAT)… but not for the many users outside of the frame of mind of commercialization, or wanting to drive revenue from it. These are the ones who use social media for networking, entertainment and information-sharing purposes—its original tenets. While I understand that innovation is what turned Facebook into a moneymaking platform for companies, we have to remember that Facebook was first and foremost a community for college-age kids, and HARO started as a service to “help a reporter out.”

But product touts in a mass e-mail send-out to a bunch of PR practitioners (or whomever is the communications world this is sent out to) is not exactly on point with some of the mentioned brands’ target audience-- though millions would pay for this type of exposure. That leads me to believe that being on point with brand messaging is no longer a concern; that is if done in a social networked-type space. People just want the exposure, period. Seems like a bad pitch to me.

[paragraph omitted]

I really wish these product touts would be toned done a bit. [line omitted]. I feel such a disconnect lately that I think I might end the relationship, but I’m scared to leave. He’s independently wealthy, very responsive, and has a got a great sense of humor… I just don’t know.

What do you think?

Involver Answers the Need for Facebook Page Bliss

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Otis) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:40:00 +0000

Several months ago, I had the pleasure of meeting 3-time entrepreneur Rahim Fazal. Fazal came into our offices here at Axiom, along with a venture advisor friend of my boss’s, pitching us the capabilities of Involver.com. What started as a video platform for social networks now includes the first complete brand marketing suite for Facebook.

Involver’s new suite for Facebook includes RSS feed, Twitter, photo gallery and polls integration, among many other rich and engaging mini applications. So why do you need this? Well, if you’re like me, you want aggregation because it saves a lot of time, offers the most potential for link-luv (that’s what we call it here), not to mention overall buzz spread. With its new suite for Facebook, Involver has given me a remedy for my biggest pain on Facebook: applications that have yet to effectively work on Facebook Pages. I tried BlogBox and after about an hour of trying to configure everything with Feedburner URL and errors popping up, along with it never uploading to the Page, I got rid of it. If that’s not enough, in order to get a quicker real-time uploading for blog posts using BlogBox, you have to upgrade; otherwise, subject yourselves to a vast amount of hours waiting and wasted.

True, Involver Facebook Suite’s most customizable “bang for the buck” comes at the price of an upgrade, but thankfully, the service offers just the right amount of free tools to get the job done on your Facebook Page—enough to pitch it to prospects and create your own space on Facebook.

Here’s to Rahim Fazal, Tyler Willis (outstanding customer service guy), and the rest of the Involver team on a job well done in providing a streamlined and easy-to-use service. If you’re looking for Involver’s video application, check it out here—a one-stop shop to identifying your brand’s biggest fans as well as creating viral-viewing potential.

Cashing in on Social Media Ambiguity: What Every Company Should Know Before Signing on the Dotted Line

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Otis) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:45:00 +0000

A while back, I wrote a post regarding how monetization was an ambiguous area, and while ambiguity seems like a negative thing, it’s reaping handsome rewards as an unsaid associate term of social media.

What do I mean by that exactly? The term social media has yet to really be defined (Honestly, ask any person and each will give you a different answer as to what social media is), so a lot of PR/marketing type folks are charging an arm and a leg simply for comment moderation, hashtag set-ups on Twitter, and my personal favorite—editorial calendars for blogs. The selling point: brand engagement. Engagement. Ah-- music to a client’s ears that has been trying to integrate social media ever since BlendTec increased sales 700%.

While a need to develop social media 101 kits for internal communication purposes is certainly legitimate, I think these add-ons (such as the ones mentioned above) are really just a way to a guaranteed long-term retainer with the client. The advantage is knowing enough, because it’s impossible to know it all due to social media’s continuing evolution, and that's a good thing for cash flow.

Funny enough—people do claim to know it all. We call them social media “experts,” and in my opinion, they’re overrated and they overcharge. Social media isn’t black and white like ad equivalency rates; there is a multitude of ways to measure, to define measurement, and to put a price tag to it. Fortunately, clients waver on the higher side when integrated, and that’s a good thing for PR/marketing agency revenue.

Overcharging isn’t anything new to building investment estimates. It happens ALL the time, BUT I’d say that social media experts are indeed the biggest perpetrators of this.

What companies can do to avoid social media overcharge

Assign one person internally to social media comprehension, integration practices, and overall research.

Read social media blogs by leading interactive and emerging media contributors that offer up wisdom against social media experts, such as Amber Naslund, Jason Baer, or Sarah Evans.

Investigate the person who’s pitching you their understanding of social media. If you visit their self-titled Website and their Web bio says “expert”…. RUN.

Set up a month-by-month project pay and base compensation on the results. After all, the focus is not engagement, but engagement that leads to click-throughs, positive commentary, and increased Web sales or those earthly cash register rings.

What do you think of social media ambiguity? What are some other ways companies can avoid pitfalls or ambiguity traps set by experts?

Thanks for reading!
Tim

Seeking a second opinion for my viral condition

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Otis) — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:14:00 +0000

Axiom's resident videographer and special projects coordinator Dave Sniadak weighs in on the reality of creating viral videos. Watch this controversial viral video below and read on...

Viral videos. Everyone wants one. But how do you make one? Is there an easy formulaic process for producing a spot that will set fire to laptops around the world? Simple answer - no. Yet there are people, programs and companies that claim they can provide viral results with little to no investment. Really? That may be true for bloggers with webcams who have millions of followers - one in particular comes to mind, though this person will remain anonymous, since he got more than enough attention for a pointed question aimed at a certain West Coast beauty queen - but what about us regular folks? What makes a good ‘viral video’ and how do you monetize it? Two questions I’ll try to address as quickly as possible.

Defining viral
First of all, let’s define exactly what a ‘viral video’ is. Visiting the Encyclopedia Britannica of our generation - Wikipedia - I found that a viral video is defined as a "video clip that gains widespread popularity through the process of Internet sharing, typically through e-mail or instant messaging, blogs or other media sharing websites." Viral videos usually are topical glimpses into society, covering recent news or entertainment events. But viral videos are also random acts of anything - I particularly found ‘Whack-a-Kitty’ (see above) to be modestly amusing - and are usually produced with nothing more than the camera on your cell phone or webcam.

While you can find just about anything imaginable in video form on sites like YouTube, Facebook, Squidoo.com and even Photobucket.com, how do you turn internet video magic into money in the bank? Ken McCarthy has a great take on this subject. He says that regardless of how great a video you have - on your site, a video hosting site or otherwise - video on the web is like playing the lottery.

“It's foolish to equate sheer volume of communication or that fact that the communication spready quickly or the fact it cost nothing to the original publisher with commercial value,” McCarthy stated in a blog post back in 2006. “The only communication worth anything in business is a focused message sent to a targeted individual that leads to that individual taking a commercially meaningful action (opt-in, inquiry, or purchase).”

I agree with him 103%. While it’s nice to think that your $1 video could result in $1,000,000 worth of views, the reality of the matter is that unless you’ve executed an incredibly compelling message and targeted your exact audience - and that audience is comparable to the Oprah Universe - most of your work will simply take up virtual space in a virtual landscape of forgotten videos. Don’t take it personally, your message probably just wasn’t that good.

Or, here’s a thought, it wasn’t directed to the right people. Just because 124-million people have watched Susan Boyle knock ‘em dead on Britain’s Got Talent, doesn’t mean 124-million people are going to buy DirectTV and request ITV so they can catch all the action this season.

Cashing in on viral
Monetizing viral videos is a slippery slope. JCPenney commissioned UK-based ad agency, Saatchi & Saatchi to help get husbands out of the ‘doghouse’. BusinessWeek lauded the creative team for viral video done right. While this long-form commercial resonated with target consumers, it still had mass appeal and made men around the globe rethink gifts for their significant others. In addition to the video, JCPenney supported the message with a microsite and utilized social media networks through effective new-media strategies. The retailer also cited unanticipated success - servers crashed and incurred unexpected costs to reboot computer support systems - but in the end, “Beware of the Doghouse” is a brilliant case study in how videos, viral or not, can boost brand awareness in a positive way...well, for the intended audience at least. (Writer’s note - I know I’m a lot more conscious of what I buy my wife!)

If you set out with the mentality of making a ‘viral video’ for the sake of winning business, you’re setting yourself up for disaster. Take Agency.com, for example. You all remember this, they set out to produce a viral video in order to win Subway’s lucrative advertising campaign. And as everyone in the Blogosphere learned, made the pitch more about themselves that the clients’ desires. AdRants.com had a great take on the debacle, saying Agency.com attempted to “hipify (themselves) with viral goodness in front of the industry all in the name of cool factor and winning business.” Big mistake.

But who’s to say that producing a video for the sake of having video is a bad thing? If you’re setting out to produce videos that promote your product or service, that’s wonderful. More power to you! Just keep in mind that if you’re expecting a video posted on YouTube to translate into stacks of cash lining the walls of your office, you may want to reevaluate your creative process.

How have you utilized video to promote your business? Had any videos go ‘viral’? Tell us about them - we’d love to hear your viral stories.

Pink Porsche CEO Knows a Thing or Two about Twitter Engagement

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Otis) — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:00:00 +0000

News is out that a smattering of CEOs are on Twitter, but are they actually holding to Twitter’s unsaid golden rule of engagement?

Seven of the eighteen CEOs mentioned in this article hold their update numbers to a miniscule double digit showing—with thousands of people following them. The question then is: What’s the point of following? Is it really for the tweets or for the fame and possible fortune of being replied to by a CEO?

That leaves us with 11 CEOs who do understand engagement on Twitter, and even though their follower numbers may be shoe-ins for the next Ashton Kutcher, we can’t forget about those up and coming rising Twitter CEO stars who offer quality conversations microblogging style.

That’s where my Twinterview with @AmandaVega comes in. Ms. Vega is a CEO on Twitter who operates and owns Amanda Vega Consulting. While her Twitter page just recently hit the 1,000 followers mark, she understands the purpose of transparency and engagement— and in this case, quality beats quantity. Among the things that I envy about her (besides the fact that she’s a CEO who manages 87+ workers): she owns a "pink" Porsche, though, I’d prefer "speed yellow."

But no matter if you own a pink Porsche or a ’99 white Nissan Altima (my car), @AmandaVega enjoys your company. Just because she’s rich, doesn’t mean she’s off limits to tweeting with you, which is more than I can say for the many unresponsive CEOs on Twitter). I asked Ms. Vega several questions regarding her reason for being on Twitter, and here’s what she had to say:

@AxiomPR: As a CEO, what are you hoping to accomplish by being on twitter?
@AmandaVega: I am hoping to extend brand and also provide education and ideas to everyone else trying to figure out monetizing social media. Idea sharing. I use my personal twitter share knowledge, help others extend their causes/brands, and push info to ppl that may miss otherwise.

@AxiomPR: Do you think microblogging is the next best thing? What 'next best things' will be coming to the social media realm, iyo?
@AmandaVega: I think next "best" things will be custom content delivery, extension of bus online thru social media, and more smartphone tools for life

@AxiomPR: Have you found ur being on twitter has led to business leads. If so, can you provide a ratio -- online (twitter) to offline leads.
@AmandaVega: No business leads. Some good PR, and sales for customers, but no leads for us. Those on here usually already have a team doing soc media

@AxiomPR: How would you say most company CEOs are using Twitter, and does the C-suite approach work?
@AmandaVega: Many CEOs are sadly using Twitter via a PR or mktg firm to push the same adv messaging, not really using social media as a 2 way convo. The small bus CEO's seem to be trying to extend brand and sell stuff, and reach out

@AxiomPR: Are ur employees on Twitter representing you or their own personal account, or r u one woman shop?
@AmandaVega: We have 87+. They are all on personally. We don't make them rep us through our brand - they make up our brand - so that's all that matters

@AxiomPR: What are the clients you specialize in and do you find their product/service types on Twitter?
@AmandaVega: We have clients of all types: organic, baby, nanotech, clothing, food. We use soc med tied into PR/mktg to extend brand and use transparent honest personas/brand zealots/moms/scientists/doctors on our team to help talk back and forth in many convos w/links

@AxiomPR: Are you forming what the new PR strategy is calls "Strategic alliances" to keep overhead and long man hours down?
@AmandaVega: Usually the agencies use us to do that. We have large contractor staff and been doing socmed for 15 years - so yes alliances, but flipped. The company has been built like that from ground up really to keep overhead low, profit high, and custom deliverables for each client.

Like Ms. Vega, I’m sure there are many up and coming Twitter CEO stars, and to help the little big CEOs, I’d like to create an ongoing list of CEOs you’ve come across on Twitter offering quality conversation tweets. While you're searching, check out what Amanda Vega Consulting can do for you here.

Thanks for reading!
Tim

Is Twitter Responsible for Typo-Filled Resumes and Poor Job Interviewing?

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Otis) — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:03:00 +0000

As microblogging continues to take a front seat for “hottest communication fad", it's also causing some stress among marketing and public relations employers.

Going through a number of informational interviews, career development sessions and my own family’s reflections on my resume, I learned the zero tolerance policy of “typos.” Yet, we are seeing it more and more on resumes. Could it be that this has something to do with how tweets on Twitter are composed? True, SMS or text came long before Twitter was introduced – though people have been chit-chatting it up and sharing information for centuries in coffee shops, sports arenas, office environments, and the online version of this is called Twitter.

The bottom line is this: Twitter wasn’t meant for typos; that’s just what happens when you have 140 characters to get your message across. But “Plz”, “thx”, a miss of the word “the” are not only seen on Twitter feeds. They’re in resumes and cover letters. The lack of consideration or professionalism is also manifested in the utterance of a young/Gen Y job candidate saying, “This is sweet!” instead of “Thanks I really appreciate you taking the time to speak with me.”

What’s more evidence of this concern? This article, and a number of university reports showing communications students graduating with poor writing skills, which has been an ongoing concern. Honestly, what is the other side of this argument? (I’d really like to know in order to be better informed on this issue).

If you are looking for a job at a communications firm, please remember that just because you are ripe on social media in your resume doesn’t make it a guarantee that you are good at communication. “Traditional” still stands, so avoid the typos and lack of consideration for grammatical missteps.

Thx 4 ur consideration!