Within each of these groups you’ll usually have something else in common, such as a regular hang out after you play sport, your favourite watering hole on a Friday night, or the tv show you all watched during exam period at uni. Believe it or not there’ll always be some news, information or theme that stays within that group. This is your group identity, much like you have your own identity.

Let’s examine this further by looking at real world examples.

I asked a few colleagues of mine if they had any news sources or information they regularly share with their friends that conforms with their identity and who they are. The first answer was usually a “no” and I discovered it was because we don’t even realise we’re sharing this information with our friends! It’s something we do so casually and without effort that we pay it no attention. I had to dig deeper and I did this by asking my colleagues who they usually spent time with on the weekends or on a Friday night. This yielded many more answers and I eventually discovered these themes:

• friends who were web or program developers;
• friends who were into games & gaming;
• friends who were friends since high school;
• friends who were clubbing a lot together during uni days;
• no group whose theme was after work drinks!

and this is the information that was shared:

• a story about a game developer who created a simulator that resulted in 80% of the simulated games being pirated so that the game could not be won
• news about the release of Microsoft’s next generation gaming console XBox One
• an event happening in real life that reminded them about a TV episode of The Simpsons
• new memes that are seen around the Internet
• realisation that the final season of Seinfeld aired 15 years ago, on May 14, 1998 and the many references made to this show.

Do you know all of these Seinfeld references? (click to get the answers)

These aren’t every day topics that everyone can relate to, but to the right target market this information is extremely relevant and it’s one way that it can get shared around. One of my favourite types of sharing is when an event or situation occurs to someone else that has actually happened to you or someone you know before. The conversation usually ends in a surge of laughter and you start to compare the differences between the two situations and make yourselves laugh even more. Yes, I’m sure we’ve all been and done that before. Stories that make people happy and laugh, make people nostalgic in a good way, are awe inspiring usually get shared the most.

So then, what’s your next step?

If you can create content that’ll appeal to the masses and helps people conform to their group identity you’re onto something. If you can find a way for it to relate to your brand or product offering as well then that’s a big bonus. Sometimes the connection that people come up with can be so obscure and have blurred lines (yep, I just did that) that it works! It’ll stick simply because everyone else will wonder how they even made that connection! In the end, it has made the content memorable.

A good tool that you can use to make weird and absurd connections is the Google Docs Spreadsheet. Follow these steps:

1. Open up a new sheet and type in the product or service you offer into cell A1
2. In cell B1 type in something that’s obviously related to your product or service
3. Highlight both cells A1 and B1
4. Hold down the CTRL button, move your cursor to the bottom right corner of cell B1, then click and drag down

Google Sets auto complete for “social media” & “marketing”

What you should get are words that Google believe are related between the two you originally typed in. Endless possibilities here!

Have fun and start getting creative! Let us know what topics you come up with by using the Google Docs Spreadsheet!No Tags

It’s one of the reasons why religion has been around for so many thousands of years. The hope that something will become of us after our time on this world, having faith. It’s a topic that can go on for hours and I’ve experienced it before.

But stories of hope are developing all over the world and it’s these stories that eventually get shared the most. The first history defining moment that came to mind when writing this was the 1969 moon landing by Neil Armstrong. On 25 May, 1961 President John F. Kennedy, in front of a joint session of Congress, stated that the United States should set as a goal the “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth” by the end of the decade…because “in many ways [it] may hold the key to our future on earth.” This one speech gave the United States hope and a sense of purpose (even though they had no idea how they were going to achieve the goal) and defined the nation for the next 8 years that put them on course to be the first country to put a man on the moon.

About a year ago a short video about a 9 year old boy who started his own arcade out of cardboard boxes hit YouTube. The story is one that warms the heart and sends tingles down your spine (when you watch the 11 minute video below you should know what I mean at approximately 7 mins 50 seconds), the type that everyone wants to see more good come from it than already has. It’s something that we all want to be a part of, don’t we? How is this possible?

Sharing of course.

Content that evokes this type of emotion doesn’t have to be a story (although stories are the most powerful), it can simply be an image that hints of the possibility such as the Tron inspired Converse shoes below. The image pushes the boundaries and imagination of Converse shoe lovers and fans shared it because it was their way of making it come true!

Tron inspired Converse shoes

So what content can you create for your brand that pushes the boundary of what you and your fans think is possible? From your fans perspective, is it important to be the first one to share the content? What do you think?No Tags

Facebook recorded in it’s 4th quarter report that their mobile website was being accessed by around 680 million active monthly users. This is just under 65% of the total active monthly users of Facebook. With more than half of Facebook users connecting via mobile, can you afford not to have a mobile friendly Facebook marketing strategy???

Here are the 3 top tips to make sure your Facebook marketing is mobile friendly…

1. Target Your Ads To Mobile

It sounds simple enough, but there are still so many companies out there that don’t use this simple technique.

When setting up Facebook ads, you have the option to target mobile users (in the audience/interests area), even down to target what operating system they are using (iOS or Android).

This means that when people are checking their Facebook newsfeed on their mobiles, your ads have the opportunity to be in front of them in the form of sponsored stories. This is vital if you want to stay top of mind and grow your fan base.

People are definitely starting to catch onto this method, however mobile still only contributes less than 25% of the revenue for Facebook advertising.

2. Mobile Compatible Apps

Do you get annoyed when you find an awesome Facebook competition, try and access it from you mobile… and it doesnt work? Well this is a common frustration amongst many Facebook users at the moment. Many companies are using third party app builders and not checking if they are mobile compatible first. This means that you are running your Facebook competitions and promotions (and other apps) to only half the audience that is possible. You can avoid creating this frustration of your users and also increase your results by making sure all of your apps (for competitions and all other things) are compatible with mobile devices!

3. Test Test Test!

There is no one strategy that works for everyone. You must remember to test everything that you do. Test your ads and see what result you get from mobile versus desktop. Test you apps and make sure they work across all mobile devices/operating systems. Test your creative and messages to see what gets the most engagement. TEST TEST TEST!!! If you are constantly testing and measuring, you have a much better chance of continual improvement!No Tags