For today’s corporations, there are countless benefits to using social media to create brand growth and loyalty. We’ve discussed many of these benefits in previous installments of the digital literacy series on this blog. Social media is new and shiny – but it’s also here to stay and it’s growing and changing every day. Corporations need to be paying attention – keeping up can be the difference between success and failure. But social media is also making an impact in another real world way: lawmakers and those who uphold the law are having to evolve to keep up. And this too has implications for corporations.

Credit: mashable.com

According to Tony Morris, a partner at Norton Rose LLP, whose practice focuses on technology, privacy laws and e-business, if corporations aren’t paying attention to the laws that apply to social media, they may find themselves in serious legal trouble.

There are a few very good examples of how Canadian law is converging with social media. The Privacy Commissioner of Canada has been paying attention to the privacy concerns that social media sites like Facebook and Google present. At the same time, the courts have given police the power to seek disclosure of comments and content posted on Facebook to be used as evidence. This topic has been quite controversial recently thanks to the ongoing discussions around Bill C-30 and the #TellVicEverything backlash it inspired on Twitter.

Morris points to Canada’s robust privacy laws as the first way that corporations can find themselves in hot water. Corporations need to be paying attention to exactly what is being posted on their various sites – protecting employee information must be a priority.

Another major issue to consider is defamation. Depending on the corporation, social media may open the door for complaints and inflammatory comments. Any responses to such comments must be made carefully. Morris points to the fact that the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that if a person hyperlinks to a defamatory website and endorses the comments on that site, they could be found guilty of defamation.

A third important consideration pertains to security laws. Corporations could face serious legal ramifications if they post confidential information and trade secrets online.

So what can corporations do to protect themselves? Morris says the answer lies in a well thought out social media policy, based on a “Three leg policy stool”:

1. The policy itself: The policy must set out specific guidelines for what the types of social media and online behaviour the will be expected of all company representatives (employees, contractors etc.) to follow. This should include guidelines around propriety information, privacy and defamation. Put this policy in writing.
2. Monitoring use and compliance: The Canadian courts have said that employers, within reason and if properly implemented, can monitor the actions of their employees on company technology, including emails. The policy must be communicated clearly to every representative of the company  – provide seminars and training so that everyone understands what is expected of them.
3. Enforcement: Set up a progressive and reasonable discipline system for those who fail to comply with the policy and make sure all company representatives are aware of it. This can include offering a warning (written or verbal) and depending on the seriousness of the offence, even termination. Above all, enforce the policy consistently.

While legal ramifications of making a mistake on social media can seem overwhelming and even a bit scary, Morris says it’s a fine balance.

“My key message is that social media can be incredibly beneficial to corporations – if it’s done thoughtfully. Social media can be a two-sided coin: tremendously effective from a branding perspective but with serious repercussions when used without thought and planning.”

Canadian corporations wrangle with legal implications of social media is a post from communicatto, a social media agency. Need a social media speaker, strategist or trainer? We have that!

Note for RSS subscribers: if you can’t see the video in your reader, it is located on the web here.

Screencast Saturdays: How to optimize your YouTube channel for humans and search engines is a post from communicatto, a social media agency. Need a social media speaker, strategist or trainer? We have that!

CALGARY, AB, May. 8, 2012/ Troy Media – Many hands make light work. It turns out that old adage applies to more than just barn raising and yard clean up. In the digital world it can apply to financing, lending, production and who knows what else?

Barnraising, the original crowdsourcing (Credit: Wikipedia)

Last week I helped a client re-do their visual identity. They had gone through the usual process of finding an agency, doing all the brand audits and focus groups and brand pyramid stuff, only to be disappointed with the outcome. Strangely, the agency wouldn’t bend on their creative vision.

As you might imagine, clients do not tolerate stand-offs well, so that ended as one might expect -with the client moving on to their next potential solution for rebranding.

I suggested we crowdsource their visual identity.

Over to Crowdspring.com

We signed them up to a service I have used successfully before called Crowdspring.com. In the Crowdspring website you write up a creative brief, put some money in escrow (we put up $650, a pittance compared to what you usually pay for a logo), invite artists to bid on your project and then watch the logos roll in.

Some submissions are garbage, some are brilliant, the majority are in between, but here’s the thing – the longer the project goes on, the better the submissions get. Why? Because as the client you vote and comment on each submission and everyone sees your feedback, so the artists get more and more attuned to your needs as the clock ticks down to your two-week deadline.

Even if we hated every single entry (currently at 164 submissions) flushing $650 is a lot easier to stomach than firing another agency and wasting the $5,000 or more they took along the way. And if this doesn’t work out, I can steer them to the good agencies that I know well and avoid the whole standoff trap. Either way the client wins.

Credit: Wikipedia

This wasn’t the only way crowdsourcing came up recently. Another client was asking about Kickstarter which, according to Wikipedia is “One of a new set of fundraising platforms dubbed ‘crowd funding,’ . . . Kickstarter facilitates gathering monetary resources from the general public, a model which circumvents many traditional avenues of investment.”

Kickstarter describes itself as “a funding platform for creative projects” where you can “fund and follow creativity.” Think books, movies, calendars, but also websites and gadgets. The most famous of Kickstarter projects is the Pebble, a watch that will communicate with your iPhone or Android. 56,983 backers funded the development of this Dick Tracy-like watch to the tune of $8.5 million. Possibly the nicest book of pre-orders any watch has ever seen.

Tapping the crowd for artwork or money is all well and good, but what else is crowdsourcing being used for? Market intelligence, as it turns out.

Calgary’s very own Chaordix

Take Calgary’s own Chaordix. From their website “Chaordix is the global standard in crowdsourced market intelligence.” While Chaordix has been working with major international brands such as Orange UK, American Airlines and P&G, they also did some local work for Calgary’s Gienow Windows and Doors. Gienow “invited Canadians passionate about renovations to participate in their ‘Gienow Pulse’ community where participants engaged in innovative discussions around home renovations.”

Credit: Wikipedia

The result? Gienow walked away with a bunch of new product and service ideas that may make all the difference in the hyper-competitive windows and doors industry.

Crowdsourcing has been going on for ages. Wikipedia notes Planters Peanuts held a contest in 1916 to create their logo. The Amish, and presumably others, have been raising barns by harnessing the power of the community for some time.

Now we have the Internet and software to tap the crowd for artwork, labour, funding and ideas. How will you tap power from the people to improve your business?

Doug Lacombe is a social media speaker and strategist with social media agency communicatto. Find him on Twitter at @dblacombe.

Crowdsourcing taps public for work, money, ideas is a post from communicatto, a social media agency. Need a social media speaker, strategist or trainer? We have that!

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what’s the worth of a video? From a business perspective, priceless. In today’s world, where life online is fast-paced and hyper-interactive, businesses have the ability to connect with their customers in a way that’s genuine and long lasting. While we’re staying connected via keyboards and touch screens, there’s no denying the impact of a human face – and a professionally produced web video has the power to create an emotional reaction that can convert a Google search into a loyal and enthusiastic customer.

Credit: socialmediapowerguys.com

For today’s installment of the digital literacy series, I spoke to Neil Scott (@StrategicVideo), President and General Manager of The Edge Communications Inc., a Calgary-based full-service video production company. Scott filled me in on the benefits of a well-made web video to businesses and offered valuable insight into how businesses can incorporate video into their digital media strategies.

What is a web video and where does it fit in the overall digital space?

A web video is a video that is distributed over the Internet. It could be distributed via e-mail, a content delivery network, through a website or a company intranet. With today’s high speed Internet, larger bandwidth and sites like YouTube and Vimeo, playing and sharing high-quality video is really easy.  Almost all of the videos my company makes are distributed as web videos.

Nowadays, people are bombarded with new digital messages every second. Yet it takes only a couple of seconds to make a lasting impression in today’s digital space using video. Video includes pictures/graphics and can impart more information in a shorter period of time when compared with other forms of communication. Therefore, it’s easier to create a rapid emotional response. The role of web video is to entertain, make a connection and most importantly encourage a response from a viewer. Well-crafted video makes people want to look at a website for more information, or go to the blog, or to make more connections in social media.

How are businesses using web video?

Businesses are using video to:

• Build a culture around people, a product or a service
• Get more prospects or more sales
• To create brand identity, or for recruiting and training of employees

Twenty strategic ways to use video for business can be found on the Strategic Video blog.

With the availability of cheaper video production tools and online video distribution, many businesses are choosing to broadcast their own messages. For some companies this approach works, but for others it’s a very public way to fail. Mastery of the technical tools is expected by the public – people want to clearly hear and see a video. I also find that many business videos fail to deliver clear and concise messages.

For business owners to get value out of a video:

• The key messages must be clear
• The target audience must be defined
• The distribution method must be right for the audience

What are the benefits of using web video?

The greatest benefit of a web video for a business is to share an emotional connection with a specific group using pictures and sound. Video is targeted and can be placed strategically where your target audience can find them. Video can also be loaded with keywords to help people searching for specific content. Each video is a searchable item on the Web, and lots of videos create great search engine opportunities. Web video is more targeted than TV. People still enjoy the habit of passive consumption of information that they experience while watching TV, but in today’s digital world, they want video to speak to them, not at them.

Where does web video fit in a business’ overall digital media strategy?

I’ve noticed that many business owners are not fully aware of the powerful stories that exist within their organizations because they’re focused on other aspects of the business. The job of a professional video producer is to find the powerful stories and connect those stories with the right audience. Regardless of where the video is being used, be it social media, a website, a blog or in any other way on the web, the unique story should be front and centre.

Video is a powerful tool anywhere on the Web because potential customers can become familiar with a business before they even walk in the door. Video production doesn’t have to be expensive. We did a series of web video clips for an optometry practice that simply allowed potential clients to see why the doctors in this clinic were passionate about eye care.

Video can also be used in the context of merchandising. Retailers or marketers who have websites with online shopping carts often use video to facilitate buying decisions. One of my favourite uses of video in retail is on LL Bean’s website. All of their professionally produced videos show their dedication to quality in outdoor goods.

Bottom line: why should businesses be using web video?

At my house we don’t look at newspaper ads and we don’t have a copy of the Yellow Pages – and I think we’re pretty typical Canadians in that regard. The convergence of technology that started a couple of decades ago is nearly complete. TV, movies, newspapers, directories, and radio can all be found online and they’re all now using video. They’re all using video because it creates a high level of engagement.

Businesses that use video will be found online and those businesses with the best video content will frequently be found first.

With web video, emotional connection makes for enthusiastic customers is a post from communicatto, a social media agency. Need a social media speaker, strategist or trainer? We have that!

Note for RSS subscribers: if you can’t see the video in your reader, it is located on the web here.

Screencast Saturdays: How to dress up your YouTube channel is a post from communicatto, a social media agency. Need a social media speaker, strategist or trainer? We have that!

CALGARY, AB, Apr. 30, 2012/ Troy Media – Question: When is an ad not an ad? Answer: When it’s a story, maybe even one shared by a friend.

"Call of Duty" game maker warns of zombies in Promoted Tweet

In the ever-changing world of digital advertising, and the never-ending quest for business models for online publishers, “social advertising” is suddenly all the rage.

In part this stuff resembles what we called “advertorial” back in my print days. The rule then was we had to clearly mark advertorial so it wouldn’t be confused with properly vetted editorial content. On the social web those lines are somewhat blurry to non-existent.

A case of banner blindness

It’s natural, even predictable this would happen. I’ve written in this space before about the ineffectiveness of banner ads. Publishers need to find other mechanisms to generate revenue. Brian Solis, principle at the Altimeter Group, a California-based technology advisory firm, put it succinctly:

In a phenomenon dubbed ‘banner blindness,’ consumers are learning to ignore many forms of digital advertising in favor of the desired content within their area of focus.”

The solution to banner blindness? Turn the ads into content. You know, the part of the page where people are looking. Then add an element of peer endorsement, maybe even slight pressure.

That’s why Facebook is experimenting more and more with sponsored stories. Though the mammoth social network has been testing variations on this theme since 2006, it has recently accelerated those efforts, as reported on InsideFacebook.com:

“Sponsored Stories are uniquely structured ads in that an advertiser does not have control over the creative and an advertiser cannot pay to show the unit to whomever they want. In order for a user to see a Sponsored Story, one of the user’s friends has to have taken a particular action. For example, if a user does not have a single friend that plays a particular social game, that user will never see a Sponsored Story from that game, even if the user otherwise fits the demographic a developer wants to reach.”

Twitter, not to be left behind (and sorely in need of revenue), is in the midst of launching (re-launching?) Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts. As Aidan Hijleh wrote on Business2Community.com:

Both Promoted Accounts and Promoted Tweets have been available for a while now. However, they were not exactly easily accessible . . . With the new ad platform, all they need is an Internet connection and a credit card. Small businesses now have the ability to choose how much they want to spend per day, how much they want to spend per follower or engagement, and even the location they want their ads to be targeted in.”

Twitter’s self-serve ad ordering system, currently limited to invited businesses only, will bring their purchase process closer to that of Facebook, LinkedIn and Google.

Do social media ads even work?

With all this experimentation and feverish beta testing, do social ads even work? Preliminary data from Nielsen Research indicates they just might be effective.

While prior Nielsen research showed that online ads tend to be noticed and remembered overall, this analysis further demonstrates that social ads do provide an advantage. On average, social ads generate a 55 per cent greater lift in ad recall than non-social ads, though individual cases may vary.”

When you’re booking your next ad campaign, maybe pause to ask yourself “what’s our story, and how can we get it in front of the right people, through their friends?”

Doug Lacombe is a social media speaker and strategist with social media agency communicatto. Find him on Twitter at @dblacombe.

Social advertising invokes peer pressure is a post from communicatto, a social media agency. Need a social media speaker, strategist or trainer? We have that!

By the way, if you do decide to build a Facebook business page, Facebook itself has a pretty detailed help section on this topic. Next week we’ll show you how you dress up your YouTube channel. Enjoy!

Note for RSS subscribers: if you can’t see the video in your reader, it is located on the web here.

Screencast Saturdays: Beginner’s series – dressing up your Facebook business page is a post from communicatto, a social media agency. Need a social media speaker, strategist or trainer? We have that!

Building on the success of the first annual Social Media Shift event held in June of 2011 (where I enjoyed a role as Master of Ceremonies), Social Media Shift 2 will focus on bridging the gap between traditional marketing methods and social media. This event will engage you and inspire you through practical tips and take-aways presented by social media and marketing thought leaders including Chris Brogan, Peter Shankman, Alexandra Samuel and Julien Smith.

Program highlights

• Chris Brogan – eCultivating Visibility: How to Amplify the Human Digital Channel
• Alexandra Samuel – IRL: In RealLife
• Peter Shankman – The Next Revolution Will Occur in Your Pocket
• Julien Smith – The Adaptation Imperative
  

Metro News article (middle of page)

Join us on Twitter. Use hashtag #mrushift to join the discussion about Social Media Shift.

Bridging the Gap Between Traditional Marketing and Social Media #mrushift is a post from communicatto, a social media agency. Need a social media speaker, strategist or trainer? We have that!

Digital media has made a big world seem small, allowing people from across the globe to connect in real time and around common interests. For charities and NGOs, this is a game-changer. This week’s edition of the digital literacy series examines the powerful ability digital media has for capturing the attention of the masses and inspiring them to action. For insight into this topic, I spoke with Darren Barefoot (@dbarefoot), Founding Partner of Vancouver based web-marketing agency, Capulet Communications Inc.

Credit: washingtontimes.com

Along with his partner, Julie Szabo, and in partnership with Biro Creative, Barefoot has developed a Movement Marketing Program: a unique service designed for cause-based organizations and leaders ready to expand and engage an online movement.

How do you define a “movement”? What is movement marketing and what role does digital media play in it?

A movement, to our minds, is a passionate groundswell of support that empowers people to unite around a common love, cause or organization. While movements don’t have to have a moral compass – Dead Heads just want to have a good time – the ones that we’re interested in talking about do.

Movements usually exist whether or not there are organizations and companies behind them. As many companies have learned, it’s really hard to kick start a movement if there’s no appetite for one. It’s like trying to light a fire without fuel.

Fortunately, non-profit organizations have been collecting the fuel for years. The fuel is “the list”, and some organizations have been very successful in turning their list into a movement.

Whether we’re selling snow tires or stopping climate change, word of mouth is a critical aspect of communicating not only with your current “tribe” of supporters, but also for recruiting new members to your cause. That’s essentially what movement marketing is – engaging with and expanding upon that surging wave of passionate support that is your movement.

In our experience, movement building has to happen both online and off. The online actions we usually want people to take – sign a petition, add their voice to an online protest, donate – are often “gateway” activities for deeper, more prolonged offline engagement.

What unique digital needs do NGOs and charities have?

While all organizations need to communicate authentically in digital channels, it’s doubly important that NGOs do so. They’ve generally got a shorter, clearer path towards a person’s heart and head than, say, Coke or Nike. This presents an advantage, as they’ve more communications tactics they can use to reach new audiences and deepen their engagement with their base. The KONY 2012 campaign, for all its controversy, was a great example of this riskier but more authentic communications style in action.

Why should NGOs and charities be active in the digital space?

By 2012, it’s become emphatically clear that email, websites and social media are as essential to business operations as the telegram and the fax machine once were. They’re core pieces of infrastructure in how we communicate, so it’s really not an option for an NGO or charity not to be online.

What trends do you currently see happening in the digital space that could impact movement marketing?

Lately I’ve been thinking about the rise of the sharing behaviour on Facebook, Tumblr and Pinterest that’s commonly called “push-button curation”.  Somebody sees something they like on the Web, they click a button and share it with their networks. In one sense, it’s the laziest form of sharing we’ve seen online. You can draw a line of increasing sloth (or efficiency, if you prefer) from blogging to this kind of push-button curation. What’s next?

One highly speculative answer connects to Google’s recent announce about their augmented reality glasses. Will we have “view curation”, where everything you blink at three times gets shared?

Movement marketing: harnessing passion is a post from communicatto, a social media agency. Need a social media speaker, strategist or trainer? We have that!

It occurred to me social media might not even be appropriate. Are credit union customers and prospects from these towns even on social media? This required some investigation.

Almost everyone in Canada is on the internet

Some basic facts come into play almost immediately. Almost everyone, urban and rural, has access to the Internet in Canada. Statistics Canada reported in the 2010 Canadian Internet Use Survey:

In 2010, eight out of 10 Canadian households (79 per cent) had access to the Internet. Over one-half of connected households used more than one type of device to go online. About 81 per cent of households located in census metropolitan areas and 76 per cent of households located in census agglomerations had home Internet access, compared with 71 per cent of households outside of these areas.”

Credit: Lee Robertson, LGR Internet Solutions

So over two-thirds of rural dwellers have access to the Internet. So far so good.

With Internet comes email, so we can safely assume at least email marketing has potential in rural areas. But what about social media?

A few years back I was working for a client that was interested in reaching folks in Fort Nelson and Dawson Creek B.C. I assumed people in those towns would be mainly on dial up. The client’s research told us otherwise. Approximately one-third of the populations of these two towns reported being on social media in 2010!

A few other facts help orient us to the reality of social media marketing in rural areas. First, almost half of Canadians over the age of 18 are on Facebook – 16.3 million accounts at last check. A quick check in the Facebook ad-booking wizard tells me there are 3,420 Facebook users in Fort Nelson over 18. By comparison the Fort Nelson News newspaper reports gross circulation of 2,600. By that standard, Facebook compares favorably as a potential advertising medium, although small town newspapers remain a critical part of any retail marketing mix due to their continued prominence in their communities.

Dawson Creek has 7,800 Facebook accounts whereas Friday circulation of that paper is 2,100 copies. Similarly, Biggar Saskatchewan (population 2,300) has 1,100 Facebook users, Unity has 1,240, Shaunavon has 920, Dauphin Manitoba has 6,900, Winkler has 5,060 and so on and so on. These numbers are for the towns themselves. If you include a 50-mile radius (Facebook doesn’t do metric) to approximate a trading area, the numbers go up dramatically.

Conversely, I had a very difficult time finding more than a handful of people from these towns on Twitter, which makes sense as North American Twitter penetration is generally estimated at 15 to 18 per cent. In the case of Biggar 15 per cent of 2,300 people is 345 people so that’s about the best reach you might expect. You could reach more people yelling loudly at the hockey game or curling rink.

Social media should be part of the marketing mix

Nailing YouTube use down to a particular geography is nearly impossible, but anecdotally it seems everyone with Internet and therefore email shares and uses video.

Given these data, social media is an appropriate part of the marketing mix for small town businesses. It would, however, be an add-on to newspaper advertising and other time-honored techniques. Throwing the baby out with the bathwater is a bad marketing move, so Facebook and YouTube videos, with some email marketing can enrich traditional marketing but not replace it.

Doug Lacombe is a social media speaker and strategist with social media agency communicatto. Find him on Twitter at @dblacombe.

Small town marketing can go social too is a post from communicatto, a social media agency. Need a social media speaker, strategist or trainer? We have that!