Crowdsourcing -- What is it good for?

Absolutely everything? Maybe not. Sure, all of us are smarter than one of us, but managing all of us is a gigantic pain, not to mention that included in “all of us” is a lot of superbly untalented people. But thanks to Jeff Howe (see his video below), we have the label of “Crowdsourcing” for using the global community and taking advantage of all it has to offer. It's an open call for people who might have been our customers and are now our fellow collaborators.

What projects are best suited for this global orgy? I’ve seen many crowd sites for writing and many for design, some for viral videos and some for product development. The ideas, in my humble opinion, that work the best are ideas that are sans words. A great design is a globally accepted thing. Cool is cool, even if it’s not in your particular taste palette. Now of course there are many exceptions, but for the most part great design is great design. Check out www.thecoolhunter.net/  <http://www.thecoolhunter.net/> to see great design from all over the world.

Viral videos that are crowdsourced are a bit more problematic. But that is because only about one out of every 50,000 viral videos are interesting or even in the ballpark of OK. There are a lot of bad videos out there. So as long as you know that and are looking to throw the dice, have at it. Some teenager in Singapore or cow farmer in Des Moines just might kill it.

Having the crowd write brand copy is even more of a crapshoot. The level of understanding of your brand is as important as the actual writing. I'd keep your in-house or trusted freelancers for that one. But again, out of the couple million people out there, someone could do a great job. Logo designing is your best bet for crowdsourcing. Try it and who knows, you might get something great. 

Again, all of us are both smarter and dumber than one of us. Be careful out there. 

Social Media Audits and Strategy

So like buying a home is all about the location locations location so it is with marketing and advertising.  Strategy Strategy Strategy! Sure you have a message, sure you want to connect with your consumer but why?  First the WHY then the how will reveal itself.  Or you'll have to figure it out and we are glad to lend a hand.  Strategy is so important in any medium-- marketers know this but they tend to forget it when it comes to social media.  You would never spend TV money with out a strategy but you might then why do it with the Social Media?

Remember Facebook -- not a strategy. Twitter -- not a Strategy. Foursquare -- not a strategy. Gowalla is way more of a game and not strategy. But what these things are is tools.  And they are only as effective as your strategy and the workman swinging the hammer.  So to speak.
"What kind of relationship do you want to have with your customers?"   To quote Jay Baer on this video. What do you want to accomplish?  Remember, be of help to your consumers, don't be the Amway salesmen dude.  We all hate him. lol

One of the things I’ve been involved in recently is a Social Media Audits.  We do some research to discover who is talking about you and where they are talking about you?  Where is the right place to engage your customer and what are they saying about you today and during the last 30 days or so.  You need to know this before you dive into the very necessary strategy development.

But remember Social Media is only a part of your marketing plane.  Interactive reaches your consumer where they play and shop and TV and Radio might be right for your marketing plan too.  But above all you have to continue to be interesting to entertain or to assist or you will never reach your consumer in any medium.  They will ignore you and you will be sad.  lol

Enjoy the interview with Jay on Social Media.

Jay Baer Interview from Michael A. Stelzner on Vimeo.

Change perception, change your brand.

Here is a great little speech by an Ad Guy (Rory Sutherland), who makes the case for perception change over real change.  In advertising that is what we do.  We don't reinvent the product, we don't do the R&D, we rely on the companies to do the real product heavy lifting.  We are happy to do the whole change perception thing. Call it candy coating or a spoon full of sugar or what ever but it is just words, music mixed with (on good days) ideas that can change perception of a brand. 

So marketers and CEO's and CMO's  taking care of how your brand is seen and perceived is the expertise of the ad guy.  Making a product that is worth changing perceptions for, is yours.

It makes what we ad guys do seem a little shallow but it is what we do. We help clients change or perpetuate perceptions.   It's branding. If your brand is a energy drink, a car or a 15 year old boy who needs a date to prom.  It's all the same.  Affect the perception of your brand and the consumer (or 15 year old girls) will follow.  

Ad value with out changing the product?  The Shreddies "case study" in the video below is gut busting.   (TED now has an iphone app you can get to see all of your favorite videos.) 

Mr. Sutherland is right "poetry is when you make new things familiar and familiar things new."   that is what we do, or at least try to do again on good days :)

So take a Listen and get ready to smile then figure out how right  Mr. Sutherland is.  

Give your clients something THEY want.

A social media audit is a great place to start when you want to find out what people are saying about you and who they are. If you don't know who they are, then how or why talk back? What voice do you use? What do they want? I just got a text message from Snowbird Ski Resort in Cottonwood Canyon Utah and all it said was "Seven feet of snow in the last seven days. come on up."

I got the new free Snowbird iphone app, created by the amazing guys at welikesmall.com , and so of course I gave them my number and name. Now they could of texted me and begged me to come up during the last 30 days of little snow and fewer customers. That is what they needed -- Customers. But they waited until they had something I wanted. Snow! So instead of being pissed off that I got a text from some company I was elated.(And normally I do get pissed off)

Give them something they want and your business will grow. Try to "sell" them on their mobile device, facebook, twitter or what ever and you will fail.


Good luck.

david

Social Media Resolutions

Now that we’re officially into 2010, why not make a few resolutions. No, we haven’t decided to swear off Diet Coke, commit to touching our toes or at least seeing them or stop calling our ex-girlfriend and breathing heavily into the receiver. While that last one might be appropriate, especially in light of the restraining order, we’ve decided to focus our resolutions on social media. So here are the top five social media resolutions every communications professional should have in this New Year:

I will not jump blindly into social media until I have identified my audiences, goals and results.
I will not pretend to be an unbiased message board/blog reader when I comment about my company – they will find out.
I will actually dedicate the time it takes to maintain my social media tools. Contrary to popular belief, social media is not “free” - it takes hours every week, between strategy, content development and engagement with readers.
I will offer real value to my social media audience, whether in the form of insights, entertainment or deals.
I will listen to and respond quickly to my audience. Social media allows for faster engagement than any other medium. But if we’re slow to interact with them, they’ll go elsewhere.

And then we have to try to keep these resolutions past February 1st. Good Luck

Who's in charge of your brand?

Real time search - Google
This is great. Information is now so fast, there is almost no time for marketers to tell people who they are, or how good they are, or to buy their products.

The consumer (you and me) will tell each other in real time what we need to know! So you just finished your Double Double Animal Style Burger at In and Out. Tweet how great it was. Then half way around the world someone searches for In and Out and up comes your tweet just seconds later. You no longer have to even finish the burger and you can comment. Wow cool and dangerous. (OK half way around the world they can't get an In and Out Double Double and they will be so envious.)

Marketers, you are no longer in charge of your brand, the consumer is. So you better have amazing customer service and amazing products or I might just tweet you right out of business.

Are there ways to manager this? Yes to a degree, but it takes commitment and the willingness to take a chance and maybe even fail. Wow scary. But gone are the days of a bad product and a great brand perception. It's just not possible. But if you have a great product find someone to partner with to get out there.

Take a gander at this video off you tube.



Have fun out there.
David Yost
Creative Director

What's in your twitter tool box?

Lots of things you can do besides just use up 140 characters to let people know you are at the grocery store or doing your nails. So if you are a great twitterist, then you are followed by the many, if not then here is a list of other things you can do on the twitter. It ranges from share music, to share files or you can just share you mundane life. It's all from Mashable.com Hey it's all twitterrific.

http://mashable.com/2009/08/21/13-twitter-tools/

If you are a marketer then make sure your strategy is all about giving your peeps what they want, not necessarily what you want to give them. Meaning if advertising is the comedian that goes on stage before the Rolling Stones, then selling on social media, facebook or twitter, makes you the annoying door to door salesman that comes to the door when they are expecting their hot date. give them something they want not what you want to give them. Deals, pertinent information, needed insight, fun, entertainment, it can be anything but it has to be what they want. So find that out from your target market and give it to them.

The days of marketers telling the public what they should want is over. We listen to our friends more than to any ad messages. How do you get people to talk about you and say good things? That is a topic for another day.

http://mashable.com/2009/08/21/13-twitter-tools/

Have fun out there.
David Yost
Creative Director