What Not To Do On Social Media

If social media was easy everybody would be doing it well. But that is obviously not the case. Every week we see examples of social media gone wrong (or really bad). The is week we had a wonderful bad example of social media by a senior GOP staffer bashing the daughters of the President on Facebook. Not the first time for this self-proclaimed GOPgirl posting ill-advised content on social platforms.

Another example of social media gone wild, a recent Twitter post by Malaysian Airlines was not only untimely but insensitive to the family members still coping with the loss of ill-fated flight 370. The airline tried to loosely justify the tweet by saying it was a promotion to inspire people. Where is the overall strategy and content manager? This brand should be operating in crisis mode still and carefully review all content it's releasing.

Not sure these people truly understand the magnitude of social media and its reach. Also imperative to note that these people are running digital agencies providing services to other brands and businesses. Would this be a digital agency you would want to handle your social media?

Update 12/1/2014
GOP Staffer who criticized Obama's daughters has resigned. I wonder what her other clients or current client pitches will do?


Michael Newhouse
WCN group
wcngroup@gmail.com

Why Advertisers Will Leave Facebook

Facebook continues to make missteps with both their users and business partners. How many times can they afford to make bad business decisions before businesses and or users, abandon the social media platform. In the latest inadvertent‎ admission by Facebook revealed that organic reach is falling dramatically and falling short on reach. Why this is occurring and their response is flabbergasting. Yes, I used the word flabbergasting.

To set the stage, the news was discovered in a pitch deck that found its way to Ad Age. The deck contained several statements explaining the shift, "expect organic distribution of an individual page's posts to gradually decline over time" and paid distribution "to maximize delivery of your message in news feed" and finally "Your brand can fully benefit from having fans when most of your ads show social context, which increases advertising effectiveness and efficiency,"

See full Adage Facebook article here 

In sum, Facebook is attempting to further monetize the platform while compromising their initial mission and vision: 

Facebook's mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.

This new direction will only empower sharing of content from large advertisers and organizations that can afford to advertise on the platform. Additionally, content that will be exposed to users will be selected based on this algorithmic system that is skewed towards paid content. Content that could be valuable for users to share will be either scarce or never exposed. As a direct result, advertisers will move to other platforms that allow for their content to be properly exposed and shared at the discretion of the user. 

Consumers are becoming savvy to platform's control and influence and do not like when knowing their content exposure is being controlled or selected for them. They want to control the type, frequency and means as to what content exposure they receive. Will Facebook backtrack on this new model or will they just continue to believe that the platform is too large that missteps like this will not receive dire results. I guess we will wait and see how the fallout plays itself out.

Michael Newhouse
WCNgroup
wcngroup@gmail.com

How Facebook will Celebrate 700,000,000

Facebook is on the verge of celebrating 700,000,000 users according to reports by SocialBakers.  This number has many doubters pertaining to the real number of users vs fake accounts; accounts that are barely used and accounts of the deceased (morbid, I know).  When you are the top dog there is always going to be pessimist decrying why this position is not validated.

But, I am a marketer and concerned about, "How Facebook will Celebrate" this monumental achievement.  Will they hold a major press conference Live on Facebook introducing the 700,000,000 user?  I know if Richard Branson (@richardbranson) had this type of PR opportunity he would take full advantage of this potential marketing goldmine.

Historically, Facebook has not be one to celebrate these milestones but as the brand matures through the product life cycle, marketing activities in addition to product enhancements must take place.  My advice to clients is always, "You have to make news to get news", meaning if you want some type of press coverage, word of mouth, viral, blogger coverage etc, you have to make news for them.

I have several ideas for this momentous event but want to hear, if given the opportunity, What would you recommend?



WCNGroup is a full service Brand and Marketing agency deeply rooted in developing successful solutions for brands that match their marketing and sales goals. From brand research, customer discovery, events, creative, digital marketing and social media.

Social Media a 5 Year Old Can Understand

If you had to explain Social Media to a 5 year old,  

what would you say?

Bruce Luce of Social Media

Bruce Lee revolutionized martial arts by bringing together creative movements, training and nutrition.  Bruce Lee was obsessed with learning and developing his own style.  He studied film techniques, script development and fight sequences.  He then brought all this together on film. 

As Social Media evolves from its infancy stages there are several key figures that are revolutionizing social media and leveraging it for brands.

Who are these current Bruce Lee's of Social Media?

If you know of one, please comment with a link to their online work.

Truth Be Told

As more and more businesses pursue social media, the discussion always involves what content to share.  Content is King no matter what industry you are in.  The better the content, the more engaged your audience and more willing they are to share. 

As the year comes to close and marketing strategies are finalized the main discussion is Social Media (why, how, what, where and when).  One of the main social media factors is authentic and transparent communication.  Discussion after discussion with clients is what to post.  My experience in social media has lead to nervous clients wanting to pull down post that provoked a strong response with some negativity. 

My first question is why?  The typical response, "it's bad press and making people mad, people are emailing and calling to complain".  After a few minutes of nervous ranting and concern we start to discuss why exactly people are having this reaction and the positive and negative factors from the interactions. 

The main social media concepts I share with clients are: 1) you are not going to please everybody 2) within your audience are multiple subsets of customers (one shoe does not fit all in size and style) 3) perception is the editor of reality and 4) if they do not talk on your site (page, website, blog etc) they will find a place to do this, thus making it appear as if you were trying to hide the conversation, not trust worthy and un-authentic. 

To exemplify my point, recently a well know band called Paramore had a falling out within the band with two of the original founders leaving at the height of their popularity.  Before the news was officially released, one of the remaining members posted on the band's website their take on the breakup of the band (this was obviously orchestrated by the record label and management). This tactic backfired because details of the break up were not finalized thus creating a "Truth be Told" moment online.  The two members that were leaving the group decided to post their side of the story in a blog post which then was countered with a post from the remaining member as questioning the authenticity of the post.  This prompted the two leaving members to post a Video stating that their blog post was authentic revealing the truth within the band and its demise. 

Bottom online, you can hide and ignore but the discussion will continue with or without you.  As played out in the press for years, ignoring and hiding create speculation of guilt.  Being able to respond to negativity within your context (website, blog, social media site..) allows for editing control, this we did not have when the media controlled all. 

Spammers, Scammers, Internet Marketing Experts, Network Marketers...

With the rising popularity of #social #media which opened the door for poaching thousands of unsuspecting individuals, the tactics and strategies used are bolder than ever. Give me your $ money and you will get nothing in return should be their tag line because it is so blatant scamming. In some of my previous post I talked about "Social Media Gurus", "Social Media Experts" etc which promise some of the same returns as the spammers, scammers, internet marketing experts and network marketers.

In a well explored article by Bob Sullivan called, "The Women of Twitter: Behind those sexy tweets" he tried to reach out to these Twitter accounts to interview them but none responded.  Bob explains in the article the scam, "their methods are always the same -- steal clicks, sell ads against them, then try to upsell some other crazy service".  The majority of these scams come from International locations and I have witnessed a quote a few from New Zealand.  

I should also throw in some of the SEO black hatters, Link builders and Directory sites that  continue to fill our in boxes with emails claiming to act now or loose your domain, build thousands of links and enter your business here in our Directory etc. 

Bottom line, be careful, do your Google search, if they do not have a legit presence online stop there and run.  Use your trusted connections off and on line to further your investigation.  If you still have questions, you can send an email and I will investigate. 

Have fun and play safe.

Authenticity is a Must

Social Media is not going away and will be a permanent part of our societal communication infrastructure.  Companies, organizations and individuals must be aware of this trend that has been approaching on two years.  There are many, many examples of this #marketing #social # media #failure currently still taking place daily.  Here is one from today that was shared via @MichaelNewhouse #Twitter:
@LoriMorenoRT @KevinMinott RT @HuffingtonPost: Leaked memos show Fox News boss telling staffers how to spin health care debate http://huff.to/fJEpfo

Facebook gives MySpace a bandaid

In another  hyped up press conference yesterday (11/18/10), Facebook announced they will be partnering with MySpace allowing users to log into the site with their Facebook login and share content more easily between the two properties.  The partnership called, Mashup with Facebook, further reveals MySpace's strategy to reposition itself as more of a music and entertainment hub than a Social Platform which is Facebook's strategic direction.

The new feature leverages Facebook Connect and builds on an initiative that MySpace unveiled in August called Sync with Facebook that let its users sync status updates with their Facebook profile and share content more easily with Facebook friends. The latest alliance is intended to match users' Facebook profile data and interests with music, movie, TV and celebrity-related content on MySpace. MySpace will let users port their Facebook "Interests and Likes" information into MySpace to create customized content streams on the site. *MediaPost 11/2010 article.

MySpace CEO Mike Jones said the new integration with Facebook rolling out globally today illustrated the company's strategy to be the Web's "leading social entertainment destination."   Facebook  easily surpassed MySpace over two years with current estimates on users at over 500 million with MySpace bleeding users with a highly speculative report of 130 million users.

Is this a case of a brilliant PR move by Facebook allowing for MySpace to have dignity in their eventual death and/or knowing that the MySpace platform will eventually be reduced to what it started out to be, a social platform for bands/artist to market themselves which will be a viable platform for advertising.  Once MySpace becomes stabilized within their strategy of being the Web's "leading social entertainment destination"I believe Facebook will purchase MySpace because why invent the social platform wheel. 

MySpace, owed by News Corp., COO Chase Carey said earlier this month in a conference call with analysts that MySpace's "current losses are not acceptable or sustainable," raising speculation that the media giant could shutter the site. News Corp. acquired MySpace in 2005 for $580 million.  This statement could have very well been strategic positioning to raise awareness for the MySpace possible investors looking to purchase this out-of-control drunk collage kid of social platform that thought it could take over the World.  I believe MySpace, or at least News Corp., has sobered up enough to realize that it is time to make immediate changes in their life and this is one of them.

As a Brand and Marketing Strategist, I rarely hear myself suggest to client to create a MySpace account.  Again, we will have to see how this new Mashup partnership works out and if MySpace is just going to be a joke we tell of Social Platforms past.

Experiential Marketing creating awareness of sustainable living and green technology

Dartmouth students and recent graduates are spending the summer living on a bus in an effort to increase awareness of sustainable living and green technology described as a “science fair on wheels.”

Described as a “science fair on wheels” it’s the fifth year that students have taken part in the project.  The bus itself — a 1989 MCI coach that we swear we’ve taken to the airport — has been converted by the students to run on waste vegetable oil (WVO). Creature comforts (including air conditioning) are provided by ten 12-volt deep-cycle AGM batteries connected to a 4000 watt inverter and tied in with four solar panels. To complete the sustainable theme, cabinets and flooring are made from bamboo.

The bus tour departed from Hanover, NH on June 18th and has already made over 45 stops to educate visitors about sustainable living and refuel with WVO at greasy spoon diners across the country. Its last scheduled stop is in Cleveland, OH on August 29th.

Social Media marketing for the tour can be found at Twitter, Facebook and the team’s blog.

The King of Social Media, Facebook, Facts & Myths 2010

***Facts, Myths and Images provided by Mashable via onlineschools.org

Facebook and the use of social media is talked about everywhere we go from TV commercials, billboards, Starbucks and even my parents (who are retired).

Did you know that it takes over 10,000 servers to support Facebooks infrastructure!

Expect 2 Connect - its Social Media, Right?

We now have "Like" buttons every where we visit.  People have social icons on their websites, blogs and social media sites.  Brian Solis unveiled his latest brilliance, "Engage" which as he describes is digital Darwinism.

But wait, what is missing?

The Connection!

People have these social icons everywhere which means "Connect with me" but fail to make the connection.  I have experienced this lately with several people that I read their blog, tweets or LinkedIn post and felt that it would be a good connection (because they have these icons on their site with a follow me, connect with me, ect.) only to have them, not respond at all, "don't know you" (oh, you will!) or send an email saying, "remind me how I know you" - you don't yet, isn't this why you have your "connect with me" social icons on your sites?

The tools are simple - Connect with Me - the next step is to Engage with others.  Yes, I know, the word Engage is the buzz word of the moment for Social Media BUT this is the most important part of the Social Conversation.  How you Engage will be the next post.