Logic+Emotion

Awareness, Action and Activism: What's Happening To Our Social Newsfeeds?

Gotten into an argument on Facebook lately? You're not alone. Find yourself nodding violently in agreement with something someone posted?

Even more common.

We find ourselves in an environment where everyone seems to be acting like an "activist" for the views they find themselves aligning with. The rub? It's not easy being a good activist. The worst ones tend to alienate others because they become so deafening, vociferous and one dimensional in service of their cause—they become difficult to relate to. The best ones are able to mobilize those who share their views while building bridges to those who don't. But many of us are mistaking being engaged for taking action or skipping taking action all together and leveraging social media as a form of activism. These things are not the same and build off one another. 

Awareness In Today's Filter Bubble
One of the most impactful societal measures of social networks is that they've become our go to sources of information, news, opinions, and an ever stream of feedback based on what's happening in our world. However, as the recent U.S. election underscored—networks are flawed by design in that we often surround ourselves with peer groups "like us" which creates a phenomena that's been labeled "filter bubbles". Our awareness is filtered by our often likeminded peers—and so a steady stream of content and feedback loops that are reflective of our own bias reinforces the way we see things. 

Engagement vs. Action 
Another side-effect of social media is that it tricks our brains into thinking being engaged is actually taking a tangible action.

It is not. 

I was recently reminded of this when I read a story about a mosque burning down not long after the Trump administration has signed executive orders to pause immigration from select countries. My first inclination was to "react" to the story and then share it with my peers to raise awareness. I stopped myself however because I realized that although I was engaging around an event that troubled me—I wasn't taking any tangible action to change the outcome of the event. I stopped myself and made a donation to the Go Fund Me page associated with the story. Only after that did I share the story and encourage others to take similar action. Engagement is desirable and on social media—likes, comments, shares are all forms of engagement but they are not outcome altering actions and many of us have confused engagement for action.  

The Risks and Rewards of Social Media Activism 
Social networks have empowered us to in some ways mimic the dynamics of activism. It gives us a street corner, a megaphone and even a soap box to stand on so our friends, business contacts and peers know exactly what we stand for. And like the crowds who pass the activist and megaphone—some if not many will engage, after all most of us share the same filter bubbles. But for how long? After passing the activist on the street corner, when we just want to get home after a long days work—we begin to tune out the words no matter how sincere or earnest. With the megaphone and empowerment to become an "activist" for our beliefs and values comes the burden of alienation—there will be times when people just won't want to engage, no matter what their stance on an issue. 

What's happening to our social newsfeeds? They've become a reflection of what we've curated over time. In some cases, they are a daily validation mechanism for ourselves and like minded peers. In other cases—they foster dialogue and debate. But they aren't a substitute for taking meaningful action even if a like, share or comment satisfies our urge in the moment. 

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Six Near-term Trends Influencing The Business of Marketing

If you’ve come here looking for the latest thinking on virtual reality, drones and autonomous driving—you’ve come to the wrong place. Marketers are an interesting bunch—we pride ourselves on “being in the know”, with some good reason… Part of our jobs are to stay one step ahead of the game so we are better prepared for the changes that inevitably effect the business of our industry. But in the pursuit of staying ahead of future trends—we often overlook massive shifts that need to be operationalized over the next five years, if not decade. In the pursuit of keeping our eye on the ball—I’ve identified six near term trends influencing the business of marketing:

From Media Channels To Media Ecosystem 
Blame Digital. Just when we were getting used to shifting efforts and dollars to reflect not only print, television, radio and the internet—the internet itself has fragmented into a million tiny little pieces which blur the lines between paid, owned, earned and even social when it comes to dollar spend—and that’s not even getting into how it all get’s measured. Case in point—in the past year, MTV has seen it’s traditional television viewership of the Video Music Awards decline 34%. However if you look closely at the numbers, digital views including Facebook Live Streaming increased 70%. The problem here? MTV has yet to monetize the ever fragmented and complex digital media ecosystem and still relies on traditional TV advertisers to make money.

This makes the jobs of the media creators, buyers, sellers and strategists, well—complicated. Marketers are reluctant to embrace this complexity in their need to reach the largest and most targeted audiences they can. But in the near term—this complexity must be dealt with by diving deeper into digital and re-defining how, where and when dollars are spent within the complete media ecosystem vs. the easiest parts of it to put spend against.

From Text That Tells To Visuals That Show
The entire Web is being re-built for visual and video content. Before you dismiss this as “obvious”—we must take into account that the previous and dominant version of the Internet became mainstream with the advent of Google’s search engine and search was and to some extent still is a game of text, meta tags, keywords and text based organic content popularity. Now let’s look at demographics: Boomers, and GenX grew up on traditional literacy in the written word. Millennials and GenZ are growing up on what I call “visual literacy” which is accentuated by platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram and YouTube which are video and visual dominated as opposed to text driven.

It is this visual literacy combined with the changing face of how we not only search for but receive content which is changing before our very eyes. marketers have spent years perfecting their Keywords and then finding ways to get text based links to their written content shared on social media but increasingly it’s video that gets shared directly through a multitude of apps that is becoming the dominant social currency. Brands have yet to master modern forms of video and visual storytelling as even the rules are changing in this space. Snapchat for example favors short, compelling vertical video formats which tend to perform well. For marketers—many who built their craft on taglines or standard 30 second television commercials—these forms of video content (not ads) are foreign and still largely untapped. Marketers will need to re-think video, visual storytelling and the production of these things from the ground up in this new world if they are to remain relevant.

From Mobile Last To Mobile First
We take for granted that Facebook is one of the most popular apps in the world and most of us access it from our mobile devices. But in the early days of Facebook—there was a time that they found themselves on the defense when it came to mobile and believe it or not—they actually didn’t get it. In less than a year—they transformed themselves into a “mobile first” company from the top down and had some of the most talented developers in the world at their disposal to see this transformation through. Unfortunately, even the world’s biggest and most resourceful brands and agencies do not have these resources nor the imperative to re-invent their organizations to think, act, and operate within the same context as their mobile consumers, customers and employees.

Thanks to Google, marketers have good reason to prioritize mobile development as their way forward since Google actually dings Websites that they deem are not responsive or functional in the mobile environment. But the shift to mobile is much more than making our Websites mobile friendly. It means we need to intimately understand how our audiences want to consume, create, share and interact with our brands. It’s one of the leading reasons we’ve seen customers shift to expressing their dissatisfaction about a brand experience or service publicly—they have a megaphone in their pocket at all times. We’ve done a disservice to our industry by treating mobile as a “duh”—it requires a complete transformation in many ways due to its impact on our daily behaviors. Facebook had it right—brands and agencies should do the same.

From Reliance On Media Companies To Being Your Own Media Company
“Publishing Is The New Marketing”. Sounds good—easier said than done. But the reality is that thanks to social media—most marketers are already in the business of publishing whether they know it or not. Got a brand presence on Facebook or YouTube? Congratulations, you’re in the content business. The problem however is that most content isn’t very good and so marketers find themselves solving the wrong problem.

It’s not about creating content as much as it is about cultivating targeted and high quality audiences who want to hear from you again and again.

In the pursuit of cultivating quality audiences who not only are willing to consume a brand’s content but want to share and potentially co-create with the brand, marketers must understand how to engage with audiences not only during their “tentpole” campaigns but daily, weekly. monthly and quarterly. This is where the dynamics of marketing and publishing mix and brands are still scrambling to figure out how to do this.

From Ad-Hoc Influencer Engagement To Integrated Influence Marketing 
When CBS 60 Minutes does a feature on Influencer Marketing—you know it’s not fleeting trend anymore. However this space as familiar as it seems is new territory for marketers. Unlike traditional celebrities—most of these cultural influencers such as social media stars and Youtubers are creators who have built their OWN audiences using their OWN channels. So to protect their reputations with their audience—their preference is to collaborate and co-create with brands as opposed to endorse and act as spokespeople the way traditional celebrities have always done.

In addition—most brands are currently treating these kinds of partnerships as one-offs or ad-hoc engagements vs. re-thinking how they interface not only with cultural influencers but ALL influencers who often play off each other when it comes to reaching mass audiences often times through our peers. It will take years for marketers to fully evolve and build the process to support this in a much more integrated and scalable fashion beyond one off campaigns and programs. This entire space is still in its infancy.

From Brand Value Proposition To Brand Values
Lock yourself in a room with the most seasoned and senior marketing executives and they will nod their heads when presented with research that reflects the purchase habits of millennials, especially one key shift—millennials are often influenced not only by the products, services and “value proposition” of the brands they buy from—they are also curious and care about how the brand acts, how it participates and what it “stands for” in a societal context. If they feel like the brand is aligned with some or all of their own personal values—these influence behaviors from purchase through to loyalty. My Employer (Edelman) produced research that most consumers are “involved” with brands but are open to “commitment”. And in many cases, being committed goes beyond traditional value proposition attributes such as quality, convenience and price.

The premise seems deceptively simple. Many brands understand this and in response have gone out of their way to show how they are “going green” or “doing good”—often through corporate channels that are responsible for these kinds of messages. But this shift goes beyond messages and block and tackle corporate communications. Marketers have mastered the art and science of building brands in the hearts and minds of consumers by balancing their emotional and rational needs. Products had to show they would actually work but the most successful brands went further and endeared themselves to consumers through appealing to their emotions (Think Nike—Just Do It)

Thanks largely to millennials—this is no longer enough. Marketers need to re-examine their value proposition and ask themselves if their brand’s “values” are clearly articulated and if their actions, marketing and every touchpoint with a consumer and customer backs this up. It goes beyond satisfying rational and emotional needs but adding the third dimension of “societal” but above all else—all three dimensions need to be true to the brand and supported by proof points. This becomes not only the job of the chief communications officer and CEO but the CEO, CMO and CEO working in tandem. Few brands have been able to successfully “stand for something” because it takes a village to pull this off right and in line with the brand values. But whether it’s #Optoutside or #LikeAGirl—when done authentically, it resonates.

If you’ve gotten this far, than you’re probably thinking that none of the above is new to you. And that’s the point—it isn’t. But the marketing industry has yet to fully make the needed shifts in most or nearly all of the above trends based on my observations and in working directly with clients. These trends each bring with them great opportunities but require companies whether brands or agencies to evolve priorities, re-evaluate staff and agency mix and place bets in areas that are still developing or require extra effort to measure. They may not be as sexy as virtual reality or cars which drive themselves—but in the next five or so years, it is how well we operationalize against these trends that may benefit marketers most in the near future.

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Election 2016: When “Data” In Isolation Steers Us Wrong

Instincts vs. Insights
Like many of you, I was wrong about who I thought would win the US election. But it wasn’t always that way — I had changed my opinion based on the “data” I was seeing and that’s where many of us are scratching our heads. My first gut instinct was formed around the time of both party conventions. Having followed both, sensing the momentum and enthusiasm of the unconventional GOP convention, I remember thinking to myself, Trump really has a chance — he’s going to tap millions of people displaced by a global economy. He’s speaking directly to the working class disenfranchised — people holding down multiple jobs in some cases and feeling like they can never get ahead. He’s giving a voice to those who feel like they have been ignored or are underrepresented. And above it all, I was picking up something in the air that felt like a change agent was wanted, even if that agent was more rough around the edges than many would have preferred…

I grew up in working class Long Island. I intuitively grasped how he could win and I was hesitant to rush to judgement over how or why millions of Americans were supporting him. Over the course of weeks and months, being the news addict that I am, I began to change my outlook on Trump’s chances.

Why? Because the polling data and news media sentiment.

The Limitations of Polling & Media Influence
Day after day, I would pour over polls and read headlines that would point to trends making the case that while both candidates were unpopular, Hillary seemed to always come out on top. The media painted a picture of a Trump campaign in disarray and the tone of the majority of the coverage I could see from multiple media outlets was largely negative. Polls while far from perfect are data points. Media sentiment is also a set of data points. When you pour over this information, it begins to inform your opinions. And that’s what happened to me. My informed view shifted from Trump has a chance to Hillary is a definite win.

And I think there’s an important lesson in all of this. Was the data bad? I don’t think it’s that simple. Like some analysts have stated, it’s likely that the polling data was incomplete. Which means this data cannot be fully trusted. If a significant portion of voters didn’t feel comfortable polling but instead voiced their opinions with their votes, then the data is meaningless.

Sampling is an art that becomes harder and harder to deliver well against. All research methodologies for polling have inherent biases and it becomes clear that relying on a sample of people willing to speak to an interviewer or take a survey online is becoming more difficult to pull off accurately. Political polling is disrupted and old models don’t work. But they are still very valuable if cross analyzed through other intelligence methodologies that focus on “harder data”.

The lesson reminds me of similar learnings I’ve seen in marketing focus groups. People aren’t always honest or clearly articulate their beliefs and/or needs.

Reading Between The Lines
You have to read between the lines. This is something that ethnographers often do. They immerse themselves in the lives of the people they seek to derive insights from. They go deep in place of skimming vast quantities of data points both quantitative and qualitative. They go heavy on empathy but also possess the right amount of analytical rigor to translate observations into insights.

And what about the media sentiment? Did I misread it? No, I read it accurately but like many others, I underestimated the impact that media sentiment would have on potential Trump supporters. In retrospect the negative media sentiment for Trump likely mobilized his base and even some who were on the fence. Edelman (my employer) has been producing data for years which shows that trust in media is on the decline and urging us to pay close attention to social signals when forming opinions and strategies.

Search & Social Signals Provide Additional Clues
And let’s not forget about search. As far as data goes — Google may have presented a more accurate representation of how voters were inclined to act. Trump related searches showed dominance over Hillary inquiries in the final days of the election and higher volume in states such as Pennsylvania where polls projected Clinton to win. The search volume from Google presented signals that were largely missed by both pundits and the media — yet they aligned with voter behavior.

Insights, Instinct AND Data — But Never In Isolation

This political season more than ever demonstrated the shortcomings of looking at data and information sources in isolation, such as polling. A lesson that I’ll take away is to not only have more faith in my instincts but also to be a better student of the impact the media has on public sentiment and how that sentiment is reflected online in the forms of social and search data. For those of us who work in marketing and communications, we’re going to need a better appreciation for the balance between instinct and insights, gut and analysis, and how deep we need to go to accurately interpret signals and multiple data points so we can better inform our thoughts and actions.

 

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Hero, Hub and Hygiene: Where Marketing Meets Publishing

Q: When should a brand act like a publisher?
A: Ad blocking software

You find yourself watching an entertaining series starring your favorite celebrity and Jerry Seinfeld. Or maybe it's your favorite internet cat celebrities joining forces in a holiday themed music video. Or it's a *satirical article from The Onion showing up in your Facebook feed. What the above have in common is the fact that none of them are the advertising most of us grew up with on our televisions or even desktops for that matter—but they are all working in the service of brands and organizations. 

Welcome to the age of brands as publishers—designed for mobile screens, Google algorithms, social news feeds and driven by essential success metrics: "sharing and subscribing". 

A brand marketing meets publishing model is nothing new, nor is the Hero, Hub, Hygiene approach coined by Google originally as an approach for YouTube. But as many brands are finding out, adding the nimble publishing approach to your existing global behemoth marketing machine is a daunting task. Just like any significant shift organizations must make to any part of their business—marketers both at the brand and agency level must find common ground in how they define major components:

Brand Platform
A common mistake made in the worlds of marketing, branding and advertising is confusing a campaign with a brand platform which is akin to confusing a banana with a banana tree. For the sake of clarity—"Dove Campaign For Real Beauty" is a brand platform, while Dove Sketches was an activation that evolved into campaign like territory. As referenced in Building Modern Brands—a brand platform is foundational in nature and modern brands are evolving to reflect not only rational and emotional benefits, but articulating what they stand for in a societal context. Can campaigns be derived from brand platforms? Yes, but they are more evergreen in nature vs. moment in time and should influence all activations no matter how strategic or tactical.  

Activations
Unlike a brand platform—activations are more time and context sensitive. These are your programs, campaigns, events and other activities that will range from highly strategic and pre-planned to highly responsive and in the moment. Activations should be strategically aligned to the brand platform but also possess the flexibility to expand contextually. These are the ways the brand platform comes to life over time.  

Hero
Hero activations are where brands place their big bets. Typically these are the global integrated marketing campaigns though increasingly they can still be big bets without ever coming to life in traditional channels like television. These can also be big communications and engagement activations involving media and influencers. Regardless of classification, brands often times don't support more than one to two of these annually and sometimes they can extend beyond a single year. 

Hub
Hub activations can be more frequent and are often times less ambitious than a Hero campaign. Partnerships with media companies or digital influencers for example can often fall into Hub territory. Depending on the nature of the brand or organization—Hub activations could be as few as quarterly or as often as monthly. The rise of native advertising and sponsored content is currently fueling the popularity of Hub activations that don't always directly support a specific Hero campaign. 

Hygiene 
Hygiene activations can fall into the "always on" "daily" or "content engine" classifications. Often times, Hygiene activations require multiple publishing touch points such as social channels or Web destinations. Barilla for example aggregates both Hygiene, Hub and Hero content onto its "**Passion For Pasta" Tumblr. Hygiene activations can be as frequent as daily and in some cases even hourly. 

Hero, Hub and Hygiene all have two things in common:
1. Activations across all three must be coordinated.
2. Increasingly, they require a blend of a "marketing meets publishing mindset" in order to scale and operationalize.

And it is here where many organizations will face challenges. Integrated marketing is an apple while publishing is an orange. Increasingly brands will need both in order to remain relevant in the search engines and social news feeds of consumers and customers. To do this—marketers will have to genetically splice that apple and orange together to create an entirely new fruit, designed to work around the ad blockers and entice consumers to pause, take a bite and pass it on. 

*The Udder Truth was created by Dairy Management Inc. in partnership with Edelman 
**Passion For Pasta is a Barilla Group activation executed in partnership with Edelman

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Video Killed The Television Star: Why Total Fragmentation Is The New Norm

Moment in time—the world seems obsessed with the renaissance of app led live video streaming and the rivalry between MeerKat and Twitter backed Periscope. 

Debating who will win is a moot point. 

The real winner is digital video in all its forms—especially if it involves a popular app like Snapchat or a mobile optimized popular platform such as Netflix. The demise of traditional television happened somewhere around the time that YouTube began gaining popularity alongside with DVRs that empowered us to skip ads. Since then, things have only gotten worse for traditional, tied to the box television viewing. A recent poll found that millennials find YouTube entertainment and the stars who create it, more relatable and entertaining than TV. 

And while YouTube continues its video dominance—content creators are flocking to where the future audiences are being built up. Take Snapchat's Discover "channel" on the native app featuring a mash up between "traditional"media companies such as CNN alongside more modern counterparts like Vice. What all of the media companies in Snapchat's Discover pilot have in common is that they realize that video is more popular than ever with today's content consumers—only they don't consume it the same way our parents did. 


A Nightmare For Brands And The Media Industry
The complete and utter fragmentation of video consumption has not been lost on those who standardized how brands and advertisers are supposed to measure the effectiveness of 30 second spots built during the industrialized era of madison avenue when TV consumption and the impressions that came with it, was a simple thing to measure. No longer—in fact it is Nielsen itself who has recognized that video viewing has changed dramatically, and they've put forth an effort called "Total It Up" to attempt to bridge the divide between how brand managers are incentivized to measure results with the reality of how people are actually consuming video content today. 

Live Video Streaming Only Adds To The Fragmentation
The race between MeerKat, Periscope and likely Google to dominate the latest trend in video consumption is significant but must be chalked up to a bigger trend that's been in the making for the past decade at minimum. Video is more relevant and popular than ever both from a consumption standpoint as well as production. But it's becoming impossible for brands and organizations to measure their effectiveness because they are simply not built for the future but rather for the past when TV and YouTube ruled the video world. Those days have rapidly come to an end and live streaming is the latest trend to accelerate the splintering.  

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MeerKat Is The Next Big Thing. But For How Long?

Live video streaming is nothing new. Many have tried it—and it's always sort of taken off, but never really went "mainstream". MeerKat might just change all of that. But how will we know? For starters, it's got a really good shot at stealing the show at SXSW next week—a venue that's been known to uncover the next big shiny object in social. It was after all, SXSW that put Twitter on the map, then subsequently Foursquare and more recently though with less impact, Vine. 

But what exactly is MeerKat?

Part Snapchat, part Twitter, and part video streaming app—MeerKat lets you effortlessly stream video from your mobile phone using your Twitter connections as a starting point. It's incredibly easy to get up and running—once you download the app, you are streaming within seconds. You can stream on demand or you can schedule a stream in advance. You can subscribe to other streams, like them or comment as they stream—the comments show up as tweets which creates an odd but interesting synergy with Twitter. When you are done with a live stream, you can save it as a video on your phone which then gives you the opportunity to edit and post at a later time.  

The problem with live video streaming has always been that people's lives are not always that interesting—so you have to question who would tune into a live stream of you teaching a dog a new trick? But, that could be said for all of social media—it's everyday people doing everyday things. 

Unless you're a YouTube, Vine, Instagram Celebrity or perhaps in the near future—a "MeerKat star". And this is what could very well happen to MeerKat. On Vine a whole new breed of performers built new audiences who mastered the six second medium. Then they took that over to Snapchat and build audiences there. MeerKat could follow the same pattern and it's turning into big business as Twitter recently acquired Niche, a platform that specializes in connecting brands with influencers in emerging channels (everything but YouTube). 

Which brings us to Twitter. Why hasn't Twitter launched their own version of live streaming, native to the Twitter platform or as a sister app such as Vine? That could be coming next. Or they could offer to gobble up MeerKat. In the meantime as thousands of tech influencers descend upon SXSW next week—you can expect to see a barrage of MeerKat live video streams in your social feeds. First the tech influencers, then come the brands, and then comes the talent who build large audiences on the platform. This is the pattern you might just see unfold in the next few months.

Brands—get your teams experimenting with MeerKat now, and keep an eye out for the influencers you want to start working with. Even if Twitter comes up with their own solution—you'll be better prepared. 

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Once upon a time I was a Creative Director. Creative Directors typically come from one of two backgrounds—"art" or "copy". Having more of a visual design foundation, I started there—but also learned the techniques of "concepting" and getting to what's known in the marketing industry as "a big idea". Things were simpler back then... 

Big Ideas vs. Ruling The "Aggregators"
Today, if you want your message and or communications to break through—you must understand how the "aggregators" work. What's an "aggregator"? Google, Facebook, Twitter, E-mail, Text Apps, Snapchat, Flipboard... it's anywhere content can be aggregated. It's not the homepage of a media company—it's not their apps either. It's the newsfeeds we either search or browse from. So who is ruling the aggregators? 

Buzzfeed
Mashable
The Huffington Post
Business Insider
The Onion

There's more—but these media companies all have something in common—they blend editorial sensibilities with a deep understanding for how media spreads (or doesn't) online. They know when something is about to trend and generate the right content at the right time. They don't put out bland perspectives but rather generate headlines and take angles that are instantly snackable, interesting and sometimes even controversial. They package content with a keen eye for millennial relevancy (hello President Obama using a selfie stick). They are masters of catering to the algorithms that are the motors which make the aggregators run.

The Big Idea
Now the traditional creative process looks a bit different. It goes something like this:

Planner leads some type of research
Ideally, a meaningful insight is uncovered
Creative team is briefed
Creative brief is drafted
"Big idea" is identified
Program is developed around big idea
Program is launched and measured 

It's a lot of steps, but despite the approach—it's still a relevant model as many of the advertising campaigns that resonate with us typically involve some version of the above process. During this year's Superbowl—the "Like a Girl" campaign from Always enjoyed a second wind of popularity boosted by the game's visibility and amplified via social and traditional media. Like a Girl is a big idea fueled by a powerful insight and it takes on a societal tension point—girls believe they can do anything when they are young, but something happens as they mature.

Where The Magic Can Happen
So here's where I see both a challenge and an opportunity. In one model you've got a modern media centric approach leading the charge to dominate the aggregators. In the other model you've got a "creative" (for lack of a better word) approach, which comes at it a bit differently—seeking to uncover a powerful insight that can fuel a compelling narrative. Today, the opportunity for brands and organizations seeking to own the aggregators is to take the best of both approaches—seizing on a trend as effectively as Buzzfeed and crafting communications as powerful as #Likeagirl. 

The challenge is that as brands start embracing the "act like a media company " mantra, they often have fledgling editorial operations working in silos from their creative teams. Neither team brings every critical skill to the table—they both have the potential to complete each other, but more times than not, they don't or if they do, it's an awkward dance. Some will get it right—Rue LaLa for example has both a content team with an editorial director paired along side a design team led by a creative director. It's the type of model I think we'll see more organizations adapt (editorial and creative). 


In the quest for marketers and communicators to "own the aggregators"—social savvy creative and editorial talent will be needed. And perhaps the greater need will be the willingness for that organization to empower those teams to produce non bland, compelling content that takes a stance or puts an opinion forth. These are the things that break through and influence the algorithm the aggregators thrive on and the creative/editorial combination will become a necessity in order to break through.  
 

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Twitter and Google reportedly strike deal to include tweets in search results. Again.

FOMO, WOM, WTF and ELLO

I could be wrong.

In the early days of social media, when Facebook was still for college kids—Twitter seemed like an utterly useless fad to most people. But I was really intrigued by it and stuck with it and connected with others, ultimately building an audience and a real time stream I could dip in and out of whenever I wanted to. 

That was 2007. Fast forward to 2014 and it's not Twitter my network is talking about—it's "Ello", a social network built on the promise that it won't touch your data nor will it ever give in to advertising. Its manifesto is posted in plain sight on the network. 

"Your social network is owned by advertisers.

Every post you share, every friend you make, and every link you follow is tracked, recorded, and converted into data. Advertisers buy your data so they can show you more ads. You are the product that’s bought and sold.

We believe there is a better way. We believe in audacity. We believe in beauty, simplicity, and transparency. We believe that the people who make things and the people who use them should be in partnership.

We believe a social network can be a tool for empowerment. Not a tool to deceive, coerce, and manipulate — but a place to connect, create, and celebrate life.

You are not a product."

Having spent a portion of my morning on the network—I am not convinced. Where Ello seems to be missing the point is that they may not have included enough value as part of their "value exchange" for participants to stay committed to it. Privacy is not enough—for a network to break through today you've got to make it cool, useful, usable and desirable (and "ello"—mobile). 

I'm not sure Ello is delivering any at this point. It doesn't come off as particularly elegant—I found it hard to even figure out how to post and there wasn't enough value for me to overcome this. I get better content by exploring current networks vs. what I've seen so far on Ello. 

So what does Ello have?

It's got FOMO in spades (Fear Of Missing Out). For a short time and for reasons only they know—it's got enough of the right people talking about it and asking for invitations (like I did). 

So what doesn't Ello have yet?

It's got media coverage building some hype—but I've already seen negative word of mouth, (WOM) even when I asked for an invite. Perhaps you can count this post as negative word of mouth as well though I will suspend complete judgement...however, at this time—I'm not seeing the value or it just might not be for me. 

But it did get me thinking about what causes people to take action. FOMO is powerful—I was able to secure an invite, create a profile and kick some tires. WOM is pretty powerful too—I have yet to see peers telling me they love it. Right now there's a collective "WTF?" as many try to make sense of it. 

I also learned a lesson from my early days on Twitter—sometimes something great is not immediately recognizable in the world of social media. But sometimes you just have to go with your gut as well, and my gut says that value exchange trumps privacy and commercialism. Right now Ello is light on providing enough value to make it a serious ad free alternative to anything. 

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Is Sharing Link Bait a Huge Mistake?

You've probably done it too. Shared an article you didn't fully read or absorb because the headline grabbed your attention. If you're guilty as charged—don't feel too bad as there is a legitimate reason we sometimes do this. As I've said many times before, content is currency and it's human nature to want to share things that resonate with us and we know will resonate with others. 

I did this recently with a Business Insider article titled:

"We Got A Look Inside The 45 Day Planning Process That Goes Into Creating A Single Corporate Tweet"

So here's what I did; I read the headline and visually skimmed the article. Note that I said "visually skimmed"—which means a few key phrases popped out, but I didn't read or digest it. But I did share it along with snarky quip that read: 

"Cue the beginning of the end of social media marketing"

So do I really think it's the end of social media marketing? No, but the headline got me thinking that if it takes so long to craft and perfect a single tweet—we need to examine what we are all trying to do here. The only problem is that when you read the article in full—while it does technically make the case that a tweet was planned well in advance, the context illustrates that it was part of a pre planned content calendar—a common practice in marketing.

It was a colleague's comments on the subject that got me thinking about thinking twice in regards to how we share, as well as operating within the reality that attention grabbing headlines are likely not going away. I have two take-aways from this: 

1. Content Is Currency—Spend It Wisely
Would I have shared the same article? Yes—it's of interest to myself and my peers. What I would have done differently is bookmarked it for a time where I could have read and thought about the content before sharing it with a snarky take away. I would have probably shared it posing a question like "can planned content be less time consuming" or asking others if they have had similar experiences. 

2. Be Ready For Anything
The agency featured in the piece (Huge) didn't just sit around letting the headline of the piece speak for them—they spoke up.

Net net, it's on us as individuals to think through what and how we share to ensure the maximum value of the currency of content and it's on all brands and organizations to be responsive in any scenario, or be defined by the narrative others draft for you.

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Native Advertising Isn't The Enemy—We Are

"We have met the enemy and he is us"
~Pogo

You should stop what you are doing and read this piece on Native Advertising by Andrew Sullivan, in which he asserts "journalism has surrendered" on the topic of native advertising. Specifically the form that seamlessly blends marketing with editorial in a publication. Aside from it being a wonderful and brutally honest assessment of native advertising and its influence on media, Andrew is both right and wrong in the piece when he says this:

"At one point, the reputation of that journalism is going to tarnished by the fact that you’re not sure if it’s done out of a commercial interest. I have to say I don’t think it’s sustainable. It will collapse when the readers figure it out. It should have been front-page news that Time magazine reporters were to begin reporting to the business side."

What Andrew gets right (maybe) is that the reputation of journalism is going to get tarnished. But we have to ask ourselves for who will it really matter? It will matter to the highly informed—the one percent of media consumers you could say. To the others, we must get a reality check and really digest what's happening in the world of media consumption for the average person. There are a few forces at play:

Time: There's a finite amount of time we have and it's increasingly being chipped away by technology and a surplus of media stimulus. We simply don't have enough of it. 

Attention: Sorry, but most of us can now be clinically diagnosed with ADD. Maybe we weren't born with it—but again, technology has taken its toll. We have so much information coming at us, it's increasingly difficult to focus. Watching a two minute video on YouTube now seems like a massive commitment. 

Relevancy: Blame social media. We are all so consumed in our own worlds that if media/news doesn't seem relevant to us—we ignore it. 

Currency: I've said it a million times. Content is currency. Ignore this sociological reality at your own peril—people now use content as a way to build their reputations and credibility with peers. 

Status: It's what comes after currency. Share the best content that your peers and friends value—see your social status rise.

Mobility: If your content can't be consumed or shared via mobile—don't even bother. Our context for media consumption is now "on the go". 

Snackability: We've been trained to "snack" on media all day long. It's becoming harder to carve out time for media meals which can't be consumed quickly. Do you have teens? Watch their media consumption behaviors. 

In short, we are the reason native advertising exists. We're the reason cat videos on YouTube are popular. We're the reason that in depth journalism is becoming an endangered species. On that note—I'll end here before I hit 500 words. Because you won't read more. 

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Brands Who Used The Force on Star Wars Day #Maythe4thbewithyou

Brands that insert themselves into relevant cultural events is now becoming a norm in marketing. Did you know that May 4th is considered Star Wars Day? These brands did, and they inserted themselves in the conversation by producing content which reflected it. Here's a few that went to the dark side:


Pop Chips went the simple route and used an action figure to do the heavy lifting.

Harrods did some subtle and clever Photoshop to go over to the dark side of marketing.

PayPal traveled to a galaxy far far away and kept their branding intact

...while Red Bull played it safe and stayed closer to the Milky Way. 

Oreo went old school (see original Star Wars for blue drink reference)

...and tide skipped Photoshop school altogether 

If Motorola didn't do this, they would have gotten decimated by a death star. 


USA Today made their audience do the work for them with a contest on Vine that asked people to make Wookie noises in the six second video format. 

Marketing, content and cultural relevancy continue to merge together fueled by digital social and mobile channels. Now it's just part of how brands seek to remain relevant to their consumers, customers and in some cases audience. Have you seen any good Star Wars Day content produced by brands? 

*Slim Jim and PayPal are Edelman Digital clients 

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Every Brand Will Need A Content Strategy

Content as Currency and Other Thoughts From #Snowcial

I'm in Lake Tahoe this week combining some business and down-time and recently spoke at "Snowcial"—billed as "SXSW for the snow sports and hospitality industry, it attracts a really cool cross section of people who span marketing, technology and even journalism. If you love skiing or snowboarding and marketing/technology, it's worth considering for your event calendar. I kicked off day one yesterday with a short talk about content, convergence and connectivity. Below are a few themes from my talk: 

Content As Currency 

There's a good reason everyone is talking about the role of *content these days but you have to understand the psychology of it all. Thanks to social networks, people share interesting, entertaining or even informative content because it makes them look good. There's a reason why the word "meme" has "me" in it. So it's not enough just to produce content—your content has to be designed for sharing. I like to think of content in today's hyper connected world as being "snackable"—sending out bits and bites of content which can be digested and shared rapidly. The reason why we're seeing a revolution in visual content which is designed for social newsfeeds and mobile is based on this core understanding of why people like, share and engage around content. 

Everyone Can And Will Publish

I shared a recent experience I had with Jeep where I tweeted for help and was not only responded to but had my issue resolved through their customer care service which was facilitated through my initial interactions on Twitter. This is by no means a new model, but clearly Jeep had a process in place and was able to close the loop with me efficiently. This is an area brands will continue to grapple with as people move from traditional ways to initiate contact with brands and go directly to public forums. The obvious follow up question is how does this scale? My answer is figure it out because it's not going away. And yes, my car is working just fine now. 

Insights > Influence

 

For all the hype around influence—we've still largely got it wrong. We should be looking at analyzing who and what are driving conversations in the same context as we might run a focus group. Technologies that allow us to analyze conversations and how they spread and who influences them can provide great insights if we know what we are looking for. For example in working with the association that represents US dairy farmers—we analyzed conversations in forums and found these emerging. As we audited the content the organization was producing—we identified opportunities make future content initiatives more relevant to what people were talking about. 

You Don't Not Need An App For That

There's no doubt that we are living in an App economy, but it's time to step back and ask ourselves if we need an app for every idea. Unless that idea involves significant functionality, it might not need to be developed as a stand alone app creating yet another format to maintain. My team has been developing content solutions using responsive design techniques so the design reacts to the format it's being viewed it. It's not a perfect solution for every development issue, but worth tapping where it makes sense. 

It's All Converging

Lastly I talked about the convergence of media models and marketing tactics. First from a broad perspective inspired by Altimeter's model of converged media, but also ad it applies to new digital advertising formats which blur hard lines. Facebook sponsored posts are a perfect example of how paid, earned, and owned dynamics all come together. You can read more about that on the unofficial All Facebook blog who covered my talk. 

Looking forward to hitting the slopes again before I leave!

*ConAgra is an Edelman Digital client 

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How The Marketing Community Lost Last Night #OscarsRTM

I'm not surprised, but that doesn't mean I'm not concerned. I witnessed something sad last night, while the Oscars were going down. As I anticipated, there was a great deal of activity by brands and their partners who took a shot at producing content connected to the Academy Awards. Some of the content was just OK. Some wasn't. And to be honest, some of it was pretty good even if not earth shattering. 

Because I had a feeling there would be a great deal of activity going on—I set up a simple hash tag, because I wanted a way to organize what brands would be doing. So, I set up #OscarsRTM (Real Time Marketing) on my own as a way to keep track. And I invited others to help. And perhaps discuss. 

What happened next astounded me. First—the "marketing community" debated the term real-time marketing back and forth. At least this was somewhat intellectually stimulating. Then what came next was something not unexpected but still astounding in it's intensity. A constant stream of snark, dismissal, critique and a never ending barrage of "not impressed."

Really? When did it come to this? Take the below image posted on a Tumblr created for the sole purpose of trashing the efforts from brands last night.


It's the "newsroom" US Cellular set up and was using as their mission control for branded content which they published throughout the evening. I watched most of their content and I enjoyed a few of the posts. And frankly, my first thought was that this particular organization is ahead of many because they are TRYING to provide relevant content vs. just doing straightforward advertising. Does your company have a newsroom ready to go? Do you have staff and partners coordinating and working together to produce content? Are you experimenting AT ALL?

According to the genius who took liberties with the above picture, the team at US Cellular should be fearing for their jobs. And this—this is why I am so concerned. If the marketing "community" is successful at tearing itself down in the pursuit of building up the profiles of individuals too fickle to be bothered, then we all lose.

Nobody tries. Nobody fails. Nobody wins.

Yes, my team was working with a brand last night as well (Kellogg's), but even if we weren't and if I had created the hash tag just to perform objective research, I would still be concerned. And despite that, I have a prediction for you. Brands will eventually figure this stuff out. They will get better and it will become integrated (JC Penney did a nice job of that). It will just become part of how brands build equity (through content). And no level of sarcasm will be able to stop it.

This train has already left the station—so we now choose to get on and guide it to the right destination, or we can sit on the sidelines and wait for the next one, hoping it comes soon. I'll choose the former while others debate the latter. And trying will only make it better.   

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Real-Time Content Marketing: Fact or Fad?

The above video documents some of our recent work with the Cars.com team where we planned (in advance) to support a new campaign that launched during the Superbowl. With the Oscars right around the corner—you can bet that the topic of real-time marketing is going to come up again as brands seek to remain relevant during periods of time where everyone seems to be talking about one thing. Recently, the Harvard Business Review featured an article stating that "advertisers should act more like newsrooms"—in it, this stood out for me:

"The traditional campaign model is rigid. Ad units are created at a point in time and don't generally adapt to emerging themes in culture. In contrast, the newsroom metaphor suggests that content has to be produced and delivered in a continuous stream rather than through a ponderous, slow-moving process of months of campaign development." 

It makes a point salient point that's worth digesting—traditionally advertising has been planned well in advance and that planning doesn't often leave room for improvisation. But don't mistake improvisation for lack of planning. If you watch the video above, you see the team working together in the "command center" which required advanced planning. It was no easy feat to mobilize a centralized group working with multiple teams offsite to upload content, respond, track and measure results and engage in real-time. It is well planned improvisation. Below is a sample from the planning process that went on behind the scenes:

To pull it off requires forward thinking organization (we had this with Cars.com) and alignment with multiple partners (other agencies). It requires the ability (and permission) to improvise once the planning is in place. It requires both flexibility and a focus on staying on brand. While "Real-Time" and "Content Marketing" seem like buzzword overload, it is simply an evolution of marketing triggered by modern day behaviors. In other words, not a fad—In my opinion. 

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Did Real Time Marketing Win The Superbowl?

The real winner of this year's Super Bowl might just be real time marketing—or at minimum the ability for your marketing team to be nimble. The lights go out at the big game? Get creative about it as they are being fixed. Have a copywriter ready to craft a headline, a designer who can whip up a compelling visual, and don't let your media buying slow you down because you will need to promote that post on the spot—and in my opinion the best people who are in position to do this kind of media buying is the team working in the "newsroom" who have access to all the analytics. The future of marketing will move at the speed of now. Kudos to the Oreo team for once again nailing the execution. 

We had our own team mobilized in a newsroom setting (our SICC) as we supported Cars.com who launched their new campaign with a spot that debuted during the game. More on that later, the pictures below capture the activity level as we monitored social mentions, sentiment and coordinated posts and responses:

We also addressed the power outage during the game as it unfolded (above)—working it into our evening, but the creativity shown in the Oreo example is something that should make you stop and think because it's not easy to pull off. But while the Oreo example is well executed, I still think this game is in it's infancy, and as if the real time creativity wasn't easy enough to pull off—as I mentioned earlier the media buying is really going to create headaches. Here's a simple illustration of the basic flow of the real-time marketing model. 


It begs the question: Can you really do real time? Do you have a content team ready at a moment's notice? Can you promote a Facebook post as quickly as it takes to develop the content? Can you measure what's working and what's not as it unfolds? 

We're all going to find out.  

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It's Time to Re-Invent Public Relations

I didn't pick PR—PR picked me. 

Let me take a step back. 

Thinking about my own career path since the beginning, I realized there's a pattern. I've always been drawn to industries in the midst of change and disruption. I landed my first job as a graphic designer because I had entered the workforce with a valuable skill at the time—I had learned the essentials of desktop publishing and the company I went to work for was in the process of overhauling how they produced their marketing materials (migrating from traditional tools to digital). It was a huge change and for those who were resistant to converting their skills to digital desktop publishing—they faced early retirement.

Next, I spent about a year working in cable news—but it was an intense year as I worked with the Fox News Channel team helping launch the 24 hour cable news network. Fast forward over fifteen years later and that network is thriving, having tapped consumer demand in cable news and niche media coverage. I've worked at the Chicago Tribune in digital news media and witnessed first hand the differences in how the "digital" team and the veteran employees viewed their work. I spent nearly six years working for one of the original digital agencies which back then was expected to transform the agency space and now doesn't exist anymore (agency.com)—the remains have been swallowed up by corporate entities.

It was at the tail end of my experience there that I discovered "social", first through the blogosphere and then Twitter and Facebook and I did stints at other digital firms and even a start up—hoping these organizations would lead the way in the transformation from traditional digital to a more connected form of digital communications. Eventually in 2009, I found a home with Edelman because it seemed the culture prioritized and valued everything that was changing because of the emergence and disruptive nature of social media. Back then, it was the PR firms that seemed to understand best what was changing. Today, it's not the same story. 

I believe search, social and mobile are the three most disruptive forces in modern communications and they are working together to wreak havoc on organizations and their agency partners. Because I work for a public relations firm—I feel a sense of urgency to start here and lay out what must evolve. The people (stakeholders) we want to reach move effortlessly across a media landscape often times making no distinction. Increasingly they spend time on mobile devices skimming content in "streams or feeds". The average consumer of media has the attention span of a squirrel on ritalin and getting them to pause to read anything more than paragraph is becoming increasingly difficult. The media industry has been disrupted and thereby public relations is an industry in the midst of change. Here are a few areas I believe PR must aggressively embrace and do differently. 

Creative
Most PR firms will say they have creative talent, but we have to ask ourselves if it's the right creative talent. Can we produce apps that live in Facebook or mobile? Are we working on the next Nike Fuel or are we in position to just do the media outreach for it? My most recent hire is a digital veteran who has spent most of his career at advertising and digital agencies. We aren't going to just get people talking about things—we are going to create the things they talk about.  

Analytics
Analytics in Public Relations has to move beyond just counting "placements" similar to the act of pulling together traditional media clippings. Analytics in public relations has to integrate with the other measurement functions of an organization (like connecting earned to owned properties). It also needs to go beyond measuring and move into data collection and analysis. And analysis needs to evolve beyond merely analyzing into deriving core insights to inform decisions like how to spend media dollars and what the tone of messages should be. I'm currently hiring a senior analytics lead for my team and I describe the ideal candidate as part measurement wonk and part digital planner.    

Converged Media
Public relations was built on the notion of "earned media" which differentiated it from advertising. Today, it's all just content as part of the vast quantity we are able to digest on a given day thanks to the deluge we are subjected to. It was Google that began infusing ways to "pay" to help raise visibility with the search engine. It is Facebook that has introduced to the mainstream a convergence of media through things like the promoted post—and it is the media itself that is offering more ways than ever to make advertising feel like it's a part of the editorial universe. This convergence defies both traditional advertising, marketing and public relations constructs—yet poses great opportunity for any of the disciplines who are nimble enough to master. 

This brings us to today and tomorrow. Here's what I am seeing in the industry: PR got a head start on social but it's been rapidly eroding. Companies who value customer service have moved beyond how many PR professionals think about social and are gradually evolving how they service customers. The advertising industry which has always held "creative" in high regard no longer sees social, digital or mobile as add ons but rather core to their business. They are bent on not just talking about the digital world but rather they want to help build it—and they also understand how to leverage creative communication to get people's attention. The partners who handle media transactions do so in bulk, but increasingly it will need to be done in real time. In short, it is the marketing and communications industry that is being disrupted and for those of us on the "PR" side—we must act quickly and decisively to re-invent ourselves in a way that looks more like the future and less like the past. 

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2013: The Year Everything Converged

From a media perspective—marketers like to align strategies and tactics along the lines of how things are done at scale. The popular framework goes something like: Paid (advertising), Earned (Word of Mouth), Owned (Corporate) and everything else falls in a somewhat more grey area and from my perspective this is where the action will be for 2013 and beyond. As outlined above, Altimeter calls this area of overlap "converged media" because it's a convergence of different media dynamics coming together. If you ask me—from a marketing perspective this is the future of what, to this point we've called "social".

You see an image in your Facebook news-feed shared by a friend. The image was generated by a brand. You saw it because your friend shared it. They shared it because they liked it. They liked it because the content resonated (and they saw it). They saw it because the brand paid Facebook to promote it.

Paid?
Earned?
Owned? 

All of the above. A social platform merely powers the engine and the above could have all been done in a mobile context. I'm doing a lot of thinking in this area as I build out my team because I don't believe that anyone has the "converged" part completely figured out yet. From a talent perspective I've already begun importing folks from the ad agency side of the house who get both social, digital and content. Mentally, I've been thinking about the dynamics of how different teams function:

Traditional:


A television centric marketing approach is still fueled primarily by the dynamic duo of a creative team composed of an art director and copywriter supported by an infrastructure of scale which fuels the teams with insights and has a small army of media service individuals who determine how the money gets spent so that the campaign oriented marketing message is seen and heard.

Digital

Similar to the traditional team but digital teams often "build" things (apps, sites, platforms) which add an experiential layer to the marketing initiative. Copy for the digital team is somewhat more complex as the things they build can often contain much more than what can translate through offline marketing tactics and so a comprehensive approach to content is required. 

Social-Digital

The newcomer to the mix. Many brands are now taking the nuts and bolts of social in house—but the above model whether in house or agency side (or blended) is designed to merge the basics of good marketing (valuable content) with the more real time nature of social news-feeds (timely relevant bursts of communication supported with dialogue). Again, looking at teams from a media perspective—a core social-digital team that targets the converged media space must bring creative, community management and a newsroom-like sense of editorial savvy together. 

I think 2013 is going to be the year that things feel like they are all blurring into each other more than ever and is going to create a lot of challenges for both brands and their agency partners as they work together to figure out how to address the overlaps. In addition to bolstering our creative, strategic and measurement capabilities—I've also put someone from my team in charge of thinking about the overlaps between paid, owned and earned and how this all evolves for our clients (a director of converged media services). I think that especially for digital, this is going to be where the action is.  

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Brands Will Become Media: Here's How

If your company doesn’t have the above model in place a year from now, you may regret it.

You’ve probably felt it for some time, but now the roadmap is becoming clear—companies must build their own media empires. And if they don’t, they risk missing a window of opportunity that provides myriad benefits, whether it’s telling their own stories or becoming more efficient with the media dollars they spend.

Trends in media consumption point to the convergence of savvy marketing tactics combined with a real-time newsroom approach for brands to be seen and heard in a collectively social, digital and mobile world.

Facebook: Engagement Isn’t Enough

First, let’s start with Facebook which, thanks to an alleged algorithm change, has been at the center of controversy in the marketing world. Though it’s cited as the reason brands have noticed their content reaching a lower volume of Facebook users, the caveat is that there is much a company can do to increase the odds of being seen and heard on Facebook. But, it relies on a brand doing a few things really well.

For starters, it’s not enough to solely engage on Facebook. A company now has to provide a steady flow of high-quality content, which then relies  not only on organic content sharing from Facebook users but also on subsequent media purchases with Facebook in order for that message to spread.

Sound familiar? It’s how advertising has been done in the past, only with a big difference. Much of the content that tends to do best is oftentimes associated with current news or highly relevant social issues. Take for example whatOreo has done with its Daily Twist initiative, where in honor of the cookie’s 100^th anniversary, agency teams get together daily to decide how to riff off of relevant, often newsworthy, subjects that, by day’s end, produce a new piece of clever, highly shareable visual content that’s sent out into the digital ecosystem. This type of approach makes clear what most pundits miss when challenging the notion of “ROI” in social media—the reason a company wants to amass followers in social media is to build their own marketing/communications network, which bypasses the middle man and goes right to the source.

The end game in social media won’t be accumulation of fans but rather your ability to reach them and potentially inspire action.

Marketing Meets the Newsroom

The middleman in question could conceivably be media agencies. Why spend millions on media purchases when you can consolidate some of that spending with Facebook? This is where it’s going to get really interesting because most big companies like to clearly divide their needs with partners who handle tasks at scale. Creative agencies do creative and media agencies do media. The problem with this model is that a real-time newsroom-meets-marketing model requires community managers who understand not only how to manage a Facebook page but also know when to put a dollar behind high quality and timely content that will spread. This model jumbles up what was once a clear divide between content, media purchase and engagement.

Becoming media companies may not be optional for brands. Felix Baumgartner didn’t do his stratos jump alone—he had the backing of a major brand (Red Bull), a team of ex-NASA scientists and Red Bull’s media team who covered the event, creating an infinite amount of media coverage that generated a nonstop wave of publicity. I’m not even sure how to estimate the value of this type of coverage, but suffice it to say that it’s significant and leaves a mark on a Google-friendly Web.

And how does all this media spread? This is where players such as Pulse come in.

Whether you are mobile or on the Web, Pulse allows you to have all of the media you can digest and share at your fingertips, served in a usable experience. And much like other media models, some content is promoted organically due to popularity and some can be bought for featured placement.

It’s all going to come down to this: content, quality, frequency and relevancy. If companies are to become media, they must master the art and science of merging marketing with a real-time news cycle. The content a company produces must be compelling and built for an audience with an itchy “like” finger.

And it’s going to take time. Most companies don’t have full-time editors and newsrooms that work hand-in-hand with their marketing department and partners, but in a few years they might.

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From Islands To Ecosystem: Connecting Social, Digital + Mobile

From Web And Desktop To Anytime, Anywhere.
In the early stages of digital, businesses first dipped their toe on the Web by launching brochure like Websites which had to be located initially through a browser "URL" (WWW) followed quickly by search engines which organized the Web. Today, the Web and the digital landscape looks dramatically different compared to the Internet's frontier years. For starters, the Web has become mobile, with 1.2 billion of the world's population accessing the Web through a mobile browser. In addition, the internet is increasingly being accessed by tablet or mobile apps and aggregators such as Flipboard and Pulse. To add even more complexity to today's fragmented digital environment, social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have proven that a business must extend it's digital ecosystem into social spheres in order to remain relevant. Today’s digital ecosystem is composed of the following increasingly overlapping areas:

Owned:
These are the Websites, corporate blogs, intranets and extranets your business has full control over.

Paid:
These are media properties your business “purchases” in order to drive traffic and raise awareness.

Earned:
Properties which drive traffic/raise awareness but rely on organic distributions.

Social Networks:
Platforms where a business can build a social “embassy” (combines paid and earned tactics) that it partially controls.

Search Engines:
Primarily Google, Bing and regional search engines used to find information on the Web (Siri for mobile meets Ai).

Mobile:
Technology such as phones, tablets and the mobile social-digital behaviors they foster. 

In short, the Web era which was dominated primarily by stand alone slow moving Websites is gradually though systematically becoming a thing of the past,(this is why Facebook must master mobile). Today, a business must approach the Web from the standpoint of connecting its external and internal "digital ecosystem" which brings together "owned properties" such as websites and mobile apps with social "embassies" as well as a fleet of new platforms from third party providers such as customer reviews or popular social networks. Many businesses will face huge challenges in this area as their large global Website structures were built with dated legacy systems and not architected for the future state of digital ecosystems which the industry is moving toward.

Five Ways To Go From Digital Islands To Integrated Ecosystem
Ensuring that your business is building a digital ecosystem vs. disconnected "islands" means fixing the foundation while moving forward in areas where your business needs to be relevant (social and mobile). Media companies like The New York Times have begun to show the way here as they've had no choice but to optimize their content for a mobile, social, digital world. Professional organizations, brands and corporations are the next in line. The steps below are meant to provide high level guidance and is not comprehensive but designed to provide general guidance:

Perform A Digital Footprint Audit
A digital footprint audit takes stock of all digital, social, and mobile assets (both external and internal) and evaluates them against a set of criterion which is customized for your business and industry. Digital properties should be looked at critically. Are their properties which are outdated or not optimized for search or mobile? Are there properties with unrealized potential? Are some properties being kept on life support when they should be put down? A digital footprint audit takes a wide look at everything your business has out on the digital space  and identifies gaps, issues and opportunities.

Implement A Content Strategy
A comprehensive content audit should be performed to determine what content is valuable vs. what's not optimized for a social, mobile Web. A content audit compliments the digital footprint analysis and provides the roadmap for what content stays, what needs to be re-located and identifies gaps. From this, a content strategy should be developed aimed at producing optimized content for search, social sharing and mobile interactions.

Assess Signals Derived From Search And Social
A digital ecosystem is only as effective as it's ability to be found and it's relevancy to current conversations. A conversation assessment looks at what's being said about your business and relevant topics across the digital landscape. It also looks at how effective your digital ecosystem is in sending signals which are being shared across multiple social platforms. On the other side of the fence, a search audit looks to see if your properties are being found in search engines specifically guided by relevant terms critical to the business. Both exercises will provide clues to the question: "is my digital ecosystem both findable and shareable"?

Re-Assess Your Infrastructure
Large complex sites are never easy to maintain, update or evolve but this doesn't take away from the fact that they will need to become more effective at handling change faster. A comprehensive audit from an unbiased and qualified third party may uncover legacy issues rooted in IT which need to be addressed. Some issues may involve updating existing infrastructure and others could require a gradual overhaul of not only existing systems but also partners and vendors. In either scenario an exhaustive audit here would likely be the place to start. Without it, root issues will likely never be addressed no matter the quality of your digital strategy. 

Evaluate Current Resources & Processes
Moving from digital islands to a connected ecosystem means taking a look at your existing organizational design. A modern ecosystem requires staff and resources which can manage social properties, develop for mobile and produce valuable content which travels effortlessly across that ecosystem. An organizational process design exercise can be useful in documenting current state and visualizing future state providing a roadmap for how to navigate the changes needed in order to optimize the organization.

Ecosystems Take Time
Planning, building, maintaining and ensuring that you've grown a healthy and integrated digital ecosystem will not happen overnight. Be prepared for it to take time, resources and the stomach to deal with multiple stakeholders from marketing to IT to customer service. The above activities are more likely to be effective if approached globally but executed against with local and regional execution. Digital ecosystems for large businesses will also require the cooperation and coordination of multiple partners in order to realize the potential. The burden of this coordination will fall largely upon the organization driving the initiatives and it's key partners. 

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When It's OK To Put Your Klout Score On Your Resume and Other Matters of "Influence"

It was bound to happen. I opened up the attachment from e-mail and there it was, impossible to miss: at the top of every page of the individual's resume was their Klout score. I have to admit, my first reaction was to be slightly turned off, however the more I thought about it, the more I looked at it objectively. After all, I had identified "the cult of influence" as a significant social media trend for 2012 so it only made sense that Klout scores or other indicators of one's social graph prowess be documented in their professional credentials. If you're wondering, the individual's score was in the low fifties which is fairly respectable, though that's besides the point. The real point is there's a time and place to reference your "digital influence". Here's what I recommend:

When To Invoke Your Social Graph

Organizations do occasionally hire individuals who have cultivated significant social graphs and the expectation is that they will use their skills and the "influence" associated by their online (and offline) reputations for the job. There are probably few better examples of this than Robert Scoble (Klout Score 84) who in the past was hired by Fast Company and is presently employed by Rackspace as an evangelist and content machine. iJustine is another example though she's more of a gun for hire and has worked with a number of brands who desire to associate themselves with her online audience. But it's not always the social superstars who have equity attached to their impressive social networking prowess but also community managers or individuals hired to connect with a specific group and have the chops to connect meaningfully with them. In both scenarios I might be interested in checking out Klout scores, follower ratios and all other indicators of an individual's ability to cultivate a following because I'd be hiring them to do just that. 

When To Leave Your Social Graph at The Door

It's probably more common that for most jobs, even in the social business industry that a social graph on steroids won't matter that much. If I'm looking to hire a strategist then the most crucial skills are critical thinking and the ability to analyze intelligently. For project managers it's a proven track record of launching things on time and on budget. For the people who "create" things, it's the things itself that matter whether it was developed, written, shot etc. For those who manage accounts it's their book of business and their role in growing it (or not). In short, unless your job is to be an online personality (or part of your job) the net worth of your social graph becomes less relevant.

Influence Scores: A Gateway Drug

Recently I participated in a Google Hangout with Gini Dietrich (Arment-Dietrich PR, SpinSucks and Inside PR podcast), Andrew Grill (CEO of Kred) and Zena Weist (Expion) moderated Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson. In it we had a spirited debate on the state of digital influence, what it means and how it gets measured. I stressed the value of outcomes when we evaluate the meaning of digital influence because in order to claim to be influential, there has to be an outcome associated with it. Maybe that's when you should put your Klout score and other digital metrics on your resume--if you're expected to leverage your digital influence as part of your job and have the outcomes to back it up, then the value of your social graph is in play.

Enjoy the discussion below: we had fun recording it.

Thoughts On Altimeter's Digital Influence Report

Altimeter's most recent report titled "The Rise of Digital Influence" revolves around the theory and practice of "digital influence". A trend that will not die despite the industry's counter movement against platforms such as Klout and the scores of imitators which have subsequently followed. (Full disclosure, I was interviewed in depth for the report). Altimeter rightfully begins the analysis of "digital influence" by calling out the distinction from how we view influence traditionally and offering a brief definition:

"Traditional influence is defined as the act, power, or capacity of causing an effect in indirect or intangible ways. For the purpose of this report, we will use the following as the definition for Digital Influence: The ability to cause effect, change behavior, and drive measurable outcomes online."

The last line is really important as it gets to the crux of the complexity and controversy of looking at digital influence: the difference between measuring the potential to influence action and the actual outcomes of that potential—connecting the two is where the rubber meets the road.

Pillars of Influence

Altimeter does a nice job of articulating "Pillars of Influence"—a similar construct to one I had worked on last year, but I really like how they've fleshed out a way of looking at the building blocks of how you build upon the potential to influence decision and actions. They are:

Pillar 1 — Reach: Relationships form the union of the social graph and define how far information can travel across the social graph and communities at large. Reach is a measure of popularity, affinity, and potential impact.

Pillar 2 — Relevance: Topical relevance is the glue of the interest graph and the communities of focus. Individuals aligned through subject matter create a series of linked relationships that send information along communities of focus.

Pillar 3 — Resonance: The culmination of reach and relevance serve as the foundation for “the score.” Here, resonance is the measurement of the duration, rate, and level of interactivity around content, a topic, or conversations. High resonance ensures that more people will see each post or update. In theory, this number determines the reach of activity and how long it can stay alive in the social streams of online consumers.

Notice that there is no mention of tools in these pillars. This is because, tools and platforms do not dictate what the pillars are and are only helpful in supporting the intent of an outcome. Measuring influence in the digital realm is always a means to an end and never and and itself. 

Social Capital: The Soul of Digital Influence

Probably my favorite part of the report and what Brian and I spent a good deal talking about was the concept of "social capital" and it's correlation to an effect. When looking at programs which are fueled by tapping digital influence, it comes down to the social currency of individuals which is much more critical than network size. A large group of individuals who have built up social capital over time can be just as influential as a small highly connected group with similar capital built up. Combine these dynamics with the size and quality of their social graphs and you have the basic chemistry to create an effect. When we raised nearly 17 thousand dollars for a family in need (effect) I observed that it was less about the size of people's networks (it took large and small ones to move the needle) and more about the quality of them.
 

Influence Metrics: Measuring Impact

Surprisingly or perhaps less so, Altimeter's report lays out a set of high level metrics which can be used as a starting point when building your own measurement framework against programs which involve digital influence. What I noticed most is that nearly all of the below metrics are consistent with many external social programs, and even more broadly consistent with traditional metrics which have always resided within either public relations or marketing business functions. The biggest take away here is that while digital influence tools and techniques may have evolved at the core it's being embraced as an upgrade to both traditional marketing and public relations. Altimeter's metrics include:

•    Brand Lift/Awareness — Benchmark where the company is today in social networks, and set goals and KPIs to improve brand awareness and reach.
•    Brand Resonance — How often is your business discussed in the social web today? Define how resonance will keep your business top of mind and to what extent can be driven through influence programs.
•    Reach Through Advocacy and WOM — Existing advocacy and WOM initiatives can be designed to influence customer behavior and decisions.
•    Sales/Referrals — Through special offers and promotions or exclusive incentives for engagement, brands can drive leads, sales, and referrals.
•    Sentiment/Shift — Negative or indifferent perception can be shaped toward positive or favorable views.
•    Thought Leadership/Authority — Tapping into the communities of expert individuals can help your brand tap its social capital to contribute to the stature within the community you hope to earn.
•    Demand — Invest in demand creation through exclusive programs and intentional outcomes.
•    Trends — Changing behavior is possible once you understand what it is today, how you see it evolving, and identifying the right people and value to help you get there.
•    Audience — Investing in the size of your community and its quality is a function of design and purpose, and its value grows through strategic alignment and engagement.

Why It Matters: People Don't Change, But Digital Behaviors Do

The report is worth reading not only for it's concise constructs, but also for it's collection of real world case studies as well as it's overview of tools. (Disclaimer: Tweetlevel is an Edelman platform and I am on the advisory board for Appinions). However the report is timely as it underscores a reality—while the basics of communication and interactions remain the same, our digital behaviors are constantly evolving whether it be the newly empowered consumer class or the ability for individuals who have never met in person to weave powerful and influential online networks. Understanding, measuring and tapping digital networks is fast becoming the equivalent grassroots efforts meets rewards programs. As individuals continue to build up their networks earning and spending social capital, businesses will seek to align themselves with the most relevant and connected groups.

A full version of the report can be found on Slideshare: (below).

The Rise of Digital Influence

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Trust Shifts From Institutions To Individuals

 

Today I had the opportunity to present to academics and industry experts from the international poultry industry (you can listen to a re-cap via a short podcast from "Agwired" here). During the presentation I was able to share some results from the recently released 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer, in which the overarching theme is a general skepticism toward institutions such as government and big business with signs of hope when it comes to empowered individuals.

A Person Like Yourself
In last year's study, it was the expert and even the analyst who enjoyed some degree of trust from the public according to the survey, but this year it is "a person like yourself" who sees the most gain. What I stressed to the group of experts at the event was that this is an opportunity for them to share the stage with "regular" people who have a voice via a variety of social channels and also a responsibility to be "in tune" with the topics and issues they care about and discuss. Last year I speculated that the decline in attention given toward people like ourselves—our friends and peers may have been related to social media fatigue. This year, it's possible that many of us who make social networking part of our digital routines have gotten a bit better at filtering the signal from noise, thereby being both more generous but focused with our finite attention spans.

Regular Employees
In this year's survey, CEO's took a nose dive compared to last year reflecting a somber and skeptical mood which likely connects CEO's with the institutions they work for. Only government officials fared worse. But it is the individual "regular" employee who moved from the bottom tier to the fourth most credible and trusted resource. This signals a significant opportunity for organizations who have cultures in place where employees themselves are trusted to behave responsibly and are active in public spaces.

 

Fragmented Media Consumption (And Production)
A recent Mashable article reported that digital ad spending had surpassed that of print—bringing an era to a close and emphasizing the new reality of media fragmentation. The increase in social media (illustrated above) is partially fueling the shift—with social networks driving much of the traffic through sites replacing e-mail shares with buttons that blast out content across your networks amplified by others. Nobody knows this more than the traditional news media outlets who are scrambling to ensure that content is designed for social sharing.

Trust In The Digital Age of Empowerment
With trust in government, big business and at a broader level institutions down—there remains experts and individuals both who are in a prime position to take their platforms into digital spaces and elevate their position. For institutions, there's an opportunity to improve sense making out of what's being said not only by the mainstream but also talked about via networks, message boards and anywhere a comment button can be pressed. For CEO's, a chance to take a second look at their workforce—instead of seeing worker bees, the connected CEO may see employee ambassadors who when motivated can be the most effective spokespeople for their company.

For the complete findings on this year's Trust Barometer—the data can be viewed and downloaded via Slideshare (below).

2012 Edelman Trust Barometer: Global Deck

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Six Social Media Trends for 2012

Originally posted on Harvard Business Review

Each year at this time, I look forward and predict trends in social media for the coming year. But first, I look back at my predictions from last year. How'd I do? Not bad.

Social media continues to move forward toward business integration, a trend that I identified last year. In a joint study from Booz & Company and social platform developer Buddy Media, 57 percent of businesses surveyed plan to increase social media spending, while 38 percent of CEO's label social as a high priority.

I was also partially accurate in predicting that Google would "strike back" in 2011. They did, with Google Plus, a formidable initiative that acts as Google's "social layer" to the Web. Part social network and part social search, Google Plus has industry observers scratching their heads, wondering if Facebook will be given a run for their money or if the service evolves into something complimentary in a highly social Web.

I had one big swing-and-miss on Facebook's intrusion in the location-based services war. While Facebook still supports location tracking in a number of ways, it has not put Foursquare out of business. Foursquare still enjoys a niche audience of highly active participants who enjoy telling the world where they are and post pictures to prove it. It is however worth noting that Facebook recently acquired location based network Gowalla, so continue to watch this space.

So what can we expect in 2012 in a world that seems to grow ever connected by the hour? Here are six predictions to ponder, in no particular order:

Convergence Emergence. For a glimpse into how social will further integrate with "real life," we can look at what Coca Cola experimented with all the way back in 2010. Coke created an amusement park where participants could "swipe" their RFID-equipped wristbands at kiosks, which posted to their Facebook account what they were doing and where. Also, as part of a marketing campaign, Domino's Pizza posted feedback — unfiltered feedback — on a large billboard in Times Square, bringing together real opinions from real people pulled from a digital source and displayed in the real world. These types of "trans-media" experiences are likely to define "social" in the year to come.

The Cult of Influence. In much the same way that Google has defined a system that rewards those who produce findable content, there is a race on to develop a system that will reward those who wield the most social influence. One particular player has emerged, Klout, determined to establish their platform as the authority of digital influence. Klout's attempt to convert digital influence into business value underscores a much bigger movement which we'll continue to see play out in the next year. To some degree everyone now has some digital influence (not just celebrities, academics, policy makers or those who sway public opinion). But for the next year, the cult of influence becomes less about consumer plays like Klout and more about the tools and techniques professionals use to "score" digital influence and actually harness, scale and measure the results of it.

Gamification Nation. No we're not taking about video games. Rather, game-like qualities are emerging within a number of social apps in your browser or mobile device. From levels, to leaderboards, to badges or points, rewards for participation abound. It's likely that the trend will have to evolve given how competition for our time and attention this gaming creates. Primarily, gamification has been used in consumer settings, but look for it in other areas from HR, to government, healthcare and even business management. Perhaps negotiating your next raise will be tied to your position on the company's digital leaderboard.

Social Sharing. Ideas, opinions, media, status updates are all part of what makes social media a powerful and often disruptive force. The media industry was one of the first to understand this, adding sharing options to content, which led to more page views and better status in search results. What comes next in social sharing is more closely aligned with e-commerce or web transactions. For example, Sears allows a user to share a product or review with their networks directly from the site. Sharing that vacation you just booked, or recommending a product, or service from any site to a social network is where sharing goes next. We probably don't know what we are willing to share until we see the option to do it.

Social Television. For many of us, watching television is already a social act, whether it's talking to the person next to you, or texting, tweeting, and calling friends about what you're watching. But television is about to become a social experience in a bigger and broader sense. The X Factor now allows voting via Twitter and highlights other social promotions, which encourages viewers to tap social networks while they watch. Another way media consumption is becoming social comes from a network called Get Glue which acts as something of a Foursquare for media. Participants can "check-in" to their favorite shows (or other forms of media) and collect stickers to tell the world what programs they love. Watch for more of this this year as ratings rise for socially integrated shows.

The Micro Economy. Lastly as we roll into 2012, watch for a more social approach to solving business problems through a sort of micro-economy. Kickstarter gives anyone with a project, the opportunity to get that initiative funded by those who choose to (and patrons receive something in return). A crowdsourcing platform for would be inventors called Quirky lets the best product ideas rise to the top and then helps them get produced and sold while the "inventor" takes a cut. Air BnB turns homes into hotels and travelers into guests, providing both parties with an opportunity to make and save money. These examples may point to a new future reality where economic value is directly negotiated and exchanged between individuals over institutions.

These are a few emerging trends which come to mind. As with anything, looking to the past often gives us clues for what may come in the future. Please weigh in with your thoughts: where do you see "social" going in 2012?

Google+ Ripples Visualizes Social Sharing

Back in 2006, I attempted to visualize how digital influence spread through the blogoshpere using a metaphor of "ripples". Fast forward 5 years and there's a really cool new feature you can play with on Google Plus called "Ripples". See below:


I really love what Google is doing with this visualization. Here's how it works as best I can tell. In this visualization you can see the source of the share indicated by large type. In this case, Jeanette Halgreen was the first in this particular digital influence ecosystem to start the sharing. You can follow the ripples which spill out in multiple directions. Ripples shows larger spheres where there is a lot of sharing happening and it shows you who is sharing from who and displays direct shares and total number of re-shares.

You can even play back Ripples to watch the spread of a particular post which tracks the movement of the media over a timeframe and visualizes it allowing you to see who, and where reverberation was generated.

So what's in it for business? For starters it gives media professionals a test area to see how media spreads, who is spreading it—what makes something sharable and how connections work. Of course it's only a small sample (Google Plus) but it's a nice little tool to use if you're interested in media and network effects. Nice work Google.

Optimizing Content & Visibility with SlideShare

Originally Posted on Edelman Digital

As a public relations firm, we are always looking to engage with key audiences and share ideas though unique avenues. Recently, we began doing this through SlideShare. Think of it as YouTube for documents: SlideShare offers us a platform for listening and discussing what matters most to our work, our clients, and the industries and communities we participate in.

As communicators creating new content moving forward, we keep in mind the below five best practices for creating and sharing effective content on SlideShare:

1. Make It Visual

Some of the most viewed and shared presentations on Slideshare go beyond bullet points and extensive copy in favor of highly visual presentations that communicate ideas quickly and in an engaging fashion. Presentations can be made more visual by leveraging imagery from sources such as Flickr pending that a user has a Creative Commons license stating that the work is free to use pending attribution to the creator. Presentations that use info graphics, charts and information design instead of text-based data points also tend to do well and shared more often.

2. Have a Definitive POV

POVs and perspectives distributed on Slideshare must be definitive, ownable and expressed in a compelling way. In other words, the creator of the content needs to be opinionated and the creation must communicate these opinions in clear and memorable ways. Models and case studies should be used to help communicate and support ideas, theories and perspectives.

3. Share What You Know (and Make It Interesting)

Slideshare’s ecosystem rewards individuals and brands if they openly share knowledge in compelling ways. Pick topics that have strong communities around them and then produce a deck that tells a story about what you know and teaches the reader something. Focusing on both specialized content catered to a specific audience targets the presentation and increases the odds of it getting circulated. Good writing, images and storytelling techniques are what will make the knowledge compelling.

4. Include Others

Just like other forms of social media, putting the spotlight on others is an effective tactic in SlideShare. The inclusion of others and their opinions opens up the content to their networks and puts the author of the presentation in the position of curator. This combination creates both value and increases the odds of the slideshow getting circulated.

5. Give Your Presentation A Theme

Memorable presentations sometimes break the mold a bit and feature custom themes in the form of a concept, a visual language or even the voice of the presentation. Typically themes are most effective when all three work together. Themes help make the content more interesting, relevant and enjoyable.

This week Edelman launched our official Edelman SlideShare Network to help share more presentations, documents and content with the world through SlideShare’s growing community. Within the network, specific channels are tailored to various Edelman content categories; Edelman Showcase – provides a look at client programs from our practices; Edelman Talks – serves as the hub for presentations from conferences and speaking engagements; Edelman Insights – acts as the home for all Edelman IP; and Edelman Etc. – offers an eclectic outlet for Edelman employees to share their interests and passions. Edelman Digital even uses Slideshare to showcase its portfolio which lives both on Slideshare and Edelmandigital.com. Slideshare combined with great content and presentations gives communicators the ability to make their content more compelling, portable and sharable.

The Social Layer: Six Thoughts On Where Google Plus Is Going

I've been deeply immersed in Google Plus for the last week or so, not only following what's being said about the service but actually using it, kicking the tires and making observations along the way. For what it's worth, I think Google Plus has an incredible amount of potential for a number of reasons. Here's a few thoughts or more accurately opinions. Everyone has a take, so the only thing can offer here is that I've had these thoughts in my head while using the service but wanted to give it some time before putting it into writing.

1. Google Plus Isn't A Social Network, It's A Social Layer
Google Plus looks like a social network and feels like a social network but I don't think that's where all of this is going. What Google has been successful in doing is creating the beginnings of what I think will become a social layer across the Google/Web ecosystem. The brilliance of their strategy is that the experience is good and seems designed for users craving a solution that takes aspects from Twitter, Tumblr and adds some of the familiarity of Facebook resulting in a promising social experience which lets users broadcast in public or share and connect selectively. If Google can scale and refine what's making G+ appealing to early adopters, they will be well on their way to showing the rest of the world what a social layer looks like (and I'm looking forward to watching this unfold).

2. Google Plus Isn't A Facebook Killer And Doesn't Need To Be
The media and pundits will continue to ask the question of Google taking Facebook out. I am fairly confident that average social "consumers" (think your mom or non industry friends) will not be leaving Facebook any time soon. However, this doesn't mean G+ will not become a significant force in media and other areas--I believe it will because it offers enough compelling connectivity, social features and content to siphon attention away from multiple networks/communication platforms including Twitter, Foursquare, Tumblr, Posterous, E-mail etc. As my colleague Steve Rubel points out, time and attention are finite. The more time and attention G+ gets from users and publishers, the more it takes away from all others. In my opinion, Google plus will take away enough time and attention for other networks to feel its effect and influence.

3. Journalists, Public Relations Professionals & The Media Will Eventually Flock To G+
Facebook knows that they need to appeal to journalists and media professionals in order to become an even more influential network. Currently, journalists favor Twitter over Facebook due to it's real time and open nature. Google Plus combines these aspects of Twitter with a way to organize "sources" and information organically. I believe this is where Facebook will feel Google plus most as media entities begin to incorporate the service into their routines. I don't see Facebook being structured as well for things like scanning headlines and leveraging journalists as personalities.

4. Businesses With Employee "Ambassador" Models Will Activate & Deploy Them
Call them community managers, evangelists, or corporate ambassadors, many business models leverage employees as public agents to educate, engage and activate advocacy amongst their customers. Google Plus has come out swinging strong with features such as circles which makes managing multiple groups of connections effective (something Facebook or Twitter doesn't do well). For example, a community manager who only wants to communicate or give their best content or news away to a their most engaged or high value members can customize different content to different groups.  Naturally, many company "ambassadors" will organically begin cultivating their network, but the real opportunity lies with a coordinated deployment.

5. Big And Small Business Gets A Second Chance With Google+
Google Plus offers not only users, but business and brands a second chance at getting in while the infrastructure is still being put in place. Though Google has not rolled out brand pages (or pages for non human entities), companies of all shapes and sizes who may have fumbled their efforts on Facebook, Twitter etc for a variety of reasons will have a second chance at setting up their "embassies" on Google Plus with some planning in place and a host of learnings to draw from efforts on previous networks.

6. Google Will Bring Search & Social Together
Nobody knows how exactly, but Google+ is likely going to bring the worlds of search and social even closer together. Already, they remain linked—(for example, the more your content is shared via social media, the more it does better in organic search results). However, Google+ itself it not yet search-able (officially) while in other cases Google has offered ways for content producers to attach their identities to search results. If someone is going to figure out how these two worlds connect more interdependently it will be Google.

Google Plus is no Empire Avenue or Quora—it’s the company’s arguably successful attempt at a social layer, which will likely integrate across other verticals and intersect with search.  Personally, I think it could be a serious game changer for the reasons I’ve listed in this piece. Challenges for both individuals and brands will remain investment, risk, strategy and getting up to speed on this ecosystem in real time. My advice is to get the right people in your organization focused on determining if this space will affect your industry. At minimal, pay close attention to it. On the other end of the spectrum, if you want to break new ground—consider investing in all things Google as they weave their social layer across their considerable ecosystem.

Find-ability Meets Share-ability: Social Content Optimization

Originally posted on Edelman Digital via Greg Lipman

In oversimplified terms, SEO to the average company is a process of performing research into the words people are using when searching or discussing online. Company X then refines the copy and metadata on their site to match the vernacular people are using to improve their relevance in search result rankings. Of course this is a very simplified description. For more information click here (PDF).

SCO (Social Content Optimization), is a process Edelman Digital is presently refining based on our belief that search and social are intertwined.

In our model, we first perform that initial search and social conversation audit to see what people are asking for or discussing but then compare the results to a company’s public digital assets such as videos, images and documents to see if they are properly aligned with the vernacular people use for search and easily shared between people socially.

In short, a digital asset that is searchable AND sharable is more relevant. Theoretically, the net result looks something like a huge spider, spreading and maximizing the find-ability and share-ability of a client’s materials so they organically work much harder for you.

What are your thoughts on the future of search – do you have a content optimization plan for your business?

Edelman Digital SCO Process

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What Bin Laden's Death Teaches Us About Modern Media

I'm sitting here on an historical Sunday evening watching the news of Osama Bin Laden's death unfold in real time. It's been over an hour since the news of a pending presidential statement first hit the national airwaves. It got me thinking about the state of media based on how I was digesting and consuming it. Here are a few thoughts:

Media Will Continue To Fragment
I first caught wind of what was going on via cable news on CNN. The network, however was not speculating on details of a pending presidential statement, so in addition to scanning other television channels one of the first things I did was ask my network on Twitter what they had heard (above). I had gotten back a variety of responses but noticed that several were indicating that they had heard something about Bin Laden being killed. Immediately I stopped and thought about what I was doing. Television was not immediate enough and too conservative when it came to getting information first hand—I was looking to Twitter for the "scoop" and television to eventually confirm it.

Social Media Spreads Like Wildfire
Historical events such as the death of Osama Bin Laden continue to highlight the speed and virality of media which is generated and distributed via social networks. Less than two hours after the news broke—a Facebook Page called "Osama Bin Laden is DEAD" accumulated over 150,000 likes. Multiple Twitter accounts have already cropped up including @ghostosama attracting over 17,000 followers instantly. Once again, a major global event highlights that media is no longer a broadcast activity and that social networks amplifies activity instantaneously.

The Validation Era Is Real
As colleague Steve Rubel points out—validation by authoritative media sources is more critical than ever. While we may get information directly from peers, in real time fueled by multiple social networks, we don't instantly trust it all. I found myself taking a screen grab from the New York Times site (above) as a way to validate (and document) the historical news. All media is now shared across multiple spheres (mainstream, tra-digital, owned, social)

Curation & Aggregation Is The New Spray & Pray
With so much content being generated, so quickly—there is the need for it to be selectively curated and aggregated into destinations which make it easy to digest. Platforms such as storify (see example below) help do exactly this.

 

Is a Social Currency System The Next Big Thing?

Twitter lets us tell the world what we are doing. Foursquare allows us to broadcast where we are doing it. Empire Avenue let's us determine how much we are worth. That's essentially the premise of this quirky and somewhat addictive social system modeled after the stock market and loaded with game mechanics that reward you for a variety of participatory behaviors both on the network and across others.

Like Twitter and Foursquare, the network makes very little sense to the first time participant. It's more Foursquare like in the sense that it functions as a game—however it increases your "worth" based on the investments you make in others as well as your activity on the social networks that you connect to it. First impressions? I'm not seeing a practical use but it's a lot more fun in many regards than Facebook.

One application I could see potentially. For brands looking to gauge their social currency via the level of activity across networks and put a score to it (similar to something like a Net Promoter score), there are some interesting pieces of the platform which could potentially work this way. It's too early to tell exactly. I'm on it as are many of my friends—like the beginning of any social network. And just like all networks it will either gain some level of adoption or fade off into the sunset. Are you trying it out? If so, buy me while I'm still affordable. :-)

Seven Indicators of Twitter Influence

Originally posted at Social Fresh

The NY Times recently reported what regular users of Twitter already know. Follower counts are an indicator of influence but not a very good one. And yes, followers can be and are gamed frequently with the assistance of shady web services. Here are a few more critical Twitter influence indicators:

1. Lists
Being included on lists gives us two clues. One: Being included on thousands or more signals that you are visible. Two: The categories people use to classify you tells you something about the topics you have influence in: This is known as “topical influence” and it’s really what counts in influence.

2. Retweets
These tell you something about how willing people are to amplify your messages and help them spread. A retweet essentially says “this is something I want my network to see”. It’s Twitter’s version of viral loops.

3. @Replies
These signal how much others want to talk to you or intentionally tag you, and also serves as an indicator for how willing you are to engage and tag others. Less replies signals less social interactions and more broadcast.

4. Follower Ratio
Generally, if a user on Twitter follows a disproportionate amount of users than follow them, it signals their desire to accumulate followers. Not always, but often. A 50/50 ratio translates to someone following back anyone who follows them, which includes spammers. Twitter users who follow significantly less than are followed indicate some selection process.

5. Tweet volume
This simply indicates how prolific a user is. Those with high volumes who retain high levels of engagement, list counts, retweets, and a healthy ratio are likely providing some type of value. High volume Twitter accounts with suspect ratios, low engagement, etc may have a high noise to signal ratio

6. Favorites
Getting favorited frequently does mean something, though because Twitter users leverage Favorites so differently, it’s nearly impossible to discern exactly what, other than you triggered a behavior (the action to Favorite) for some reason.

7. Quality of connections
The most difficult to quantify and probably THE most important indicator is the quality and RELEVANCE of who follows you on Twitter and who you follow back. Targeting the right audience and earning their attention (and Trust) is ultimately the best (and softest metric). Follower counts (and ratios) are an indicator, but only one of several and one of the easiest to game.

Search + Social = Authority x Influence

Search Is Information Based
There are two primary ways a digital participant finds content across the digital cloverleaf (paid, owned, earned, social properties). One scenario is to initiate a search using a popular search engine such as Google. Most recently Google has tweaked their algorithm to reward authority and quality of content as opposed to what is considered to be of lesser quality such as link farms. This move presents an opportunity to communications professionals and who can provide quality content which can land in a respected earned media property which wields authority. Search activities are usually information driven meaning a digital participant is seeking specific information. The results of their targeted searches which are increasingly ranked by authority and quality dictates what they will amplify to their own networks using either e-mail or a variety of social platforms to spread the information.

Social Is Influence Based
Media is also found (and talked about) on a variety of social platforms ranging from blogs, message boards, Twitter, Facebook etc. The attention of a participant is obtained typically through a “stream” or “friend” of a connection. Media is then digested and shared generating conversations. If enough conversations are generated, these result in the formation of signals which register across the digital media cloverleaf. In this scenario, digital participants are influenced by their connections to digest, amplify and discuss media.

Search & Social Intersect
Search & social do not exist independently, but co-exist in a dependent fashion. For example, it’s common practice for journalists of respected media outlets to monitor and even source conversations which occur on social properties. An article on an influential media outlet citing the source of the conversation can in turn can affect the search results of a specific phrase. The opportunity exists through targeting what participants are searching for and pursuing strategies which generate the right kind of conversations around these topics. In addition to conversations, the right kind of content can also be picked up. Every initiative in digital needs to integrate how search and social relate to each other around a specific topic and category which you wish to influence.

Aggregate, Curate & Syndicate
A sample scenario: A competitor launches their competing product generating targeted signals which register on the Web. Digital participants search specific phrases to find information and news articles on the launch while simultaneously conversations across social and digital media properties erupt. Results in search and social begin to influence what a participant thinks (the consideration loop begins). Analysis of search engine rankings targeting specific search queries is initiated. Insights and data are converted into a communications and engagement plan designed to create a set of new signals. Communications and engagement initiatives are launched across the entire digital cloverleaf (paid, owned, earned etc.) and syndicated leveraging partnerships. If communications and engagement initiatives take hold, increased activity across networks resonate and search rankings become positively affected. The combined results in search and social can now influence what a digital participant pays attention to and takes action against. The process is repeated as new signals are monitored.

This is how search and social can and will work together.

How to Craft the Perfect Quora Answer

The following is a guest post from Joe Chernov. Joe is the Director of Content for Eloqua. Co-chair of WOMMA member ethics panel. You can read more about Joe here: http://www.jchernov.com

Q&A sites, whether they be Quora, Focus, Namesake, ChaCha, Aardvark or good “old fashioned” LinkedIn Answers, are all the rage.  In fact, Matt Creamer of AdvertisingAge recently pointed out that Quora has received as much press in six months as Answers.com – the 18^th biggest site in the US – earned in six years.  Given the rise in attention paid to this category, participants are left with one question: How can I contribute answers that are disproportionately influential? 

Inspired by Sebastian Wernicke’s hilarious and provocative “Lies, damned lies and statistics” TEDTalk, my colleague Andrew Moravick and I decided reverse engineer exactly what you need to do to craft the perfect Quora comment.  We studied nearly 500 answers spanning 50 Quora questions on topics related to marketing, advertising, demand generation and social media, then identified three sure-fire ways to ensure your answer ranks among the most discussed and “voted” posts.  They are:

1.     Answer first,

2.     Include links or (better still) graphics in your answer,

3.     Stick to a word count of 100 to 200 words.

Let’s have a look at each.

Answer First
Speed is becoming the great equalizer when it comes to social business.  Anyone unconvinced of this fact should read David Meerman’s Scott’s Real-Time Marketing and PR.  (You won’t remain unconvinced for long.)  Quora is no different.

Social currency was assigned asymmetrically to the first answer.  Take “mentions” for example.  People who answer questions on Quora often reference answers posted by others.  (This is social media, after all.)  Well, a whopping 60% of all references point to the first answer posted.  Similarly, “votes” – Quora’s answer to Facebook “Likes” – are disproportionately awarded to the first answer posted.  In fact, our study found that 41% of all votes are cast for the first post.

 

You Don’t Know Everything
Social media – especially when it comes to Q&A sites – is a credibility game.  Bombastic consultants who claim to know everything are ignored.  Sales-thirsty vendors who rush to the close are panned.  But the Quora community will embrace both consultants and vendors, provided the person has value to add.  Without question, the best way to value is to incorporate supplemental content into your response.  In fact, answers that contained links or graphics were mentioned in subsequent posts more than twice as often as those that didn’t include additional resources.  They also received three times as many votes as their link-less counterparts. 

As an aside, incorporating graphics into an answer might be the secret to Quora.  Although the sample size was relatively small, answers that included a graphic were nine times more likely to be referenced by someone else and five times more likely to earn a vote.

The Magic Number
Who would have thought that there would be a “magic” word count for voluntarily answering questions online?  But there is.  It’s 145.  Or, more specifically, 160 words if you want others to reference your answer; 130 words if you are hunting for votes.

Of course, that level of precision is absurd.  But without a doubt there is a correlation between word count and popularity.  Short posts add little value (they tend to applaud more established community members), whereas long posts run counter to the short-attention-span theater that is social media.  The graphics below suggest Quora members strongly prefer answers in the 100 to 200-word range.

Of these three tips, which is most important?  Generally speaking, being first is the most reliable way to ensure your answer echoes throughout the digital halls of the thread.  But what if you aren’t tethered to your computer?  Is it possible to play “catch up”?  Absolutely.  Embed a graphic in your answer and keep it to about 150 words and your contribution is likely to be as popular as the first in the thread.

How Charlie Sheen Is "Winning" The Web

On a Saturday evening, through my Facebook feed—I heard about Charlie Sheen's next move on the internet. I clicked on the link and waited for about 10 minutes as the crew of "Sheen's Korner" grappled with technical difficulties and then a few minutes after it's "advertised" air time, the show came on. Welcome to the new prime time. Sort of.

Sheen's Korner, a live broadcast leveraging the Ustream platform and integrating several social networks including Facebook and Twitter just might have created a new category of entertainment—the extreme reality stream. The stream, while bizarre at most times was what you'd expect from something like this—a low production and unscripted combination of Sheen's notorious catch phrases ("winning" etc) combined with some sporadic efforts from Sheen and his "co-hosts" to respond to viewer comments. Compared to Charlie's Twitter account which soared to over a million followers in record time—his "reality stream" paled in comparison, only attracting just over a hundred thousand viewers during the broadcast.

What will become of "Sheen's Korner"? I'd be curious to see if a sponsor comes forward, but even if the experiment "fails"—it's a win for digital media as more people will know what video streaming is after Charlie makes a few more headlines thanks to his latest exploits on the social web.