Brother Ian over at Flagged For Follow Up recently touched a nerve on a recurring theme in my life – those uninitiated to social media claiming they can’t get involved because they don’t have time for that stuff.
I have no problem with anyone who doesn’t want to participate in social media. I don’t want to read a print newspaper anymore and am completely happy with agreeing to disagree on that point. Due to the very definition of what social media is, it only has value if other people with whom you want to stay connected to are also participating. So if they aren’t, it might have less value for you. But saying its because you don’t have time? Not sure I buy that.
Chances are all of us make the time doing things that are important to us – stopping at Starbucks for a coffee instead of drinking what comes out of the pot at home, watching TV, talking on the phone, etc. For those with networks of friends, thought leaders, and co-workers involved in social media, updating Facebook or reading a Twitter feed sometimes even saves the time of having to get long verbal updates from many individuals separately. Additionally, your personally crafted RSS feed can highlight only the information that you find most relevant instead of having to skim a paper or a host of sites to find what you need to be well informed.
Like Ian, I make time for social media because it is important to me, it is valuable to my job, it prioritizes relevant information for me, and it allows me to keep in touch with more people from more parts of my life than at any time in the past. And if I have to watch 1 fewer TV program per week to fit it in, I find that to be a good trade.
<this digression from marketing is unavoidable as we celebrate an important day today May 12, 2008>
Dear Music Editors of ABC’s Brothers & Sisters,
Thank you so much for honoring Steve Winwood’s 60th birthday and new album by making his music (both original and covered) the bed for your episode last night. There is nothing like that voice, the Hammond B-3, or the opening melody of “Can’t Find My Way Home” to start the week. I’m not sure anyone else noticed, but I did and it was awesome.
And to you Steve Winwood, thank you for a 45 year catalog (Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, Blind Faith, Solo) that will never get boring and never be fully discovered. I am convinced that if my 9 month old knows any words at all, they are probably the lyrics to “Arc of a Diver”. It wasn’t until college when I first heard you perform “Low Spark of High Heeled Boys” and went back and started listening to all of the Traffic recordings. And the fact that you still bring the house down and end shows with a song that you sang at age 16 in the Spencer Davis Group blows me away. What did I do at 16? Certainly nothing that has aged as well as “Gimme Some Lovin’” or “I’m a Man”. If you want to have you mind blown, check out this interactive timeline of Steve’s career here.
Listening Nuggets for non super-fans:
Spencer Davis Era: I’m a Man, Gimme Some Lovin’
Traffic: Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys, Glad, Dear Mr. Fantasy, Feelin’ Alright?
Blind Faith: Can’t Find My Way Home
Solo: Arc of A Diver, My Love’s Leavin’, Back in the High Life, Talking Back to the Night, Different Light, Chigano
What’s new in the world of conferences, you say? 2 things particularly spring to mind.
I just finished all of my plans to attend the upcoming WOMM-U Conference in Miami, FL. There is a great list of mainstage attractions, but what makes this event different is that the 2 days will be peppered with small group working conversations with experts from various arenas – including some focused on putting WOMM to use for good.
- Keynotes include would-be-Blogger-Socialite Joseph Jaffe, Ogilvy’s Carla Hendra and Dell’s Andy Lark.
- Faculty include my Ogilvy PR 360 Digital Influence colleague (& newly minted author) Rohit Bhargava as well as my former manager from Dell (& dominator of all things digital marketing) – Liana Frey.
- “WOMM in Action” sessions will bring together attendees from various different background to create a Word of Mouth action plan for the Wilderness Society and the Overton Youth Foundation.
And now, for something completely different, I want to share a casual interview that I had the pleasure of conducting with Rahul Bhargava of nTag. (Still getting used to my FLIP cam)
Rahul is a technologist who really does spend his days thinking about the future of events as we know them. I have been to a couple of events recently that have done away with the printed conference book – putting materials online. Good progress, but a baby step compared to the future that nTag is envisioning. Enjoy the video and let me know if you ever get to experience one of these in person – I clearly don’t get invited to enough sales conventions!!
Virgin founder Richard Branson and Google founder Larry Page have decided that, having conquered the whole of the planet we call Earth, they need to identify more territory to conquer. What’s next for 2 such big thinkers? Why, Mars of course. Thus, they bring you “Virgle“: the open source planet that claims to be the adventure of many lifetimes.
The best part is that you can test your fitness to apply to be one of the first colonists on Mars as part of the Virgle project. Why wouldn’t you you want to go? As they say on the site “Earth has issues“.
(Larry & Richard – thank you for fooling my husband into think this was real for about 30 seconds this morning. It made by day. Happy April 1!)
This is cross posted from Ogilvy’s 360 Digital Influence Blog.
Check out some wonderful examples of small businesses getting a boost from the blogosphere in today’s WSJ. Bean Bag chair maker Sumo Lounge International was able to work with technology uber-blog Engadget to achieve a chain reaction of business success that that $60k in trade show exhibitions hadn’t produced – getting exposure for his product with the audience that would most appreciate it. 2 years after the initial deal with Engadget, Sumo Lounge has been reviewed by 250 bloggers and has tripled profits.
The article maps tightly to our evolving Blogger Code of Ethics, but also illustrates the golden rule for blogger outreach efficacy – inviting a blogger to participate in an experience is infinitely more powerful than sending a press release. Inviting a blogger to review your product, attend a demonstration, live chat with your engineers, enter your contest, tour your headquarters, etc, is a better course for blogger outreach for 3 major reasons:
- An experience is something that the blogger/social media creator can capture and interpret in their own style, chosen medium, and on their own time.
- Experiences provide bloggers with conversational capital that they can in turn share with readers.
- The final benefit of inviting bloggers to participate in an experience is that, because it is more involved than sending a press release, it will force you to tightly focus on building relationships with the bloggers most relevant to your offering.
What type of remarkable experience can you offer your key constituents?
