This is the time of year for grand pronouncements. The death of this and the birth of that; the top 10 of last year; and the trends that will change the new year. Who am I not to join in the Kreskin fun?
Late this Fall, Wired and others took on my pet cultural institution: the blog. They claimed it was dead or dying. Soon to be overcome by shorter communications (Twitter), more social networks (Facebook) and even a resurgence of real journalists (Engadget).
I think the blog has a long life ahead. Bolstered by a continuing surge of content and loyal readers and writers. Of course the medium will change - likely at the startling pace that most things seem to these days - but, its staying power reflects the real value it delivers to our culture.
5 ways blogs will continue to influence culture in positive ways:
Powering the spirit of innovation. Bloggers have been accused of having shiny object syndrome - darting from one new thing to the next just to claim the newest find. The positive spin on that is a sense of constant motion, of new ideas, of momentum behind innovation. This spirit of change emboldens readers and writers to reach for the bleeding edge, to expect and create new ideas.
Building value in the ideas of the common man. Do blogs let amateurs act like experts? Or do they simply give us access to more experts? Niche topics, cheap platforms and navigation by search have given everyday experts the ability to connect with people who value their ideas and perspectives, breaking down isolation and uncovering utility that might otherwise have been missed.
Delivering fodder for conversation. Even people who don't read blogs are influenced by them. Readers take online insights and ideas out into the world. Peppering typed and spoken conversations with what inspired or surprised them.
Creating energy and excitement. There's nothing that moves faster around the blogosphere than big events and big scandals. The power of so many voices aligning around one cause or story is something of a lightening rod for conversation and change.
Opens access to experts. The rules are different online. Important authors, commentators, and brands who wouldn't bother to respond to your mailed letter, OpEd or rant at book club are suddenly accessible in the blog world. Ask a question; it gets answered. Raise a concern; it gets addressed. Start a conversation; it's continued.
Still looking for that perfect present? Here are a few ideas that show off your advertising pride:
Have a fuzzy man in your life? Consider a Norelco Bodygroom. Its $10 million category is the crown jewel of advertising; the pinnacle of social media. It all started with a saucy little microsite called ShaveEverywhere.com that promised an extra "optical inch" for below the neck shaving. 60% of buyers credited the site directly for their purchase. And, three competitors launched similar products in the first year. All from a microsite??? Whoa. And, Armano says we shouldn't even sell those things anymore.
If you're spending the big bucks, a Bravia TV is definitely the way to go. Remember the "balls" spot from back in 2006? That cinematic celebration of color was just the first in a series of Bravia advertising productions that are nothing short of epic. Right now, in northern Italy, the creative team is hard at work again, building a giant zoetrope (a device invented in the 19th century to create short ‘films’ from a series of static images) to make the next spot. Really? I swear, Fallon can sell anything.
Looking for something simple for someone who likes to laugh? I've got just the thing. Long before Hugh MacLeod's sardonic scribbles started appearing in every single conference PowerPoint deck, Tom Fishburne began syndicating Brand Camp cartoons from his cubicle deep inside P&G. The comics were passed on to frustrated co-workers whose laughter helped the enterprise grow. Today, Fishburne's cartoons are known the world over for their incredibly true and laugh-out-loud funny portrayal of life on the frontlines of advertising.
So, what better gift than a big fat book of them? This One TIme at Brand Camp includes over 100 cheeky marketing cartoons from 2005 to 2008, complete with liner notes on each one, and a forward by Jackie Huba, co-author of Creating Customer Evangelists. Click the book cover to buy.
Something more professional, maybe? At attache? A leather portfolio? A kitten-filled calendar? Whatever it is, buy it at Office Max. I know you've made at least one JibJab-powered version of you, your pets or your coworkers rocking out as elves in the last three long years of the Elf Yourself promotion. Come on, give a little something back for all that holiday glee.
Shopping for a bride? A home owner? A college student? There's only one way to go: The Bed Bath & Beyond gift certificate. Why? Because Adverboyfriend works on the account, of course. (Come on, it's the holidays in a recession. What's wrong with a little girlfriend-based promotion?)
If you know me in the offline world, you've probably heard me talk about Carepages - an ingenious little social system that helps hospital patients manage communications with loved ones. It's a lot like a super simple blog that lets patients say how they're doing, what the prognosis is, etc., in one dedicated spot (vs. sharing that same information on phone call after phone call when they really should be getting a little of that doctor-prescribed rest.)
I say it's ingenious because it uses technology to meet real human needs. Needs like compassion and access and impatience and sleep.
Lotsa Helping Hands does it one better. It's a private, web-based community that organizes family, friends, and neighbors during times of need. They can easily coordinate activities and manage volunteers through a group calendar + get updates, pictures, etc. Need a week of meals prepared? Open seven slots and get seven volunteers.
I love this for what it is - a way to give people something meaningful and useful to do in a crisis. And, for two of the fundamental changes shaping nonprofit digital strategy that is illustrates:
People want to help. They'll give, sure, but you own them once they act. There is no single trend that will change the development office of nonprofits more than this in the coming years. Emerging generations of donors want to do more than write a check. A donation is a one-time thing; not the demonstration of an ongoing commitment to a cause. They want to be where the action is. Asked to help - not just pay - in meaningful ways, at various levels of commitment. They want their association with that nonprofit to be part of their identity, not just part of their tax deduction. Colored ribbons were just the beginning.
Think about that Lotsa Helping Hands program with a charity at its center - a local foodbank able to send out calls for packers or canned goods; a hospice able to better mobilize volunteers or letter writers against peaks in need; even Meals on Wheels getting extra drivers during flu season.
Online is quickly becoming the most personal thing we do. There's a great moment in this NPR story when Melissa Block asks if it's less personal to give online. And, Omar Gallaga says he finds just the opposite is true - instead, he feels more connected giving online. Gallaga cites a specific example of giving money to DonorsChoose.org,
a company that connects students and teachers to people who would like
to donate. Gallaga said he got an e-mail from a teacher thanking him
and telling him that the money was being used to buy AV equipment at a
low-income school in Wisconsin. He was able to see the real people helped.
Interesting twist on "impact." No more is it the volumes of people helped, but the real lives changed. It's connecting givers to receivers in incredibly personal ways.
Want to do something little or big? Check out Bethlehem on Broad - a multi-church holiday effort that feeds 1200 families in my city and
includes a big Christmas-day feast and a free call home for anyone who
needs it. They need money, food, time and pass along. Do whatever feels right.
"I don't know" seems to be an unsatisfying answer to this common Q; so, I chatted with a few friends about what's worked for us and what seems to be working for bloggers infinitely more successful than us.
Here are the seven big ideas: 1. Make a plan: Think of it as strategy-lite. A little guiding framework that sets expectations for you and your readers.
Define your audience: Knowing who you're writing for helps determine what you'll write about.
Choose your specialty: Great blogs have a tight focus (writing about world politics one day and your cat the next tends to limit your readership to your mom and your arch-enemy from summer camp).
Select a “repeatable” URL: People talk about blogs online and in real life. Make it easy for them to tell someone about you - go to advergirl.com (that will redirect you to the URL mess you see above).
2. Prioritize content. It all comes down to what you write. Design, frequency, platform, syndication - all that stuff is good, but you win or lose audience based on how intriguing your perspective, how hot your finds, how smart your commentary.
Invest in memorable pieces: Once a month, blow it out of the water. Use images, charts, original pictures, interesting frameworks.
Share new ideas: Most of the social Web is collecting and trading. Adding new cards to the stack puts you ahead.
Involve others: Can't think of anything good? Ask an expert. Post interviews, roundtables, content from conferences, guest blogs, etc.
3. Write the way people like to read.
Have a big voice: Make your style of writing work as hard as the content of your writing
Use lists and bullets: Blogs are the cud of media. People come to them for easily digestible ideas.
Integrate multimedia: Because 20-somethings swear podcasting is fun
4. Build networks. Your best blogger friends are also your best syndication network. If you're an advocate of theirs, they'll be an advocate of yours.
Link, link, link: Share the link love. Reference source material, link to similar content.
Read and interact: Yeah, Twitter is easier, but you've got to dive into your overflowing RSS reader and see what other people are talking about if you want to be relevant and read.
Respond to comments and ideas. Bloggers win loyal readers and ambassadors by being part of the conversation they start. (Yes, I know, I am terrible at this)
5. Make it easy.
Prioritize subscription options: Let people subscribe in any reader, via any medium.
Tweet the latest: Feeds can pile up. Tweet what you're blogging about for instant clicks. (Just make sure you tweet about more than self promotion, or followers will wander off).
Work in series: It makes reference easy and gets your community involved in idea generation.
6. Tell people about it. Yeah, your mom will tell a few people about your blog, but mostly it's up to you. Go ahead, don't be embarrassed. Blogging isn't just for geeks anymore.
Create anticipation: Let people know what's coming.
Get podiums, bylines: Get your marketing department to pimp you.
Add your blog address to your email signature
7. Understand the tools: Sometimes success is in the software.
Pick a powerful engine: Servers like Typepad and Blogger are so chock full of interlinked content and reference that they're basically like steroids for search engine optimization.
Use titles for search terms: Google loves the title field on blogs. Use it wisely.
Track readership: Free reporting tools like Google Analytics and Feedburner make it easy to see which posts people loved.
What's the best way to represent your business or organization on Facebook?
There are a lot of choices – groups, pages, causes, fans, friends. And, none of the which and the why seems terribly clear.
To make it simple:
There is one main choice. And, then a few other important options.
First pick: Page or group or both
Page
Who can create it: An official representative of the real public figure, artist, brand or organization that the page is for
Why page?
First up, pages are indexed on Google. A nice little add to your integrated social SEO strategy
Allows you to connect with an unlimited number of fans (personal profiles & groups support up to 5000 friends)
You can send messages to all your fans
You can use rich media and leverage Facebook apps (super customizable)
Why not page?
Little of the new content or activity you post is actually fed to your profile new feeds (the most visible? New fans. New photos or video uploaded by fans)
Messages to fans don’t go into their inbox; rather, they’re delivered as an “update,” which fewer people see.
Unlike being an administrator of some non-FB communities (like blogs or wikis),there’s no automated way to moderate activity. You have to manually check for new links, videos, etc.
Group: Who can create it: Anyone (on any topic)
Why groups?
Most importantly, you can message all members and the notice shows up right in their inbox for maximum attention
All activities are picked up in the feed – posts, discussion, photos, etc., which provides a lot more visibility
Tend to be more informal, which can, in itself, feel more social
Lots of control over who to involve. There are three different types of groups: Open (anyone can join); Closed (the group owner/admins have to approve all members); Secret (only the members and invitees know the group even exists).
Why not groups:
There’s a 5000 fan limit for messaging. More people can choose to be fans of your group, but you won’t be able to directly contact them
You can’t add apps directly to a group
Customization is limited
Unlike being an administrator of some non-FB communities (like blogs or
wikis),there’s no automated way to moderate activity. You have to
manually check for new links, videos, etc.
Word is, these groups are also very tricky to delete
Then add:
Fan: both these pages allow administrators to turn on a fan function. Allowing fans lets your organization rack up contacts (just like a personal profile allows you to add friends)
Cause: Want to raise money, enable supporters to raise money, win volunteers, etc? Facebook’s new action-based app is Causes. It’s a good add for a group or page strategy. But, because it requires users to add an application, it’s definitely not a standalone.
Quick update in response to an offline discussion:
Q: What's the difference between a profile and a page? A: Short answer: a profile is for people; a page is for non-people (or super people, i.e. celebs). Profiles are the basic building blocks of FB. They represent its millions of members. In a longer answer, I'd also tell you that pages allow a lot more customization and flexibility ... but, I think this whole person vs. nonperson thing gives you the talking point most people need.
If you live in the particular neighborhood I live in, you have to know how to get to one place from anywhere. Schmidt's Restaurant and Sausage Haus. It's a campy tourist trap at the end of a romantic little block in the center of a neighborhood of impossible-to-navigate brick streets, cobbled alleys and one-way deadends.
Importantly, it's the one place that everyone who doesn't live here wants to get to. Walk around this neighborhood for an afternoon and it's virtually guaranteed that someone will pull up slowly behind you and call out - excuse me, do you know how to get to Schmidts. Happily, I live here and - although I'd never actually go myself - I absolutely do know how to get there.
If you live enough of your life online, people start to think you're a native here, too. Able to speak the language and give direction across the whole motley landscape of the place.
So, here it is. A series of answers to the questions I'm always asked. A few Internet sausage links just for you.
Erin and Libby from Yaybia recently sent me this short video message. It includes some insights from their experience with social media and a few more questions for me.
Summaries of their questions and my full long-winded answers are below:
Yaybia: In your videos for Auburn, you talked about your evolution as a blogger. How did you start to get a lot of readers and become a popular industry blogger? Especially when you didn't have tools like Twitter or Facebook?
Advergirl: Back in the blogging stone ages (~2 years ago), I had two things going for me: the 1% rule and a few popular readers. Industry blogs were actively looking for new content to comment on and link to. Creating it offered a huge boost. But, the bigger boost was the links to that content. Over the years, Steve Hall, David Griner, Angela Nativdad, David Armano and other leading bloggers have introduced me to lots of new readers simply by linking to something I wrote.
I know networks and tools make a big difference now, but I still think it comes down to clever content that really resonates . The difference
between the blog I have today and the blog I probably deserve comes down to two
posts. One about guerrilla and one about being an AE. I got more links
to and subscribers from those two posts than from nearly everything
else I've done combined.
The single biggest challenge I had was no real-life interest. The agency I worked at when I started Advergirl wasn't interested in blogging, my friends weren't, etc. It took years before people I actually know started reading the blog. Happily though, I've largely integrated my on- and offline life now. Meeting lots of once-just-handles in person and finding IRL friends online, too. (Now, if I could just get Adverboyfriend to read, the circle would be complete).
Yaybia: Social media makes it easy to reach out to influential people who we have no connection with and start a real conversation. What else to you think social media lets us do that we wouldn't in real life?
Advergirl: Yeah, great question. I love that social media has given authors and leaders the opportunity to tear of their veils and chat with the people. Other things social media has made possible?
Staying close with lots of people. If you haven't read the NYT article on digital intimacy, it's a remarkable take on the relationships we form online
Getting access to peer ideas in non-competitive, instant access mediums
Easily finding like minds around the country and around the world (like having a random election-night conversation with people on another continent)
Getting ideas out there (without a book deal)
Yaybia: We've noticed a lot of our friends who are interns or junior staffers have had the opportunity to be their agency's social media expert. What does that say about how agencies view millenials and/or social media?
Advergirl: A few weeks ago, a friend and I were talking about the "token girl" in new business meetings. You may have noticed that the world of traditional advertising is a little ... testosteroney. Lots of guys in top gigs. Which creates a challenge for new business pitches - how do they look a little more ... well, like they might actually know the consumer they're about to sell diapers, turkeys or QTips to. Enter the token girl. Snapped up from a mid-level post around the office, she comes to represent All Women in the pitch.
Which is kind of yucky, right? Or completely great. If you're a 20-something guy in one of these agencies, you'll be waiting decades to share your ideas with a CEO. If you're a smart 20-something chic, your opportunity could be right around the corner. Really, at 30 I was going head-to-head with the CEO of a fortune 500 company on how they should reach their core consumer. I'll take token and turn it around any time.
Social media natives are that new token. Agencies get that social media is important, but it's not the language of the industry yet. It's still relatively uncomfortable new ground. A secondary tactic for a niche audience. So, take the opportunity. Ten years from now, natives won't be specialists anymore. This is a chance to get an unfair advantage in your career. Why not grab it?
Yaybia: Are blogs really dying?
Advergirl: I'm a fan of the shocking headline. I think those stories on Wired and elsewhere about the demise of blogs were just that. Blogs aren't dying. They're just changing. And proliferating. It's harder to be a leader without funding behind you. There are more choices, higher reader expectations, tougher search standards. But that doesn't mean you can't build an audience of like minds, connect with people and have a conversation that matters to you. Perhaps it's just the blog diva who's dying.
Yaybia: What social networks do you think will be popular in the future?
I think Brightkite sounds fantastic. My nerdy side plays on Goodreads. I believe networks will get smaller. But, really, I can't imagine taking on another login.
Griner - I'm tagging you to take on this question. I tend to be behind the early adoption curve on new networks. Mostly because I already talk to you people in four of them and my real-world friends ... well, I'm glad they're on Facebook (um, finally).
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