Archive for the ‘Social media’ Category

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It’ll make you go blind

December 8, 2009

I’ve heard of adults scaring adolescents with threats of hairy palms…but a hairy face? This is new turf.  James Lipton’s Give It a Ponder PSA about the dangers of texting.

http://www.youtube.com/GiveItaPonder

Knee-jerk reaction: “Why is this old dude warning teenagers about sexting…do they have any clue who he is?”

Then I think to myself, “Self, does it matter?” Does this actually hit several audiences, just on different levels?

Gen Y’s- Yes, we know him for his awkward sense of humor on Inside the Actors studio. For us, texting wasn’t around in high school. We’re of the “no SMSex ’til college” generation.  Back in our day, we had to send saucy messages using alpha-numeric codes on pagers. That said, we’ve tapped our tech-savviness and embraced inappropriate texting, albeit in far more characters than our Jonastweens cousins and little sisters.

Millennials- Yes, that crazy uncle-looking dude is the guy Will Ferrell mocks on SNL.  Sean Connery? Close.   Why listen to what he has to say about sex textiquette? Because it’s really goofy and you can’t help but listen.  Whether or not anyone stops late night booty texts after watching this is unclear. (I also doubt that anyone heeded the advice of McGruff and took a bite out of crime.) The campaign is a mega horn, not a solution.

Parents- You’d better believe this got sent around. Every mother knows of someone else’s kid who’s sexting.  Thank goodness it’s never their own.  Just last weekend, Joan and Mike’s boy was talking about the you-know-what with you-know-who on that whatchamacallit he got for Christmas.  And, if I know mothers like I think I know mothers, this was very matter-of-factly sent to their kids, likely greeted with a “mommmmmm, you’re so weird-a! Get off my Facebook wall!!!!!”

Traditional media- And via traditional media, you hit another (dare I say older) audience and help validate the campaign.  Will this serve as a 5:00 lead in to more coverage of sexting and SMS dangers? Find out after traffic and weather.

http://www.youtube.com/GiveItaPonder

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Social Networks are Real Life

October 14, 2009

“We still tend to connect with the same people through online social networks who we connect with offline…” What a shocker!  It baffles me that this concept is still a new revelation!

It should be little surprise that moms talk to moms online, urban kids chat with urban kids…etc. 

 Take for instance my class on social media where the students are developing social media strategies for real clients.  We’re five weeks in now and still have not yet started talking about “social media” tactics for their final campaigns.  I was really impressed last week when students turned in their first competitive case study.  The assignment was not to look solely at what competitors are doing online, but rather to look at who they are and what they’re doing offline.  We can’t even begin to start planning an online positioning strategy until we have a deep sense of how to align that with an offline personality.  “Social media” insights started with findings like: “Our competitor is doing X, Y, Z . Our strength is A,B, C. In order to compete, our social media presence must position us as ….” YES!

Nowhere in that analysis did we say things like “we need to blog more” or “we should have a podcast.”  Start with what we know off line and the online approaches will hit you in the face (hopefully!)

Does your social class determine your online social network?

  • Story Highlights
  • A recent Nielsen study finds class differences between online social networks
  • Wealthier people are more likely to use Facebook; the less affluent, MySpace
  • Almost 38 percent of LinkedIn users earn more than $100,000 a year
  • A researcher found that college students tended to self-segregate online
By Breeanna Hare
CNN

(CNN) — Like a lot of people, Anna Owens began using MySpace more than four years ago to keep in touch with friends who weren’t in college.

But soon she felt too old for the social-networking site, and the customizable pages with music that were fun at first began to annoy her. By the time she graduated from the University of Puget Sound, Owens’ classmates weren’t on MySpace — they were on Facebook.

Throughout graduate school and beyond, as her network began to expand, Owens ceased using MySpace altogether. Facebook had come to represent the whole of her social and professional universe.

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Surprised? I didn’t think so

July 28, 2009

Sometimes it takes a vid to put what we already know into perspective.
David Meerman Scott is a marketing guy preaching the gospel of in-bound marketing and the new rules of PR.

He’s right. When you ask people how they get info, many will point to Googling or asking friends (or social networks). However, I’m curious of the role of blanket advertising and mass marketing play in brand awareness. Yes, you Googled a product to learn more. But was the act of Googling or asking a friend triggered by direct mail you received or a billboard you passed by on the freeway?

Take car buying for example. Say I bought the car because when I started researching, I learned that it was right for me. But why did I have a particular brand top of mind? How did I even know it was on the market? Some where along the purchase process, did that TV ad or TODAY Show segment get stuck in the back of my head? When I started to Google and ask around, did I asked about a Ford because I saw all Fords advertising, though I’d never admit to advertising having an influence on my purchase. Right??

Markets must absolutely play in the modern media space, but I’m not will to stick a fork in tradition marketing quite yet. It’s still part of the mix.

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BumblebeeHomo Vid Lands GM in USA Today

July 8, 2009

If you’re gonna go gay, you gotta go online. As GM realized long ago, the LGBT’s are extremely web savvy, early adapters to tech and have significant buying power.

As adjunct faculty at Columbia College teaching a course on social media and another on LGBT communications, I couldn’t resist this post. When I developed the LGBT comm course, I had a little help from @TravisParman at GM and it’s very interesting to see the company aggressively (and openly) marketing to the gay community.

Here’s the USA Today lead:

Jul 08, 2009
Chris Woodyard
General Motors pitches Chevrolet Camaro to gay men with beefcake video
For a local movie promotion a week ago aimed at gay buyers, General Motors’ Chevrolet sponsored an online video on YouTube featuring the “Bumble Bee Boys in Briefs” — a couple of buff “go go boys” wearing only Speedo-type swimsuits with the letters CAMARO stitched across the behind. In the video, they are washing a — you guessed it! — Camaro.

And the vid:

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Tweets for Democracy…sorta.

June 16, 2009

I bet it went something like this:
“Hey @twitter! Help me out with this #IranElection thing? DM for deets. Thx- @HRClinton”

U.S. State Department speaks to Twitter over Iran
Tue Jun 16, 2009 3:26pm EDT

By Sue Pleming

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday it had contacted the social networking service Twitter to urge it to delay a planned upgrade that would have cut daytime service to Iranians who are disputing their election.

Confirmation that the U.S. government had contacted Twitter came as the Obama administration sought to avoid suggestions it was meddling in Iran’s internal affairs as the Islamic Republic battled to control deadly street protests over the election result.

Twitter and Facebook have been used as a tool by many young people to coordinate protests over the election’s outcome.

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There you go, ruining it for the rest of us…!

June 16, 2009

Don’t forget how to walk when you learn to run.
It’s perplexing how PR pros forget the fundamentals of good communications when it comes to online strategy.

Know who you’re talking to.
Provide info relevant to them.

The same remains true (or even more true) for engaging bloggers, only now PR people have way more homework to do. Throw out those handy media lists with the email addresses of top editors. Try thinking of bloggers as media outlets with a single producer. Now, instead of pitching three TV programs and 20 magazines, we literally have to dig through thousands of possible bloggers to tailor our stories.

Jessica Smith wrote a great piece on the Top 10 Misconceptions About Mommy Bloggers.

There’s no mistaking it. Moms have an impact in the blogosphere. And a lucky few, like Dooce, are turning it into the main source of income for their family.

But are these “Mommy Bloggers” who you think they are? You might be surprised to find out there’s more to being a Mommy Blogger than one might think.

Here are the top ten misconceptions about Mommy Bloggers and the truth behind them revealed.

The big lesson for PR pros: Yes, tons of women might be interested in your news. But we must become even smarter about targeting. We wouldn’t send the same pitch to Cosmo as we would to Ladies Home Journal. Likewise, there’s a huge difference between pitching a mommy blogger (who writes all about motherhood and her kids) vs. pitching a “woman with children” (who writes about everything from groceries to gossip, and daycare to dating).

Perhaps the issues isn’t PR people misunderstanding social media…maybe it’s just the sloppy PR people making us all look bad (again). Remember this story? Sorry PR People: You’re Blocked.

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Obama’s Fireside Chats

March 18, 2009

The tactic is old, but the media is new(ish).

I’ve heard a lot of hoopla around Obama on YouTube, Obama Using Social Media, Obama Keeps Blackberry.

At it’s core, this is nothing new. A president taking his message directly to the people to build a case for his policies. Love it or hate it, there’s something refreshing about having a leader talking directly to citizens (not just voters).

If he’s successful in building support like this, certain members should be growing worried. Obama may be talking more directly to your constituents than you are. If all politics are local…he’s bringing his message straight to your district. Is traditional local media outreach going to be enough to refute this? (How about pitching your POV to the Rocky Mt Times…oh wait…never mind)

I’m sitting here looking at the president’s YouTube page that’s has some 25k views and don’t see a single video response—either supporting or attacking this message. Where you at, Congress?

Obama’s set a new playing field and appears to be winning…wonder when more folks are going to join in the game.

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Dodd leads…for the best??

January 6, 2009

I was getting all ready to go on a rant about GOP foibles (sp?) online, when a tweet from @acarvin caught my eye.  While nearly 500 people on twitter follow Sen Dodd, Dodd’s not really following anyone.  Hardly a huge faux-pas…gotta give him an A for effort.

Dems doing it...

Dems doing it...

Dems doing it

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The Kids these days and GOP hip-ness

January 6, 2009

Posted today at The Washington Monthly.

Watching the GOP attempt to embrace social media is fascinating.   But careful whom we mock…it’s not just politicians.  You know you’re a bit behind the curve when the word THE proceeds the latest craze.  The Rock Music, The Facebook, The Web, The Nirvana, The YouTube, The Email….

Steve Benen writes:

THEY CAN’T TWITTER THEIR WAY OUT OF THIS MESS…. When the six men hoping to lead the Republican National Committee weren’t promising to build a religion around Ronald Reagan, they were talking about how hip they are to the tools the kids are using on the tubes.

“We have to do it in the Facebook, with the Twittering, the different technology that young people are using today,” Duncan ventured.

“Let me just say that I have 4,000 friends on Facebook,” contributed Blackwell, putting his hand on Dawson’s and Anuzis’s knees. “That’s probably more than these two guys put together, but who’s counting, you know?” Acknowledged Saltsman: “I’m not sure all of us combined Twitter as much as Saul.”

Anuzis claimed he had “somewhere between 2- and 3,000″ Facebook friends, which prompted Blackwell to remind the audience that he has 4,000 friends on the social networking site by waving four fingers behind Anuzis’s head.

Well, if one candidate has more Facebook friends than another candidate, it’s obvious who the superior visionary is.

Listening to Republican officials talk about technology is becoming increasingly painful. It’s a bit like listening to an inept advertising agency promising a business that they’ll have a strong “online presence” because it’ll have a blog and its commercials will be on YouTube.

Let’s call it the Republicans’ Underpants Gnomes’ Innovation Agenda. It’s a three-part plan:

Step 1: Embrace blogs, twitter, and social networking websites
Step 2: (awkward silence)
Step 3: Electoral victory!

The Republican Party has deep and systemic problems. Its ideas are unpopular and its policies have failed. The GOP’s agenda and ideology are out of sync with the nation’s needs. Whether a candidate for RNC chairman has 3,000 or 4,000 friends on Facebook is hopelessly irrelevant.

As Oliver Willis recently noted, as long as the Republican Party is “debating whether a racially insensitive song is really that bad, listens to marching orders from Rush Limbaugh, and consistently defends the failed presidency of George W. Bush, they will stay in the wilderness. Even if they Twitter the eff out of it.”

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What video showed us about the candidates and your business (part 1)

January 2, 2009


In a few weeks, we’re swearing in a new president.  I’m ecstatic because 1) I’ve been involved in his campaign before HQ was even open in Chicago and 2) all the case studies I built around the election are now success stories.

As part of my curriculum for PR Wired at Columbia College and my guest lectures/social media trainings, I talk through what viral videos in this election can show us– the do’s, the don’ts and the learning curves in online strategy.

For the company wandering into the social media waters, the candidates offer  eye-opening peaks into where we’re headed.  Nearly half the candidates announced their candidacy on YouTube—a option that didn’t exist in 04.  (Hard to imagine what Swift Boating would have looked like online…where the videos would have spread quickly, but also been defended by e-Kerry supporters, right?)

Hillary the PC, Barack the Mac (?)

This 1984 vid was one of the first major challenges to Hillary’s inevitability. While created for online, all the major news stations picked up on it. I feel like this helped set the tone for the campaign and served as a preview of what was to come. And the best part…this wasn’t created by the campaign (well, officially)

Funny on Her Terms

Pop culture tie-in, small town dinner, jabs at Bill’s diet. The Clinton camp scored big with the popularity of this smartly produced vid. (the choice of song was a different story…) Hillary engaged voters to play a part in the campaign by choosing their campaign song. This spread like wildfire online and got all sorts of mainstream coverage.

But it was tightly controlled, scripted and produced. This is the corporation paying bank to re-created viral videos. Was this really anything more than a witty commercial disturbed over different channels? Overall, Barack did it differently and it’s authenticity paid off.

Set the Message and Let’em Run

(more…)

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