Servant of Chaos

Mainstreaming Social Media

While I normally don’t like using nouns as verbs (perhaps I am linguistically conservative?), I quite like the word “mainstreaming”. It implies that social media is in a state of transition where widespread acceptance and uptake is occurring with the general public. 

Paul Chaney suggests that the rising popularity of social media, while strong, will still take some time to become fully integrated into marketing practices. Interestingly, the social technographics profiling from Forrester shows that consumer adoption levels are high, especially in the “spectator” category – but this reinforces the sense that innovation is being driven not by business but by consumers in their quest for creative interactivity and engagement.

In Australia, Forrester’s Steven Noble’s recent analysis indicates that only 24% of Australians DON’T use social media in some way.

Peter Kim has a great post over at MarketingProfs providing some excellent insight into what these figures mean for bloggers and/or social media consultants:   

On the upside, it's more likely now than before that:

• You, your customers, your prospects, and your competitors are reading and writing blogs
• Better tools to interact with the medium exist for reading, filtering, authoring, and tracking
• You can say the word "blog" in conversation without feeling silly

On the downside, it's more likely now than before that:

• Spam related to your business interests lives in "splogs"      
• Traditional marketing approaches will find new ways to make consumers hate the medium
• Your "regular" friends know what you mean but still think blogging is for geeks

For marketers still finalising their budgets for 2009, I would recommend setting aside a small experimental budget for social media. Hive off 5% or 10% of your MEDIA budget and contact EXPERIENCED agencies and consultants (email me if you need recommendations).

With pressure to perform in tough economic times, it’s time all marketers stop ignoring the spaces in which consumers are ALREADY playing. In this Age of Conversation, it’s time for brands to stop shouting and start participating. Welcome to the mainstream.

Stranger Danger for Brands

When I was a child I was always warned to be careful of strangers ... and I remember how confusing this was. Who was a stranger? What did a stranger look like? In this research, released by Universal McCann in September 2008, we now know – strangers look incredibly like us. And the tipping point? When it comes to opinion and recommendation, we trust them more than we ever have.

The research polled 17,000 Internet users in 29 countries to discover that there is a new landscape of influence driven by:

• The rise of social media
• Digital friends
  
• The proliferation of influence channels

For brands, this is transforming the marketing landscape – with a vast majority of digital, social interaction revolving around “experience”, conversations about YOUR brands are already taking place. And more importantly, we now trust the opinions of strangers almost as much as we trust people we know well. This is the stranger danger for brands. It is also why not engaging in the debate about your brand carries a high risk. Take a read and think about your leading brand:

• How are you participating in the online conversation
• What are your strategies for interacting with influencers
• Are you organisationally prepared for the transparency required to move from conversation to action?
  
• How are you “listening” and measuring key brand indicators in various digital channels?

   

    

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It's Not Time to Cut Through But to Cut Out

As I have grown older, I have been amazed to realise that the more I know, the greater is my capacity to learn. Not only can I quickly absorb new information and transform it into knowledge, I can also direct this towards business and branding opportunities. Even where I come in contact with some completely foreign information, my brain scrambles to find a connection that allows me to contextualise it.

But what about you? Do you find that your capacity has increased over time?

Angela Maiers provides a great explanation in this 30 minute class. She leads us through the different types of connections that we can make so that our memories can be stimulated:   

• Easy – the simple connection can be made because of our exposure to a topic. There is no work involved here. A common topic will add a new layer over the knowledge schema that we already possess – and the information will be readily accessible to you in an instant.
   
• Dig – while a piece of information may not have an instantly recognisable hook on which you can make a connection, a small amount of digging into your own knowledge will help you. This will require some effort, but will also help turn a piece of new information into actionable knowledge.
   
• Impossible – when we are introduced to an alien concept, we are faced with an impossible situation. There are no EASY ways to make sense of the information. Digging provides no context and no prism for understanding. When faced with the impossible piece of information, our natural instinct is to begin to memorise, to rote learn – but this is a mistake, for without providing some personal context to this information you will not be able to retain and apply this knowledge. It will gradually fade from memory.

In the last 10 minutes of this video, Angela shares an approach that allows us to begin creating NEW memories. She explains the technique for creating the first thread of retained knowledge upon which you can build additional context.   

 
• Chunking: After reading/absorbing a piece of information, the main ideas are categorised by the ideas that they invoke. This is not about collecting facts. It is about finding one or two words that connect and explain the overall concepts.
• Joining the dots: Once you have the “big ideas” you then need to make connections between them. You need to write them down. You need to establish a narrative between them.

Now, think about this from a branding and marketing perspective. Have you ever wondered why some things stick and some don't? In general, the information that comes to us through advertising is “impossible”. We are hit by facts and assaulted by images. These all seek to CONVINCE us.

However, if we are each subjected to 5000 marketing messages per day, the blink of an eye that acknowledges each new message will instantly erase the previous one. This means that those marketing messages that are mediated, that come with BUILT-IN context, are more likely to anchor in our memory (hence the use of popular music/spokespersons) – and this plays particularly strongly for digital/social media.

And in a time of increasing financial uncertainty, brands will be looking not to CUT THROUGH but to CUT OUT. It won’t be a matter of your brand standing out in a crowd, but of eeking out some space in which it can create meaningful context in which your consumers can participate. Those brands who have begun experimenting with social media will have an advantage in these tougher times; and those who have not will need to accelerate their engagement by hiring agencies and consultants who have a deep understanding of hands-on brand activation in the digital/social media space.

Interesting times? Sure … but really, as Angela Maiers says, it’s about making connections.

The Effectiveness of Digital Branding

Chris Schaumann has put together this excellent presentation on digital branding, with a particular focus on the Asia region. There are some great statistics peppered throughout, including the fact that there is only an average 5% spend on Internet advertising in Asia Pacific (Australia maxing out at 12.2%). But when you consider that 65% of all marketing spend in 2007 had NO effect on consumers and that 86% of consumers don't believe what brands say about THEMSELVES, then it starts to make sense.

Clearly, brands can no longer EFFECTIVELY represent themselves. And with 78% of consumers believing what "other consumers" say about brands, the rise of consumer generated content/comment/analysis will have an impact on the Future of Your Brand. I particularly like the way that Chris breaks down the "new marketing model" into:

• Transactional marketing
• Relationship marketing
• Experiential marketing

But I would add a fourth element -- conversational marketing. This is the marketing that is done ON YOUR BEHALF by consumers to other consumers. And while it is much less controllable, it is certainly "authentic". Will it bring the love back? Only time will tell.

Tip of the hat to Geert Desager.

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Number of Chinese Bloggers Exceeds Population of Australia

When I was last in China, I spent quite a lot of time with kids like the ones in this photo. I was attending an exhibition in the holiday resort of Hangzhou (which also happens to be one of the regional centres of technology and animation) with hundreds of other vendors. My focus during the event was to engage and entertain kids with some interactive and stimulating digital games.

What struck me was not only the outgoing and friendly personalities of all the kids (except when they were frightened by my Gweilo appearance), but also the fact that these kids were talking to me in English. And I don't mean the stilted, embarrassing mishmash that I normally trot out as an excuse for "foreign languages". I am talking real conversation, real questions, personal interest.

These kids took every opportunity to speak with a native English speaker that they could. A few feet away you could see smiling grandparents and excited parents watching as their pride and joy edged ever closer to ask a question. And like kids everywhere, once the ice was broken, the flood gates opened. "What is your name ?" gave way to questions about home, family, school, favourite things. They were bright, fun and engaging kids, open and enthusiastic. And they could all use computers, picked up the games and activities with a few clicks, and were keen to see their names on the leaderboard. Technology was definitely seen as an advantage ... and every kid I spoke to saw the potential.

I was reminded of all this today as I read Shel Israel's third post summarising his findings from the SAP Global Survey. This third posting builds on the Overview and the Seven Key Findings (regular readers will find little to surprise, as Shel, himself, notes), and provides an EXCELLENT snapshot of the state of social media play all around the world. There are some amazing statistics, including:

• Facebook has grown at a rate of 400% during 2007, but not in Germany where its adoption continues to lag (despite 45% of Internet users engaging in social media of some kind)
• Scotland continues to be a world leader in the field of education (just take a look at Ewan McIntosh's brilliant blog to learn more)

But the one statistic that really hit me was this -- there are now 20 million bloggers in China. That is the equivalent to the entire population of Australia. A great example of SHIFT HAPPENS unfolding in front of our eyes.

Blogged with Flock

Tags: ShelIsrael, SAP Global Survey, Ewan McIntosh, shift happens, china rising

BlogWorld and New Media Expo -- Some Facts and Figures

Mike Sansone reminded me that BlogWorld and New Media Expo is scheduled for early November 2007 ... and the time for discounts is almost over. The breadth and range of the speakers on offer demonstrate exactly how challenging "keeping up" with Web 2.0/social media really can be -- there are strategists, PR and advertising types, technologists, journalists, podcasters and others who cross all these boundaries. But the real reason that social media is fascinating is not the technology or even the ideas.

It is the people. People like you and me. And people like "Jane Doe". And there are lot of them:

• Over 12 million American adults currently maintain a blog.
• More than 147 million Americans use the Internet.
• Over 57 million Americns read blogs.
• 1.7 million American adults list making money as one of the reasons they blog.
• 89% of companies surveyed say they think blogs will be more important in the next five years.
• 9% of internet users say they have created blogs.
• 6% of the entire US adult population has created a blog.
• Technorati is currently tracking over 70 million blogs.
• over 120 thousand blogs are created every day.
• There are over 1.4 million new blog posts every day.
• 22 of the 100 most popular websites in the world are blogs.
• 120,000 new blogs are created every day.
• 37% of blog readers began reading blogs in 2005 or 2006.
• 51% of blog readers shop online.
• Blog readers average 23 hours online each week.

The last two bullets serve as a powerful reminder of the close link between social media and purchasing. It will be interesting to read Des Walsh's coverage.

Monday Love

The Collector - detail
Originally uploaded by foom23.

I have grown to love Mondays. I know ... hard to believe, but in this world of always on/forever connected instantly gratifying communications, Monday is a relatively quiet haven for me. You see, Monday in Australia is the day when the rest of the world rests -- and this gives me the precious time to actually get things done.

Tuesdays, however, are a whole different kettle of fish. There are a ton of emails, phone calls, RSS feeds and blog posts. All this makes it easy to miss things. Peter Kim thankfully points out Ad Age's 2007 Digital Fact Pack with plenty of lovely top line data, interesting facts and even links to other downloadable goodies. Glad someone was keeping an eye on the details!