Social Media - Servant of Chaos

Re-intermediating the Media

Community, Digital Strategy, FutureVisions, Innovation, Media, Old Media, Social Media

One of the things that most excited me about the World Wide Web was the way it crushed the distance between an idea and its reality.

The mere fact that I could, with a few spare hours and a scrapper’s knowledge of HTML, create a website – a “place” on the internet where nothing was before – seemed to me, a revelation.

Over the last 20 years we have seen a dramatic transformation in the media landscape. The promise of the early web has been delivered. Now, you or I can produce web pages and whole sites without the need of complex programming or large scale resources. We can produce “media” or what largely passes for media, using a $50 webcam, a microphone borrowed in the downtime between Singstar sessions, and a point of view all held together with a dash of passion.

The easy availability of technology and the digital publishing platforms sent waves of transformation through all forms of publishing – from books, magazines and newspapers to radio, TV and beyond. The full effect of this slow moving tsunami is yet to be seen or accounted for – but the lasting transformation is in the nature of power.

In the wake of these changes, the power that was once centralised in the hands of the publishers and broadcasters has been fragmented – tossed like so many pins into a new global haystack of content, opinion and conjecture. As Ben Shepherd points out, the winner here has been the search engines and content organisers like Google:

Google came in and created a tool that allowed internet users to find what they needed quickly and easily. It reinvented search and has allowed consumers to get anything they want, whenever they want, and for the price they want – generally for free.

But we are now experiencing another wave of transformation. Where the first wave shifted the base of power away from the broadcasters towards the content organisers, this next wave of disintermediation is moving information – and recommendation – away from the search engines. As a result we are seeing people powered networks (best characterised by sites like Twitter and Facebook) benefitting from this new shift in the locus of power. Tom Ewing describes it simply:

This shift is best interested, I think, in thinking about the difference between corporate brands and ‘personal brands’. The corporate brand entering social media is urged to give up control, to surrender some of its autonomy. But Twitter’s most popular users – its A-Listers, the celebrities – are using it to regain a level of control over their presentation and perception, through disintermediation.

This trend, while still small, will have Google worried, for while they seem to struggle with the human dimension of the social web, they certainly understand the power principles inherent in social network design and its resulting viral expansion loop. Interestingly, however, most social media participants, once they reach a certain scale, invest in the creation of what can best be termed “old-school media properties” – turning what little influence they do hold into a business modelled around advertising, sponsorship and editorial.

This seems to be a zero sum game to me – properties built on new foundations seem to sit uncomfortably within business models that they themselves, helped discredit. But what has been missing is a way to re-intermediate the new media – bridging the gap between business, brands, advertising, media buying and planning, and these long tail publishers. In the last few weeks two new players have stepped into this space. MediaScope, the brainchild of Denise Shrivell is “an online directory connecting advertisers, marketers and small business to 'alternative' media opportunities in niche, below the line, emerging and independant platforms.” It is due to launch in the coming days.

Media Cafe is also staking a claim in this space – but bringing perhaps a fuller community based publishing model to market. Currently in pre-release mode, Media Cafe is also open for the population of data ahead of a launch. Interestingly, Media Cafe appears to be putting new social properties on the same footing as traditional media properties. This aspect alone is likely to raise eyebrows, but will it unleash a new wave of innovation and transformation. No doubt both MediaScope and Media Cafe are banking on it.

Seeing the Trees in the Social Media Forest

Blogging, Digital Strategy, Measurement, Social Media

With each passing day there are more and more case studies, examples and justifications for brands to use social media. There are best practices emerging (or easily found with a Google search), thousands of “how to” blog posts explaining every aspect of social media (or perhaps the same aspect repeated 1000 times) and agencies devoted to social media as their core competency.

But it seems to me that we are beginning to swim (or is it drown?) in data. Because our social media interactions are digital, we can measure plenty of things – the time you spend on our sites, the things you click on, where you have come from, where you are going to, how much you spend, what you liked, rated and searched for and so on. And if you happen to have created a social network profile then we know even more about you – age, work history, relationships, preferences for products, brands, music, movies and so on.

But I have to ask – in amongst all this data, are we missing the trees for the forest?

You see, as marketers and as business people, we have been conditioned to think about after-the-fact aggregated data. We are used to thinking about what people DID based on certain conditions. This then allows us to cut-and-dice, segment and fine tune our customer base. It allows us to build out personas that make sense within the context of OUR BUSINESSES.

This works fine in a model where the direction of business communication is one way. It’s perfect in a world of broadcast – for in a broadcast world we are only interested in the forests (there being far too many trees to deal with). However, in a world where communication is polyphonic – where the authority of the message depends less on how shrill you are or how much air time you can buy – and relies instead on the trusted flow of recommendations from individual to individual, then a strategy which allows you to distinguish a hardwood from plantation pine is essential.

What this requires is for us to stop thinking about ROI.

It means turning our attention away from the R – the returns that come to us or our businesses – focusing instead on the I – what it is we are investing in.

By understanding who our consumers are, what our brand advocates look like, what they do (apart from loving our brands – yeah right!), where they play and so on, we can identify opportunities to engage with them. We need to invest in the RIGHT relationships – those that lead towards returns (monetary and non-monetary). We need to remember that branding is a marathon – that it all takes time – but we also need to work smarter. We need to take our excellent marketing processes and understanding and apply it in a way that enhances the way that we view our audiences. We need to use our knowledge of the forests to make sense of the trees, and only then will we begin to realise not only that social media makes sense for our businesses, but that “social” is the business.

Can Curating the Crowd Work?

AgencyWorld, Co-creation, Crowdsourcing, Future of Your Brand, Social Media

Having worked on two, and heading into the third Age of Conversation book (bringing together hundreds of thought leaders in a single, crowdsourced book), not to mention our recent efforts around The Perfect Gift for a Man (30 crowdsourced stories reinventing manhood), I feel like I have a fairly good grasp on crowdsourcing and its potential.

But can it work for advertising? Will it work for agencies? And, perhaps, most importantly, will it work for the communities which emerge almost spontaneously to become part of a crowdsourcing project?

Unilever are putting this to the test. Via Idea Bounty, the Peperami brand are tapping the wisdom (and creativity) of the crowd to ideate their next integrated marketing campaign. Those creating the winning idea will receive a $10,000 payment and see their concept be turned into a global campaign.

But this is not a one-off – The Guardian reports, “Unilever said it has no plans to retain a full-time ad agency for the Peperami account in future.” So clearly, we are seeing the beginning of a shift – the Brand (Peperami) are moving ideation away from the agency world and reaching out directly to their customers. In response, over 1000 submissions were received.

Amelia Torode airs her concerns around crowdsourcing advertising – and the energy with which it has been taken up – raising some interesting points in the process. For example:

Is the $10,000 prize a rip-off? After all Unilever is one of the world’s largest consumer companies
Turning ideas into something more substantial takes real skill, expertise and commitment
Have agencies been “over-paid, over-precious, over-protective”

The comments to the post make for great reading. The debate moves from the role of creatives and interns (and whether they are ripped off by the agency business) to the process followed by Idea Bounty.

But the question that concerns me is – “is this sustainable?” Crowdsourcing is hard work. Not all ideas have legs – or can be extended across different channels and cultures. There is a real overhead – which I presume will be taken up by Idea Bounty – and it may simply be that we shift the budget from the ideation stage to the curation of those ideas. And if that is the case, have we really achieved anything? Will the ideas be better? Will the sales increase? Will the brand be more loved by its consumers?

There are many more questions … but I will leave you with this – if your customers really do become the creator of your brand, and if they are successful, do you share the spoils of the success with your community? You see, for me, crowdsourcing is not one way – and while a one-off “prize” may satisfy at first, it could easily leave a bad taste in the mouth long after the first bite. And is ANY brand ready for the kind of backlash this could generate? Are you?

Ten Ways to Kill Community

Community, Enterprise Social, Smart Bloggers, Social Media

Sometimes the best way of understanding HOW to do something is to think how NOT to. In this fantastic short presentation, Marilyn Pratt steps through the 10 things that you can do to kill off the community that has begun to grow around your brand (or products, services etc). There is some great insight that can be applied to any business’ community – and each point is backed up with the hard won experience of working in, building up and evangelising a large corporate community.

Marilyn is one of SAP’s community evangelists and knows first-hand what works (and doesn’t) – but does this accord with your experience? What other ways have you found to kill your community?

Why Rockstars are Rockstars

Branding, Social Media, Storytelling

Mack Collier has a great post about rockstars and rockstar ideas. He talks about the way that we identify rockstars in social media – and suggests that we need to look not at the biggest names, largest followings or loudest voices. He recommends:

Spending less time identifying the 'rockstars' and more time focusing on the great ideas
Stop focusing on numbers to determine influence
Listening closely to new ideas from new voices, and magnify both when you hear them

I thought this was interesting – especially in light of the U2 Webcast that occurred live the other day (and of course you can login at any time to watch the replay – excellent!). Here we have a band that have been at the cutting edge, moved into the mainstream and redefined what we call stadium rock. They have used their music to awaken and activate our social conscience through their connection with good causes such as red. And they have carefully aligned the U2 brand with consumer product innovation – firstly with the launch of the iPod and now again with YouTube.

It made me think that the reason rockstars ARE rockstars is that they are constantly reinventing their story. They continuously test, refine and extend their creative output that works from the edge of their audience back to the centre. And they align strategically not only with emerging trends – they blend their ideas into them – adding their weight to the story in-action. (I am sure you realise I am not talking about U2 now.)

But how do they do this?

The P-L-A-Y Framework

Using the P-L-A-Y framework it is possible to see how this reinvention takes place, how it works not just for the band but also for the brand, and why consumers are attracted to it. Jye Smith has an excellent presentation on how P-L-A-Y can be applied to a Gen Y market which is well worth checking out.

When you are structuring your communications, by factoring this framework into your storytelling you can dramatically scale the engagement of your audience, and perhaps, more importantly, you can allow them to OWN that story (which is also your story) – or what I call The Auchterlonie Effect.

P — for Power

Demanding of attention
Testing limits (boundaries around behaviour, responsibility etc)
Controlling the controllable
Belonging

L — for learning and curiosity

Beyond the message, tapping into behaviour
Skills development
Negotiation

A — for adventure

Exploring an ever changing world
Actively making the world a better place

Y — the yelp of surprise and delight

Recognition and reward
Self expression

How U2 P-L-A-Y

P … Clearly rockstars understand our tribal desire to belong. It gives us power, strength in numbers and affiliation. By loudly playing their music, sharing it with others via Twitter, blogs or even shared iPod lists, we announce our allegiance – which also allows other “like minds” to come to us. We are moths drawn to one-another’s flames.

L …There is plenty of back story available with a rock band like U2. From their early punk days to their social conscience (Live Aid, red etc), the band has consistently moved beyond the message – influencing and leading behaviour not just amongst their fan base, but on the global, political stage.

A …Their passion for reinvention is clearly at work. They are adventurous, creative and not afraid to put their music, their image and their reputation on the line.

Y … Bono’s personal interest in sunglasses, the shift in visual style and appeal of the whole band (and as individuals) demonstrates self-expression. But no matter how they change on the surface, it is their music which sparks us to remember, to connect and to empathise. The band constantly plays with our sense of expectation – surprising and delighting us with each song, each new stunt – or even the unexpected cover version (eg Frankie Goes to Hollywood).

And, of course, it is the music that we are able to hum to ourselves, share on our iPods and perform at karaoke (oh yes, I have seen it done) that allows us to really step inside the U2 brand story. The band are larger than life. They need to be to walk on stage in front of a packed Rose Bowl. But in mastering performance of this scale, rockstars live the story and aspirations that many of us harbour deep inside us. Maybe we just need to think about our own stories – on a smaller scale. Think fishbowl rather than Rose Bowl … and maybe one day you’ll step out onto a much larger stage than you could have imagined.

It starts with the first word of your story. What’s yours, rockstar?