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Author: Jonathan Barrick

A professional marketer with a passion for all things digital. Experienced in both B2B & B2C, my approach in developing marketing strategies has always been focused on providing the best possible experience for the end-user. I firmly believe that in order to build a strong brand you need to commit to people, first and foremost. Whether employees, customers, partners, or suppliers, it’s the people connected to your brand that truly make it thrive. I believe marketing should be purpose-driven, and that marketing is at its most powerful when it delivers true value and real utility.

“So here we are again stunned by a tragedy. We have been visited by this demon before. Our hearts go out to those that have been injured or killed and their loved ones. How do you make sense of these type of senseless situations seems to be the question that’s on everybody’s mind and I don’t know that there is a way to make sense of this sort of thing. As I watched the political pundit world, many are reflecting and grieving and trying to figure things out. But it’s also true that others are working feverishly to find the tidbit or two that will exonerate their side from blame or implicate the other and watching that is as predictable as it is dispiriting.”

“Did the toxic political environment cause this? A graphic image here—and ill-timed comment—violent rhetoric—those sort of things? I have no f—-ing idea. We live in a complex ecosystem of influences and motivations and I wouldn’t blame our political rhetoric any more than I would blame heavy metal music for Columbine. And, by the way, that is coming from somebody who truly hates our political environment. It is toxic. It is unproductive. But to say that that is what has caused this or that the people in that are responsible for this, I just don’t think you can do.

“Boy would that be nice. Boy would it be nice to be able to draw a straight line of causation from this horror to something tangible because then we could convince ourselves that if we just stopped ‘this’ the horrors will end. To have the feeling, however fleeting, that this type of event can be prevented forever. It’s hard not to feel like it can.”

“You cannot outsmart crazy. You don’t know what a trouble mind will get caught on. Crazy always seems to find a way. It always has.”

“Which is not to suggest that resistance is futile. It sounded pretty dark what I just said there now that I reconsidered it inside my own head.”

Jon Stewart, The Daily Show, January 10th, 2011

Analytics? More like Psychology!

Sam Fiorella, whom I connected with at UnGeeked Toronto, recently posted some thoughts on his blog, The Social Roadmap, on the evolution of how we measure social media success. Sam brings up some interesting points about how the metrics we currently use are really just scratching the surface of what these interactions can tell us.

Of course, Marketers are always under fire from ‘upper management’ to show the real ROI of Social Media. Therefore, it’s only natural that we default to the metrics that can be gauged numerically. X number of followers, Y number of comments, Z number of retweets, and so on. Numbers make people feel comfortable, because they can derive simple conclusions from them. “Well, if our followers went up by 15% this month, we must be 15% more successful! YAY!”, and everyone feels all warm and fuzzy, high-fives all around, and everyone goes back to work.

What Sam brings to light here is the fact that those metrics, while easy to obtain and understand, don’t really provide the insight that you need to make decisions for the future growth of your business. What you need to do is look beyond just how many people are talking, and delve in to what they’re talking about, and more importantly how they’re saying it. Their demeanor in their posts goes a long way to telling you just how your business is performing, not just in Social Media but everywhere.

If you take the time to interpret what’s being said about your brand beyond just what’s on the surface, and use this as the basis for your actions, you can cater more effectively to the advocates of your brand, essentially turning your committed fans in to hardcore evangelists.

For more good stuff from Sam Fiorella:
http://twitter.com/samfiorella
http://www.socialroadmaps.blogspot.com/

Fully Committed

The business climate we find ourselves in doesn’t allow us to take a cavalier attitude towards Marketing activities. Social Media is no different. Having no presence in any of the Social Media options is just plain dumb, but having a presence that is merely superficial can be just as bad.

We’ve all seen ‘those companies’ on Twitter who tweeted a handful of times in the first few days of creating their account, and then went dead silent for the last year. What happened? Why would they do that? What about the company blogs or Facebook pages that haven’t seen any fresh material in months, or longer? Who’s behind this? Far be it from me to criticize, since I have my moments of extreme procrastination that would make ‘the Dude’ in ‘The Big Lebowski’ seem like a dynamic young go-getter, but how can a company not have anything to say for a YEAR?!?

Let’s start with the obvious: If you’re in business and are currently alive and breathing, then you know about ‘Social Media’. It’s been the biggest buzz phrase since ‘Think Outside The Box’ thoroughly saturated the business world. If you’ve been paying any attention to the world at all, you know that Social Media is big on an epic scale, and businesses are adopting it at an astounding rate. That being said, if you took the time to create an account for your business, create an avatar, write a description, design a fancy background, and post a few snippets of info, then you MUST have done it for a reason. You must have recognized some intrinsic value in doing this, even if it was only a tiny little bit. Yet you stopped? For some reason you stopped doing something that takes no cash out of your pocket, creates a constantly growing footprint for your company, is searchable, shareable, and (if done properly) gives you greater credibility than your competition in your marketplace.

I suppose what ‘could’ have happened was that whoever took the initiative within the company to start using SM either left, was fired, or ordered to stop. But really, what are the odds of that? Probably better than I realize, but still, I don’t think that should be considered a legitimate reason. If you’re reading this, and realize that “Holy crap on a cracker, he’s talking about MY company!!”, then the time to remedy this problem is right now.

The accounts are there, ready and waiting for you, all you need to do is start feeding them some material. However, before you start going in to damage-control mode and posting everything and anything in an incoherent stream of gibberish, take some advice that comes direct from one of the top thinkers in the world of Social Media, Mitch Joel. Joel says in his book, “SIx Pixels of Separation”, that to proceed in to social media without an overarching strategy can hinder your ability to create a thriving community presence.

Start by thinking about what your goals are, what your strengths are, where your knowledge and expertise truly are, and how you can help. That last point is really key, because the entire reason for joining, creating, or participating in any community is to give help and receive help. Formulate your plan for social media based on how you can provide useful material to your community. Then, start contributing, and most importantly, don’t stop. This isn’t to say that you need to post everywhere, everyday, but you do need to be consistent. Start out at a comfortable pace, then pick it up as you gain confidence with what you’re doing. As Mitch Joel also points out in “Six Pixels”, the last thing you want is to have your audience be accustomed to you posting a ton of content at the beginning and then be disappointed as you slow down when your content fuel tanks dry up.

The key is to be fully committed to the fact that this stuff matters. If you’re going to be there, then BE THERE. Take it seriously, realize that it takes time to build your community, and most importantly, realize that you’re doing it for your audience, not for yourself.

The oft-forgotten response to ‘Thank You’

The correct (by that I mean equally polite) response to someone who says ‘Thank You’ to you is ‘You’re welcome’. I’m pretty sure that most of us learned this from our parents before we were out of diapers. Now this response can easily be substituted with a number of similar alternatives, such as ‘No Problem’, ‘Glad to help’, ‘Anytime’, and so on.

What I would like to make clear is that the phrase ‘Uh-Huh’ is NOT an appropriate response to someone who says ‘Thank You’. It’s a grunt. A barely verbal acknowledgment that the person speaking to you does indeed exist, and has spoken to you, but that’s about the extent to which it communicates.

If I say ‘Thank You’ to someone, genuinely expressing IN WORDS the fact that I appreciate their help, I would like to receive a little bit more civility in return. I’ve taken the time to give you a response letting you know that I value the interaction that you’ve provided me. All I’m asking for is that additional syllable.

Now, I realize that there are definitely instances in which a certain type of person issues sarcastic ‘Thank You’s, rife with insincerity and scorn. In these cases, please feel free to respond in kind. No one will hold that against you. However, these instances are easily distinguishable from the more common ‘sincere’ offers of thanks, and should be treated as exceptions, not the norm.

Thus ends my Public Service Announcement.

Cheers!

Buy one, get one that’s pointless.

While in WalMart the other day, I noticed something quite peculiar. DVD + Blu-Ray combo packs. These have been around for a while now, I guess, but the frequency at which I actually purchase DVD’s has understandably dropped off dramatically over the last few years.

My first thought upon seeing such ‘packs’ was a gigantic WTF. Who on earth would want two copies of the same movie? Especially since one of them would likely never leave the case. After all, if you’re buying it for the DVD, chances are pretty good that you DON’T have a Blu-Ray player. And if you’re buying it for the Blu-Ray, chances are equally good that you have absolutely no desire to own the low-def, archaic ‘regular’ DVD format. You might as well be buying a Blu-Ray / Laserdisc combo pack.

Prices on these packs ranged between $25 and $35. Which makes them about $10-15 higher than just a plain ol’ DVD used to be, and about the same price as Blu-Ray discs alone are. So, there’s one initial piece of insanity that we can determine from this:

  • DVD’s are essentially de-valued enough to combine in the same pack as a Blu-Ray without the need for any increase in price
  • Blu-Ray discs are so overpriced that you can add a free DVD in the same pack and still make a tidy profit

However, that’s just part 1 of a 2 part opera of consumer gouging. The second piece is this:

  • Anyone wanting just a plain ol’ DVD is now forced to pay a higher price for a format they haven’t adopted yet, but with all those fancy Blu-Ray discs lying around, how long until they finally break down and buy a player?

Ingenious!

You must admire the simplicity of this cash-grab in action. It really is a work of art, and the vast majority of consumers probably won’t even think twice about it. “Convenient!” they’ll say. “Two discs for the price of one!” they’ll say. However I am a tiny bit skeptical that anyone would have said the same thing if they packaged 8-tracks and cassette tapes in the same fashion.

XTGRCRGEHYPX

Reply to: Impressions of #Ungeeked

It is great how people are starting to appreciate a more interactive way to sharing education, insights and training.

You made some great points I had not thought about myself.  That people did not have any preconceived ideas what the event should provide.

One of the things I am loving about our world of connections today is that we can share instantly and therefor our growth is happening at a faster rate and vibration.  (I choose to embrace the fast change VS complain about how it’s too much).

Thanks for sharing with everyone your experience, we need more folks like you.

Your friend in Texas @prosperitygal

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*Thanks for the kind comments!* – CDNJones

unGeeked e’lite Social Media Retreat – Toronto

Last week I spent three days at the UnGeeked social media event in Toronto. Before the event began, I really didn’t know what to expect from it. I’d been to the CMA conferences for the past several years, but the format of UnGeeked appeared distinctly different. A smaller group, interactive format, heavily encouraging attendee participation. It struck me as a great idea, as I’ve always felt that discussion yields far more information than a one-way presentation, not just for the attendees, but for everyone involved.

UnGeeked did not disappoint. Even before the event began, I had excellent introductory chats with the others at my table. I really felt that the people in the room were very open-minded. It didn’t seem like any of them had any preconceived ideas about what the event should provide. It seemed like everyone was just willing to let the day unfold as it would, and to be as involved as possible.

When the speakers did begin their talks, I was struck by how friendly and humorous everyone appeared. It wasn’t that everyone just liked what they did, it was clear that everyone LOVED what they did. Each presenter was discussing a topic that ignited a passion within them, and their enthusiasm brought out the best in the audience. I am actually loathe to use the term ‘audience’, because we quickly felt that we were in a room full of colleagues and friends, not simple viewers watching a show.

It was clear, too, that the speakers that were present at the event were extremely knowledgeable about their topics, but also in a state of constant learning. This is very important to note, because when dealing with topics relating to social media, the environment surrounding them is constantly changing. What is ‘best practices’ today might be completely different next year, or even next month. It is an industry that is continually evolving, and one needs to recognize that no one really knows ‘everything’ about these new media channels. This is precisely why events like this are so crucial. It’s the best possible format to help people understand what’s happening right now, and what approaches to participating in these new channels will be the most successful.

I was impressed with the breadth of topics that were covered during the event. There was no area of social media that was left untouched. To name a few, we discussed: building trust, utilizing game mechanics, brand ambassadors, implementation tactics, psychological elements & body language communication, SM & customer service, location-based social media, green marketing factors, managing your personal brand, and social media policy.

I’m sure I don’t need to say, that’s a lot of discussion. And yet, it wasn’t overwhelming. The way topics were served back and forth among the people in the room made it much easier to absorb and understand. Hearing several different perspectives on a particular topic allows you to formulate a more balanced opinion, and to consider factors that might otherwise elude you.

Overall, I believe that CD Vann has put together a format that works in a way that other events don’t. One need not look any further than the stream of tweets that was coming out under the #ungeeked hashtag. The satisfaction of people at the event was incredible, and the mood and morale in the room was something that I’ve never felt to that degree in any other setting. It was a true bonding experience among the group. I left the event with some highly valued professional connections. The knowledge base that is now available to the attendees as a result of UnGeeked is astounding. I’m sure that the upcoming UnGeeked events will only continue to be as successful as the Toronto venue.

I highly recommend anyone who is able to attend an UnGeeked event to do so, and those who are not able I encourage you to do your best to find a way. I for one am extremely excited for the next UnGeeked that I am able to participate in. It was an experience that changed my perspective on these new media channels, and inspired me to strive for more as a marketing professional. Thank you, CD, for making this event a possibility, and thank you to everyone who was involved in making it such an overwhelming success. It truly was a unique and wonderful experience.