Ever felt like you have too many social networks? One for friends, one for business connections, one for learning from others, etc.? Ever thought about trying to keep these social networks separate?
“Theory that if ones relationship self and their independent self met it would be the end of the independent self”
The same thing is happening with social media. Do we want our friend networks to collide with our business network? Do we want our learning network (for me this is Twitter) to collide with our friend or business network?
If they do, do we loose our one independent self? Does the work me, the friend me, and the family me all of a sudden become one person? Heck the more important question is do my connections in these different groups even want to know about my other worlds?
Do my Linkedin connections care that I just made a new friend on Facebook? Do my Facebook friends care that I just replied to @jasonfalls and asked him a question? Do they even know what @jasonfalls or RT means?
For now I am going to keep these worlds separate. Anyone can find me on any network (some are linked above and below) if they want to get info on that part of my world, but for now, mostly as a favor to my connections they will be separated.
I am sure someday a tool will come along, where you will be able to tell it what kind’s of info you want from your various connections, but for now let’s avoid the colliding of the worlds. Look what it did to George, his fiancee ended up dieing.
“I want to make a bet with you today. By January 2014 I will wager that in the US almost all forms of tangible media will either be in sharp decline or completely extinct. I am not just talking about print, but all tangible forms of media - newspapers, magazines, books, DVDs, boxed software and video games.”
This caused others such at Mitch Joel to blog in response, saying that making this shift by 2014 is almost impossible. And I agree with Mitch and others. (heck my bathroom is still littered with magazines, and for only $10 a year for most of them they are hard to give up)
This shift is never going to completely happen by 2014, but why don’t we set that as a goal or a deadline? Why don’t we try to push ourselves to make it happen by this date? Why don’t we get our companies ready for this shift, and prepare our marketing for a fast and dramatic shift in media over these next eight years?
This way we can be ready if media does shift by 2014, and if it doesn’t we can be ahead of the curve.
Now, I am not proposing shifting our advertising plans out of old media starting tomorrow, I’m just saying let’s start thinking about what life is going to be like after this digital shift. How are we going to reach consumers with our message? How are they going to interact with our products? What new technology could we invent to communicate more effectively?
We may not know when, or how things are going to change, but we should always be trying to guess what the changes are going to be and when they are going to happen. That is the only way we can start to prepare for the future.
Even if we never guess the right timeline, or the right changes, going through this exercise of preparing for change, will make us more able to capitalize on these shifts. So if we are late to the party, and don’t figure out what we need to do until the very last moment, we’ll already be experienced at identifying the changes, and how we can take advantage of them.
I am a fan of old Pacific Lutheran football coach Frosty Westering and a saying he uses before he speaks “empty your cup”. (Being Frosty, he actually demonstrates the illustration, water goes everywhere etc.) The essence of the saying is that if we go into anything thinking our cup of knowledge is full, we will not have any room to learn anything knew.
We must first empty our cup, and then look for ways to fill it with the knowledge of others.
This is something that I struggle with, and am trying to work on. I am an internet geek, I know a little about a lot, but true knowledge comes from relationships not the internet.
I struggle with this at my job as well. As an Ad Exec, I have a tendency to always want to come off as the marketing “expert” to my clients. I have the education, experience, support groups, etc. and my client does not, so I should understand marketing more than most of my clients who spend most of the day running their businesses.
But that is not always the case. As much as I try to understand my clients business, they still know it better than I do. Sometimes I make a mistake or overlook something, and the client can add some good insight. Other times my clients wealth of knowledge might be different than mine, and they may offer a great idea that I have never thought of.
Bottom line, no matter how much of an expert you think you are in any particular area, always listen to others as if they are an expert. It’s amazing what you learn with an open mind.
So these last few months have been extremely hard on the advertising industry and on me personally. No matter where you turn it seems everyone is talking about the horrible economy, and about how to avoid a depression.
Sorry, but when people sound hopeful about avoiding a depression, that still does not help instill confidence.
Given this news, many of my clients have asked to cut their budgets in the last few weeks. Below is a list of reason they have given for cutting their budgets, and what my colleges and I have said in response. (remember we specialize in retail advertising so the answers and questions lean that way.)
1. We can cut budget and keep our share of voice, because our competitors have cut budget – Our goal has never been share of voice, but share of mind. We want XX% of people to think of your brand for XX product.
2. Let’s cut for just a little bit and see what happens – The ramifications of cutting marketing spend are not instantaneous. If I cut budget one week, my sales may not drop to the next etc., plus it may take some time to gain back the level of awareness we once had.
3.Spend to Sales is out of proportion - Let’s look at the numbers based on the long term not month to month, and figure out our best long terms marketing goals.
I wish I could tell you these all worked, but of course they did not. Some cut, some did not, and more will cut in the future. No matter how many blogs we read that tell us now is not the time for an aggressive advertiser to cut budget, we all know it will happen anyway.
Let’s use this time not to complain or whine. Let’s use this time to think more strategically, and try to get the most out of every dollar we do have. What have you wanted to do with your marketing, that now might be a good time to try?
Something I deal with every time I write on this blog or even tweet, is my tendency to hide. Am I truly being me, or am I pretending to be the person I want the online community to think I am?
I am currently reading the book “The Silence of Adam”. It is a Christian book that talks about how men should really act. I came across the quote below, and it made me think about social media, how I learn, and my fears.
“Men are easily threatened. And whenever a man is threatened, when he becomes uncomfortable in places within himself that he does not understand, he naturally retreats into an arena of comfort or competence, or he dominates someone or something in order to feel powerful. Men refuse to feel the paralyzing and humbling horror of uncertainty, a horror that could drive them to trust, a horror that could release in them the power to deeply give themselves in relationships. As a results most men feel close to no one……..”
What is holding you back? Are your fears or uncertainties holding you back form achieving your potential? Are they holding you back from truly taking a place in social media and joining the conversation, and giving people insight on who you are?
Social media can seem like a vulnerable place. Putting yourself out there for many to see, and possibly disagree with you. Yet only once you do that, do you truly find your place, and do you start to develop real relationships.
Lastly Apple’s customer service is now having trouble keeping up with its growth.Don’t get me wrong, once you talk to someone you get great service, but getting to that point is difficult.Apple stores are always busy, and getting the time with a Genius can take days.Online their customer service is non-existent except for a few tutorials, a FAQ’s and a forum that no one from Apple seems to look at or moderate.Heck even finding there customer service phone number is next to impossible on the Apple Service website.
Why don’t they have live chat customer service? Why don’t they moderate the forums and see what the problems are?I called them the awhile ago because location services on my iPhone would not always work.I could find all sorts of post online about this very location services problem.Some on the Apple forum, others on Twitter or MacRumors Forums. To anyone who knew their way around the internet, it was obvious there was a problem.
But when I called Apple, they told me I was the first one ever to report the problem. She then talked to the CS supervisor and he still knew nothing of the problem.I told them to look at their forums.She then gave me an incident number for me to post on the forums so others could call in with the same complaint.
Shouldn’t Apple be doing this?Why are they relying on their customers to take care of other customers?Invest in your customers and they will reward you, even more than they do now.What if Apple was actively monitoring and posting in their forums?Think how useful it would be.Think of all the great ideas that would be shared, and the increase in brand loyalty they would have.(ok it is already pretty hi, but how long can it stay there?)
We are your customers Apple!We make you great!We control your future!If you do not listen to us, we will go away.We are a fickle bunch, and if you do not develop for us, take part in our conversation, or listen to us we will go way!
We’ll we may wait tell Steve leaves, but we will go away.
I’m taking a break from my Apple rant today, to talk about what everyone else is talking about today, the election.
This years election is fascinating, the internet and especially social media has allowed people to connect with their candidates like never before. It started with the amazing connection many people felt with the old man out of Texas, Ron Paul, and then transitioned to other candidates.
Social media has allowed voters to feel a personal connection to their candidates, and has allowed the candidates to customize their message to reach specific demographics.
Obama did not personally connect with people online, but instead he encouraged his supporters to connect together and form a strong online community. He allowed voters to find other people like themselves that were voting for Obama, and talk and develop an online connection. 9 out of 10 people I follow on Twitter have been telling me to vote for Obama and reasons why. I have never met most of these people, but I trust them with other advice, why would I not trust them with political advice? Especially when their reasons for voting for Obama are targeted to the online geek demographic I fit into?
Obama is capitalizing on, online word of mouth. He has even segmented his supporters into groups. Look at his website, under the people header. There anyone can find a group to associate with, whether it is a Christian group, Arab Group, Latin American group, etc. Instead of trying to be one brand for everyone, Obama has segmented his brand and tweaked it for each of these groups.
He is very generic with his mass media message and somewhat unclear, but then when targeting these small groups he has customized his message to appeal to them. This would have been impossible to do with traditional media.
Each group of supporters has made the Obama brand their own. Geeks love him for one thing and that is what he talks about to them, and Labor loves him for other reasons and he talks to them about that.
In some ways Obama has let his supporters take over the Obama Brand. They have made it their own, and have developed a strong connection with their views of who Obama is.
Could this backlash once he is President, and he has to make decisions that alienate groups of his followers? Probably, but I am sure he will once again engage the community, and talk to them online in a personal direct manner that appeals to their interest to minimizes the backlash.
It is an amazing strategy, and something political advisors will be studying for years to com
From what I can gather about Apple from online research, they have done very little consumer research in recent years.This goes from simple focus groups, or even using online social monitoring programs to see what consumers are talking about.Instead it seems Steve thinks he knows what is best for us. He does not see a reason to use social monitoring, because he knows more about what consumers want than they do.
Take the lack of a picture messaging and video capabilities on the iPhone.I am sure that people within Apple brought these feature ideas to Steve before the 1st gen iPhone ever hit beta development and Steve simply said no, I know best.Why picture messaging?I use email for that.Why video?The quality would not be that good, and the files will take up too much space, they don’t need that.Then after the iPhone came out, everyone wanted these features, and they would cost little to add to the phone, but two years later and we are still waiting.Why?Because Steve knows what is best for us, and really does not care what we think.
Sure there are exceptions to that rule.Most of the time it happens when a 3rd party comes forward with an idea that is successful, and then Apple copies it or acquires it. Case in point, the iPhone App Store.Remember the outrage after word came out that Apple would not allow you to install software on the device?It was amazing, in weeks someone had found a way unlock the phone and apps were made.
This lack of control must have made Jobs extremely mad.Mad enough to actually listen to others and develop the App Store, but this is by far the exception to the rule. The funny part is that when Apple does listen to their consumers (Ok, not really listen, more like respond to an outrage) they come out with some of their best products.I think Jobs says, fine they want something, well we are going to do it like no one has done before and blow their socks off.
Why don’t they simply listen to consumers at the beginning of the development process?Why don’t they simply ask for feedback, actually read their customer service forums?Why don’t they take these ideas, improve on them and make them world class?
In a way Apples consumers see more potential for the company than Jobs does.Why no DVR function in the Apple TV, why no Bluray support, why no docking station for the MB Pro?The list could go on and on.But to everyone on the outside, it just seems like Apple and Steve are being stubborn, and simply refuse to believe we know what we need.
Part III will look at how this is affecting thier customer service….
One of the main reasons Apple has been such a success in recent years is because of the amazing ability of Steve Jobs to develop products we all love.Jobs is a true visionary, and best of all he understands how to use technology to improve lives.
But how does he do it?He could be developing and marketing products that he likes, or he could be trying to figure out what we need/like and developing technology for us.I believe that Jobs develops products he personally would like to have and puts little if any emphasis on what consumers actually want.
So far it seems consumers like what Steve likes, so this strategy has worked out great for Apple.Some of the great products developed this way are iLife, iTunes, iPod, iPhone, and of course OS X or should we say NeXT.Sure there have been a few misses like the Lisa, Apple TV (ok TBD), HiFi, etc. but for the most part, there has been many more successes than failures.
This develop what Steve likes strategy for Apple, and has lead to amazing profits and growth at Apple.(Was going to talk about the stock price here, but that’s not lookin so hot)Sure it has been great for Apple, shareholders, and consumers, but this is going to be a major problem for Apple when Steve leaves. Apple has turned into a company that is completely dependent on Steve Jobs.Others come up with ideas and develop great products, but Jobs is the ultimate decision maker on if new products get developed and go to market.
This has left a void at Apple in the area of consumer research, customer retention, and customer service.These three areas leave them vulnerable to a backlash from consumers as they continue to grow and Steve gets closer to moving to Denver and joining a cult of people who wear Levi’s and a black mock turtlenecks.
I finished yesterday’s post by saying that if you have not gotten into online advertising, start now. This statement was directed at the traditional advertiser, you must keep up with the times or you will be passed by.
In an effort to follow that up, below are 5 reasons a traditional advertiser needs to get online experience.
1.Have you looked at the job boards for advertising positions lately? Almost all of them are for people with online experience. How comfortable do you feel with your job?
2.You can apply what you learn online to traditional media. You can fine tune creative online, and then apply what you have learned to traditional media.
3.You can get focus group type information online without paying for a focus group. Monitor your consumers, potential consumers and competition, with tools such as Google Alerts, Technorati, and Twitter Search.
4.Your website has become the 2nd point of contact. Think of it as your most important store. How much attention would you give a store that does over 60% of your traffic?
5.You can track it. You can show your clients or boss that it is working. How important is that during this down economy?
Of course I could go on with a longer list, but why don’t you do that in the comments.
