|
|
The Squared Root
Planning for Interactive Austin 2009 is underway. FG SQUARED CEO Steve Golab has recruited a Strategic Web Advisory Panel (SWAP) to start the planning process for the event. By way of the Squared Root blog, and every other form of social media available, we want to reach out to our various communities for input. Interactive Austin 2008 was a success in gathering current social media enthusiasts with key decision makers from a wide range of companies and organizations. Our aim for 2009 is to build on the successes of the 2008 session and to allow participants to experience the social web in its full application. 
So please let us know what is important to you and what you would find of greatest interest. We welcome every insight, suggestion, critique, and request and promise that we will keep you in the loop as the planning proceeds. ~ @MikeChapman on Twitter
I've been contributing to the eMERGE Blog in preparation for my upcoming presentation "Utilizing Web 2.0 and Social Media to Increase Event ROI" at the 2008 IAEE EXPO! EXPO!. My first two posts are all about getting started with Web 2.0: Web 2.0 or not 2.0? Web 2.0: Quick Wins I welcome your feedback and great ideas!
I have to confess, I picked the title I did for this post after I came across a number of other blogs that had the same identical title. I couldn't resist. There are apparently a number of bloggers advocating using social media to replace more expensive marketing strategies, especially in light of the current economic crisis. There are also a number of bloggers writing that social media marketing is too new, unproven, and that it's dangerous to throw out the old proven methods regardless of the current economic situation. As is common in the blogosphere, a healthy debate is underway. It's an interesting debate, but I would argue that social media marketing should be on your "to do" list regardless of economic conditions. There has been an increase in social media usage in recent months, according to the Comscore Media Metrix, but it's probably not tied in any direct way to the current economic conditions. 
Social media as a marketing tool can be, by its very nature, counter-intuitive. That's especially true if your looking at it without considering the larger shift in how we communicate and gather information on the internet. Marketing strategies have traditionally been promotional and designed to push a message out to intended targets. Social media is much more about attraction than promotion. Thanks to technology, we can filter out broadcast forms of communications. This new reality is not more or less true when the economy is in a downturn, but the lower-cost aspects of SMM might have more appeal to budget conscious decision makers who are trying to deal with harsh economic conditions. What we should intuitively know about life, even while in the economic crisis we're in, is that if "we keep doing what we've been doing, we're going to keep getting what we've been getting." The very definition of insanity is to think that isn't true. We have to change habits if we want to change results. If big advertising campaigns and old-school PR efforts are what you've always done, and now you're finding they're either too expensive and/or not working as well as they used to, then consider trying something different. It doesn't have to be all or nothnig. Consider adding social media marketing to the mix as you're forced to cut budgets in other areas anyway. Because digital immigrants are now using search engines the way we used to use the yellow pages and joining digital natives in more and more online activity, it only makes sense to be engaged in "google friendly" efforts if you're marketing a product or service to us. There are plenty of anecdotal indications and very real and common sense considerations when contemplating your own decision making in this area. I would refer you to my colleague Dave Evan's new book Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day for some excellent case studies. 
Dave's book can guide you through the process of establishing a social media marketing program. If you're in need of professional consultation, then I recommend meeting with the FG SQUARED team to get an assessment of your overall situation. FG SQUARED has been out front in creating its own internal plan for utilizing social media to market the firm. Our view is that it's a good idea regardless of the economic situation. Even though it's too early for empirical data to prove it, the groundswell of digital activity and self-developing online communities will force us all to use social media marketing at some point in order to remain relevant, much less competitive.
With the 2008 elections now behind us, even those who are the least enthusiastic about social networking and social media have had to admit its increasing influence. MSNBC ran a story recently about a Dartmouth Student who managed to get elected as County Treasurer in New Hampshire by running Facebook ads worth $50 and riding the coattails of her national party. I can report to you, with near certainty, that very few candidates will get elected solely on the basis of Facebook ads. All other things being equal, a well run campaign, that uses all of the appropriate marketing channels, is still the most effective strategy. What's forever changed is that you can no longer ignore what many decision makers in government agencies and government affairs shops consider to be "alternative" forms of media and marketing. With the success of the Obama campaign, it's safe to anticipate the highest form of flattery - imitation - to take place at all levels of campaigning and, even more importantly, in the administration of their duties by federal, state and local governments. Interest groups, agency heads, and future candidates of all stripes, will want to add the same "secret sauce" to their efforts that they witnessed on a grand scale in 2008. 
Decision makers trying to figure out how Obama did it will likely spend some of the same effort exploring the wide world of social networking that many of us early adopters did. What they'll find, if they research much, is that a $50 Facebook ad campaign will not meet their needs. Instead, they'll want to keep much of their current communications strategies and then add social media to the mix. An integrated effort is what the smarter and more aggressive government affairs shop or government agency will settle on. Some are already well on their wa in this regard, and nothing I'm writing here will be new to them. Many are now taking a first or second look, however, and are deciding that they may need to take action after taking a wait-and-see attitude leading up to the election. It's not a surprise that there would be hesitancy in the corridors of government. Even some avid social media users on Twitter debated with me that an Obama loss would be a repudiation of social media in campaigns. I argued against that line of reasoning because I never saw his campaign as a social media effort per se, but as an integrated marketing and communications campaign that was extremely social media friendly. Social media didn't win the campaign, but it did end up helping. It's estimated that the Obama campaign now has over 10 million "good" email addresses and a vast array of other contacts in their social graph. Fortunately, state and local efforts won't need those kinds of numbers. Interest groups hoping to affect federal legislation, however, will need something more than a Facebook campaign to have an impact. They'll need a fully integrated effort that includes traditional and social media. Two key issue areas that are particularly suited to integrated communications efforts are health care reform and clean energy initiatives. Traditional advertising can still enhance awareness of an issue, but consumers will go online to verify what they're being told. They'll consult with their networks, communities, and other trusted online sources to confirm or dispel what traditional media sources are telling them. If advocates for health care reform or clean energy hope to be effective in their post-2008 election efforts, they will certainly need to employ the same kinds of successful strategies utilized by the Obama campaign. A fully integrated effort, which includes social media and online marketing strategies, will be essential for these kinds of successful efforts going forward.
Austin, Texas is the blogging capital of the United States. With approximately one out of seven, or fifteen percent of its citizens actively blogging, it's easy to find someone who is really active on the social web in our community. That's not too surprising considering that the population of the Austin area is relatively young and internet usage is high. We're also a tech savvy community with a half-dozen Universities and Colleges, including UT Austin, a world-class research University. Add the number of Austinites using social websites like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and Plaxo you would probably get a much higher percentage of online networkers and consumers who live and work here. Then if you add the number of people, especially teens, who text message one another on their cell phones throughout the day and add them to those of us who are actively Twittering, Plurking, and using new microblogging technologies to communicate and share information, the numbers likely grow even more. Austin is a very creative community. In fact, it's the creative capital of the country. So the number of creative people - professionals and amateurs - who generate content is tremendous. This is particularly true of the burgeoning gaming industry in Austin. Further, the Live Music Capital of the World is also the home of artists, actors, film makers, and really excellent advertising and marketing agencies. Podcasting, online collaboration, video, audio, and all other forms of user generated content are not only common, they're rampant in Central Texas. In the context of this very creative, socially networked, and tech savvy situation in the Austin community, Steve Golab, CEO and President of FG SQUARED, has initiated a new working group to focus on the potential for businesses and other organizations to effectively communicate going forward in the new environment. Social Web Advisory Panel (SWAP) The formation of the Social Web Advisory Panel, called the SWAP for short, is a natural extension of the successful Interactive Austin 2008 conference sponsored by FG SQUARED this past summer and is the result of Steve's ongoing conversations with social media enthusiasts from around the world. Since Austin is such a hot bed of activity and because, in typical Austin fashion, old ways of doing things are always being challenged here, we believe that we have the perfect opportunity to utilize the enthusiasm and expertise we have in the academic, business, communications and creative communities to stretch our thinking and understanding of the social media space. Also, being based in Austin gives us that unique view of the world that is ideal to understand the disruptive nature of the social web and how it is affecting the status quo. As I already mentioned, it's a creative place. Initially, we will focus on the experiences of online activity and how they create social capital between the users who meet there. We'll dig deep into how we measure their impact by remembering that online and offline activities blend seamlessly in the lives of our creatives in Austin. We will share what we discover with the rest of the world and organically expand our circle to include other interested individuals and groups. Most importantly, we don't start with a presumption of knowing exactly what we'll find. In fact critical thinking is encouraged. We have no preconceived notion that we have all the answers. We're looking for them through you, by making use of the social computing that naturally occurs in social networks and from any other method of discovery that comes with our efforts to learn from our respective communities. SWAP members include Cynthia Baker - President, Accolades PR, Jon Lebkowsky - Principal, Social Web Strategies, Dave Evans - Digital Voodoo, Ynema Mangum, John Curtis- President and CEO, Quotient Solutions, Inc., Wade Allen, Jason Fellman - Consultant and FG SQUARED Co-founder, Clay Spinuzzi - Associate Professor, UT Austin, Barry Rumac of FG SQUARED, Steve Golab and myself. Please tell me what you think. Would you like to weigh in with your thoughts on the social web? I'll be updating regularly on our activities and always welcome input. Email me at mike.chapman@fg2.com or find me on Twitter @MikeChapman if you want to know more. Of course, comments below are always encouraged.
I attended AdTech in NYC last week. (Disclosure: I am a former AdTech Advisory Board member.) Apart from all of the things that I have always like about AdTech I was really impressed by the degree to which "social media" is being embraced, at least by savvy marketers. Sure, lots of people are talking about social media, and even more marketers and advertisers alike refer to engagement, control, participation...and the like. But for the most part, it's just that: Talk. Pete Blackshaw's "Master Class" panel was a standout. Kraft, Intuit, and Zappos all provided solid evidence that they "get it" -- not so much by what the panelists from these firms talked about but instead by the way that they talked and the measures they'd already put into practice. Zappos' Brian Kalma (aka krian_balma on Twitter) made a particularly compelling case when he talked about why Zappos doesn't measure CSR productivity, but instead focuses on satisfaction as it arises from CSR-customer interactions. Simply put, Zappos rewards their front line for delivering an experience that gets favorably talked about. That approach to measurement (and assuming that they hire great people, which they do) gives the firm a solid footing in a socially driven marketplace rather than an interruptive battleground. When your entire organization is simultaneously well-run and focused on customer happiness...hitting business goals in a downturn is just so much easier. For Zappos, breaking the billion dollar (sales) mark (which they are very close to now) and hence achieving record sales will very likely occur in this "down" cycle. Down market, record sales. Think about that for minute. In the end, talking with people on the floor, at lunch, and after-hours events it was pretty easy to separate the talkers from the doers by simply asking what they thought of the current market conditions. Those with solid social media practices in place now tended to smile; those on the fence, or still shirking in fear of the thought of their own customers carrying the banner for them...were, let's just say, less optimistic as a group. You know, looked it from your customer's perspective...it's really no surprise.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - This week I learned first hand that the world really is more connected than ever. Thanks to Zanerva, an events company based here in KL, and Buzz Corps, a word-of-mouth firm based in Austin, Texas, I had the opportunity to visit with a number of Malaysian businesses this week about social media and other related topics. In addition to being very impressed with the beauty and cultural and ethnic diversity of Kuala Lumpur, I was very pleased to learn about how connected our two countries are on the internet. After meeting with prominent bank officials, a communications company executive, insurance company managers, a major airline's marketing team, an e-commerce company's key staff and the marketing team for an interactive children's museum, I can report that there is total awareness, on the opposite side of the world from where I live, that online marketing and communications are on the minds of people around the globe. My purpose for visiting Malaysia was to conduct a two-day seminar on social media marketing for high-level professionals based in this part of Asia. The seminar was excellent and the awareness of the participants on all areas of social media marketing was impressive. Fortunately I was able to share some new concepts with them. Of particular interest, given the timing and its success, was the Obama campaign's online efforts. We were able to analyze the campaign's online features while simultaneously monitoring the election results using other online resources. I enjoyed being able to be right on top of all the information, while getting an Asian point of view on our election process, and simultaneously conducting a successful seminar. (As a side note, the seminar participants were also happy to know that we have early voting and that I had taken part in the election before joining them for the week.) The FG SQUARED website accurately points out that the world today is faster, more complex, and more competitive than ever. To truly connect with the people who are essential to your success, you have to reach out to them and interact across multiple channels and platforms. This week I got to live that in a great way. Even as I was preparing to return to North America, I made a new friend on Twitter, from right here in KL, even as I was drafting this post. Hello Carolyn Chan. I look forward to seeing your beautiful country again. In the meantime, I'll be right across the globe, and only a few seconds away. Author's Note: I want to especially thank Maria and the rest of the Zanerva team for making me feel like I was 'home' while visiting KL. Thank you.
I've uploaded my presentation from the MeetingTechOnline summit in Chicago. Also, here's the link to the conference website: http://summit.meetingtechonline.com/ Enjoy. - JF
|
