Time was, that Weird Al was a thing I recalled from Madonna’s virginal days (yes, that long ago). But more recently he seems to be wherever I look. How and when did that happen?
Today I read an interesting piece in The Atlantic — “The Surprisingly Savvy Weird Al Internet Machine” — which offered some some answers. How Weird Al is managing to rise above the incredibly noisy world of video-tainment.
Here are some of the ways:
“Social Media is lost without a social compass.” So says Brian Solis in a thoughtful, and thought-provoking article written as a foreword to the new book “The Ethical Practice of Social Media in Public Relations,” by Marcia W DiStaso and Denise Sevick Bortree.
Here’s the thing.
Just as you would advise any newcomer to the social (digital) world — from teenager to grandparent — not to say anything you wouldn’t say face-to-face, brands need to follow the same guidelines.
Don’t say anything you wouldn’t say to a consumer face-to-face.
Continue reading Re-discovering your social compass — old rules for the new digital world
Social Organic Reach Is Trending to Zero: How to Meet the Challenge
Social networks are maturing and evolving by answering the need to monetize the value they are creating. Brands need to mature and evolve, too. Article just written and published for ClickZ this month.
Every so often, Facebook hosts its f8, a conference in San Francisco aimed at developers, media, and partners. This year, in front of an audience of 2,500+, Facebook introduced its vision for the next year and beyond. With Mark Zuckerberg kicking things off, Facebook introduced a dozen or so new products organized into three including […]
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I’m not much of a football fan. Not anything of a football fan for that matter. But I do like brand watching. So it was “shut up, I have to listen to the ads” this year, with a furious post-game analysis of my latest interest: hashtag marketing.
The result? Front page billing for a hashtag marketing infographic for my buddies at Friend2Friend. Read about it “Almost twice as many TV ads featured #hashtags at this year’s 2014 Super Bowl.”
An interesting endeavor in trend-riding that was preceded by a lead-up article written for ClickZ last week: “How brands with Super Bowl TV commercials could stay relevant after the game.”
Since the Super Bowl, we have tracked the hashtag activity for all 38 brands, and looked at who was able to keep the social conversation going past the Super Bowl. In all cases, there’s a huge spike when the ad runs, and then a precipitous decline. This dropoff illustrates some of the challenges brands face when using hashtags for high-ticket marketing campaigns: first, the content created is extremely ephemeral; and second, there hasn’t been an easy way for brands to surface the best hashtagged content created by fans. Brands and agencies have been required to monitor multiple hashtag-compatible social platforms and then sift through that content to pick the best quality for showcasing.
What a lost opportunity. In scanning through the #BestBuds content, yes there were plenty of images of fat weed buds sitting atop Budweiser beer caps, but there were also adorable #BestBuds puppies, kittens, kids and more .. all shouting out for Budweiser. But can you find that now? Nope. Same goes for #HugFest, #GoodToBeBad, #AmericaIsBeautiful and more.
Increasingly, brands are embracing the hashtag as a means to coordinate conversations, execute campaigns, and call out for fan content. Hashtags
Next up is a follow-up infographic with the ‘one week later’ story in AdWeek, a press release for related product from Friend2Friend, and articles for iMedia and MarketingProfs. Busy week!
For millennials, many of whom don’t live alone, this example of content to promote a product — one that deals with a subject that could be just a bit awkward — just rocks. It’s funny. Yes, it’s crude. But about a subject that, well, is just begging to be discussed! Hats off to PooPourri.com.
The corporate website is dead. The days of “press release PR” are over. So says CocaCola.
Welcome to brand storytelling by Coke. In 2014, I think we’ll expect to see more brands blowing up their corporate websites, and rebuilding them with conversational, story-filled content infused in social mojo. And that’s a good thing.
Thanks to Ryan Donegan for prompting some excellent ideas on the subject of marketing to millennials. Been spending a lot of time recently considering what content ‘works’ and what doesn’t. On social, consumers “own” the brand, but what’s more important is that they own the conversation.
The team at PooPourri.com delivered content that is not only highly shareable, but one can only imagine that it starts conversations, both online and offline. That works! The conversation doesn’t end with a Like.
Good stuff.
Content marketing is one of the biggest challenges and opportunities for both business and consumer brands today. As brands look to expand their reach online and engage audiences beyond ‘interruptive’ advertising, they’re increasingly looking to cultivate shareable content that is informative, entertaining and interesting.
See the latest article written and placed for Roger Katz of Friend2Friend on ClickZ.
Given the TV ads showing overtly stoned kids gazing at the clock and watching time pass before they go out to fix munchies the TacoBell, watching their SnapChat feed should be interesting… I guess that TB is just embracing the only real purpose of drive-thru garbage food late at night.
But on a more serious note, we’re only going to see more of brands getting ‘braver’ on social — Karmaloop has gone on the record saying they’ll accept butts, boobs and nudity — while dropping our jaws at how blatantly tone deaf some brands can be — Kenneth Cole and Syria, American Apparel and Hurricane Sandy. Let’s hope lessons continue to be learned, while brands pioneer in social marketing. And while we’re about it, let’s call for some adult supervision in this industry, please!