Integration and Extension – Why Super Bowl Ads Were Mostly a Fail
Despite widespread adoption of Social Media, most companies are still missing the point and failing to engage the medium effectively or powerfully. This was evidenced with the ads at the 2012 Super Bowl XLVI; there were few extensions and few integrations beyond the initial hashtag or web link. Nearly a third miss going that far, according to Altimeter Group.
You’re not Thinking 4th Dimensionally
Most in the communications/promotions world think only 1 or 2 dimensionally. It results from a need to see how their personal work/project impacts a certain space – they put it out there, then gather metrics on their impact. It’s simple, it’s easy. It’s also short sighted. Like any field of play, a 3 dimensional player will eventually advance ahead of the 1 or 2 dimensional player. This is what made Tim Tebow so exciting to watch in his debut season. Just when the “stronger” team thought they had it won, Tebow pulled a new move that was not expected – like running his own touchdown play. (alright, enough with the football, back to business). For you sci-fi fans, this is the equivalent of James T. Kirk beating the no win scenario… by changing the rules of the test. To use social media effectively, you have to be able to “see the future” just a little bit.
This is why social media can be so powerful – it offers a relatively inexpensive means to move into a 3 or 4 dimensional plan against a more powerfully equipped opponent who has more resources for far less money. It sounds silly, but it works. Just ask Gary Vaynerchuk. All innovation is based on this principle – gain 1 dimension against your opponent and you can out-play them.
Watching the Super Bowl ads was disappointing. Most of us in the social media communications business expected LOTS of interactive commercials. Alas only a couple played their game using the new rules. The bad news is this means that so many companies still don’t get it. The good news is, for entrepreneurs and neophytes, you have a lot of opportunity to gain advantage by looking at those extra dimensional opportunities.
Three and a half Strategies to Give You Advantage:
Continue readingHow do we find them?
One of the most exciting aspects of launching cutting edge business management consulting is just trying to identify and connect with those who will be interested. Social Media is how so many outreach today. There are other considerations of course. Email lists, contact manager data, databases from web site registered users, Active Directories. All of these attach to people.
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube all have enormous (although inflated due to multi-account use) user bases. You email contacts from years past and your professional networks. Yes, even your Postal mail and physical correspondence are all sources for relationships evaluation and identification.
The bottom line is to share with everyone what you’re doing. Seek to benefit others as an integral part of your relationships and you will profit more, learn and improve everyone involved.
How’s that working for ya?
Social Gillie Team
When Good is Bad
We recently had a prospective client sit with us who has “done it all” so to speak, in the realm of digital communication promotions. The company is a consulting firm that has invested a large amount of time and resources into developing traditional internet and social media programs. They have an entire team that has worked on branding, artwork, websites, blogging, tweeting and selling their product on the web. It’s all good stuff! There’s been a massive effort, for a relatively small company. But we suspected that it wasn’t going well for them based on what we could see.
The Harsh Reality
We invited this prospect to meet with us because we had previously bid their project, but they took a different plan with another vendor. They turned us down, going with the other firm’s strategy and using a different philosophy. When we checked back, we could see from the work that they had not implemented several of our key recommendations. We met to review their experience with the other plan.
When we asked how their plan is working, the blank look came back, “not so good. We’re flat on all sales for that project.” Well, we weren’t surprised. The platforms are all there, the efforts are all professional and polished. But, there is no implementation of the Business Relationship Engineering principles which we had recommended.
Continue readingSo Many Pieces
Engineering business relationships has more pieces to it than many are aware of. What are you after? What needs to be done?
- What do I have that I can use?
- Who do I have relationships with?
- Who do I want a relationship with?
- How do I communicate with each?
- What tools and technology do we use to communicate?
- How do we measure our effectiveness?
- How do we implement what we need?
- How do we continuously benefit and improve from our efforts?
Is it “marketing”? Is it “recruiting”? Is is “advertising”? No.
It is a specific strategy, set of processes, tools, measurable metrics and trained staff focused on creating positive new relationships and sustaining existing ones to increase individuals’ own overall productivity as well as the impact, reach and efficiency of the overall organization. Use the integration of Systems, Hardware and People to create a collaborative environment fostering every business relationship.
Contact us for more information.
New angles on old stuff
I love it when someone comes up with new angles on something old – especially in the online communications or marketing world. This week, two profound examples come forth on this topic. While Social Gillie is not strictly a “media” company, nor a “marketing” company, we track the marketing and social media world intensely as part of our commitment to business relationships engineering.
Fresh Insights on Business Communications
This week, a fresh view has come out that is truly fascinating: Adam Ladd, an Online Communications Designer recorded his 5 year old daughter’s impressions of brand logos. There’s a lot of intrigue in the insights that come from her brief quips. The most noteworthy is Ladd and his wife obviously have a java addiction. Ha! (Don’t we all). But, there are many others that come out.
Continue readingConduits, Streams and Rivulets
Your business relationships are based, maintained and improved based on how you communicate. Communications in the marketplace, business location and around the block and dinner table.
We help enterprises large and small identify, manage and integrate each stream or conduit of relationships that are mission critical. Your employees in and out of the workplace, your leadership, your suppliers and of course your target customer, member or constituent.
Many don’t realize that the underground streams (e.g. your employees at a social gathering with others outside your orbit) impact your efforts and success as much as your advertising or marketing might. Your business relationships require attention, measurement and sustainment. You also will benefit from fresh relationships in each conduit. From finding the talent to make you better, to enhancing your ability to serve those you wish to.
Identify each stream. Measure its use and find its impact. Integrate it to your common enterprise messaging. Ensuring that everyone in your business communications conduits has the best, latest information. Build relationships that keep others talking accurately about you and encouraging others to be in a relationship with your organization.
We provide comprehensive analysis, strategic planning, training, integration and fulfillment in ways custom designed for each person or enterprise.
Value and Risk in Outsourcing
Outsourcing, In-sourcing, Consulting and Contracted Collaboration - part 1
When should you Consider Outsourcing, In-sourcing or Consulting? Will these empower your company, or dilute your creative energies? Do they offer gains of intellectual property, or risk losing them? Beware of formulaic answers, but seek sound methodology. Using consultants has distinct benefits that should be considered and some risks to avoid. Not every consulting engagement is alike. Many smaller companies do not realize that they can generally set the terms of usage of consultants. If you cannot do so with one company, you can simply shop for another provider who will work with terms that you like. Even if you are locked into a contractual engagement with one company, there are usually short term remedies that allow you to step around those contracts for certain situations.
Talking about Tech Origins
In the late 1980s and through the 1990s MCI, the bygone telecommunications innovator, built internal consulting teams within their company to develop new products and new services that completely changed the face of telecommunications; driving the innovations that make so many amazing things possible today, which are now part of our every day life. They invested billions on creative transformation. There are walls lined with patents and a list of hundreds of innovations in technology, all of which were birthed in that technology incubator.
You’re never too “old” or too “new”
As evidenced by Rupert Murdoch’s political endorsement making the news. Described as a “computer neophyte” the 80 year old Murdoch used twitter to communicate his political preference.
Why? Because Murdoch is smart and understands that the easiest way to propagate a message widely and fast is via the social communication engine that is all the rage.
You can create new conversations, re-energize stale relationships and engineer all of your relationships’ communications just by riding the wave of technology with solid planning, processes and policies.
There are more people waiting to hear from YOU.
Who Owns Your Peeps – pt 2
Who Owns Your Peeps -part 2 (see part 1)
The matter of who owns the followers on a social media account is under question in the case of PhoneDog v Noah Kravitz and it is certain to set the tone for how companies do business, or don’t, on social media in the future. We’ve been following this case, since last month where we learned that @phonedog_noah was changed to @noahkravitz, when he left the company in 2010, which led to a lawsuit in July of 2011.
Case of Mistaken Identity-Retention?
The case is convoluted as there were apparently no specific guidelines, nor contractual obligations, as to how Mr. Kravitz was expected to build the account; and worse yet, apparently no specific guidelines as to who owned the followers when he left the company. The lawsuit allegedly claims that PhoneDog believed the Twitter account was to be retained by PhoneDog – yet they apparently had no succession plan in place to take control of the credentials when Mr. K left the firm. Indeed, since the lawsuit was only filed in July 2011, it seems that PhoneDog didn’t even notice the impact of Mr. K changing the name and taking the account with him, until well after he had left.
Not Social Business
In the dynamic world of business and information, buzzwords can be annoying as the “latest fad”. Many speak out in frustration or disagreement at calling everything “social” these days. At Social Gillie we’re focused on prioritizing the relationships that make your business a success if managed well (or a failure if not). And that goes way beyond marketing. Its not “Social Business” or “Social Media” or “Social Marketing”. It’s much more: Business Relationship Engineering.
Let’s drop the “Social media” buzz words but not forget that these are relationship platforms, tools that offer new ways for people to do what they have always wanted to do: relate to their world in a way that matters. Relationships matter, as the slogan goes; But there are so many types of relationships that matter! And it’s okay because effective relationships are also profitable.
What do you do?
FAQ1:
The question most frequently asked of us. What do you guys do?
We help businesses, ministries, non-profits, individuals and campaigns effectively use Business Relationship Engineering.
What you sell, who you hire, who your leaders are, who supplies and the general public are all dependent on the number, nature and quality of the relationships you maintain and how you communicate in them.
Business relationship engineering is the integration of systems, hardware, and people to create a collaborative environment fostering every business relationship.
We provide assessments, planning, training, implementation and fulfillment specializing in digital, mobile and social communications programs.
We are your foremost resource for comprehensive real-time and Interactive communications consulting services. Use the right tools, be on the forefront of public awareness.
The Hardest Part
When it comes to developing good social media programs, the hardest part for many companies is just getting started. Most business people today know that there are many valuable ways to use social in their business – but they don’t know how. We’ve all seen it used, we may have even participated in Social Media, but many find it difficult to get started. There’s a wall of inertia holding them back.
For most business leaders, talking is not our first priority and it seems like an uncomfortable stretch to have open dialogue with the market place; It almost becomes “stage fright”. Yet, it wasn’t always like this. In times past, the business leader was accessible – whether the corner drugstore owner or the head of a department store chain. If you wanted to lodge a complaint, or make a suggestion, you could reach the owner. It seems those times are long gone, right?
Perceptions and, of, or Reality
One of the most significant challenges to maintaining positive and productive relationships is what your counterpart (and you) perceive and what is actual reality.
There once was a manager who operated exclusively on a premise that “perception is reality”. Unfortunately this made her too malleable and indecisive. Rather than building cohesion in her organization she was perceived by her subordinates, peers and executives as a wishy washy climber. This was not her intent nor her personality. She was a hard working professional who cared about people. Her insistence on behaving to adhere to her GUESS as to how others perceived things caused her own philosophy to be disproven.
A recent political candidate was driven out of a race because public perception was manipulated by media and others. Another, with demonstrated character challenges in his past is going strong. Another example of giving credibility to a perception and not to a proven reality is a harmful approach.
We must acknowledge the perceptions of others by inquiring. We must measure reality in business so that mis-perceptions can be shown in a non-threatening and productive fashion. Learn to monitor what others are saying about you and learn to communicate and demonstrate your positive realities. This is an integral part of Business Relationship Engineering.
Social Gillie can help you do that.
Find the tools that let you talk
Many people believe that they can’t participate in the social media milieu due to the fact that they don’t have adequate tools or knowledge in order to feel like they are actually getting something from the experience. Whether they are intimidated by the interfaces available on twitter Facebook various blog platforms or whatever method a person chooses to use, we can help.
A good example is how I’m writing this post. I’m not actually “writing”, this article, I’m speaking it.
I’m using something called Dragon dictation. Microsoft and Google and any big player that you come across will probably be deeply involved in voice recognition technology. Another solution is to use a composite tool or something that will aggregate all of your social traffic into and understandable interface. There are a lot of players out there. Some you may have heard of some you may have not, similarly the social network cloud is crowded with people trying to get your attention.
With Social Gillie you get a clear roadmap of the confusing wilderness of social media and more effectively communicating with your employees, your supply chain, dependent organizations, partners and of course, your customers or constituents. We’ll show you the tools you need and help you develop the most effective process for using them. Our custom solutions are cost-effective and can leave very little footprint on your organization or can effectively supplement any aspect of your social media management that may be missing.
Contact us today