All Kevin Costner had to do to get the Chicago Black Sox to come and play in a field on his farm in the middle of nowhere (well, Iowa actually, but let’s not split hairs) in the movie ‘Field of Dreams’ was to build the stadium. In this instance, a sound albeit out of this world, piece of advice.
Recently I’ve noticed this train of thought coming up regularly enough to be concerning when discussing content and content creation for social media with organisations. The general enthusiasm and in some cases, actual content creation is happening but there is a notable lack of strategy in what to do with said content - the common belief being that if you put it on a social media channel, people will flock to it. But if it’s not the right content and no one knows it’s there, that’s a pretty big ask.
Social media, when used purposefully, with a long-term strategy and measurable objectives behind it, can be (and more often than not is) a very valuable asset. What is missing in many of the conversations’ organisations are having is the understanding that you need to think beyond just building a Facebook page. In short, you need to make people want to come to you and you need to want them to come back.
Listen: What does your audience what to know about, view, talk about, learn?;
Track: Where are they? Because that’s where you need to be; and
Understand: How are they consuming information? Video? Written? Podcasts?
Once you have done all of these things you can create effective content that you can use to seed out to your audience where they are and drive them to where you want them to be or your own 'field of dreams'.
You can view the case study version of the content creation here http://ow.ly/NgDy
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Measuring and monitoring a social media campaign
Social Media is no different from any other marketing activity for business in that it needs to be tracked and measured to ensure value against objectives. What is different, is both the style of the communications and the plethora of tools available to complete this tracking - many of which are still to be proven due to the relative infancy of the channel by comparison to more traditional media options.
That said, there is little forgiveness for its youthfulness and social media has to work harder to prove its value to most marketing professionals and certainly in order to demonstrate worth to CEOs and Boards. After all, social media is just a fad…isn’t it? Seriously though, we do face a number of challenges in proving the value of social media in terms of tracking organisations whose ultimate value measure lies offline.
Social Media allows us to have conversations - this as a means of communication is a much more complex channel to track as messages are two, or multi directional. Because of this, there is a need for these to be tracked both more frequently and using multiple approaches due to idiosyncrasies across social media platforms set ups and language.
Working with Tourism New South Wales on their ‘7 days in Sydney’ social media campaign, Daemon Digital worked much in the way that social media does when tracking outputs. We responded to what was happening, where shifts were made and what tools were best for the change in activity.
Whilst that might sound reactive, in fact we had set up a very structured outputs framework that married back against TNSW’s overall brand objectives and key messages. The strategy didn’t change, we just altered our game plan to glean the most detailed information.
In order to establish an overall brand perception, Daemon Digital first created a query framework and key word search against TNSW’s key messages run through a crawler system tracking over 6 million conversations of web chatter across blogs, wikis, forums and networks. From this, an eco-system of activity was created across each key message area to establish levels of activity and sentiment around these.
Using a combination of free tools, Daemon Digital established more specific trackers against the content creation from ‘7 Days in Sydney’ and the identity ‘Sydney Sider’. Blogs, microblogs, videos and engagement were tracked on a weekly basis, aggregated and expanded at specific points in the campaign to give greater insight.
The campaign itself is a success, with significant shift in the share of voice in social media from 22% to 39%. Ongoing measures are in place to track against the objective of increasing the number of travellers to Sydney by air ticket tracking and the number of nights in hotels.
For more on Daemon Digital and to view the case study http://ow.ly/LI1U
Post. CD
That said, there is little forgiveness for its youthfulness and social media has to work harder to prove its value to most marketing professionals and certainly in order to demonstrate worth to CEOs and Boards. After all, social media is just a fad…isn’t it? Seriously though, we do face a number of challenges in proving the value of social media in terms of tracking organisations whose ultimate value measure lies offline.
Social Media allows us to have conversations - this as a means of communication is a much more complex channel to track as messages are two, or multi directional. Because of this, there is a need for these to be tracked both more frequently and using multiple approaches due to idiosyncrasies across social media platforms set ups and language.
Working with Tourism New South Wales on their ‘7 days in Sydney’ social media campaign, Daemon Digital worked much in the way that social media does when tracking outputs. We responded to what was happening, where shifts were made and what tools were best for the change in activity.
Whilst that might sound reactive, in fact we had set up a very structured outputs framework that married back against TNSW’s overall brand objectives and key messages. The strategy didn’t change, we just altered our game plan to glean the most detailed information.
In order to establish an overall brand perception, Daemon Digital first created a query framework and key word search against TNSW’s key messages run through a crawler system tracking over 6 million conversations of web chatter across blogs, wikis, forums and networks. From this, an eco-system of activity was created across each key message area to establish levels of activity and sentiment around these.
Using a combination of free tools, Daemon Digital established more specific trackers against the content creation from ‘7 Days in Sydney’ and the identity ‘Sydney Sider’. Blogs, microblogs, videos and engagement were tracked on a weekly basis, aggregated and expanded at specific points in the campaign to give greater insight.
The campaign itself is a success, with significant shift in the share of voice in social media from 22% to 39%. Ongoing measures are in place to track against the objective of increasing the number of travellers to Sydney by air ticket tracking and the number of nights in hotels.
For more on Daemon Digital and to view the case study http://ow.ly/LI1U
Post. CD
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Lights out. Social Media on.
Correctly valuing and monetising social media engagement for clients that, unlike other media, can’t be switched on, or pre-programmed in quite the same way, is just one of the challenges specialist social media agencies face.
Conversations with clients recently have often come back to numbers. Yes, numbers meaning prices, but more often, numbers as in number of hours.
Social media is about dialogue. And one of the inherent values of social media that we don’t see anywhere else, is the opportunity to respond to outside occurrences in real time through the sharing of thoughts, ideas and emotions all wrapped up in various forms of conversation be that written, verbal, through images or video.
In order to do that however, you need to be constantly tuned in or switched on. Anyone who has even a smattering of work ethic does not hang up on a conversation, ditch a proposal or walk out on a meeting simply because it’s officially time to clock out. Let’s make no mistake, there are certainly those who don’t work a minute outside when they are paid to do so. And perhaps they’re the smart ones, but that’s a different conversation.
The point is, when your social media audience is most engaged, is when you need to be present and accounted for in the conversation. If that’s midnight, it’s midnight. What clients sometimes find it hard to understand is that this means being constantly switched on. So, when they ask you how many hours you’re going to spend on their social media strategy or campaign this week, the answer should be ‘as many as it needs’ rather than ‘as many as you’re paying for between the hours of 9am and 5pm’.
That’s all very admirable in an ideal world but at the end of the day, we’re all here to make money. Sure, we want to create brilliant work that makes our clients and ourselves successful along the way but we need to be realistic about just how we can do that. So where’s the healthy balance? Where’s the point you switch off?
This isn't about answering all the questions, but one question that has been answered is that being switched on when it counts means you can maximise on all the good stuff and mitigate some of the bad stuff better and more swiftly.
A great example of just that is this case study from Tourism New South Wales.
http://ow.ly/JIJ0
Post: CD
Conversations with clients recently have often come back to numbers. Yes, numbers meaning prices, but more often, numbers as in number of hours.
Social media is about dialogue. And one of the inherent values of social media that we don’t see anywhere else, is the opportunity to respond to outside occurrences in real time through the sharing of thoughts, ideas and emotions all wrapped up in various forms of conversation be that written, verbal, through images or video.
In order to do that however, you need to be constantly tuned in or switched on. Anyone who has even a smattering of work ethic does not hang up on a conversation, ditch a proposal or walk out on a meeting simply because it’s officially time to clock out. Let’s make no mistake, there are certainly those who don’t work a minute outside when they are paid to do so. And perhaps they’re the smart ones, but that’s a different conversation.
The point is, when your social media audience is most engaged, is when you need to be present and accounted for in the conversation. If that’s midnight, it’s midnight. What clients sometimes find it hard to understand is that this means being constantly switched on. So, when they ask you how many hours you’re going to spend on their social media strategy or campaign this week, the answer should be ‘as many as it needs’ rather than ‘as many as you’re paying for between the hours of 9am and 5pm’.
That’s all very admirable in an ideal world but at the end of the day, we’re all here to make money. Sure, we want to create brilliant work that makes our clients and ourselves successful along the way but we need to be realistic about just how we can do that. So where’s the healthy balance? Where’s the point you switch off?
This isn't about answering all the questions, but one question that has been answered is that being switched on when it counts means you can maximise on all the good stuff and mitigate some of the bad stuff better and more swiftly.
A great example of just that is this case study from Tourism New South Wales.
http://ow.ly/JIJ0
Post: CD
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater
Agencies tend to like the invention of new. There’s nothing wrong with being innovative. In fact, it’s both commendable and desirable, and, in the majority of instances, needed. What they’re sometimes not very good at doing is acknowledging the value in existing work or work (gasp), that is not their own.
So when it is right to take out the tried and tested, dust it off and make it better? When is it ok to say ‘that’s working, it’s working well, so we’re not going to change it (much)’?.
It’s a little bit of practice what you preach….
We’ve always advocated that social media is a long term commitment and by being continually involved in the space you have a voice that gets heard and has credibility. The application of that ethos helped in the creation of a successful social media campaign for Tourism New South Wales starting from somewhere around, ooh, I’d say, the 100m mark?
Our challenge? To raise the profile of Sydney as a destination of choice for young travellers (aged 18-30 years) from the UK and Ireland looking to travel on a variety of visa types.
We already had two things: A youth market contributing 37% of international visitor arrivals in New South Wales, and an engaged fan base on Facebook of a little over 3,000 fans. So we harnessed both of these and used them as a foundation to build even higher.
Facebook became the fulcrum for the campaign. The fan base at the beginning of May 2009 was 3,359. Since then, the number of fans has more than doubled through purely organic growth, with an increase of 4,275 additional fans. The fan base, which has a strong representation from the 18-30 target market, is now host to a total fan base of 7,634. And perhaps ‘fan’ is the wrong word. These aren’t discount driven relationships or pure broadcasting, they are engaged participants having conversations and sharing information.
Of course that didn’t happen all on its own and there was a carefully crafted strategic approach backing it that comprised of both offensive and defensive elements; a lot of research; content creation; seeding in travel and vertical markets; and general passion and enthusiasm for a fun job with a great client.
Better yet were the results. Tourism New South Wales share of online voice in social media for ‘Sydney’ went from 22% in the months leading up to the campaign to 39% at its conclusion including forums, blogs and micro-blogs.
So yes, it’s a lot of hard work too but the point is this. If clients have bothered to take themselves into the world of social media and they’re not doing a bad job, they may need your help and direction which they’ve obviously recognised (and for that we praise them) but don’t disregard their experiences to date. Use what they have and let them share their knowledge and challenges with you. It makes sense and it works. And you know what? You both end up feeling better for it.
See more of 7 Days in Sydney here:
www.facebook.com/seesydney
http://www.7daysinsydney.wordpress.com/
www.flickr.com/photos/7daysinsydney
www.youtube.com/seesydney
www.twitter.com/sydneysider
www.twitter.com/7daysinsydney
http://www.bestcityintheworld.wordpress.com/
Post. CD
So when it is right to take out the tried and tested, dust it off and make it better? When is it ok to say ‘that’s working, it’s working well, so we’re not going to change it (much)’?.
It’s a little bit of practice what you preach….
We’ve always advocated that social media is a long term commitment and by being continually involved in the space you have a voice that gets heard and has credibility. The application of that ethos helped in the creation of a successful social media campaign for Tourism New South Wales starting from somewhere around, ooh, I’d say, the 100m mark?
Our challenge? To raise the profile of Sydney as a destination of choice for young travellers (aged 18-30 years) from the UK and Ireland looking to travel on a variety of visa types.
We already had two things: A youth market contributing 37% of international visitor arrivals in New South Wales, and an engaged fan base on Facebook of a little over 3,000 fans. So we harnessed both of these and used them as a foundation to build even higher.
Facebook became the fulcrum for the campaign. The fan base at the beginning of May 2009 was 3,359. Since then, the number of fans has more than doubled through purely organic growth, with an increase of 4,275 additional fans. The fan base, which has a strong representation from the 18-30 target market, is now host to a total fan base of 7,634. And perhaps ‘fan’ is the wrong word. These aren’t discount driven relationships or pure broadcasting, they are engaged participants having conversations and sharing information.
Of course that didn’t happen all on its own and there was a carefully crafted strategic approach backing it that comprised of both offensive and defensive elements; a lot of research; content creation; seeding in travel and vertical markets; and general passion and enthusiasm for a fun job with a great client.
Better yet were the results. Tourism New South Wales share of online voice in social media for ‘Sydney’ went from 22% in the months leading up to the campaign to 39% at its conclusion including forums, blogs and micro-blogs.
So yes, it’s a lot of hard work too but the point is this. If clients have bothered to take themselves into the world of social media and they’re not doing a bad job, they may need your help and direction which they’ve obviously recognised (and for that we praise them) but don’t disregard their experiences to date. Use what they have and let them share their knowledge and challenges with you. It makes sense and it works. And you know what? You both end up feeling better for it.
See more of 7 Days in Sydney here:
www.facebook.com/seesydney
http://www.7daysinsydney.wordpress.com/
www.flickr.com/photos/7daysinsydney
www.youtube.com/seesydney
www.twitter.com/sydneysider
www.twitter.com/7daysinsydney
http://www.bestcityintheworld.wordpress.com/
Post. CD
One great idea and one great blog
The latter first.
If you have ever worked in a creative industry, particularly on the agency side, then you will love this post to David Thorne’s blog 27b/6: http://ow.ly/I1A5. In fact, if you like that post, you’ll probably love the others too, particularly this one: http://ow.ly/I1D9
Now to the good idea. Apparently it’s not fundraising but it is handraising, http://www.ihave.org.uk/ allows charities to create wish lists of required goods and services and for individuals to fulfill those wishes. Requirements are many and varied, for example a marketing strategy, a pint of blood, a laptop, warm socks and old bras. The wish lists are many and certainly varied enough to enable everyone to do something this Festive Season.
Post:RS
If you have ever worked in a creative industry, particularly on the agency side, then you will love this post to David Thorne’s blog 27b/6: http://ow.ly/I1A5. In fact, if you like that post, you’ll probably love the others too, particularly this one: http://ow.ly/I1D9
Now to the good idea. Apparently it’s not fundraising but it is handraising, http://www.ihave.org.uk/ allows charities to create wish lists of required goods and services and for individuals to fulfill those wishes. Requirements are many and varied, for example a marketing strategy, a pint of blood, a laptop, warm socks and old bras. The wish lists are many and certainly varied enough to enable everyone to do something this Festive Season.
Post:RS
Friday, November 20, 2009
Social Media promotion of ‘The Hangover’
Daemon Digital is helping to promote the Warner Home Video Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand release of the hit film, The Hangover. The campaign, which launched at the start of November, employs a highly targeted social media strategy to encourage people to interact with the film and its characters and ignite interest in the home release of one of the year’s most popular comedies.
A competition to win an all expenses paid trip to Las Vegas will be the centrepiece of the campaign; however Daemon recommended a supporting strategy which would drive a high number of entrants as well as importantly encouraging entrants to engage with the storyline of the film and therefore start conversations with the brand.
Entrants to the competition are invited to upload their funniest party photo to a dedicated page on Facebook – in creative costumes, striking poses and pulling faces that could only be captured in a split second; essentially doing things that make others laugh out loud, a la The Hangover!
The specific promotion of the campaign involves seeding invitational content through social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook news feeds, as well as creating a dedicated Facebook page with backgrounds and avatars in the style of the film and its characters.
The campaign results will be judged using traditional traffic based statistics together with an evaluation of the quality of conversations and interactions generated. Thus far, three weeks into the promotion, the Facebook page has over 11,200 fans.
You can enter the competition by visiting: www.facebook.com/hangovermovie
A competition to win an all expenses paid trip to Las Vegas will be the centrepiece of the campaign; however Daemon recommended a supporting strategy which would drive a high number of entrants as well as importantly encouraging entrants to engage with the storyline of the film and therefore start conversations with the brand.
Entrants to the competition are invited to upload their funniest party photo to a dedicated page on Facebook – in creative costumes, striking poses and pulling faces that could only be captured in a split second; essentially doing things that make others laugh out loud, a la The Hangover!
The specific promotion of the campaign involves seeding invitational content through social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook news feeds, as well as creating a dedicated Facebook page with backgrounds and avatars in the style of the film and its characters.
The campaign results will be judged using traditional traffic based statistics together with an evaluation of the quality of conversations and interactions generated. Thus far, three weeks into the promotion, the Facebook page has over 11,200 fans.
You can enter the competition by visiting: www.facebook.com/hangovermovie
Thursday, October 22, 2009
It’s always the little things in life…
…and here are two great examples.
Firstly the Ogori Café in Chiba, Japan, where instead of getting your order, you receive the order of the person in front of you instead. A really simple and fun idea that allows you to surprise and treat the next person in line. Love this, such a good idea and how much fun http://ow.ly/w3ff
Secondly, the Fun Theory from VW, which is a site dedicated to the concept that fun is the best way to change people’s behaviour. Simple genius. The piano stairs are awesome http://ow.ly/w3mA
Firstly the Ogori Café in Chiba, Japan, where instead of getting your order, you receive the order of the person in front of you instead. A really simple and fun idea that allows you to surprise and treat the next person in line. Love this, such a good idea and how much fun http://ow.ly/w3ff
Secondly, the Fun Theory from VW, which is a site dedicated to the concept that fun is the best way to change people’s behaviour. Simple genius. The piano stairs are awesome http://ow.ly/w3mA
Monday, September 28, 2009
Fiery Sydney sunset sparks social media success
With the youth market already contributing 37% of international visitor arrivals in New South Wales, Tourism NSW were keen to further encourage young travellers to visit Sydney and extend their stay.
Acknowledging word of mouth as an effective channel, they recognised a need to generate content containing a balance of information, opinion and entertainment which would position Sydney as a unique destination. By engaging social networks through defensive and then offensive strategic communications the @sydney_sider Twitter account was established to promote key messages regarding Sydney and react to discussions, comments and questions as they arise.
On 16th July 2009 the setting sun caught the attention of Sydneysiders which was reflected through the Twitter Stream. As an established account @sydney_sider was able to leverage existing followers to encourage Sydneysiders to tweet comments and photos of the natural spectacle.
The Twitter stream for “Sydney” swelled with keywords “sky” and “sunset” with descriptions including best, beautiful and love. Creating the hashtag #sydneysunset, @sydney_sider was able to direct traffic to the stream of positive sentiments and images which were retweeted and shared creating 107,274 impressions.
This user generated content was also used to create a post on the Sydneysider blog, earning high Google rankings for the query “Sydney sunset” and an increase in interactions on the Tourism NSW managed Facebook page.
By reacting immediately @sydney_sider was able to take the organic conversation around a natural phenomenon and increase the presence of Sydney in the Twitter stream, reaching 66,795 people in 191 aggregated tweets.
Daemon Digital Case Study_Sydney Sunset
Acknowledging word of mouth as an effective channel, they recognised a need to generate content containing a balance of information, opinion and entertainment which would position Sydney as a unique destination. By engaging social networks through defensive and then offensive strategic communications the @sydney_sider Twitter account was established to promote key messages regarding Sydney and react to discussions, comments and questions as they arise.
On 16th July 2009 the setting sun caught the attention of Sydneysiders which was reflected through the Twitter Stream. As an established account @sydney_sider was able to leverage existing followers to encourage Sydneysiders to tweet comments and photos of the natural spectacle.
The Twitter stream for “Sydney” swelled with keywords “sky” and “sunset” with descriptions including best, beautiful and love. Creating the hashtag #sydneysunset, @sydney_sider was able to direct traffic to the stream of positive sentiments and images which were retweeted and shared creating 107,274 impressions.
This user generated content was also used to create a post on the Sydneysider blog, earning high Google rankings for the query “Sydney sunset” and an increase in interactions on the Tourism NSW managed Facebook page.
By reacting immediately @sydney_sider was able to take the organic conversation around a natural phenomenon and increase the presence of Sydney in the Twitter stream, reaching 66,795 people in 191 aggregated tweets.
Daemon Digital Case Study_Sydney Sunset
Monday, September 7, 2009
Can you ease into Social Media?
I’ve been reading with interest the reactions to companies who have stumbled in the social arena. In particular on blogs outlining Habitat UK’s hashtag spam, those commenting reeled at the idea of having an intern execute such a highly visible part of the communications strategy. And yet at the same time there is disbelief around the policies in place for US Marines, US Open competitors and on game day for the NFL.
Closer to home, Mat Rogers tweeted his way into trouble with the NRL and at the Social Media Summit in Melbourne the heavily government based audience continually expressed concern at trying to have a two way conversation when it takes forever to get copy approved.
While contemplating whether companies should hire, outsource or DIY their social media strategy, JD Rucker states “having a poorly run social media strategy is worse than not having one at all”. At the same time Nancy Williams is adamant (as I’m sure many of you are): social media without conversation isn’t social media.
When it comes to sports and politics, the consequences of a social media stumble can mean more then just crisis communications. (And of all people to stumble, sportsmen and the public service seem to be the very best at it and I doubt your clear/strict/enforced social media policy is going to change that much.) This is based on rules and regulations set in stone long before the rise of blogs and Twitter.
So while those involved push for changes to allow a more open channel of communication, will we (the public, fans, advocates, constituents, lookers-on, social media mavens) allow them to approach the medium with baby steps? If they won’t let us comment, will we share their content? If they won’t publish our feedback, will we give them our opinion? If they can’t answer our questions, will we seek out (and trust) their advocates instead?
Original post by http://mab397.wordpress.com
Closer to home, Mat Rogers tweeted his way into trouble with the NRL and at the Social Media Summit in Melbourne the heavily government based audience continually expressed concern at trying to have a two way conversation when it takes forever to get copy approved.
While contemplating whether companies should hire, outsource or DIY their social media strategy, JD Rucker states “having a poorly run social media strategy is worse than not having one at all”. At the same time Nancy Williams is adamant (as I’m sure many of you are): social media without conversation isn’t social media.
When it comes to sports and politics, the consequences of a social media stumble can mean more then just crisis communications. (And of all people to stumble, sportsmen and the public service seem to be the very best at it and I doubt your clear/strict/enforced social media policy is going to change that much.) This is based on rules and regulations set in stone long before the rise of blogs and Twitter.
So while those involved push for changes to allow a more open channel of communication, will we (the public, fans, advocates, constituents, lookers-on, social media mavens) allow them to approach the medium with baby steps? If they won’t let us comment, will we share their content? If they won’t publish our feedback, will we give them our opinion? If they can’t answer our questions, will we seek out (and trust) their advocates instead?
Original post by http://mab397.wordpress.com
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Has momentum for change become unstoppable?
Tipping points, according to Wikipedia are "the levels at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable". Are we far away when it comes to business use of social media platforms? Or more directly when will the business risk of engaging with social media outweigh the perceived risk it represents?
When not taking a risk is actually taking a bigger risk, according to @murnahan, is ‘when your competition does it sooner and better than you’. So could it be that a basic human emotion is the key driver for many organisations? Is it a balance of fear of lost opportunity against the fear of sustained web attack or more succinctly the fear of losing control of the message?
Many organisations, and indeed communications professionals cite losing control of the message as a key reason to avoid social media as a channel to market. But surely this implies control of the message to begin with? If social media channels are an extension of word of mouth then organisations’ have never really had control, it’s just that the reach of those conversations was more limited. Sure, a badly handled guitar or the (alleged) mold in your apartment weren’t discussed on millions of screens, but even now they are, the issue isn’t message control but lack of engagement and dialogue.
It’s not the message that is uncontrolled it is the channel, and that’s what scares business.
Managing reputation and creating relationships with customers are key drivers for every business. Creating engagement with a customer or entering into a dialogue with them in any other medium would be seen as a positive influencing factor likely to elicit repeat business. But in social media it is risky?
If tipping points are those at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable, surely we are approaching that point at some speed. To actively manage social media channels each business must evaluate its own tolerance for risk and at the very least they should be actively evaluating that tolerance rather than hoping that the societal impact of social media will diminish.
That really would be risky.
When not taking a risk is actually taking a bigger risk, according to @murnahan, is ‘when your competition does it sooner and better than you’. So could it be that a basic human emotion is the key driver for many organisations? Is it a balance of fear of lost opportunity against the fear of sustained web attack or more succinctly the fear of losing control of the message?
Many organisations, and indeed communications professionals cite losing control of the message as a key reason to avoid social media as a channel to market. But surely this implies control of the message to begin with? If social media channels are an extension of word of mouth then organisations’ have never really had control, it’s just that the reach of those conversations was more limited. Sure, a badly handled guitar or the (alleged) mold in your apartment weren’t discussed on millions of screens, but even now they are, the issue isn’t message control but lack of engagement and dialogue.
It’s not the message that is uncontrolled it is the channel, and that’s what scares business.
Managing reputation and creating relationships with customers are key drivers for every business. Creating engagement with a customer or entering into a dialogue with them in any other medium would be seen as a positive influencing factor likely to elicit repeat business. But in social media it is risky?
If tipping points are those at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable, surely we are approaching that point at some speed. To actively manage social media channels each business must evaluate its own tolerance for risk and at the very least they should be actively evaluating that tolerance rather than hoping that the societal impact of social media will diminish.
That really would be risky.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Losing control can be fun
It seems those hippies were on to something after all! And in the spirit of the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, maybe by loosening the grip on their brand, companies might be able to experience something more out of this world.
Whether it is the integration of user generated content into a campaign or refusing to censor the dissident voice in forums, many brands have been communicated in the voice of the customer in a bold new way.
Unfortunately sometimes the experience can be a disaster, sure to cause painful flashbacks for decades to come. Brand managers can play it safe and minimise the risk, you just need to know what you’re getting into, do it with people you trust and, of course, everything in moderation.
Originally posted by @digitaldaemon
Whether it is the integration of user generated content into a campaign or refusing to censor the dissident voice in forums, many brands have been communicated in the voice of the customer in a bold new way.
Unfortunately sometimes the experience can be a disaster, sure to cause painful flashbacks for decades to come. Brand managers can play it safe and minimise the risk, you just need to know what you’re getting into, do it with people you trust and, of course, everything in moderation.
Originally posted by @digitaldaemon
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Social Media Revolution
A number of years ago, Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod, both teachers in the US, created a video entitled Shift Happens; Did You Know? The themes of Did You Know? are global and designed to be relevant to schools and children around the world and to raise interesting topics of conversation around societal shifts largely driven by the adoption of internet protocol. The themes raised are relevant to a much wider audience than schools and children.
The video embedded below, created by Socialnomics09, youtube.com/user/Socialnomics09, follows a similar theme but investigates the reach and impact on societal shift of increasing usage of Social Media.
Enjoy.
The video embedded below, created by Socialnomics09, youtube.com/user/Socialnomics09, follows a similar theme but investigates the reach and impact on societal shift of increasing usage of Social Media.
Enjoy.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Look after the sense and the pounds will look after themselves
In her ‘Stuff and Junk’ blog (http://tinyurl.com/nlmkad) Mandi Bateson, writing as mab397 highlighted the following oversight in a recent eDM she received from travel.com.au. Can you spot the not so deliberate mistake below:
Did you spot anything missing?
The destinations for these great deals perhaps?
$435 is a great price for a flight to some places but not if it’s to Brisbane! For the record, the cheapest flights in all of these offers were not for the airlines’ “hometown” and it took at least four clicks from the eDM to find a destination matching these fares.
As Mandi so ably points out, are we so quick to overcomplicate our campaigns that we miss the very, very basics?
Did you spot anything missing?The destinations for these great deals perhaps?
$435 is a great price for a flight to some places but not if it’s to Brisbane! For the record, the cheapest flights in all of these offers were not for the airlines’ “hometown” and it took at least four clicks from the eDM to find a destination matching these fares.
As Mandi so ably points out, are we so quick to overcomplicate our campaigns that we miss the very, very basics?
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
3 seconds is all you get
It used to be, according to the traditional rule of thumb, you could divide newspaper readers into three distinct groups based on how they read each page. This rule of thumb was called the 30:3:30 rule and was based on the theory that people read each page of a newspaper in 30 seconds, three minutes or 30 minutes.
The theory followed that in 30 seconds all you could read on each page would be the headlines, that in three minutes you would read both the headlines and the first paragraph of each piece and that finally, in 30 minutes, you could read every word in every story on the page.
Now, with internet penetration levels at their current highs and with wall to wall access to broadcast media; newspapers do not break news anymore. They can report it and they can add significantly more analysis and editorial than their broadcast competitors – but in simple terms the old rule of thumb doesn’t hold up so well anymore for print media, so how well does it apply to our uptake and use of social media?
The first problem with a rule which has 30 seconds as it’s lowest time parameter is that in social media, 30 seconds is a long time. Consider Twitter for example where 30 seconds to read a tweet is a lifetime. In 30 seconds you could conceivably have read a post, retweeted it and moved on to check the footie scores.
So, for social media there’s a new rule: the 3:30:3 principle or that someone will spend three seconds reading a tweet; 30 seconds reading a blog post; or finally and as a maximum say three minutes following a link, responding to a post or starting a conversation.
In its simplest form, this principle promotes that you have to use language that will capture someone’s imagination in three seconds, encouraging them to want to know more, follow you, digg you, join as a fan or even simply entertain.
There are apparently more new words added to the English language each year than existed when Shakespeare was alive and with only three seconds to make a lasting impact we may well need to keep creating them.
The theory followed that in 30 seconds all you could read on each page would be the headlines, that in three minutes you would read both the headlines and the first paragraph of each piece and that finally, in 30 minutes, you could read every word in every story on the page.
Now, with internet penetration levels at their current highs and with wall to wall access to broadcast media; newspapers do not break news anymore. They can report it and they can add significantly more analysis and editorial than their broadcast competitors – but in simple terms the old rule of thumb doesn’t hold up so well anymore for print media, so how well does it apply to our uptake and use of social media?
The first problem with a rule which has 30 seconds as it’s lowest time parameter is that in social media, 30 seconds is a long time. Consider Twitter for example where 30 seconds to read a tweet is a lifetime. In 30 seconds you could conceivably have read a post, retweeted it and moved on to check the footie scores.
So, for social media there’s a new rule: the 3:30:3 principle or that someone will spend three seconds reading a tweet; 30 seconds reading a blog post; or finally and as a maximum say three minutes following a link, responding to a post or starting a conversation.
In its simplest form, this principle promotes that you have to use language that will capture someone’s imagination in three seconds, encouraging them to want to know more, follow you, digg you, join as a fan or even simply entertain.
There are apparently more new words added to the English language each year than existed when Shakespeare was alive and with only three seconds to make a lasting impact we may well need to keep creating them.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Risk and Reward
“Perhaps you are just warming up to the idea that this “new” media is where things are going. The fear of jumping in is really pretty normal. After all, it is hard to believe in something after you have watched all the things you always knew about business and economy suddenly change. So what will make all of this feel better and help it all make sense? The answer is this: If your competition does it sooner and better than you, the cost of lost opportunity will be greater than any other potential risk.”
So writes Mark Aaron Murnahan in his piece The Social Media Marketing Dilemma a simple but undeniably accurate view of many organisations’ position with regards Social Media.
There is a tipping point, when the risk of engaging with Social Media will outweigh the perceived risk it represents and surely we are rapidly approaching that point.
So writes Mark Aaron Murnahan in his piece The Social Media Marketing Dilemma a simple but undeniably accurate view of many organisations’ position with regards Social Media.
There is a tipping point, when the risk of engaging with Social Media will outweigh the perceived risk it represents and surely we are rapidly approaching that point.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
The Jump Shot
Dervs and Cuzzy: two students, two strangers, two lucky of the luckiest people you’re ever going to meet, who’ve just spent 7 Days in Sydney having the time of their lives.
With a few real Sydneysiders to show them around, Dervs and Cuzzy, from Ireland and Britain respectively, have been sharing their experiences from the best city in the world with their followers, friends and fans.
While not everyone gets an all expenses paid trip to Sydney, Dervs and Cuzzy allows everyone to live vicariously through their experiences:
www.facebook.com/seesydney
www.youtube.com/seesydney
7daysinsydney.wordpress.com
www.twitter.com/7daysinsydney
Monday, June 22, 2009
The best offence is a good defence
So you know what you want to achieve with Social Media. You’ve drafted your strategy document and you’re ready to press the go button. So what next, how do you actually engage with an audience using Social Media? It sounds great and you’re sure it’s exactly what your organisation needs, but how do you actually get it done?
If you want to engage your audience in a conversation and start relationships through the use of Social Media, you have to do the hard yards first and build a credible, defensible reputation in the space on which to build more targeted message based campaigns.
In simple terms, building the credibility of your organisation, or your products or services is easiest done by getting your hands dirty. You don’t have to start and or write your own blog (although you could), but you should comment on others where your comments add value or demonstrate expertise.
If you see a value in micro blogging, don’t ignore replies you receive and actively search out questions that you can answer. Search through existing content, on for example, You Tube or Flickr and add commentary or thoughts that substantiate your proposition.
Join social networks in Facebook, My Space or Bebo as appropriate and create an active profile by engaging with your fellow members or fans. And most of all, represent your organisation, product or service honestly, openly and realistically to enhance your reputation.
If you want to engage your audience in a conversation and start relationships through the use of Social Media, you have to do the hard yards first and build a credible, defensible reputation in the space on which to build more targeted message based campaigns.
In simple terms, building the credibility of your organisation, or your products or services is easiest done by getting your hands dirty. You don’t have to start and or write your own blog (although you could), but you should comment on others where your comments add value or demonstrate expertise.
If you see a value in micro blogging, don’t ignore replies you receive and actively search out questions that you can answer. Search through existing content, on for example, You Tube or Flickr and add commentary or thoughts that substantiate your proposition.
Join social networks in Facebook, My Space or Bebo as appropriate and create an active profile by engaging with your fellow members or fans. And most of all, represent your organisation, product or service honestly, openly and realistically to enhance your reputation.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Once in a liftetime trip to Sydney
Do you fancy a once-in-a-lifetime all expenses paid trip to Sydney, Australia?
If so, we’re looking for 2 active and outgoing people, aged 18-30, from the UK or Ireland who are ready for a fun filled seven days in Sydney.
So what’s the catch? You’ll be filmed and photographed as you experience all the fantastic sights, surf, culture, eating, drinking and excitement that Sydney and the surrounding areas have to offer. You’ll also be featured in video diaries of your time in Sydney and contribute to a blog detailing the highlights of your trip.
This amazing trip includes all flights, accommodation, travel, food, drink and entrance fees to various attractions.
You must be from the UK and/or Ireland and aged between the ages of 18-30 at the time of travel and you must be available to travel between 21 June and 4 July 2009.
Please visit http://facebook.sydney.com for more details and to register your interest.
If so, we’re looking for 2 active and outgoing people, aged 18-30, from the UK or Ireland who are ready for a fun filled seven days in Sydney.
So what’s the catch? You’ll be filmed and photographed as you experience all the fantastic sights, surf, culture, eating, drinking and excitement that Sydney and the surrounding areas have to offer. You’ll also be featured in video diaries of your time in Sydney and contribute to a blog detailing the highlights of your trip.
This amazing trip includes all flights, accommodation, travel, food, drink and entrance fees to various attractions.
You must be from the UK and/or Ireland and aged between the ages of 18-30 at the time of travel and you must be available to travel between 21 June and 4 July 2009.
Please visit http://facebook.sydney.com for more details and to register your interest.
Monday, April 20, 2009
A three legged horse in a dog show
Twitter has hit the headlines and become the social media phenomena of the moment. From Barack Obama to Britney Spears, people are capitalising on its ability to publish messages to the masses in 140 characters or less. It only takes seconds to write and seconds to read. But what relevance does this new platform have for business and how are organisations cashing in on the opportunities?
Among many organisations Twitter seems to have an unjustified reputation as a service for socially inept teenagers. Yet properly used and effectively targeted, Twitter can add significant value to most organisations’ marketing and communications strategies.
Many organisations will take the approach that they will wait and see how micro blogging develops before they get involved. These same organisations and individuals within them said the same thing about social networking (in fact probably still are) and almost certainly the web before that.
The simple fact is that the speed of adoption and change in this space is such that most organisations cannot afford to risk not getting involved.
More information at http://tinyurl.com/c4dl87
Among many organisations Twitter seems to have an unjustified reputation as a service for socially inept teenagers. Yet properly used and effectively targeted, Twitter can add significant value to most organisations’ marketing and communications strategies.
Many organisations will take the approach that they will wait and see how micro blogging develops before they get involved. These same organisations and individuals within them said the same thing about social networking (in fact probably still are) and almost certainly the web before that.
The simple fact is that the speed of adoption and change in this space is such that most organisations cannot afford to risk not getting involved.
More information at http://tinyurl.com/c4dl87
Monday, April 6, 2009
5 million Australian's are online every day
6.5 million Australians now belong to an online social network according to Nielsen Online and 23% interacted with a company through social media. In addition, of the number of Australian’s online, 5 million access the internet every day.
In addition, the study showed that 57% of Australians have watched videos online, specifically to help them decide whether or not to buy a product, with YouTube proving the most popular, used by 75% of Australians last year. In general terms, according to the UM Wave 3 survey, 77.2% of Australian internet users who access social media have watched a video clip.
Surely it is time for Australian organisations to take social media more seriously and allocate time and resources to better understanding how its use could add value to their brand and their products or services.
There is a tipping point when the risk to an organisation of getting involved with Social Media is outweighed by the risk of not getting involved. We are rapidly approaching that point.
In addition, the study showed that 57% of Australians have watched videos online, specifically to help them decide whether or not to buy a product, with YouTube proving the most popular, used by 75% of Australians last year. In general terms, according to the UM Wave 3 survey, 77.2% of Australian internet users who access social media have watched a video clip.
Surely it is time for Australian organisations to take social media more seriously and allocate time and resources to better understanding how its use could add value to their brand and their products or services.
There is a tipping point when the risk to an organisation of getting involved with Social Media is outweighed by the risk of not getting involved. We are rapidly approaching that point.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Who loves ya baby?
If number of Facebook fans indicates not only your popularity but also appreciation of your politics, position, service or product, then my three year old son would be 100% behind number six!
1 Barack Obama 5,881,499
2 Coca-Cola 3,287,101
3 Nutella 3,052,502
4 Pizza 3,005,922
5 Cristiano Ronaldo 2,730,570
6 Kinder Surprise 2,581,651
7 Facebook 2,492,881
8 Windows Live Messenger 2,469,639
9 Sid 2,409,639
10 Boo 2,343,221
These are correct as at March 09 as reported in www.adage.com from www.allfacebook.com
1 Barack Obama 5,881,499
2 Coca-Cola 3,287,101
3 Nutella 3,052,502
4 Pizza 3,005,922
5 Cristiano Ronaldo 2,730,570
6 Kinder Surprise 2,581,651
7 Facebook 2,492,881
8 Windows Live Messenger 2,469,639
9 Sid 2,409,639
10 Boo 2,343,221
These are correct as at March 09 as reported in www.adage.com from www.allfacebook.com
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Three quarters of internet users on Social Media
According to numbers from comScore World Metrix 67% of internet users around the world engage with social media in one form or another http://tinyurl.com/cztmkl
With the total internet population increasing by 11% over the year, use of social media increased by 25% to over 580 million unique visits during the month.
Interestingly, although usage in North America was still growing at 9% over the previous 12 months, actual visits at 131 million was significantly behind both Asia at over 200 million visits (23% growth), and Europe at 165 million visits (35% growth).
Many organisations perceive use of social media to be a North American led phenomena and use a US bias in users as a reason not to engage with social media.
With 67% of the internet population now engaging with social media and with 35% of them living in Asia, maybe its time for more organisations to consider how best to use social media to manage and further their reputation?
With the total internet population increasing by 11% over the year, use of social media increased by 25% to over 580 million unique visits during the month.
Interestingly, although usage in North America was still growing at 9% over the previous 12 months, actual visits at 131 million was significantly behind both Asia at over 200 million visits (23% growth), and Europe at 165 million visits (35% growth).
Many organisations perceive use of social media to be a North American led phenomena and use a US bias in users as a reason not to engage with social media.
With 67% of the internet population now engaging with social media and with 35% of them living in Asia, maybe its time for more organisations to consider how best to use social media to manage and further their reputation?
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Free New Media seminar, Canberra, Australia
Is social media and social networking just another fad or does it hold real potential for Australian organisations? At our free lunch seminar, Daemon Digital will outline the development of social media and its impact upon our use of the web before going on to discuss:
Why organisations should take social media seriously; how can you start conversations through social media; the benefits of starting these conversations; and what could happen if you don’t!
We will be holding a seminar in Canberra at Hotel Realm, 18 National Circuit, Barton, commencing at Noon and finishing by 13:30 on 2 April 2009.
To reserve your place at this free seminar, please send an email to enquiries@daemongroup.com
Why organisations should take social media seriously; how can you start conversations through social media; the benefits of starting these conversations; and what could happen if you don’t!
We will be holding a seminar in Canberra at Hotel Realm, 18 National Circuit, Barton, commencing at Noon and finishing by 13:30 on 2 April 2009.
To reserve your place at this free seminar, please send an email to enquiries@daemongroup.com
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Six degrees from the Oval
Much has been made of President Obama’s use of social media during both his campaigns for the Nomination and during the General Election, and some of the statistics in Edelman’s point to how and why the strategies employed were so successful http://tinyurl.com/ax2b6b
President Obama had a greater focus online, with ten times more staff than McCain, who together, created five times more Facebook friends, four times more You Tube viewers http://tinyurl.com/auumez and double the traffic to their main website.
On Facebook, Obama had 3 million friends, with an additional 2 million across the other 14 social networking sites that the campaign focused on. On You Tube there were eventually more than 2,000 ‘official’ videos watched more than 80 million times. In addition, there were 442,000 user generated videos uploaded to compliment the official ones.
Also, in addition to social media eDM drove contact points and donations with 13 million people registered to receive over 1 billion emails between them based on more than 7,000 variations of the email campaign.
President Obama had a greater focus online, with ten times more staff than McCain, who together, created five times more Facebook friends, four times more You Tube viewers http://tinyurl.com/auumez and double the traffic to their main website.
On Facebook, Obama had 3 million friends, with an additional 2 million across the other 14 social networking sites that the campaign focused on. On You Tube there were eventually more than 2,000 ‘official’ videos watched more than 80 million times. In addition, there were 442,000 user generated videos uploaded to compliment the official ones.
Also, in addition to social media eDM drove contact points and donations with 13 million people registered to receive over 1 billion emails between them based on more than 7,000 variations of the email campaign.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Undergraduate social networking
8 out of 10 Australian undergraduates are using the web for social networking, almost twice the number who go online to game (42%), according to a new study by Daemon Digital.
Facebook and YouTube were the most commonly used sites by young Australians with MySpace in third place. Online photo site, Flickr and dating site, RSVP also made it in the Top Ten social networking sites used.
The popularity of social networking has grown exponentially in the last 24 months and, as a result, these sites are finally beginning to gain recognition among Australian businesses. Social networks are being used for recruitment purposes, trialling new products and supporting product launches. But they are only now beginning to gain recognition.
While business heads and marketers are in agreement that they must start to use social networking channels, the vast majority are not sure where to start or how to get involved. Businesses cannot afford to ignore this migration and one of the best approaches is to treat online social media in the same way as organisations value traditional networking – attend and engage in conversations where those conversations are being held.
Many organisations still expect consumers to find their content on corporate sites, which of course many do. The corporate site is a business necessity in the same way as a letterhead used to be, but many organisations would be better served actively seeking out users to engage them in conversation.
The first step has got to be to listen to the conversations that are underway and finding out a little more about your organisation’s reputation in social media. Software tools such as Social Radar, combined with human understanding are very illuminating for most organisations.
Facebook and YouTube were the most commonly used sites by young Australians with MySpace in third place. Online photo site, Flickr and dating site, RSVP also made it in the Top Ten social networking sites used.
The popularity of social networking has grown exponentially in the last 24 months and, as a result, these sites are finally beginning to gain recognition among Australian businesses. Social networks are being used for recruitment purposes, trialling new products and supporting product launches. But they are only now beginning to gain recognition.
While business heads and marketers are in agreement that they must start to use social networking channels, the vast majority are not sure where to start or how to get involved. Businesses cannot afford to ignore this migration and one of the best approaches is to treat online social media in the same way as organisations value traditional networking – attend and engage in conversations where those conversations are being held.
Many organisations still expect consumers to find their content on corporate sites, which of course many do. The corporate site is a business necessity in the same way as a letterhead used to be, but many organisations would be better served actively seeking out users to engage them in conversation.
The first step has got to be to listen to the conversations that are underway and finding out a little more about your organisation’s reputation in social media. Software tools such as Social Radar, combined with human understanding are very illuminating for most organisations.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Idiot bloggers...
The Guardian Newspaper in the UK ran a story yesterday about Jason Roe who having found what he thought to be was a flaw in the Ryanair online booking system, ran the information on his blog see http://tinyurl.com/cemrb6
Whilst the initial and informal response from Ryanair was average at best, their official comment was bizarre:
“Ryanair can confirm that a Ryanair staff member did engage in a blog discussion. It is Ryanair policy not to waste time and energy corresponding with idiot bloggers and Ryanair can confirm that it won't be happening again. Lunatic bloggers can have the blog sphere all to themselves as our people are far too busy driving down the cost of air travel."
Is this a Ryanair stunt maybe?
Whilst the initial and informal response from Ryanair was average at best, their official comment was bizarre:
“Ryanair can confirm that a Ryanair staff member did engage in a blog discussion. It is Ryanair policy not to waste time and energy corresponding with idiot bloggers and Ryanair can confirm that it won't be happening again. Lunatic bloggers can have the blog sphere all to themselves as our people are far too busy driving down the cost of air travel."
Is this a Ryanair stunt maybe?
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Australian Twitter use hits all-time high
Use of the micro-blogging service Twitter service in Australia hit an all-time high for the week ending 10 January 2009, increasing year-on-year in web visits by 517.9% for that week compared with the same week in the previous year.
While corporate take up is slower in Australia than in the US the service offers the same advantages to organisations here which are keen to communicate short messages to a time poor audience.
While corporate take up is slower in Australia than in the US the service offers the same advantages to organisations here which are keen to communicate short messages to a time poor audience.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Top ranking social networks
According to www.compete.com the following is a list of the top 25 social networking sites by total monthly visits at the end of January ’09:
1. facebook.com
2. myspace.com
3. twitter.com
4. flixster.com
5. linkedin.com
6. tagged.com
7. classmates.com
8. myyearbook.com
9. livejournal.com
10. imeem.com
11. reunion.com
12. ning.com
13. blackplanet.com
14. bebo.com
15. hi5.com
16. yuku.com
17. cafemom.com
18. friendster.com
19. xanga.com
20. 360.yahoo.com
21. orkut.com
22. urbanchat.com
23. fubar.com
24. asiantown.net
25. tickle.com
facebook.com had over 1.1 billion visits in January from nearly 69 million unique visitors, in comparison to tickle.com which was visited 109,492 times by 96,155 people. In comparative terms then, on a frequency basis, each unique user visited Facebook 17.4 times during the month in comparison to Tickle’s frequency of 1.1.
The big winner on frequency would have been asiantown.com with a frequency of 13.8, equal to My Space in frequency albeit just over 809 million visits behind in absolute terms!
1. facebook.com
2. myspace.com
3. twitter.com
4. flixster.com
5. linkedin.com
6. tagged.com
7. classmates.com
8. myyearbook.com
9. livejournal.com
10. imeem.com
11. reunion.com
12. ning.com
13. blackplanet.com
14. bebo.com
15. hi5.com
16. yuku.com
17. cafemom.com
18. friendster.com
19. xanga.com
20. 360.yahoo.com
21. orkut.com
22. urbanchat.com
23. fubar.com
24. asiantown.net
25. tickle.com
facebook.com had over 1.1 billion visits in January from nearly 69 million unique visitors, in comparison to tickle.com which was visited 109,492 times by 96,155 people. In comparative terms then, on a frequency basis, each unique user visited Facebook 17.4 times during the month in comparison to Tickle’s frequency of 1.1.
The big winner on frequency would have been asiantown.com with a frequency of 13.8, equal to My Space in frequency albeit just over 809 million visits behind in absolute terms!
Google doesn’t find Atlantis after all
With the demise after a scant 13 episodes in 1977 of the Patrick Duffy lead Man from Atlantis many of us assumed that the rumours of lost civilizations beneath the sea would die away, until last week that is, when a Brit searching through the latest incarnation of Google Earth, spotted what he believed was the famed lost City http://tinyurl.com/amvdbl
The discovery is unlikely, the denial from Google was swift, but it was the wording of the denial which garnered interest from us.
As part of the news release denying the find, Google did confirm that Google Earth had discovered a new forest in Mozambique that’s home to previously unknown species and the remains of a previously undiscovered ancient Roman villa.
Is there nothing Google can’t achieve?
Oh and by the way, for those of you with treasure hunting aspirations the exact coordinates of Atlantis are apparently 31 15'15.53N, 24 15'30.53W.
The discovery is unlikely, the denial from Google was swift, but it was the wording of the denial which garnered interest from us.
As part of the news release denying the find, Google did confirm that Google Earth had discovered a new forest in Mozambique that’s home to previously unknown species and the remains of a previously undiscovered ancient Roman villa.
Is there nothing Google can’t achieve?
Oh and by the way, for those of you with treasure hunting aspirations the exact coordinates of Atlantis are apparently 31 15'15.53N, 24 15'30.53W.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
A SledgeYammer blow?
In an update to yesterday’s Yammer post, the enterprise version of Twitter announced the release of new hosted version of the software allowing organisation’s to install it with their firewall which should fully remove any ITC concerns with regards to the security of the posts.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Stop, Yammertime
You will most likely already be aware of Twitter, but just in case you’re not, Twitter is a micro-blogging social network that allows its users to send and read other users' updates. Each blog posting, or Tweet, can only be a maximum of 140 characters long. They are swift, short, sharp updates of what’s new, what’s happening or in many cases, simply what’s trivial and pointless.
Tweets are displayed on a user's profile page and delivered to other users who have specifically signed up to receive them. The service works by choosing people you want to ‘follow’ so you view their messages and have people ‘follow’ you in return, so they receive your updates.
This can certainly be trivial, but it doesn’t have to be and there are some great examples of organisations which are driving social media strategies using Twitter. Daemon Digital has recommended the use of Twitter to a number of organisations as part of a wider strategy and for more information see the following post on Mashable http://mashable.com/2009/01/21/best-twitter-brands
Taking this concept further and inside an organisation is Yammer – http://www.yammer.com/ – an enterprise version of Twitter which excludes any user without a specific enterprise’s email suffix, for example @daemongroup.com to join any given feed. This creates a very simple tool through which colleagues can update one another more securely with items of information that are useful but not worthy of a newsletter style article.
What’s so effective about this is that useful information can be communicated, for example “We had a great meeting with XYZ Co.” and dialogue can be created, for example, “I have a great idea for XYZ Co. does anyone have a contact there?” intra-day and across an organisation without waiting for the company update.
It feels as though this type of internal communication, which is fast, timely and cost effective, is more likely to be read than the traditional email or newsletter update, if for no better reason than it’s short and actually adds value.
And lest we forget, in the immortal words of MC Yammer (sic)
Break it Down
Stop, Yammertime.
Tweets are displayed on a user's profile page and delivered to other users who have specifically signed up to receive them. The service works by choosing people you want to ‘follow’ so you view their messages and have people ‘follow’ you in return, so they receive your updates.
This can certainly be trivial, but it doesn’t have to be and there are some great examples of organisations which are driving social media strategies using Twitter. Daemon Digital has recommended the use of Twitter to a number of organisations as part of a wider strategy and for more information see the following post on Mashable http://mashable.com/2009/01/21/best-twitter-brands
Taking this concept further and inside an organisation is Yammer – http://www.yammer.com/ – an enterprise version of Twitter which excludes any user without a specific enterprise’s email suffix, for example @daemongroup.com to join any given feed. This creates a very simple tool through which colleagues can update one another more securely with items of information that are useful but not worthy of a newsletter style article.
What’s so effective about this is that useful information can be communicated, for example “We had a great meeting with XYZ Co.” and dialogue can be created, for example, “I have a great idea for XYZ Co. does anyone have a contact there?” intra-day and across an organisation without waiting for the company update.
It feels as though this type of internal communication, which is fast, timely and cost effective, is more likely to be read than the traditional email or newsletter update, if for no better reason than it’s short and actually adds value.
And lest we forget, in the immortal words of MC Yammer (sic)
Break it Down
Stop, Yammertime.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Just a little latitude
Last week Google launched a new service named Google Latitude which allows registered users to track people, with their permission, using Google software and the GPS device in their mobile telephone. The ‘tracked’ individual’s location appears on Google Maps after the ‘tracker’ has logged into Latitude.
This service is similar in many ways to conversations Facebook were reported to be having linking its mobile site to the GPS device in phones allowing members to see the current locations of their friends.
Good idea or Orwellian Big Brother?
One of the statistics used regularly in presentations available for download at http://www.daemondigital.com/ is that of 1 in 8 marriages in the US being derived from an online meeting. If past use of the web created 1 in 8 marriages, could future use of Google Latitude be the catalyst for 1 in 8 divorces?
As an alternative, is there a less sinister humanitarian upside with Latitude helping to locate disaster victims on land or at sea with Google’s equally new Google Ocean’s. Furthermore, will parents sleep better at night if they can see their teenagers whereabouts online at the touch of a button?
Find out for yourself by downloading Google Latitude at www.google.com/latitude
This service is similar in many ways to conversations Facebook were reported to be having linking its mobile site to the GPS device in phones allowing members to see the current locations of their friends.
Good idea or Orwellian Big Brother?
One of the statistics used regularly in presentations available for download at http://www.daemondigital.com/ is that of 1 in 8 marriages in the US being derived from an online meeting. If past use of the web created 1 in 8 marriages, could future use of Google Latitude be the catalyst for 1 in 8 divorces?
As an alternative, is there a less sinister humanitarian upside with Latitude helping to locate disaster victims on land or at sea with Google’s equally new Google Ocean’s. Furthermore, will parents sleep better at night if they can see their teenagers whereabouts online at the touch of a button?
Find out for yourself by downloading Google Latitude at www.google.com/latitude
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Veggie Love
Commercial spots in the SuperBowl are, and it seems always have been, the most expensive adverts money, or at least media buyers, can buy. So having one of your spots banned would concern most organisations - not so PETA.
‘Veggie Love’ was banned by NBC this year for being too sexually explicit using the premise that vegetarians have better sex! The ad itself depicts lingerie clad models being ‘intimate’ with vegetables.
However, an extremely brief piece of Google based research by Daemon Digital, found the PETA TV channel which shows ‘Veggie Love’ and the other 11 spots that PETA has created that have also been banned at various points in time.
An even briefer search on You Tube found, on the first two pages of search results only, 30 uploads of the 30 second ‘Veggie Love’ spot which had been viewed over 1.61 million times (2 February 09). In addition, there were also a number of uploads of the behind the scenes video and interviews with each of the model’s.
This would seem to be a great example of how to use online social networking to communicate a traditional media message at a significantly reduced cost, not to mention the additional traditional media exposure and commentary in the blogosphere that NBC banning the commercial has generated.
For those of you keen to review the rest of this year’s SuperBowl commercials, try http://superbowl-ads.com/ or to view ‘Veggie Love and propagate the free publicity, try You Tube.
‘Veggie Love’ was banned by NBC this year for being too sexually explicit using the premise that vegetarians have better sex! The ad itself depicts lingerie clad models being ‘intimate’ with vegetables.
However, an extremely brief piece of Google based research by Daemon Digital, found the PETA TV channel which shows ‘Veggie Love’ and the other 11 spots that PETA has created that have also been banned at various points in time.
An even briefer search on You Tube found, on the first two pages of search results only, 30 uploads of the 30 second ‘Veggie Love’ spot which had been viewed over 1.61 million times (2 February 09). In addition, there were also a number of uploads of the behind the scenes video and interviews with each of the model’s.
This would seem to be a great example of how to use online social networking to communicate a traditional media message at a significantly reduced cost, not to mention the additional traditional media exposure and commentary in the blogosphere that NBC banning the commercial has generated.
For those of you keen to review the rest of this year’s SuperBowl commercials, try http://superbowl-ads.com/ or to view ‘Veggie Love and propagate the free publicity, try You Tube.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Monetising Facebook
The Sydney Morning Herald, filing from Davos, reports that Facebook is planning to harness the personal information it holds on its members to make one of the world's largest market research databases available to corporate buyers.
Facebook has struggled to monetise its strength with advertising revenues slow to start and the aborted attempt to monetise member behaviour through the Beacon software system which tracked member’s activity both through Facebook and through third party sites which also had Beacon installed.
Online research panels have been in existence for some time and do offer a very cost effective alternative research solution for a range of research assignments. This is an interesting move from Facebook and a very logical and sensible way to harness member’s time on site whilst providing some reward for member’s loyalty to the royalty of online social networking.
Facebook has struggled to monetise its strength with advertising revenues slow to start and the aborted attempt to monetise member behaviour through the Beacon software system which tracked member’s activity both through Facebook and through third party sites which also had Beacon installed.
Online research panels have been in existence for some time and do offer a very cost effective alternative research solution for a range of research assignments. This is an interesting move from Facebook and a very logical and sensible way to harness member’s time on site whilst providing some reward for member’s loyalty to the royalty of online social networking.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Political networking
In April 2008, Daemon Digital authored a white paper entitled “Web 2.0: Friend, Foe or just Fad?” which quoted the then race for the Democratic Nomination as an example of the widespread use of social networking in the political arena.
On the eve of an historic inauguration, we thought we’d review our prediction at the time, which was as follows:
“…based on the You Tube channel You Choose ’08, in addition to playlists and Issues education specific channels for the Republican Nominee John McCain and the two remaining candidates in the race for the Democratic Nomination Barak Obama and Hilary Clinton, if the number of channel subscribers and associated uploaded videos is reflected in the US General Election then Barak Obama will sweep the Nomination and the Presidency.”
At that time, President Obama had 44,198 subscribers to Hilary Clinton’s 12,610 and John McCain’s 4,164.
Whilst Daemon Digital makes no claim to prescience, the Obama campaign's use of online social networking was impressive and far better thought out and implemented than either McCain’s or Clinton’s.
On the eve of an historic inauguration, we thought we’d review our prediction at the time, which was as follows:
“…based on the You Tube channel You Choose ’08, in addition to playlists and Issues education specific channels for the Republican Nominee John McCain and the two remaining candidates in the race for the Democratic Nomination Barak Obama and Hilary Clinton, if the number of channel subscribers and associated uploaded videos is reflected in the US General Election then Barak Obama will sweep the Nomination and the Presidency.”
At that time, President Obama had 44,198 subscribers to Hilary Clinton’s 12,610 and John McCain’s 4,164.
Whilst Daemon Digital makes no claim to prescience, the Obama campaign's use of online social networking was impressive and far better thought out and implemented than either McCain’s or Clinton’s.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Seven Point Plan
The following outlines a seven point plan which Daemon Digital recommends to any organisation as a starting point to managing their reputation in the digital media:
1. Find out where you stand
What’s being said about your organisation online and by whom? 270,000 users mention Coke in their Facebook profiles and 617,000 have joined groups dedicated to Ugg Boots. 1 in 5 Australian internet users have a Facebook profile and that’s just one social networking site. You cannot manage your organisations’ reputation if you don’t know what’s being said about you.
2. Know your audience
Is your primary audience online and active? Know your audience and understand their current online habits as well as basic demography like age, geography and profession, for example, and then go to them.
3. Trust your people
You cannot harness the participative web if you are not using it internally. You cannot expect your own people to champion the cause if it is new and alien to them. Practice what you preach and encourage your people to blog, share, wiki and network. Trust them to add value to your brand and to your organisation.
4. Get involved and stay engaged
Being actively involved in managing your message and managing your organisation’s reputation using the tools on the participative web can be invaluable to any organisation. Look at the potential and then if you consider it appropriate, get involved and stay engaged.
5. Keep it real
Don’t try and fake it, you will get caught out. Yes, communicate your messages and manage your own agenda, but do it honestly and do it openly.6. Get to the pointYou don’t own the space, make your point move on and let someone else have their turn. Also speak using language that your audience relates to and understands, don’t use technical language or jargon if it doesn’t add value to your point.
7. Measure what you are achieving
If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it and just because it’s new doesn’t mean it should not fall under the same maxim as all of the other communications techniques your organisation employs.
1. Find out where you stand
What’s being said about your organisation online and by whom? 270,000 users mention Coke in their Facebook profiles and 617,000 have joined groups dedicated to Ugg Boots. 1 in 5 Australian internet users have a Facebook profile and that’s just one social networking site. You cannot manage your organisations’ reputation if you don’t know what’s being said about you.
2. Know your audience
Is your primary audience online and active? Know your audience and understand their current online habits as well as basic demography like age, geography and profession, for example, and then go to them.
3. Trust your people
You cannot harness the participative web if you are not using it internally. You cannot expect your own people to champion the cause if it is new and alien to them. Practice what you preach and encourage your people to blog, share, wiki and network. Trust them to add value to your brand and to your organisation.
4. Get involved and stay engaged
Being actively involved in managing your message and managing your organisation’s reputation using the tools on the participative web can be invaluable to any organisation. Look at the potential and then if you consider it appropriate, get involved and stay engaged.
5. Keep it real
Don’t try and fake it, you will get caught out. Yes, communicate your messages and manage your own agenda, but do it honestly and do it openly.6. Get to the pointYou don’t own the space, make your point move on and let someone else have their turn. Also speak using language that your audience relates to and understands, don’t use technical language or jargon if it doesn’t add value to your point.
7. Measure what you are achieving
If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it and just because it’s new doesn’t mean it should not fall under the same maxim as all of the other communications techniques your organisation employs.
The participative web
There are within the participative web or web 2.0 a number of phrases that are very quickly becoming mainstream colloquialisms. Interestingly, many of the ‘new’ web 2.0 applications have origins and provenance that stretch back over a decade, for example wiki, or weblog, however, these are still terms that not everyone is comfortable with. On that basis, here is Daemon Digital's short yet sweet glossary:
Blogs
A blog (the term is the abridged version of web log) is effectively a small website, more often than not operated by one individual, which includes regularly updated information and commentary on one issue or on a series of related issues.
Mashups
The term used to describe taking content feeds from more than one source simultaneously and combining the feeds, or mashing them up, to create a new and improved application, for example, the combination of BBC News and Google Maps as a mashup to create News Maps.
Podcasting
A podcast is a digital media file which is designed to be downloaded to portable media players (mp3 players for example) or played through a PC. The term podcasting is in effect an amalgam of ‘ipod’ and ‘broadcasting’ and reflects the market dominance of Apple’s ipod in the mp3 portable market.
RSS
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and is a web feed or channel which takes content in an easily transported form from one web site, or a series of websites, and through an RSS Reader enables a user to access content from multiple locations at one time.
Social networking
Effectively the term which has come to mean a web based application which creates a community from like minded individuals, example of which would include My Space or FaceBook.
Widgets
A web widget is in effect a portable piece of code which can be implemented without the need for additional programming or development input inside another web site. One of the most common examples of a web widget is the Google application implemented on many blogs and smaller websites which links Google advertising to content on the site.
Wikis
A wiki is a web site or series of web pages in which all of the content has been created collaboratively by users of the web site. Wikis are therefore effectively community websites, or can be used as a component within a site to create user developed content, for example a wiki glossary of terms. One of the best known examples of a wiki is the website Wikipedia.
Blogs
A blog (the term is the abridged version of web log) is effectively a small website, more often than not operated by one individual, which includes regularly updated information and commentary on one issue or on a series of related issues.
Mashups
The term used to describe taking content feeds from more than one source simultaneously and combining the feeds, or mashing them up, to create a new and improved application, for example, the combination of BBC News and Google Maps as a mashup to create News Maps.
Podcasting
A podcast is a digital media file which is designed to be downloaded to portable media players (mp3 players for example) or played through a PC. The term podcasting is in effect an amalgam of ‘ipod’ and ‘broadcasting’ and reflects the market dominance of Apple’s ipod in the mp3 portable market.
RSS
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and is a web feed or channel which takes content in an easily transported form from one web site, or a series of websites, and through an RSS Reader enables a user to access content from multiple locations at one time.
Social networking
Effectively the term which has come to mean a web based application which creates a community from like minded individuals, example of which would include My Space or FaceBook.
Widgets
A web widget is in effect a portable piece of code which can be implemented without the need for additional programming or development input inside another web site. One of the most common examples of a web widget is the Google application implemented on many blogs and smaller websites which links Google advertising to content on the site.
Wikis
A wiki is a web site or series of web pages in which all of the content has been created collaboratively by users of the web site. Wikis are therefore effectively community websites, or can be used as a component within a site to create user developed content, for example a wiki glossary of terms. One of the best known examples of a wiki is the website Wikipedia.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
How sociable is your organisation?
If you are keen to benchmark your visibility in the social networking space and/or to measure and monitor the progress of your social networking initiatives, a new site, www.howsociable.com from Inuda Innovations, is worth investigating.
The site was developed and launched in mid 2008 and is still effectively in beta, but is a simple way to get a snapshot of your sociability!
The ‘visibility score’, whilst based on an unspecified benchmark, is a great way to get a fast and simple comparison of how your performance measures up against your competition or against some of the better known exponents of social networking.
On this date, and for the record, Daemon Group’s visibility score was 7 against a comparative score of 1,985 for Dell – some work to do here then!
The site was developed and launched in mid 2008 and is still effectively in beta, but is a simple way to get a snapshot of your sociability!
The ‘visibility score’, whilst based on an unspecified benchmark, is a great way to get a fast and simple comparison of how your performance measures up against your competition or against some of the better known exponents of social networking.
On this date, and for the record, Daemon Group’s visibility score was 7 against a comparative score of 1,985 for Dell – some work to do here then!
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