Current Affairs

Your future customers are behaving very oddly

May 21, 2007

Many in the B2B world are dismissing social media as something "kids" are doing.  Or are nodding at their B2C brethren and saying it’s their problem.

Maybe today that’s sort of true.  But guess what your future customers are doing.  Yup — building a new habit of using social media. Do you suppose that’s going to just go away?

Social networks have changed the way that people interact with each other and with media, according to an April research report released by Fox Interactive Media. The research found that the 70% of Americans aged 15-34 who engage in social networking activity are doing so during the primetime hours. According to the research data, these social networkers aren’t just dabbling; they tend to use social networks more than they use other forms of communication and entertainment. According to the report, a majority of social networkers choose interacting on sites such as MySpace as their favorite activity online or offline ahead of television viewing.

Other findings:

• 40% of social networkers say they use social networking sites to learn more about brands or products, and 28% say a friend has recommended a brand or product to them.
• 69% of users say they use social networking sites to connect with existing friends and 41% say they use the sites to connect with family members.
• More than 31% of social networkers say they spend more time online in general after starting to use a social network.

Here is the question for marketers.  If the 17-34 year olds are already engaged in social media, do you suppose they’re going to unplug when they hit 35,40 or 50?

Imagine how differently we will talk to the next generation as they approach retirement.  Are you already seeing this in your work?  If your product or service targets the mature market — how does or will this affect you?

Source: Word of Mouth Marketing Association

More

Helping college grads get a job – FREE e-book

May 18, 2007

About 6 weeks ago, I asked my readers to take pity on all the college students who were about to start their first real job hunt.  I suggested that the greatest graduation gift we could collectively offer was tough lessons learned, insights and practical tips.  "Let’s give them a fighting chance," I said.

Boy, did they bring it on!

50 pages of sage advice. All  for grads. All for free.  Get it while the getting’s good!  You have two download options.  With and without photos.  (In neither case is this going to win any design awards.  Let’s remember that I am a writer.)

3+ mg e-book with photos  Download collegegradsadvice.pdf

Tiny little 300K text only e-book Download collegegradsnophoto.pdf

Please take a minute to say thanks to the many professionals who took the time to offer a word of encouragement, a war story or an idea.  Without them, this would have been a very short book!

As always, I’m honored by their generosity. 

I apologize in advance if there are any errors. Also, if someone posted their answer on their own blog — I tried to catch them all, but if I missed you, I’m very sorry.  And without further ado — the wisdom collective:

Aaron Potts
Andy Brudtkuhl
Andy Nulman
Andy Wibbels
Ann Handley
Ann Michael
Anne Simons
Becky Carroll
Bob Glaza
C.B. Whittemore
Carolyn Manning
Chris Cree
Christine Brown
CK
Darren Barefoot
David Reich
Delaney Kirk
Derek Tutschulte
Designer Mike
Doug Karr
Doug Mitchell
Drew McLellan
Joan Schramm
Kevin Hillstrom
Lewis Green
Liz Strauss
Mario Sundar
Mark Goren
Mark True
Mary Schmidt
Nick Rice
Patrick Schaber
Paul McEnany
Phil Gerbyshak
Roberta Rosenberg
Roger von Oech
Rosa Say
Seth Godin
Sharon Sarmiento
Stephanie Weaver
Steve Miller
Steve Sisler
Terry Starbucker
Toby Bloomberg
Tony D. Clark
Valeria Maltoni

More

Want to know the SOBCon secret?

April 25, 2007

 

As one of the presenters at the SOBCon event next month, I was invited to do a brief interview about the conference and got to talk about what I think is the coolest aspect of the whole weekend.

I call it the SOBCon secret because it’s what the conference is all about.  It demonstrates the heart and the difference in this event.  Of course, to find out what it is, you’ll need to listen.

Even more fun for me, I was interviewed by Des Moines own Mike Wagner.  Mike is one of my two (Mike Sansone is the other) co-presenters at the event.

There’s still time to register and join in the sharing, learning and join Mike, Mike and me and all the other SOBCon attendees.

 

Special thanks to Zane Safrit for hosting the podcast series.

More

What’s next? Pink planes?

April 17, 2007

As you  may have read in this weekend’s US Today, American Airlines has launched a gender-specific are of its website, aimed at women.

Here’s what they say on the home page of this female-focused site.  " Welcome to American Airlines AA.com/women – the airline industry’s first web page dedicated to women who travel. This web page is about you – our valued customer. We’ve listened to women and recognized the need to provide additional information tailored to your business and pleasure travel needs and lifestyle. We also invite you to share insights, travel tips and stories by submitting them to wehearyou@aa.com."

I don’t get it.  Of the 18 hot links on the home page, only 2 of them seem women-specific.  One is girlfriend getaways and the other is the safety tab.  Couldn’t both of those have existed on the core page?

I guess this remind me of my pink tools post.  I am let wondering why and as a man, wondering if women aren’t insulted by being segregated out when really travel is a humbling equalizer for all of us.

What do you think?  Good idea or bad?  If you were in charge of this web presence — how would you actually make it valuable to women?

More

A branding lesson from Jackie Robinson

April 15, 2007

I went to a AAA baseball game today and was reminded how inspirational the game can be.  Today was Jackie Robinson Day. They showed a brief video that celebrated what he was all about.  I will admit, I got a bit choked up.

60 years ago, Jackie Robinson did what no black man had ever done.  He put on a major league baseball uniform and played along side white players.

And the part that people seem to forget is that Jackie’s breaking the color barrier was just the beginning of his struggles. Even after joining the team, he had to stay in different hotels, endure death threats, and dodge players who slid so they could drive their spikes into his shins and pitchers who hurled fastballs directly at his head.

His own teammates (not all of them) got up a petition to keep him off the team.

But he believed in what he was doing and so he persevered.  One of my favorite Jackie Robinson quotes is "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives."

Jackie Robinson’s life had a purpose.  Something he believed in strongly enough that he was willing to suffer the consequences.

I’m not beginning to suggest that any company’s brand is going to equal the courage of someone like Jackie Robinson.  That would be insulting to what Robinson endured.

But…your brand should stand for something.  Something you are willing to fight for.  Something you are willing to walk away from business for.  Something that matters enough to draw a line in the sand and say "no more."

If your brand doesn’t inspire that kind of passion in you or your employees, how will it ever touch your consumers?

More

Don Imus: The dark side of citizen marketing?

April 13, 2007

Let me cut to the chase.

I have never listened to Don Imus.  I could care less what he says.  I could care less if he got to keep his job or not.  Do I think he’s a boorish pig, based on what he said about the Rutgers basketball team?  Sure.  But he certainly does not hold exclusive rights to that label. 

To me, all of that is irrelevant.

Because the issue isn’t Don Imus.  It isn’t racism.  Or political correctness.  Or respecting women.  If it were about those issues, most of the shock jocks and reality TV producers would also have lost their jobs yesterday.

Imus isn’t the worst of them…he’s just one of them.

What matters in the Imus firing is who fired the fatal shot.  And why.

We’re experiencing the birth of a new era – Citizen Marketing. We’ve all celebrated it.  But perhaps that is only half the story.

In the old days, the power rested in the hands of a few.  The zookeepers, or the sellers, ran the zoo.  They decided what the animals ate, which animals were in the petting zoo and what the hours of operation were.  It was at best, a very paternal relationship.  At worst, it was a one-sided dictatorship.

But today, the chimpanzees have the keys.  And in this early phase of this marketplace shift, where the buyers are actually the ones in power, it’s more than a little chaotic.  There are no rules.  Bananas on tap 24 hours a day! 

On the good side – the chimpanzees’ exuberance can be very contagious and they can encourage/force the zookeepers to be better at their job, just to keep up with them. 

But because there are no rules, the chimpanzees can also just as easily decide to pick on a particular zookeeper and fling feces at him.  And because there are so many of them and because human nature says, "join the crowd," once a few of the chimpanzees start tossing poop, many of the other chimpanzees join in.  Without really stopping to understand why. Mob mentality flashes hot and bright. And reason rarely has a starring role.  That doesn’t mean the mob is always wrong.  But it does suggest that the firestorm doesn’t allow for a lot of introspection or consideration.

Let’s face it.  Don Imus earned ratings and advertisers because he was a boorish pig.  And the chimpanzees (in this case…advertisers and the target audiences of those advertisers) rewarded him by buying more advertising, giving him a more prestigious time slot, more guest appearances, more fame, etc. etc.

I am also quite sure that the Rutgers comment was not Don’s first racist or sexist comment.  I’m even willing to bet that some things he has said in the past were even more hurtful and offensive to some.   But the chimpanzees screeched and hooted, loving his antics.

Until one day, a few chimpanzees didn’t like what he said.  Who knows why.  He was shooting off his mouth saying vulgar things, like they had trained him to do.  But for whatever reason, this particular statement got everyone’s attention.  And the chimpanzees started making a different kind of noise.  And throwing feces.  Pretty soon, they were making enough noise that others noticed.  And joined in.  And pretty soon, the only way to calm the chimpanzees was to get the zookeeper out of there.

And its not just Imus.

A story about an American Girl store and a 6 year-old’s Target doll garners over 409,000 Google results in less than a month. 

A story about a blogger who received death threats now has an excess of 553,000 Google results, A CNN appearance, and professional and personal lives altered forever. 

Mob mentality.  Good or bad.  Right or wrong.  Who knows?

Who will the chimpanzees go after next? A good guy?  A bad guy? Your favorite brand?  Your company?

Should Don Imus have been fired?  I have no idea.  The truth is, he’ll have another gig in less than a month and we’ll chalk this up to, "well, that’s Imus."  And he’ll still be a boorish pig.

It doesn’t matter.  What matters is that we need to understand that just like there was a good and a bad side to the zookeepers being in charge, there’s a dark side to citizen-driven marketing as well.  It’s a glorious day at the zoo until the chimpanzees start tossing the feces in your direction.

We are the citizens of citizen marketing.  We’re going to set the course. 

Unless of course, we get swept up into the mob.

Flickr photo courtesy of jj_mac

More

Here’s to the Age of Conversation

April 6, 2007

Here’s how it all happened.

I posted about a project called We Are Smarter than Me which gives people a chance to help author a guest book.

In the comments of that post Gavin Heaton said “Great concept! And it sounds like it could be fun … but you know what, Drew? I reckon between a few of us we could knock out a short book…All we need is a theme and a charity …”

More

MySpace becomes first primary of the presidental election

April 4, 2007

MySpace announced that it will hold a "presidential primary" on Jan. 1-2 next year, before the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary.

The virtual election will be open to all members of MySpace in the United States.

In March, MySpace launched the Impact Channel, a site designed to connect politicians, non profits and civic organizations with users worldwide.

The channel currently houses pages for 12 major-party presidential candidates. In May, My Space will launch a series of monthly straw polls to gauge where candidates stand.

What do you think?  Will this get teenagers and twenty-somethings interested in the election?  Will their primary results impact the election?

How do you envision candidates reacting to this news?

More

What Would Mickey Mouse Twitter?

March 31, 2007

There’s a new meme in town and it’s hysterical.  It started with Kevin Dugan’s What Would Jesus Twitter that I shared with you yesterday.  Since then, people have added Sherlock Holmes, Abe Lincoln, and Lee Hopkins.

And it’s just begun.  So here’s my addition to the game.

What would Mickey Twitter?

10.  I don’t want to seem ungrateful but I think Walt’s a little obsessed with me.

9.    Sometimes, Minnie’s voice just grates on my nerves.

8.    @Mighty Mouse – so you really think I could learn how to fly?

7.    Driving Donald to his anger management class.

6.    Thank God Lily talked Walt out of naming me Mortimer.  Can you imagine the crap I would have taken?

5.    My fantasy? Sneaking into Small World and smashing those freakin’ singing bobbleheads.

4.    L: The happiest place on earth

3.    Just once I’d like to be seen as a “bad boy.”

2.    @Cinderella – how you doin’?

1.    If one more snot nosed little kid bangs his head into my crotch…

I’m not going to tag anyone specific, but come on…join in the fun!

More

But what if the blogger is lying?

March 29, 2007

One of the ways that citizen marketers are really making themselves known is by sharing their consumer trials and triumphs with their blog readers.   

We experience, through them, how the company does or doesn’t respond.  We cheer on the wronged.  We boo the corporate villains…or herald them if they’re listening and respond to fix the problem.

Here are some of the recent ones I know.  And because I know these people…I know the stories they tell are true.

• Kohl’s
• Best Buy (this story has a happy ending!)
• Papa Johns
• Overstock.com (another happy ending!)

But I don’t know this blogger.  And I have no idea if her story is true.  But dang, it’s compelling. 

Etta’s mom tells the heart-tugging story of how her daughter Etta was invited to an American Girl store (by a friend) so they could get their dolls’ hair styled.  Etta brought a doll from Target and when it was her turn in line, was told by the stylist that her doll "wasn’t real" and she wouldn’t do her hair.  To make Etta’s experience even worse, some of the moms in line mocked her for bringing a non-AG doll to the store.

As I write this, there are 394 comments to her post.  Most of the commenters were brought to tears (you have to read the post…it really is incredibly well-written and heart breaking.)  Many of them were vowing to stop shopping there and several say that they’ve called the store and demanded action.

One commenter even posted a response she got to an e-mail she sent to AG corporate.  Google "American girl" Etta and you will be amazed at the number of articles, posts etc. that 12 days after the original post, are now telling the story. 

Here’s my question. What if she made up the story?  I am not suggesting for one minute that she did.  But, I am asking "what if?"

In 12 days.  Less than 1,200 words.  What damage has been done? 

How can/will AG recover?  For how long will they be called on to respond and apologize?  Will they have to train their staff on how to handle it when a customer brings it up?

We are behind the driver’s wheel of a very powerful medium.  Not everyone is going to be ethical.  Not everyone is going to care about anyone but themselves. Not everyone will be transparent about their motives.

How will we know?

Thanks to Brett Trout for sharing this story with me, thinking it would appeal to my fascination with branding.  As you can see, it did much more than that.

More