Dave

[Editor’s Note: Awhile back we interviewed David Teicher, a rather clever Social Media Strategist person, who is paid to do such things (be clever and strategize about social media). We were waiting for the right time to post and this seemed like as good a time as any.]

Q: First of all, apologies for this question — but I flunked mythology: who was Aerocles?

A: Aerocles is fictional persona I inadvertently created. I had been doing some Mythology & Philosophy reading when I first learned of and joined the ranks of twitter – so it just kind of seeped in. I didn’t know what twitter really was at the time or how much I would use it or how helpful it would be, professionally.  I branded myself, accidentally, and rather than restart the process of building up trust and relationships, I’ve embraced the name and the brand.

Q: Interestingly, you appear to have been talking about “the death of email” for the longest time; but awhile back The Wall Street Journal declared it officially dead. What’s next for communicators? Mass marketing?

A: Well, first of all, I did read The Wall Street Journal article – but also read numerous rebuttals – for instance see this eConsultancy report: http://econsultancy.com/blog/4792-email-is-alive-and-well-and-helping-your-social-media-campaign or this WSJ Article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125565110691488935.html

My personal take is that email marketing, as a whole, is dying and being replaced by proper utilization of social media and platforms. However, There are still plenty of luddite-lead organizations, many that don’t understand how to effectively employ social media or what it can offer, holding us back. On top of that, even those businesses that DO get it can’t always embrace the new offerings if their target audience still relies on email. So it’s not ALL about the companies. That Said – it’s still dying. Maybe certain industries like Luxury Fashion/Retail and Automotive whose consumers are for the most part older, will see a slower change, but certainly any organization attempting to reach and appeal to younger or wider demographics need to accept that everything email marketing gives you can be done with social media, and can be done better.

Instead of being broadcast messages from brands that I delete without opening – Facebook and Twitter allow me to choose which brands I’m interested in and when to peruse their promotions and information – you get the same messaging but now it’s up to the consumer to take control of the interaction. It’s a scary premise for many but in the end the consumers will appreciate it and will feel empowered and validated by the brand, because of it.

Moreover, It also allows for more targeted messaging – what I want from a brand and what you want from the same brand may be very different – email marketing is relies heavily on one uniform message disseminated to anyone and everyone in hopes that those who open it and read it will find something useful that will drive them to make a purchase for further engage the brand. Effective employment of social media can afford brands the capability of custom tailoring messages to the specific interests and needs of their consumers, based on previous interactions, data in their profiles, or simply by segregating & indexing the information they want to convey and making it available to consumers in discrete, categorized, bit-sized packages.

It’s not going to happen tomorrow – that all brands follow this general outline – but those that do will see better results over time, especially as younger consumers become bigger spenders and influence more purchasing/spending decisions.

A: Well, I’m not sure why you thought it sucked, but I’m happy to explain why I liked it.  First of all – I understand that not everyone would find it to be “in great taste,” but I don’t think that was the point. Their target audience – the people to whom beer is typically marketed, are no doubt more likely to find it funny and clever, as I did. That said, what they really achieved in this ad was the creation of CONTENT as opposed to a MESSAGE (the traditional goal of marketing and advertising). What we generally consider ‘Content’ – TV Shows, Music, Books, Articles – is often supported by advertising and are, in our minds, separate entities. But just as we’re striving to add “Social” elements or extensions to traditional advertising campaigns, we must also rethink and reconstruct the fundamental aspects of any creative ideas or strategy to be more ‘social,’ for lack of a better word. Meaning, advertisers need to focus on creating content that people want to share instead of creating messages that accompanies the content people want to share.

The Bud Lime In A Can Ad was a great example of that, as are the Hulu Spots with Seth MacFarlane and Alec Baldwin and the Huggies “Inside The Diaper” Commercials. Anything Dubbed an Ad or Commercial that I actually WANT to watch and want to SHARE – That’s a HUGE Success, as I typically can’t stand them, along with most Americans, and have tolerated their existence until my DVR has rescued me and allowed me to fast forward right through them.

But if an ad is funny, interesting, and innovative to such a degree that I stop my DVR, rewind, watch the whole spot, pause my DVR, find the AD on Youtube, and then post it to Twitter, Facebook and Write a Blog Post about it – You’ve got think the creative minds behind that ad are celebrating somewhere.

Q: I don’t like it when people RT themselves and close every tweet with LOL. What really annoys you about how some people tweet?

A: There are no ground rules or established “Twitter Etiquette” – despite people trying to perpetuate such norms, myself included, so I can’t go bashing people for using twitter in a way that I disapprove of or that I find distasteful. In light of that, I can’t stand when people retweet other people content and claim in as their own. Also I can’t stand when people pimp out their websites, content, companies, clients, etc. without disclosing their affiliation. I constantly see people claiming “Loving This Blog Post” or “Great New Website!” only to find that it’s their blog or their website. It’s one thing to try to drive traffic – I do that. But I don’t Tweet “WOW, Really Interesting Post…” I’ll write “Hey Guys, I Just Posted….” It’s a big difference in my mind and the former ruins any chance of trust.

Q: Who’s gonna win the SMM turf war: ad agencies or PR agencies?

A: If only I knew…a few months ago I posted an article discussing why PR Pros are better suited to handle social media as they have much better understanding of the space, how it operates, what people want, best practices…etc. But that’s a skill set and an understanding that can be learned.  I happen to have a PR background but I’m putting it to use at an Ad Agency. I think any individual shop that wants to be known as having a grasp on social media needs to make use of people with different backgrounds and professional experiences. If I were to put together a team of social media pros – I’d pick a few marketers, a few advertisers, a few public relations professionals, and even people with customer service experience. Each of those fields brings something else to the table – and each is a facet that comes into play in social media – it’s not about one industry or another – it’s about a new industry that amalgamates it’s predecessors. On top of that I’d include Tech minded people – those who can develop apps, widgets, websites, who can code and program and build. Too many firms outsource that type of work when it should be done in-house. Instead of ideating and strategizing and bringing your plan to developers and asking, “is this possible?” you want understanding in the thought process from the very beginning.

Q: Brands that do social media marketing well — who stands out in your mind? Why?

A: There are the obvious examples – Starbucks, Coke, Zappos but I’ve honestly never been that impressed by them – something I can’t really shout because they clearly HAVE done a good job and have the results to prove it. I like to look for brands that excel in certain areas. For example – For reasons I don’t understand, many retail brands are struggling to actualize the concept of social shopping. If you look at these brands’ Facebook pages, most have a products tabs – but anything more than a click or two in the tab takes you to their website. Bad Move. 1-800 Flowers’ Facebook Page Is, IMHO, the epitome of successful ecommerce on a social platform. Take a look – you can browse their options and place an order without ever leaving Facebook – removing as many obstacles as possible for consumers – maximizing the potential for purchasing

Q: Any final thoughts?

A: Yes.

David Teicher

Social Media Manager & Strategist: McCann Erickson New York

Twitter:  @Aerocles

Url: Http://Aerocles.Wordpress.Com