Content + Communications Consulting
It’s seriously cool – everybody loves to see their name in lights. In this case, name in lights in a personalized video.
It’s clever as heck – you can download your name on the moon, and they are very tongue-in-cheek on the use of technology – and the perils of the “project.”
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgtnNc1Zplc
We’ve talked about viral videos before – how you really can’t plan for something to go viral, but you can create killer content and hope for the best.
However, since “Hope is not a Strategy,” it helps to have a few elements that can put the possibility of success in your corner. And, this Meme-worthy video has all of the elements of Holistic Social Media. For instance:
Influencers. Real influencers, like Paulo Coelho. I don’t know what his Klout score is and I’m not sure I really care. I do know that I have read at least one of his books.
A Good Story. Want action, adventure, international intrigue? Hey, the Nativity has it for you.
The Whipsaw Effect. Would Mary really email Joseph to say she needed help during the first Christmas season? Huh? Yup, that’s whipsaw for you.
Brazilians. Some wacky number of Brazilians use Twitter. And 47% of users of Orkut are Brazilian. Wanna go viral? Fala Portuguese.
Enjoy this really cool Natal Digital.
5 Categories. Holistic Social Media.
Not too too difficult if you think about it. There are new sites, new tools, new ways of looking at the same old stuff launching seemingly every day. But, as we shared – and learned – during BOOM Camp 2010, big charts and graphs are great if you’re knee-deep in analytics all day. Most people aren’t.
So, to borrow from Lloyd Bridges’ Admiral Benson character in Hot Shots:
So, behold. The 5 Categories of Holistic Social Media.
You can argue with the categories if you’d like – for instance, we expect to have a few darts thrown our way when we talk about “Microblogging,” as that category also includes “Sharing” and “Bookmarking.”
Oh, and we think that Geo-Sharing – the Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp, Facebook Places landgrab that’s going on – well, it deserves a category of its own.
A couple other things to let y’all know about before we begin our javelin-catching exercise:
That does mean, though, that the whole thing may not make sense for you – maybe you’re B2B and Geo-Sharing seems like a wasted exercise. Fine. You don’t need to do it. Because…
Blogging is the head, the nerve center. Your business is the heart.
If the Video leg or Micro-blogging hand don’t add up to that much for you – well, these are not the most critical components.
Do what this thing does:
We watched the infomercial for this bad boy, and we couldn’t help but think about Social Media Ninjas – and how they are often self-appointed and can rarely back up their claims of Ninjahood.
Let’s go to the Tale of the Tape.
The Ninja 1100’s base unit is the kind of blender your puny blender wants to be when it grows up. Armed with blades that aren’t just at the bottom, this keeps the flow of all the creamy goodness of your smoothie moving up and down while blending.
Imagine an army of little ninja warriors chopping blueberries into bits of antioxidants while barely breaking a sweat.
Pitcher, blades, etc. are all dishwasher-safe.
“More than just a food processor. More than just a blender.”
We could go on and on. We officially want one.
Will use a bot-focused approach to get your Twitter account to 2000 followers, and will also use a bot-focused approach to get you a few hundred “Likes” on Facebook. Both of which you can choose to ignore when you realize there’s no real reason for doing this.
You have GOT to be joking. There’s another pitcher? It’s bigger – like 70, no 72 ounces!
What isn’t even mentioned on the website – but is mentioned on the infomercial to a point where you won’t forget it – is that this machine turns “ice” into “snow.”
This is the key for restaurant-quality frozen drinks.
SNOW.
You can make 72 ounces of snow.
They even demonstrated a mocha drink that was nothing more than chocolate syrup and ice, maybe milk or coffee or something. 50 calories per serving.
What, you want more? We’ll give you more.
Except, as a “Ninja” of the Social Media type, we can’t totally tell you what exactly that “more” is.
We didn’t know you needed something like “snow” to differentiate your product from other products.
We were too busy focusing on the fact that we’re Ninjas.
You need bread dough. Cookie dough. Dough for that Ninja Pizza you’re gonna make.
Enter the 1100’s Dough Hook.
So you don’t just have a blender, or a “snow maker,” but you also have a food processor that makes dough.
Awesome. Totally awesome. This might be the only kitchen gadget you will ever need – and you didn’t know you needed all of this.
What now? We have to make bread dough, too?
Our bots can’t handle that.
We give up. This is not fair.
And what does this mean for your marketing – no matter what your industry?
Well, while the Ninja 1100 might seem to be positioning itself based on “Features” vs. “Benefits,” a closer look tells us that, in this case, a masterfully designed product can have “Features AS Benefits.”
Feature: great base unit with different blades and stuff.
Benefit: the only kitchen product you’ll need. (You benefit by clearing out your cupboard.)
Feature: additional pitcher is huge and makes snow.
Benefit: snow makes better drinks, you can please a crowd.
Feature: dough hooks.
Benefit: see the part about needing less contraptions in your cupboard.
The Social Media Ninja is likely to focus on “numbers” as your feature. And “leads” as your benefit. And maybe that can all be quantified. But still…give me a Kitchen Ninja over a Social Media Ninja any day.
Bad thing about social media: you can amplify bad business.
If you watched any of the Amazon imbroglio on November 10, 2010, you’ll know what we’re talking about.
One bad decision – or one lack of a good decision – can be put under a magnifying glass and go viral in a heartbeat.
The problem for business people is that often the good doesn’t get amplified as quickly as the bad.
Search, for instance, for happy stories about United Airlines. Where do you start? What are the terms you look for?
On the other hand, search for United Breaks Guitars and you’ll find the now-famous video. And its 9 million views. And the two follow-ups from the guy. And on, and on.
Goodwill, brand reputation, loyalty – gone in 60 seconds.
How do you prepare for this reality? The reality that, at some point, your business will screw up and you will face amplification to the nth degree? SOME steps to follow:
If you’re a one-person shop, this could seem impossible – but you have to have a delegate, an aide de camp, someone you can bounce stuff off of. Work on building this network now.
Not only do you need to do scenario planning – what could possibly go wrong? – but you need to break problems – real and perceived – down into their simplest chunks. Be prepared to do that as quickly as you possibly can.
Amazon’s issue, which will be discussed ad nauseum, was not broken down into simple chunks quickly enough. “(1)We’re a free enterprise that can (2) decide not to sell something that (3) puts innocent lives at grave risk.” Three chunks. 30-second decision. Done.
Should we really be doing this? Is this the type of thing that will come back to haunt us? Are we associating ourselves with unsavory characters?
Lots of people sell lots of books. Lots of people claim to be influential and want special treatment. Etc., etc.
In the go-go “the customer is always right” universe we’re in, big brands are often afraid of who to kowtow to, or of not being PC enough, or of rustling the wrong feathers.
Amazon’s decision to publish and sell a book they should not have sold, if shared with a focus group or beta-tested with a user group, would have been resoundly panned.
