The ‘Idea’ is still ruling Social Media

At an IAB seminar on Briefing for Social Media, Tim Denman from 1,000 Headswas explaining they didn’t see themselves as a social media company but more word of mouth company and that although the internet facilitates the spreading of messages (business or otherwise) it is the idea that should be at the for front of any Social Media campaign and not how it should be spread.   The video McDonalds are running in Piccadilly Circus is a perfect example of this, by giving people a chance to interact with the advertising they are covertly encouraging people to spread the word of mouth online with the many photo sharing tools common to most people.

Another campaign prominent at the moment whose idea transgresses all the online / offline / word of mouth / PR lines is the Movembermovement.   As the primary objective of the campaign is to raise awareness of Prostate Cancer to the end of getting more people checked more often the message is more important than the money raised.   First starting off with the moustache itself, a walking billboard (or facial media) becomes a talking point for everyone who sees it, then there is the sponsorship emails, facebook/twitter updates, celebrity involvement (brilliant shot of the Oz rugby team sporting tache’s singing the national anthem) and trending twitter topics all driving awareness for the cause naturally off the back of the idea.

One of the sponsorship emails doing the rounds:

Whilst I am aware that the physical exertion of running a marathon, climbing a mountain, boxing a fight and swimming great distances may be marginally greater than growing a moustache, these things take but a few hours, rather than a whole month.   And whilst the preparation for these events may have taken several months, I have been preparing for this my whole life.   These activities are also often seen as a pleasant pastime; but let me assure you there is nothing fun about growing a moustache.   You’d be forgiven for thinking its easy but its not, in fact only half of the world’s population are blessed with the ability to grow a moustache, then only a tiny fraction of that, the inclination.

You may be starting to realise the herculean magnitude of the upcoming task and be wondering what assistance you may be able to offer, the answer sadly is none.   It is a lonely road that I have chosen to take.   The only comfort I can take during the long month ahead is the knowledge that you will give generously and alongside my moustached brothers I will be not only raising money but also awareness for a worthy cause.

FACTS:

One man dies every hour or prostate cancer

35,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK

Only takes a couple of minutes to make a donation http://uk.movember.com/mospace/43737it’s a really good cause and as it’s the Friday after payday don’t even try to pretend you’re either too busy or too poor.  In return for your contribution you will receive complementary a stroke (of my tache).

Questions that must be asked of every Social Media campaign

I was asked to put this together to give an insight into how we review social media campaigns, it is a work in progress so if you feel I have left anything out please let me know in the comments section.

Setup

• Have you registered domains on the various networks?
  • Do you hold inflammatory names? (i.e. ‘@MicrosoftSucks’)
• Is there one central point of contact or many? (Business, by area, by store, by product)
• Who is running the hub?
  • One person or several?
  • Brand voice or employee
  • Who owns the hub? (i.e. what happens if they leave?)
• Is the advertising being sent to the site or the hub?
  • Which is more effective?
• Are employees and suppliers involved in the strategy?
  • What is the policy regarding employee publication?
  • Is there an opportunity for employee Network (Ning?) or Wiki?
• Does site/blog/hub’s have appropriate social sharing tools? (bookmarking, tweeting, share to, email forward)

Content

• Are you engaging with members, involving them in the group?
• Is it content for contents sake or is it engaging, exclusive or valuable?
  • Is it sticky (keeps people coming back)?
  • Is it slippy (gets people to forward it on)?
• Is it updated regularly enough (or even too much)?
• Is external content being pushed?
• How are you encouraging UGC?
• How is the UGC on the hubs being monitored?
  • Is content approved before publishing?
  • Will negative posts be allowed?
  • Will off brand content be allowed?
• Is it purely brand building or is there a strategy in place to drive sales?
  • How intrusive is the sales strategy, does it amount to spam?

 Integration

• What Networks are you appearing on?
  • Are these official or unofficial presences?
  • Is there anyone Cyber Squatting?
• Are the different networks working together as part of a larger strategy?
  • Is the tone of voice the same
  • Do they interlink
• How are unofficial hubs being monitored and integrated?
• Is the social media marketing show cohesion with other marketing efforts?
  • Similar voice
  • Integration with PR, Media, Website, SEO and creative
• Could you micro social to promote smaller events, themes and competitions

 Promotion

• How easy is it to find the activity?
• Is there anything to encourage member get member?
• Are you encouraging Word Of Mouse?
• What ways are you encouraging membership?
  • Does the incentive encourage quality members or just stats?

 Research

• How is external social content being monitored?
  • How is this being relayed (to client)?
  • How is it being used?
• What are competitors doing, are they being monitored?
• Do the networks give an opportunity for crowd sourcing?

Tracking

• How is it Tracked?
• On what metrics is success being justified?
• How is the quantative and qualitive data being fed back and responded to?
• Is positive response being split from negative?
• Can the consumer pathway be seen through the social media all the way to sale?

13 tips for surviving redundancy

One of my friends was made redundant yesterday, as well as informing her that it was a lovely time of year to be unemployed, I wrote her these survival tips:

Get up at a reasonable hour

But allow yourself a little lie in, let’s face it you are not going to have to do the commute so you can still start the job safari early with an extra half an hour in bed.

Stay positive

Negativity is a downward spiral, obviously it is difficult to 'stay positive' like turning on a switch, but doing constructive activities helps.

Don't turn on the TV

Not even at lunch, Turning on the TV signifies the death of the day, it is so easy to get sucked in burning a couple of hours watching Judge Judy, by which point won'thave time to do anything constructive which will be depressing (see Stay Positive). I waited till my flatmates were home before switching on.

Redundy Fun

Enjoy the benefits of not being at work when everyone else is, think shopping as the shops are deserted and there are some great deals on. Also sunbathing is a must, especially when combined with wireless job hunting.

Go to the gym (a lot)

They are nice and empty during the day, and not only will this give you buns of steel but which will ultimately clinch the deal in an interview, but the endorphins released will help you stay energised and happy.

If you are going to go travelling don't hang around, go

Once you get into the job safari you will find it difficult to find a point where you can just go, as you will feel that once you have invested a couple of weeks/months into the job hunting, to leave at that point would just be throwing the time spent searching. If you go now you can come back relaxed, fresh and having thought a lot about actually what you want to do.

There will be good weeks and bad weeks

Peaks and Troughs, unfortunately there is nothing really you can do about it.

Find inspiration at www.cardsofchange.com

Stories of people who have been made redundant and gone on to better things, written on old business cards.

Admin

Sort out admin that you were not able todo while workingthink, dentist, fix bike, paint flat, filing, you’d be amazed how much of this there is!

Meet friends for lunch

I didn’t for ages as I thought it would be a waste of time, but being stuck at home all day with no human contact is not cool and as well as being a nice break I felt much better after getting out and seeing people.

Benefits

Sign on, it makes you feel dirty, but £60.50 a week adds up really quick. Do this straight away.

Extracurricular projects

Doing something constructive if not necessarily work related means that when you do get a job you’ll be glad you haven’t completely wasted your time off.

Find a Redundy buddy

Great for enjoying the sun with, congratulating each other on not having to take crap from ‘the man’ anymore and complaining about the recession.

Matchbox toy army ads a bit too real

When I first opened the creative review RSS feed my first assumption was that this was a brilliantly edgy piece of work for an anti war-child charity or the (imaginatively named) moms against guns but reading further I had to agree with Patrick Burgoyne's feeling of unease when I realised that these were actually for Matchbox toys.I would have to say that I really appreciate the way that these are shot and taking an artistic view these are excellent pieces. Even looking at them as an ad man, the slowly creeping feeling that something is not quite right created by the subtlety of placing a child in a common war image would be excellent as an anti war message.

But for toys....?

For one the boy is alone, not playing with his mates and this combined with the seriously vacant 100 metre stare just screams war torn psycho at me, certainly not the fun, wholesome heritage ‘as long as my Johnson’ toys that I believed Matchbox to be.   The other thing is that the scenes seem to depict more the down time of army life, flying in formation, landing and hanging around on tanks.   Which (I’m assuming) is hardly the game that a parent has in mind when they are buying toys for their children.

Clients turn the tables on agencies claiming social media

As many agencies lay claim to being social media experts and then end up either being clueless or learning on the clients time. Turkish airlines have found an ingenious way to weed out the weaker ones who are 'less able'. For a mobile pitch, instead of sending out a standard briefing document they sent the pitching agencies a document with clues on how to get to the brief through social media. In addition part of the brief was that in the two weeks of preparation for the pitch the agencies had to seed information back to the airline through social media, to prove not only their expertise but also that they are able to put it into practice.