That's all She Wrote

Thoughts from articles throughout Media Marketing at Western Washington University.

[becc-dan]

#CreeperStatus

Let’s be honest. Apps are starting to get really creepy. What makes them creepy? I think we can say its a big thanks to cheap computing, a phone

that can keep tabs on your current and future location, larger social networks, and the commercial focus on sharing. 

Here’s how to avoid “the creep”

Transparency: Telling users the data you collect is a good first step. The next thing a company should do is tell users who it shares that data with.

Consent: Once the data is out there, it’s hard to know what people might do with it, so consent is closely tied to transparency.

The Social Element: This can be anything from giving people clear and easy ways to categorize their friends so only certain people can see their late-night spring break pics to making it clear to or preventing others in a user’s social network to out them.

Let Your Users Go: the expectation after an app deletion is that, like an ex, you two are done. Everybody’s stuff is returned (or destroyed), and you don’t go around telling others that y’all are still together by leaving information on the site.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to avoid creepers who use these apps to enhance their creepy-ness so these app creators need educate users and create easy to use and understand privacy policies so we can avoid as many of these type of people in the video 

  3/5/13

[becc-dan]

Online Dating: Overwhelmed and Creeped Out

Online dating. Those two simple words creep me out. To me it just sounds so desperate. It's like online shopping for your future spouse; that just seems so wrong. Dating apps have had trouble taking seriously the concerns of women such as safety and control and this article says the reason for this is that majority of all dating sites/apps are created by men. Well, there you go. The problem is, men typically don't have an issue being the aggressor and use location-based dating features whereas women are typically the opposite. We don't like to be aggressor's for fear of sounding desperate. The need for a dating site that makes women feel empowered without being creeped out. Majority of women who use dating sites are businesswomen who are too busy to meet men (which I think is odd. If you're too busy to meet in person, wouldn't you be too busy to date?) Check Him Out, the site that gives all power to women to choose by making them the shoppers and men the "products" seems a little gross and unfair for men. So the big question is, what do women want in a dating site? Do we as women even know?

 You still want to be the girl at the bar where the guy is the one who comes up to you.”

The key thing is that women don't want to waste their time. 

Women may be averse to mobile apps because they “might feel that men might only be looking for a hot piece of ass. They’re not going to be looking for women who have a lot to offer in other areas, their intellect or their sense of humor,” Carbino says. 

Three Day Rule has made itself an intermediary in a dating site. It only gives women a few selected matches at a time so we don't feel overwhelmed with constant scrolling. It also makes online dating not seem so forced by connecting people in offline venues since a lot of people want to meet organically. However, even that can seem a little weird as you never know if meeting the type of guy you want in a bar is just meant for a random hookup. 

Until a start-up comes along that manages to make mobile dating not weird by offering women—and the men they want to meet—control, incredible filters, and clarity of mission. Until then, we’re left to scroll through page after page of unappealing options.

[becc-dan]

Web Privacy Becomes a Business Imperative

Privacy is no longer just a regulatory headache. Increasingly, Internet companies are pushing each other to prove to consumers that their data is safe and in their control.

Companies are now trying to get a leg up in competition by offering more privacy to their consumer's. For example, Apple started requiring applications to get permission from users to access the location, photos, etc. that are stored on the phone. The reason for this is because with the advances in technology, people are becoming more scared about who, and what people can see. 

“Increasingly, people are concerned more about privacy as technology intersects their life.”

These privacy issues are making it difficult for companies to remain competitive therefore they're having to come up with new ways to attract the consumer with better privacy settings. Stricter privacy settings such as allowing users the option to turn off cookies really affects companies ability to serve their consumer's in the best way possible. 

As much as consumers are concerned about their privacy though, they continue to use the technology. And as scared as they are about putting their information out there and not knowing who will have access to it, surveys aren't sure that consumer's would be willing to pay to protect their privacy. 

3/5/13

[becc-dan]

The Next Wave

Social Media marketing is a great way for marketers to reach consumers, however, few have been able to reach its potential. Creating a viable social media presence isn't easy and takes time, resources, and proper measurement. Because social media has become so mainstream, marketers need to keep up and avoid problems from occurring such as these:

Social media doesn’t support the rest of your marketing program. Engagement doesn't create conversion.

Social media isn’t driving enough value. 

It’s hard to put the right resources into social media.

Social media needs to offer a solution not create a problem. Customer's won't find your media unless you market it to them in channels they are using. When social media becomes effective it can create long-term loyalty with customers. The key is to discover opportunities and figure out how to integrate social media into your marketing and create a strategy to correctly measure success and value. This will help be more responsive to customers and ultimately: 

weave social media throughout your brand ecosystem; build a business case for investment and change; hire the right people and partners; execute the right tactics; and measure to gain insight and improve over time.

2/26/2013

[becc-dan]

66.5 Million Facebook Interactions Occurred During the Oscars

The 2013 Oscar's looked to be a hit in social media this year. Mentions of the Oscar's were 3 times higher this year than they were at the Oscar's in 2012. 66.5 Million facebook interactions, 8.9 million tweets. And as soon as Jennifer Lawrence took a fall, literally, going up the stairs, the memes flooded the internet. Luckily, J-Law is still amazing and has the greatest sense of humor that makes me love her that much more. 

photo courtesy of: http://rack.3.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDEzLzAyLzI1LzBkL3R1bWJscl9taXM1LjhiMmQ1LmpwZw/b751726f/13a/tumblr_mis5tcLsCS1rlgv02o1_500.jpg 

Social Media has made it so easy for things to spread like wild fire that I didn't even have to watch the Oscar's to know what happened, and what were the biggest moments. All these tweets and facebook posts make me wonder though, if they're so interested in the Oscar's that they're taking the time to watch it, are they really paying attention if they are just facebook-ing and tweeting about it? I was looking forward to watching the re-run of the Oscar's once I got home but social media ruined it for me, just like they ruin the outcome of games i'm unable to watch. As a marketer, I would almost consider not advertising during the Oscar's broadcast but on Facebook and Twitter since that where majority of people are looking. This article presented an infographic of facebook trends during the Oscars 2013. 

infographic courtesy of:  http://rack.3.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDEzLzAyLzI1L2ZmL0ZhY2Vib29rT3NjLjhmMDBkLmpwZw/28a51f78/ebf/Facebook-Oscars-Infographic.jpeg

http://mashable.com/2013/02/25/oscars-facebook-chatter/  

2/25/2013

[becc-dan]

Social Media Meltdown #corporatesuicide

In the article about Applebee's infamous firing of an employee for posting a picture of a receipt she received from a [clever] pastor stating she gives God 10% why should she (the waitress) get 18%, it just goes to show how much social media is taking over every little occurrence in the world. This incident would not have caused a single ounce of media attention 10 years ago, yet because of the increase of social media, uploading pictures of things people think everyone cares about is creating more drama than ever. For Applebee's, what seemed like an ethical issue of customer's privacy quickly turned into a rage of people complaining waitresses don't get tipped properly. But, sadly Applebee's PR and Marketing failed miserably in their social media creating hundreds of thousands of customers furious with their status postings, comments, arguments, and lack of transparency.

The craziest part of it was that this all happened within a day or two. Just like the Harlem Shake; it was all over the place in a blink of an eye. Sadly, this is viral media attention no company wants, but unfortunately, AppleBee's carried it on themselves and created most of it because of their lack internet etiquette. Companies need to realize that anything and everything can so easily be turned digital and go viral in a matter of seconds. There's no hiding, no privacy, nothing. So at least we can all learn from Applebee's terrible and unforgettable mistake and realize that how a company responds to situations can be the life or death of its company. So AppleBee's, forget the 18%, and take this tip, go take some internet etiquette classes and cross your fingers that people are so obsessed with the next viral media story that they've completely forgotten this whole thing happened. 

2/25/2013

[becc-dan]

Nike: Just "Don't" Do It

http://www.dudnyk.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/42-nike-just-dont.jpg 

Nike has a lot of Paid, Earned and Owned media. They pay the best of the best athletes to be spokespersons and uphold the Nike name, however Nike puts themselves at a huge risk when choosing to endorse these famous athletes. Nike has been involved in numerous scandals because of their athletes lately. This is earned media no company wants. Here are just a few of Nike's spokespersons who have been in scandals and permanently or temporarily dropped from Nike. 

Oscar Pistorius: The double-amputee Olympic runner from South Africa was arrested in the murder of his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp

Lance Armstrong: Dumped when the company cited “seemingly insurmountable evidence” that he had doped and just recently confessed to using performance enhancing drugs. 

Michael Vick: Went to prison for his involvement in illegal dog fighting

Kobe Bryant: Arrested in a sexual assault case. 

Tiger Woods: Huge marital discretion's with numerous mistresses

Joe Paterno: Accused of not taking proper action after being informed of inappropriate relationships with his coaching staff and players. 

http://news.muckety.com/2013/02/14/another-scandal-for-another-nike-spokesman/40871 

They say any media is good media, but for Nike the acts of their spokesman is starting to creates memes all over; and bad ones at that. Their infamous slogan "just do it" is now being used for many different reasons than what it's intended for. Nike has no control over the actions of their spokesman but they're willing to take the risk to take the hit when they mess up. This earned media is going to take a toll on Nike pretty quickly and what was once Just Do it, is going to become Just Don't Do It. 

[becc-dan]

Virtual Times Square; an environment of screens

In today's world, we are bombarded with media everywhere. Everywhere we turn it seems like we're living in a "virtual times square; an environment of screens". 

As consumers, we are bouncing from device to device and message to message.  We are “tuning out the noise and too distracted to concentrate.”  This is an environment that makes it even harder for brands to capture the attention of their audiences.

Consumers are so overwhelmed with all the different forms of media now that we are starting to tune them out and ignore them. This makes it harder for marketers to reach their consumers and be seen. In order for it to capture our attention and for consumers to retain it, media has to be different and unique. Just like in the article, our first time in Times Square we soak it all in and try to see everything, but after the 3rd or 4th time we blur everything out and just try to get to where we're going. In order for brands to beat this obstacle they must: 

 Be ubiquitous.  Be visible across all media channels and creating a dynamic and consistent story in paid, owned and earned media spaces

This means consistently being engaging and relevant exactly when the consumer wants, where they want. 

Consumers are simply looking for the most relevant and engaging information – in the instant that they need it and in the channel they are seeking it, and to remain relevant, a brand message must be wherever they are.

The increasing number of platforms and ability to share and play forwards brand messages has changed how paid, earned, and owned media are defined. Earned media is taking over while owned media helps sustain it leaving paid media on the fritz. Paid media is necessary to leverage owned and earned media to help it stay relevant which is necessary to influencing and engaging content. 

[becc-dan]

How PRs use Twitter

Gone are the days when PR firms only used e-mail and phones to communicate. In today's society more and more PR professionals are turning towards social media-mostly Twitter. In this article, Kate Russell explains how she has resorted to using Twitter for her journalism. 

"She told me that Twitter is the best thing that has happened to journalism in many years".

Because of Twitter, story ideas are now being sent in 140 characters or less making it easier to and quicker to communicate. And Twitter isn't just only for text, it's also used to share video, pictures, links, etc. This makes Kate Rusell's job as a journalist easier and quicker. She no longer has to sit at a desk to make phone calls or type emails to research her information because Twitter is easily accessible 24/7. Twitter seems to be making their jobs easy. Too easy. No longer do we have to deal with personal communications or face-to-face interviews. To me, this seems a little lazy. Then again, I guess that's how society is today; all about instant gratification. We don't have time to wait for emails to be sent or for people to answer their phones when Twitter can give you responses in an instant all day long- even if you're not at your desk. However, it does allow PR firms and journalist to get immediate feedback and build strong relationships with other people. The reason is because: 

"The media tend to respond a lot more to requests on Twitter, rather than in a traditional email,”

[becc-dan]

How Social Media Is Changing Paid, Earned & Owned Media

This article begins to explain how the rise of social media is starting to blur the definitions of each of these. Agencies are starting to struggle how to integrate each of these to maximize success. One challenge brought up that I thought was really interesting was how social media is constant: 24/7 which means brands have to continue engaging with their consumers in order to make the most out of their advertising. 

Social Media is difficult to put into only one category. This is explained in the articles example of how YouTube could be classified as any of these three forms: 

Paid. It can cost ~$100,000 a year to manage.

Owned. It’s an exclusively owned URL (much like a website) and the brand has complete control of what is posted.

Earned. It's "squarely social." A YouTube channel will succeed only if consumers watch and share the videos they see. A brand needs to earn those eyeballs with creative execution of content.

It makes a good point stating that even when using a free form of social media such as Facebook, it takes money to manage and produce its content. This falls into both Paid and Earned categories as shown in the article's diagram: 

 The goal of the modern agency is to connect the dots and integrate all media for maximum results. Of the three buckets, the holy grail is earned media.

Earned media can be most easily described as the result of paid and media — you buy a Super Bowl ad (paid) or you run a promotion on your brand's Facebook Page (owned), and then and then people in the media talk about it (earned) and the Twitterverse erupts into conversation about that topic. 

Earned media is clearly the most important but it usually takes Paid and Owned to create earned which is why they all tie in together. 

"We want to understand how these three media work together for a goal, whether that’s an action, or a purchase or more conversation,"

As more consumers get on board with social media, generating earned media through social media shares will become a higher priority for companies than ever. 

[becc-dan]

21 Skills of a Full Stack Marketer

This article talks about how startups are lacking great marketers. Startups seem to forget how important marketing is until its too late, therefore this article gives some great tips and skills needed for marketers to get hired or what to look for when hiring for startups. Here are some I found the most helpful:

SEO: Understanding of how to drive traffic to your site using keywords and links

Paid Advertising: Understand Google Adwords, Facebook Ads, etc. Be able to write copy and generate media assets for the ads and test their performance over time.

Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn):  Understand how to create a community and drive engagement around the biggest social networks. Understand how content goes viral. Know how to connect with influential people in these networks.

Public Relations: Be able to get the attention of bloggers and journalists. Build relationships so that over time your product is consistently in the press.

Content Marketing: Be able to create content that is relevant to your market and drives signups for your application. This could be any form of content that drives links and traffic back to your blog or site.

Analytics: A good understanding of web analytics will help you double down what is working and throw out what isn’t.

HTML/CSS/Javascript: Being able to edit the copy directly via HTML reposition an element on the page via CSS will let a marketer iterate quicker without distracting the development team.

Customer Service: A marketer who can’t communicate effectively with customers via email, phone, chat and in person is going to be a lot less effective than one that can.

Distribution: Content that no one sees is pointless. A marketer needs to know how to find outlets for getting product and content out in front of an audience so people actually know about your content or product.

I can't even begin to name the numerous employers that specify these qualifications on  their applications. Luckily, this class has given a broad overview of almost all of these so I don't feel as hopeless in finding a job. I still feel hopeless, just not as much. However, I need to step up my game. A Lot. Being in this class, I know how important all these different skills are to create successful marketing campaigns. Without any of these marketing would be pointless and startups and companies would fail.

  http://wadefoster.net/post/42802176600/full-stack-marketing  

[becc-dan]

In the article by Shaina Boone she let’s it all out saying:

EU Cookie Law Could Be the Death of Digital

The article talks about how the EU is enacting a law to opt in and out of cookies because of privacy issues. However, the EU doesn’t take into consideration what cookies really do for us. I think the vision they have of cookies is like the one in this video. 

Although some people believe cookies are intrusive, this new law that makes enabling cookies an opt in is only going to cause customer’s experience detrimental. 

What cookies do is enable your information to be tracked to help advertisers and websites to recommend items to you based on previous searches and purchases. If you buy a book on Amazon, the next time you go to Amazon it will show recommendations of books in the same genre. Marketer’s will lose data needed to make their web pages efficient, effective, and useful. 

Basically, everything that makes the web more enjoyable and efficient and easier to use will be gone.

In order to avoid this domino from falling we need to start informing consumers on the importance of cookies and how they not only help marketer’s but help consumers as well. 

Ohhh Cookie, Cookie, Cookie that's for me. 

[becc-dan]

Kid President: I think we all need a pep talk

What if Michael Jordan quit? Think about it..

Don't stop believing...Unless your dreams are stupid.. then you should get a better dream 

Just what I needed to hear. This is so uplifting as I sit here in the library wondering where my life is going and whether or not I'll have the strength and determination to make my dreams come true (and finish this paper).

Everyone needs to watch this.

We can cry about it, or we can dance about it. We were made to be awesome.

[digg]

Oreo won the Super Bowl blackout. 

[becc-dan]

This is just incredible how quick and on their feet Oreo was to respond to the Super Bowl black out. They have been retweeted over 15,000 times and liked on Facebook by over 20,000 people. Not quite as many as Beyoncé but probably a lot more than all the other advertisers. Talk about inbound marketing! This is engaging their fans at its finest. And the best part is, they didn't have to pay another $4million to advertise this during the Super Bowl because like Nat Duffy said, media is free.

[becc-dan]

Make it REMARKable

The article on Grateful Dead was legit. I always wondered why when you go to concerts or plays or whatever, they don't let you take pictures or video. This article just proves that they are losing not only free advertising, but potential fans. By allowing their fans to tape, Grateful Dead has increased their fans and album sales. People make copies and share them like wild fire which increases the number of people it reaches.

Each piece of content acts as a viral magnet that attracts potential customers to your business.

I personally haven't been able to go to see Kevin Hart live, but I praise the people who tape him and put his standups on YouTube because it wants me to go see him that much more. When he comes to WA, I will be there. I would have never even heard of him if it weren't for people sharing his content which is why this form of inbound marketing is remarkable; making us remark.

 When you give content or small pieces of your product away, it attracts more interest and opens up the top of your marketing funnel in a dramatic way.  

All in all, if you give away free content, you will continue to see more fans, customers, and revenue because it attracts more people and increases interest.

[becc-dan]

Inbound Marketing 101

People are starting to ignore the traditional ways of marketing, especially telemarketing. Let's be honest, no one likes a telemarketer unless you have that secret obsession of messing with them. Thank goodness for the internet and inbound marketing. Inbound marketing allows people to find you.

So what is inbound marketing? Our definition of inbound marketing is: The process of helping potential customers find your company – often before they are even looking to make a purchase – and then turning that early awareness into brand preference and, ultimately, into leads and revenue.

This can be in forms of blogs, white papers, articles, search engine optimization, social networking, you name it. Be creative as you want because you want your information to be remarkable; something that causes someone to remark about it. You want it to be shared, talked about, and relevant to your potential customers. In order to help get your information out there and visible, SEO will also have to play a huge role.

 The higher your content and site ranks in a search engine’s results list, the more likely someone will find and click on the link to your content.

This is how inbound marketing makes its move. By being up higher in search results, more people will see it and then share it and ultimately expand the number of people who've seen it. However, just simply doing this won't exactly get your information to make people become customers. These are some reasons why inbound marketing just isn't enough:

Your aim is too wide:you need to deliver high-quality content to the right people in an engaging way, and avoid repeating low content leads.

Some prospects may find you, but many don’t know you exist: if you don't know about it, you can't search for it. Focus on your prospects problems not just solutions.

You aren’t reaching the decision makers:  find a way to reach the people who will actually buy.

Sometimes you can’t break through the noise: be creative, be different, make yourself stand out! Being like everyone else isn't going to get you noticed.

There are 3 essential components to make inbound marketing work. These make up the Inbound Marketing Multiplier: 1. An outbound marketing strategy 2. A corporate communications strategy 3. A nurturing or marketing automation strategy

 By taking these things into consideration it will definitely help in knowing how to reach our customers; especially for our project in this class. We need to know what our prospects are looking for so we can make sure we get noticed.

[becc-dan]

Crowdsourcing vs. Co-creation

Crowdsourcing vs. Co-Creation: Is There a Difference?

http://dailycrowdsource.com/crowdsourcing/articles/opinions-discussion/559-crowdsourcing-vs-co-creation-is-there-a-difference

In this article it discusses some difference in crowdsourcing and co-creation. 

Co-creation is a collaborative initiative which operates like crowdsourcing by seeking information and ideas from a group of people. There is, however, one crucial difference. The call is not put to an open forum or platform but to a smaller group of individuals with specialised skills and talents.

It goes on to explain that co-creation is where a group works together on one concept rather than being asked to pick a solution from a list. Co-creation encourages groups to think outside of the box.

This is probably the difference that crowdsourcing does not quite achieve, the ability to work with a specialized group, capture the ideas of the many and work with them through different steps to ultimately create a better experience for the consumer. Crowdsourcing focuses on quantity and results in incremental changes, co-creation focuses on quality and produces innovative solutions. Scott Teng, Regional Collaborative Planner for eYeka

Ultimately, crowdsourcing and co-creation are seen to be very similar however, co-creation enables you to work with specialized groups to become more innovative and create products the consumer wants.