#sxswlive

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Moxie the cat #SXSWLive President Obama, Leonardo DiCaprio & Katharine Hayhoe in conversation on protecting our planet #moxiethecat #liastrasser #moxiethecat #sxsw (at The White House)

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SXSW Interactive: Not For the Faint of Heart. Not Just For “Nerds.”

Photo credit: Rodolfo Gonzalez / www.austin360.com

By: Keisha Stephen-Gittens

SXSW Interactive was an exhilarating, intense experience: racing from session to session, lines, failing battery packs, meetings and meet ups. If you try to do too much in one day, it can get overwhelming (sometimes it takes a day to realize you’re no superhero). However, after you slow down, plot the three top sessions you really want to visit and have a couple of backup plans, then you’ll be smooth sailing.  

I am not a “girl who codes” or a programmer, but SXSW is not just for computer or tech nerds. For digital marketers, it means taking a step away from your day-to-day job and from your work portfolio to listen to what others are doing, their successes and their mistakes. It’s also an opportunity to do competitive research or to learn about new and developing industries that will someday impact how you shop, work, play or eat. Most of all, it’s a chance to have intellectual conversations and trade ideas with other attendees.

Here are the top three things that stood out to me while there:

1. Mission-based businesses should be taken more seriously in the marketplace, as conscious consumerism is on the rise. Although their business goals are somewhat different, their marketing strategies still consider the customer journey and their consumers are definitely loyalists.

2. There was an emphasis in understanding the virality of content and what brands and content creators can do to appeal to three key humanizing features, however, no tie in to how it impacts on the bottom line. Unless the goal is awareness, the content and conversion big picture should also be considered.

3. Medium to small companies and agencies should take a look at what bigger companies are doing to even the playing field on diversity issues and unconscious bias. For instance, during the shortlisting process, recruiters at Facebook are presenting hiring managers with at least one qualified candidate from an underrepresented group to tackle diversity in tech concerns.

All in all, SXSW was wonderful. If you ever have an opportunity to attend, don’t think twice, just do it.  The sessions, when taken seriously, could change your life, the way you see the world and how you work.

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Keisha Stephen-Gittens interviews attorney Liz Wiley on what she enjoyed most at SXSW.

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The Science of Virality

By: Keisha Stephen-Gittens

That which goes viral is content that engages us on a deep and fundamental level. It gets you to the core. You’re going to click it, and you’re going to share it. But there’s a difference between clickability and shareability.  

Sean Wojcik, Research Scientist at Upworthy, says the things that people click may be different than what people share. Based on their research, people click content because they’re curious; it’s informational, but it’s something that you may want to keep private. Shareable content, on the other hand, can be displayed publicly. It’s surprising, interesting, useful and positive. It’s the perception of what you want people to see. What we click is perhaps something we’d click when no one is looking, but to get to the shareable level, there are a different set of attributes.

Abigail Posner, Head of Strategic Planning at Google, believes in the human approach, saying that clickability versus shareability is based on desires and instincts. Content that captures your imagination will be most likely shared. Truly riveting content plays in three key areas:

1. Synaptic Play: Putting two seemingly disconnected things together, where we make connections between different worlds to create alternate universes.

2. Energy exchange: Things that give us enjoyment, make us smile and “crack up.” Content that enhances the bond with someone else that makes you share in an emotional response.

3. Fascination with the familiar: Humans aren’t necessarily attracted to the allure of the new, but like to see things we’re already familiar with, just in a new way or through a different lens.

Perhaps the latter of the three is one of the reasons why content featuring food has been really hot right now. Regarding types of publishers, food publishers happen to be the most popular, especially on Facebook.

So, can we design content to go viral and what’s within our control?

If we make content that connects with people on a personal level and that makes them curious, then that’s a start. Niche interest based targeting may be a good tactic as well. There is also a case for influencer marketing, as these persons usually have many followers, which influences “spread.” Spread may or may not be outside of your control. It truly depends on how large that person’s network of friends is, and the platform used will influence how far the content reaches.

Additionally, every space has its own tone, culture, codes and cues. For example, Twitter can be considered snarky and intelligent; Facebook, affirmative and fun; while YouTube offers video-based entertaining and sensory experiences. Therefore, make sure you’re creating the content for that culture, which means cutting up perhaps the same type or theme of content differently for each channel.

One last thing!

In this era of Internet outrage, how do you stop something that’s negative from going viral?

The experts offer the following tips:

1. Create a piece of technology that blocks it.

2. Stop the virality. Tap the same needs you would to make positive content viral; turn the negative and use humor to turn something on its head. Use fundamental energy exchange to nip it in the bud and defuse it.

3. Consider using quarantine communities like Reddit.

4. Add bots into spaces that are toxic to block negativity.

5. Remove people/remove ties with people.

6. Train the influencers to think it’s not a good thing to do, similar to anti-bullying techniques.

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Keisha and Cody catch a ride to the "Games of Thrones" activation.

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Celebration, Not Exploitation

By: Keisha Stephen-Gittens

The Lane Bryant campaign, “This Body,” was a perfect case for the session, “Celebration, Not Exploitation,” where a panel of experts talked about brands using female empowerment as the main focus of their content marketing, communications and storytelling. There is a huge opportunity for cause marketing campaigns and building advocacy.

But, how do you create an approach to advocacy with financial performance in mind? Here are three main points:

1. Can the message/purpose/advocacy be connected to your business? E.g., TOMS

2. Understand if your potential customer cares about the cause you’re invested in

3. Can the advocacy/purpose be tied into the marketing of your product?

Women’s bodies have been in conversations for a long time, but what happened in 2015 where a whole new conversation of female empowerment broke through? Conscious consumerism. Consumers are looking to brands to make a commitment to a cause and women’s issues are at the top of the request list. Women want to feel a sense of body confidence and significance, instead of frustration. They want brands to stand on a platform and redefine and support how women should feel about their bodies.  

Refinery29 developed content about women getting real about going bathing suit shopping that we all can relate to. Overall brands should want to make the shopping experience better for women and can learn from research and highlighting aspects that affect women in everyday life.  

There were three key takeaways from the session regarding content, marketing to women and female empowerment:

1. Be provocative. Be loud, break the rules and don’t be afraid of taboo subjects.

2. Ideas rule the day. Is it conversational or appealing to people? The better the ideas, the less you have to invest, because the more people will want to talk about it.

3. It’s not about an ad campaign; it is about a belief. Be passionate about the cause.

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Niche to Movement to Mainstream: How Cultures Grow

By: Keisha Stephen-Gittens

Photo credit: Sprude

 In the session, “Niche to Movement to Mainstream: How Cultures Grow,” the speakers Chris Barth of Contagious and Diego Figuero, SVP Strategy Director, defined the following:

· Niche – group of people, tight community of subculture

· Movement – an organized group working to advance their shared objectives

· Mainstream – ideas, attitudes or activities that are as regarded as normal or conventional

So, that brand of high-end gourmet gluten-free, organic cat food that your best friend might buy for his or her feline is considered a niche product. One-pot pasta or artisanal toast might be considered a movement, and yoga is an activity that has definitely gone mainstream.

The duo shared research and thinking on two trends that have made the leap from local markets to global phenomena: hip-hop and food trucks. Food trucks have grown exponentially in a fraction of time.  They’ve been around for a long time in some form or way, but the concept we know today has truly taken off perhaps in the last year. While hip-hop has become, for the most part, mainstream as well and part of wider culture.

Why do some things make it big, while others remain niche, and why do some cultural expressions break out of niche to become pop culture powerhouses?

1. The first part of a trend to go mainstream is often an outlier to the culture. Example: Hip-Hop Culture

2. They look for multiple catalysts, rather than a single tipping point.

3. Forget about media gatekeepers. For example, Kogi BBQ, was the first major food truck in this new generation of food trucks and they used social media, especially Twitter, a lot to promote their business.

4. Niche cultures may first face initial resistance before becoming mainstream.

5. Place small bets instead of waiting for the big one.

6. Collaboration makes things grow — we don’t own culture and we never will. Don’t have a “this is precious” mentality. If we think that way, we will never get into something special or big.

Whether you’re a creator or advertiser, put your idea out there, let other people play with it, and it will get bigger and eventually be a part of culture. Allow people to innovate. Mainstream is being redefined and to participate in culture, you have to find your niche. As marketers, it is our job to find those communities and plug into it. Take a look at your brand. What is your audience doing, and how can you align yourself to offer value?

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'Conscious Consumerism,' More Marketing Jargon Or A Genuine Movement?

By: Keisha Stephen-Gittens

There must be something in the SXSW air that makes participants leave a session feeling energized, ready to go out there and take on the world (or work). Yeah! You’ve been to about ten sessions. Now you’ve got a bag of new tips and tricks: campaigns and case studies that you can go back to the office with and put into application, but is it really that easy? I have attended quite a few sessions mainly focused around social good marketing, diversity in tech and communicating authentically. But the one that has stood out thus far has been on conscious consumerism. And, as the session was rightly entitled, “Is “Conscious Consumerism” Just a Marketing Term?”

When I reflect on the type of products or services I consume, I probably wouldn’t consider myself a full-time “conscious consumer” just yet, but I’ve been leaning towards making conscious decisions. Yes, I like the idea of knowing that my new pair of funky green eyeglasses contributed to someone in need of eyewear, and so did the ones I bought two years ago, but was it the cost, the cause or the convenience that was most appealing? In reality, all three influence my purchase behavior, but the mission makes me more loyal to the cause.

Read more on MediaPost:

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/271158/conscious-consumerism-more-marketing-jargon-or.html