Social Hallucinations

What should we do next? - Design Strategy

"The key to winning is achieving the resonance between what's meaningful for people and what's profitable for company"

People should be at the heart of everything you do.
Interesting and inspiring video on Continuum's approach to and beliefs about design strategy.

Resonance from Continuum on Vimeo.

Via Paul Isakson

Are you the new jumbo shrimp?

Image via Wikipedia

"People heading up social media initiatives with almost zero online footprint is the new jumbo shrimp" (David Armano)

The way we work with social media needs to be professionalized. The more serious and results driven approach is needed. Social media aren't about easy solution that you can put on your marketing & media plan and check it as "done". Facebook pages driven by "LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME!" strategy using the available place and attention to talk about the mere product can't be the standard for communication with people via social media. It is like placing wings on the car in order to create the new type of flying vehicle.

It ain't going to work. There are no quick copy&paste solutions. If you are looking for "cheap and easy way to push your message", social media shouldn't be your choice.

"Social media is like a pair of shorts. Hip. Cool. But not suited for all occasions ;)" (@benkunz)

It may be social media aren't for you cause you are not ready.
If you want to work with social, start with listening and understanding who your people (aka consumers) are, what do they like, need, what drives them (I keep on repeating myself over and over again, but drivers behind human behavior are the key to creating meaningful and effective communication) and what you can do for them to satisfy their needs & fuel their motivations. Then find out what's your goal, what do you want to achieve. What is your success criteria, your ROI and how are you going to measure it. And finally how the social media fit with the rest of your brand strategy (social media aren't stand alone)? Do you communicate towards the common goals via mainstream media and social media?
Don't be too quick to create Facebook pages and Twitter accounts without ever considering how and why are you going to use them.  There is the need to cut the crap about the successful Facebook cases (usually produced by people who call themselves social media experts):

XXX:  "we have great Facebook case!
YYY: "What case? Can you tell me more about it?"
XXX: "Yes, we have 1500 fans! It is great!"
YYY: "Sounds great! What were your objectives?"
XXX: "Er, er...what do you mean, we have 1500 fans!!"

You can't measure the success without knowing what you wanted to achieve. It is like deciding to take a part in the marathon, getting the t-shirt with number, meeting at the start and never start running. Making up your mind to run, doesn't make you a runner. It is about training and commitment.

We need to stop thinking about social media as silos otherwise we produce just spam. Nobody wants to be spammed. We need more long-term social and sustainable ideas that will make a difference for people out there and then also for you and your brand.
I made myself a couple social media mistakes but I never called them "great cases", I learned from them and gained deeper understanding of how to act out there where social norms and people rule.
You doesn't need to get it right from the start. It may take a few tests, some failures but with a right dose of dedication, right insights and truly social approach and ideas, you will make it. Amen.

Weekend Awesomeness

It is an awesome video giving you the exceptional experience of the sky. I simply love it! Turn the lights off so we can experience the real beauty of the sky.

Timescapes Timelapse: Learning to Fly from Tom @ Timescapes on Vimeo.

Read more on the Timescapes website

Us Now

"An important and provocative film that people who believe in democracy need to watch"
- Don Tapscott (Wikinomics)

Us Now is a documentary movie which follows the fate of Ebbsfleet United, a football club owned and run by its fans; Zopa, a bank in which everyone is the manager; and Couch Surfing, a vast online network whose members share their homes with strangers.

Us Now from Banyak Films on Vimeo.

Groups Aren't Always Good at Taking Decisions

Image via Wikipedia

And here is why:

"Groups tend to spend most of their time discussing the information shared by members, which is therefore redundant, rather than discussing information known only to one or a minority of members. This is important because those groups that do share unique information tend to make better decisions.  ... Ironically, ... groups that talked more tended to share less unique information."





Read more about the meta-analysis of 72 studies, involving 4,795 groups and over 17,000 individuals

It is very interesting in relation to focus groups and diverse forms of works where any kind of information is shared or decisions should be taken. Such behavior and tendency to focus on the widely shared informaiton can lead to serious bias of conclusions and decisions taken.

The Marketing Capability: The Future is Digital

"In order for our brand to be relevant in the future, we gotta live digitally... with our communication and the products we sell. And the brands that figure this out are the brands that will succeed in the future."

From the past to the future Best Buy CMO Barry Judge tells the story of how Best Buy's Marketing Capability talks (and listens) to its customers.

Is Talk Cheap?

Image via Wikipedia

According to a recent research of Shyam Gopinath, Jacquelyn Thomas and Lakshman Krishnamurthi, there is a measurable connection between what is being said about a product in online posts and real-time customer behavior. Research showed that if you ask people what’s most important to them in evaluating a product, they say, ‘What other people like me say about it.’ Meaning that that a relatively small group of people in online communities can have a substantial influence on purchase decisions. What is crucial for brands is to track the conversations happening online, as understanding people's attitudes towards your products give you the chance to react accordingly and implement necessary changes. It makes online conversations to be your focus group on steroids, wisdom of the crowds delivering you valuable inisghts that can fuel your product strategies.

“An Internet-armed consumer can become your greatest asset or your worst nightmare.”

Read more here on Kellogg Insight website

Is Web 2.0 Fragmented?

We all remeber the picture that showed how fragmented Web 2.0 we are living in. Plenty of start-ups, companies, tools, applications, communities - all designed for people. The picture gave many headache, how on earth one could deal and reach to people through so many channels, how to decide which is better and which will survive as the hippest and most popular platform users decided to choose.

3 years passed and the picture changed. Some companies suffered from the natural death, some were aquired and died. Suddenly the world of Web 2.0 doesn't seem so complex as Web 2.0 is like everything else the subject of the laws of nature.

A pink cross means that the company is dead now.

Green circles mark companies that got acquired.

A cross and circle mark companies that were acquired but still closed shop.

Two greens circles means that the company was acquired twice in the same period.

via Meish

Photo credit Meg Picard& Stabilo Boss

The 50 Greatest Movie Monologues - Inspirational

There are days when I like to talk a lot and end up having long monologues but compared to those guys I'm just a quiet girl. 50 greatest movie monologues are fantastic and inspirational. It is a must watch. You can read about the monologues and watch them here The 50 Greatest Movie Monologues

One of my favorite is from The Great Dictator by unforgettable Charlie Chaplin

"Our knowledge has made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness."
Amen!

Win a plane (Vind et Fly)

Norwegian launched the new campaign Win a Plane (Vind a fly) where you and your 40 friends can win the plane and travel to the self chosen destination in Europe. Sounds like fun to win your plane. After all traveling is social. The idea is to gather people together and give them the day of fun and great treatment.

You can join the competition her on Vind et Fly site.
Besides you can follow Norwegian on Twitter. As well as see updated from competition on news site .

 

Quote for the upcoming week

“My experience is what I agree to attend to.”

(William James)

What Motivates, Communicates

Image by şυωαίđίά ♥ ولعتني via Flickr

Change is hot topic.
Everyone talks about the change. We want the change, as change usually brings something new. The change is desired state of affairs and mind nowadays and in this ever-changing world, one thing remains constant – human motivations.
Humans are motivated to do things, which satisfy their emotional needs.
Motivation is the key. It sets the chain of events into the motion. Motivations are the main drivers of human behavior. There are to powers that influence our choices – how we do relate to others and to ourselves.
You can imagine yourself human behavior as a horse carriage with 4 horses: emotional needs, personality, self-image and relations with other people. Those 4 horses create the social context where we take decisions and act.
Think about yourself – advertising or media agency employee. Your behavior is driven by one the basic motivations – control. You do everything to avoid chaos that could be lethal for you. You never leave your eyes off mailbox, you check mails either on your PC or iPhone or Blackberry. You want to prove you are in charge, you are always on, you know always what’s going on. You want to prove you have control over what you do. What about the other motivation - the recognition? You want to stand out, be better and be different (thanks to Apple it is easier to fix the latter one). You want to impress your clients with your knowledge and qualifications. Think about the jargon you use to describe the simple things. Think about the titles you aim for to put on your business card and your resume. You do it because it works. It satisfies your self-image and helps you with the professional relations, as it stages the context for your interactions.

Behavior isn’t quite rational
Humans take decisions having one goal – to be rewarded. The bigger emotional reward brand can deliver, the stronger position it can build. Therefore, it is not only the product features should be at the center of communication, as marketing is about fulfilling consumers emotional needs, satisfying their motivations. Vanish – stain remover product isn’t about removing stains. Vanish is about being a good mother and take care for children to have a decent and clean clothes. 
Human behavior isn’t rational as it is driven by emotional needs and as long as you can deliver means to satisfy those, you open the chance for your brand to enter people’s life for longer than a moment of weakness while standing in the shop.

Marketing is a service
It shifts the understanding of marketing function from selling to giving people reasons to buy, to being a service. It requires deeper look into what’s behind human behavior, identification of motivations and creating tailor made products, services and solutions that satisfy those. It is important to align brand with one primary motivation, which will become the compass that will guide you through marketing and communication decisions and take you further on to creating strong brand experiences by linking you brand with secondary and/or tertiary motivations and placing it all within the relevant social context.

Life's for Sharing

Overwhelmed by pandemic of bad news from finance crisis to swine flu. Being bombarded with news that are more sensational than factual, more and more people get paralyzed by the fear of travel and contact with other people  We need a break, we need a moment to enjoy and share with others. 13,500 people spontaneously sang Hey Jude together in Trafalgar Square. Everyone involved arrived thinking they could be dancing - no-one had any idea how the event would unfold. The next part of Life is for Sharing campaign.


Via Richard