Get To The Grapes

Everyone is asking, what is social media? I think Marta Kagan, The Secret Diary of a Bonafide Marketing Genius, has a pretty good answer.  Enjoy!

What The F**K is Social Media?

Microsoft is spending close to $300 million to promote its brand and products through a collaboration with old-school comic Jerry Seinfeld.  Seinfeld is being paid $10 million dollars to add some ’comedy’ to the Microsoft brand.  Given that the Mac verses PC campaign has just that, comedy; it seems a bit desperate for Microsoft to be trying to ‘own’ the same space in the consumers’ mind that Apple already owns.  To be honest, the worst part about the campaign is I am not really sure what they are trying to accomplish.  They don’t really talk about the brand, what product they are pushing or why any of us should actually watch their spots.  When spending that kind of money, you’d think that there would be more strategy, or at least relevance, behind the campaign. And if there is, you’d think that there would be a strategy that would resonate with the masses.  However professionals and consumers alike are left scratching their heads.  When marketing your brand, you want to own your own real estate in the mind of the consumer – not try and ‘buy’ someone else’s.  If you haven’t seen the ‘cheap shoes’ or ‘dumb family’ spots, “enjoy!”   

I had the pleasure of doing a Web 2.0 presentation for the board members of CREW (Commercial Real Estate Women) yesterday.  Given the interest in the subject matter and their desire to learn more, I will be addressing the subject in a six-part blog series. So come back again… you just might find yourself blogging or sending out a ‘tweet!’

As a columist for the Sacramento Business Journal, here is my latest article: You might be your firm’s best marketer. Enjoy!

Social Media Starfish

I think better than a starfish or ‘prizm,’ a more accurate description of Social Media or Web 2.0 is the ‘wild, wild Web.’  Afterall, that really is what it is.  There are guidelines, made up by PR people and Social Media “professionals” but the fact of the matter is it’s still in its infancy.  Granted, according to BlogPulse, there are 78,703,197 total itentified blogs and approximately 100,000 new ones each day.   But really, it’s charted territory that is uncharted, so to speak.  Uncharted with regard to rules, regulations and real standards.  You blog about absolutely anything and scary enough, anyone can blog… Which given our first ammendment right is a good thing.  However, given privacy issues and unprofessionals ‘acting’ as media professionals it’s definitely ‘spaghetti western-ish.’  But they are here, and here to stay.  In fact, I believe they are going to continue to grow and become an ever-increasing part of our daily lives whether you’re ready to embrace it or not.  And as a marketer, you’d better be ready to embrace it because Web 2.0 isn’t coming, it’s here (been here)…

The Conversation Prism

But no need to fear, blogs are simply Web logs, a journal of sorts, and social media is user generated content that allows us to create ’conversations’ online.  Starfish and Prisms aside, it’s really that simple.   So what the heck, go ahead, throw caution to the wind and create a blog (or at least comment on one). And when you’re done, open up a Facebook, MySpace or LinkedIn account and really, you’re half way there…

We all know that newspapers are hurting… The Internet has changed the game and newspapers have been late to evolve.  Case in point: our own hometown paper: The Sacramento Bee.  ‘The Bee’ has enjoyed a monopoly for a very long time and while it sat back and enjoyed the lack of competition in the region, the Internet came along and changed the game.  As a marketer, I don’t believe that the Internet will make print obsolete: however, I do believe print needs to evolve and change to stay in the game.  It needs to be relevant, fresh, and easy-to-read.  So, ‘The Bee’ has recently evolved.  It said it was making “improvements” for its readers when the fact of the matter was it was doing it for its survival.  It has laid off more than 50 percent of its editorial staff.  And although I commend some of the changes (the USA Today-ish front-page), some are more hokey and ‘cowtown-ish’ then ever before.  My biggest issue is with the business section.  As a local business owner who really considers myself a ‘big city’ agency simply based in Sacramento, I was appalled to find the new business section in the local “Our Region” section of the paper.  And worse, the business section actually follows the Obituaries.  Yes, I have to actually thumb through the ‘obits’ to get to the business section.  As a 35 year old business person, I am not yet ‘into’ the obits.  As a resident and business owner in Sacramento, I want nothing more than ‘The Bee’ to succeed, however, with changes such as these, I am afraid ‘cow-town’ is just what this paper is continuing to “Bee.”