Absolutely hilarious. That was my first thought as I started seeing the Old Spice guy make it’s way through my twitter stream yesterday. Old Spice has taken it to the next level by having Isaiah Mustafa, also known as Old Spice Guy, respond by video to comments on its YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter accounts. What started out with a commercial has quickly turned into an instant case study on how to integrate the social web into a traditional campaign.
I’m always looking for ways to get the ideas and concepts behind the social web accepted. Case studies certainly help. The thing I find most interesting, however, is that these concepts really aren’t new. If you are trying to “sell” a brand to a consumer, the best way to do it is by building relationships with the people you want to buy your products. This typically means thinking about your consumer first and what their needs are.
If you think about traditional marketing methods, it generally begins with launch planning, big media spending to air a 30 second commercial, billboards, magazine ads, etc. How can “we” (insert brand here) get our message out to the most people in the quickest way possible? Oh by the way, we have our website, facebook page and twitter account that we can also use to blast our messages to everyone.
I do believe these still have merit but what I do think is that brands (my company included) need to go back to thinking about what our customers want and not what we want. I was fortunate enough to sit in a presentation from Jason Falls (Social Media Explorer) today. One of his final points was for marketers (today’s talk was geared towards GM and its divisions) to think beyond the web. To me, this meant thinking about coming up with marketing and promotions that integrate all aspects of consumer touch points which includes the social web.
What can we do to help people connect?
What can we do to enhance their online or offline experience?
What can we do to facilitate and encourage sharing?
What can we do to drive them to the showroom?
These were great questions that I hope encourages all of us to go back to the basics of what (I believe) marketing is all about…the consumer.
Technology has given consumers the means to ignore traditional marketing methods today. Think about the DVR and how many commercials you watch. What are you Mr. Marketer going to do to not be ignored and get to know the people you want to buy your products?
Happy Friday everyone! It’s hard to believe we are half way through 2010! Good thing for me, this time of the year usually signals a vacation and I’m so ready!
Anyway, in today’s post, I wanted to give you a quick update on something I talked about a couple of months ago, Detroit Reverse. If you recall, from August 2 – 6, 500 students and leaders from the City and Suburbs will converge on the campus of Wayne State University. They will stay in the dorms “with the goal of identifying destructive systems in our culture and building relationships that will fight against them.”
The vision for year one of Detroit Reverse is to build and grow relationships between 2 areas of southeast Michigan that have traditionally been at odds and made assumptions about one another. The long term vision hopes this can grow into multiple locations over the next 5 years and truly having an impact on the community and the region.
Imagine just how impactful this will be. 500 people united and passionate about something and driving change in a region desperate for it. Who knows, maybe this might have an impact on my Detroit Lions too!
Now how do you turn vision into action? Well you can certainly help. Sponsors are needed to help support our students financially. It costs $149 per student to experience Reverse. You can participate by donating online at the Detroit Reverse website. Please consider helping out this group students by investing in their future.
I was going through my Google Reader this morning and came across this beautiful post from Seth Godin:
When are you going to start acting like it?
The idea that you are a faceless cog in a benevolent system that cares about you and can’t tell particularly whether you are worth a day’s pay or not, is, like it or not, over.
In the long run, we’re all dead. In the medium-long run, though, we’re all self-employed. In the medium-long run, the decisions and actions we take each day determine what we’ll be doing next.
And yet, it’s so easy to revert to, “I just work here.”
Like most things I read, my mind starts to think. Yes, I know that’s dangerous. In a few words, Seth reinforces something that we all know already…we are responsible for making the most of what is given to us. No other person can really determine our future except us. Our future is in our hands.
It’s easy for me to feel like the “faceless cog” Seth mentions in his post, especially working in such a large company like General Motors. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. For example, most of you know how passionate I am about the internet, technology and especially the social web. Although I don’t have responsibility for it at work, I’ve made it my hobby and brought it into my everyday life through my Twitter feed, Facebook, and this blog. The work has paid off. I’ve made some great connections with people in the social web community, been recognized as knowledgeable in the space by my peers and recently guest blogged on my friend Gini Dietrich‘s blog, Spin Sucks. Other opportunities to guest blog have recently come and I plan to take advantage of those too.
My point in all of this is that the Social Web gives you a voice when you may have thought you don’t have one. Networking, building relationships, providing value, etc. are ways you can build your own community. The challenge is being patient enough to build your community and look for those opportunities to do what you love and are passionate about.
“If you build it, they will come.” It’s in your hands.
One of the advantages I’ve found with the social web are the unique opportunities to connect with people with a similar passion. I’ve started following Scott Stratten, also known as @UnMarketing, a while ago but really started getting to know him once I heard he was coming to Detroit for his UnBook Tour on September 28th during the monthly meeting for Social Media Club Detroit.
The following interview happened during South by Southwest earlier this year. Scott responds to the following:
How can you tell a marketing campaign was successful?
How do views on a video translate into sales?
What can you do to get people to pay attention these days?
What’s the craziest thing you’ve done in the spirit of UnMarketing?
I completely agree with his thoughts (big surprise) on the value of building relationships, setting objectives to measure success, and having fun and being personable.
On Sunday, we celebrated the 7th birthday of my oldest daughter, but we made it bigger than just Sunday. Credit to Julianne in making this more than just a one day event. It was a joy to see Gina’s face as she opened gifts throughout the weekend. It started with her soccer game on Saturday to the gifts she opened on Sunday. Highlight of yesterday was when she found out there was a trampoline in the back of my car (I use “highlight” only in relation to her…I had to put the thing together)! The birthday culminates this Friday as 10-12 first graders will be at our house for a sleep over…I wonder if Julianne will notice if I leave?????
Birthdays are celebrations of individuals and it was a proud moment for me as a dad to see the smile that was brought to my daughter’s face when people showed their love and care for her.
Once the craziness subsided, I reflected a little bit on this. Do we take the time to celebrate the big and small victories in life? Sometimes I think we run so fast and only focus on the “emergency of the moment” that we forget what really needs our focus are the good things in life. More than anything, we need to celebrate people. I believe people have the innate need for reinforcement and encouragement. As a parent, I witness this first hand with my 4 kids. When they get positive reinforcement from me, I can see their eyes light up and see their confidence grow.
How do you bring this to business? Employees and customers all need to feel a level of acceptance. Relationships need to be built and cultivated. For me, it always will be about people more than a product.
Your turn…what do you think? Let me know in the comments below!
What if you could get 250 kids from the suburbs and 250 kids from the city together for one week in August? What if you could get these 500 kids to serve on both sides of 8 Mile, the imaginary wall that divides metro Detroit? What if for a moment you believe that high school kids could start a revolution in metro Detroit that unites the region?
There are no “what ifs” about it. This can happen and IS happening this August at Wayne State University. 500 high schoolers will descend on Detroit August 2 – 6 to participate in a revolutionary camp that hopes to break down barriers and transform this area into a region united. This is Detroit Reverse 2010.
Tonight I attended the kick off for Detroit Reverse. It was amazing. It was amazing to see 10 bus loads of kids from the “burbs” come to Detroit and hang out with local teens from the city. They just hung out like most teens do. They played basketball together. They danced together. They worshiped together.
At the end of the night, you had the 3 leaders of Second Ebenezer Church, Citadel of Faith Covenant Church and Kensington Community Church on stage arm in arm and praying together. Praying that this movement among our local teens will serve the bigger purpose of uniting a region that has been so divided and has suffered from some of the worst economic hardships in recent history. You also had a few hundred students standing together and building relationships with one another. These are the relationships that are going to matter and make a difference. It will be through these relationships that change will happen.
I can’t tell you how excited I was to be a part of this. Detroit Reverse is about unity and building relationships. I look forward to supporting this group of students as best I can up until August 2 – 6.
What can you do? What are you willing to do? What if…?
Hey everyone! If you recall, last week Bryan Willmert (@bryanwillmert) and I kicked off our recaps of Future Midwest 2010. Well today, we’re here again to give you an opportunity to put into action the energy and emotion that you felt during that 2 day conference! Watch the video and please be thinking about how you can give back. We need volunteers, sponsors and help communicating this locally.
Thanks for taking the time and please let us know if you have any questions!
We are almost 1 week removed from Future Midwest 2010. I can’t tell you how much of a joy it’s been to read the other recaps and thoughts from bloggers in the area throughout the week. One thing is for certain, if the goal of the organizers of Future Midwest 2010 was to educate, inspire and motivate the attendees…mission accomplished! The overwhelming themes I’ve been reading are about taking this energy and excitement beyond just a 2 day conference and making it a part of every day life in metro Detroit.
If you haven’t read a blog about Future Midwest, here are four you can choose from:
You may ask, “So Patrick, what did you take away from Future Midwest?” Well…a lot!
I got a lot of great quotes (which I share later this week).
I received confirmation that what I believe about the social web is true…customer focus and building relationships always wins.
I once again realized the true value of the social web is getting to meet the people I’ve interacted with online in person!
Detroit and the Midwest can come back because of the amount of talent and smarts that I saw at the Royal Oak Music Theater on April 16 and 17
This technology is here to help bring us back to the roots of business…relationships.
The value of online community is research…finding out the questions we didn’t even think to ask (Thanks Ben Smithee for that one!)
The greater challenge will be the “what’s next” that I mentioned above. How can we make an impact now and carry this momentum forward? It will take passion, hard work, and an idea that the area can rally around. That’s where I think you can help. Stay tuned later this week as Bryan Willmert and I propose an idea to Detroit’s tech community. We’ve all talked and blogged about making a difference. Now is the time to take you up on that.
Have a great week everyone!
P.S. If you attended Future Midwest, the organizers are seeking your feedback. Click here for the survey!
I really needed to think about the point I wanted to make with this one. In a previous post, I encouraged you to think that Social Media was all about building relationships. I think what got my head thinking on this was a conversation I had with Christopher Barger, director of social media at General Motors. The discussion we had, albeit brief, was eye opening and got my mind thinking about how you change the use of social media from a bull horn (just pushing out content) to a tool that builds relationships and engages with your consumers, fans, followers, etc.
What are you / we doing as a brand in the consumer market place that encourages discussion? The playing field has changed for GM on this. With a second chance (and I realize it’s not widely accepted that we were loaned money to survive) we now have an opportunity to radically change perceptions and leverage new technology and tools to get first hand feedback on what consumers are saying about us.
I guess we also need to prove that the investment in our company was worth it…which by the way, I believe it was.
So how do you do this? One example that I’m interested to see play out is the Pepsi Refresh Project. If you aren’t aware, Pepsi decided to forgo a Super Bowl commercial for the first time in 23 years. Instead, Pepsi will be spending $20 million on a social media campaign and allow consumers to submit ideas to Pepsi for ways to “refresh their communities,” making the world a better place. Consumers are participating and talking with Pepsi on their ideas. Will it work? I don’t know, but at least it’s something new. It’s something with a purpose. I like it.
What does this mean for me? Well…I’ve tried to connect and build relationships with people that can influence decisions at GM and provide ideas to them for consideration. I’ve learned on my own time how companies successfully use social media to positively impact their brands and I do this because this communication medium is a passion of mine. I also believe that everyone can play a role on how a brand communicates to its consumers…just be educated, transparent and honest. Listen. Learn. Relate.
I contend this is pretty simple strategy to making social media work for you. What do you think?
Over the last couple of days, I’ve been thinking a lot about social media. What is it? It’s all about relationships. By definition, social means “tending to form cooperative and interdependent relationships with others.” Cooperative and interdependent relationships. It’s pretty simple when you think about it.
So why should businesses engage in social media? They should because tools like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc. provide an avenue to get real time feedback from the people that ultimately use your product. The landscape for marketing is rapidly changing and these social media tools allow companies to change along with it.
Social Media allows consumers to interact with your Brand. Companies should not be afraid to leverage the technology. If you analyze the “why to use” too much instead of the “how to use”, you get left behind. This changes every day and if you’re just getting started, you don’t have time to analyze it. Develop your objectives and learn as you go. Look at the Six Social Media Trends for 2010. If you’re just getting started, you’ll have a lot more to learn because it just keeps growing and more technologies are developed.
As I was contemplating my thoughts on this, I read a blog post from Gini Dietrich titled Social Media Philosophy. She defines it perfectly. I couldn’t have written it better myself and got a laugh when I saw this come up because I had every intention of writing something similar! She asks readers to do 2 things: listen to what people are saying and think about social media as a 24/7 network.
Social Media is two way communication. Give consumers an opportunity to engage. Show them a human side to the company and perceptions will change.
James 1:19 “…Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak…”
