Creativity in the age of social media

Most of us know what a creative idea was in the days before social media. The TV spot epitomized it: a clever message that got your attention, etched itself into your memory (at least temporarily), and maybe got you to take action. But it was a one-way message, controlled by the sender, void of any role for the viewer.

So what is creativity in the age of the avatar? Is it simply the conversations we start and the communities we build? Or is it the content we create that stimulates those conversations and makes people want to join a community? Right now, in the early stages of social media’s development, it’s often enough for a brand to simply abide by the protocols of social media: learning to listen and engage; sharing and promoting others; practicing authenticity and transparency.

But what happens when every brand is on Facebook and Twitter, when there are so many communities and conversations that we encounter cacophony? Will it be possible for a brand to gain notice or attention without it? Perhaps. But my instincts tell me that we, as marketers, will have to get more inventive with our content and that we as consumers will demand it.

So, what should we be thinking about? Here’s what I’ve got so far. Hoping you’ll help build this idea with me.

New ways to inspire co-creation

This can be anything from giving control of your brand away to avid consumers who want a voice, to pioneering co-creation opportunities like Nike’s use of the Chalkbot (above) that people invent products and content with you. Mad Men on Twitter was embraced by AMC, but what if it had been their idea to begin with, giving away products or characters to enthusiastic evangelists?  This year my agency plans on inviting Boston Bruin fans to write their own Bruins Hockey “rules” in hopes of generating content and involvement with the team.

Media mashups

One of the first examples and still among the best was CNN’s partnership with Facebook on Inauguration Day.  We were watching, participating, sharing, interacting.  I recently saw an application from The Morphic Group done for the Indianapolis 500. It lets viewers control the cameras covering the race from their desktop. They can even take control of cameras inside the racers’ cars and match drivers against one another on their computer screen.  Way back when we did one of the very first experiments with our Trash Talk Superbowl event. But where else can these combinations of media work?

Applications and utilities

Miracle Whip's Zingr lets community comment and share

Some of the most creative ideas are part message, part meme, part distribution. The green avatar started a mini-trend on Twitter that led to the Mad Men avatars and then the Live Strong bracelet.  But a few lines of code and Twitter’s API enabled this multi-purpose form of communication. We’re now seeing the same kind of thing with Firefox add-ons. As there are more of these done, the bar will get raised.  Both a challenge and an opportunity for anyone who likes to be creative.

Inventive uses of a platform

It’s common to see Facebook look more and more like a website, with built in utility, product demonstration, embedded video. But when Boone Oakley (below) executed a website on YouTube, it felt fresh. Maybe a little gimmicky and perhaps with some shortcomings, but it got attention and traffic, deservedly so.  On Twitter, we’re seeing people use the platform as a means of achieving a creative idea.  Not simply to connect and communicate, but to create.

I’m identifying other categories – redefining entertainment, digital infotainment, analog actions, propagation techniques, and of course crowdsourcing content – and searching for great examples, along with trying to get my clients to experiment with all of these things.

In the meantime, I hope you’ll share what you’ve discovered. I’ll be back to this topic again soon, ideally with some of your ideas as part of the report. So, got anything? If so, please leave a comment. And, as always, if you like what you see here, consider subscribing.  There’s an RSS button at the top right and an email option as well.

Finally, thanks to @RGA, @bbhlabs, @stinsy, @tjeffrey, @marilysedionne, and others for sharing thoughts.

How to prevent the pitiful panel

One guy in the audience fell asleep. Fell asleep! He gave up half his morning to attend a panel that was supposed to make him smarter and he fell asleep.  During the Q&A section, another person in the audience asked a question. The eager expression on his face quickly turned to dumbfounded as one panelist rambled aimlessly never veering anywhere near an intelligent answer.

I witnessed both of the above during a couple of recent panels I sat on. In the last few months I’ve been a member of, attended, or watched on video a number of panels on everything from digital creative to social media to crowdsourcing. Some have been great. Others less so. But it has occurred to me that there are simple steps we can all take to produce a panel that’s actually praiseworthy.

Panelists:  Be prepared, don’t ramble, give your audience gifts of wisdom

I think every panelist should start by thinking, “What are the five things that people in the audience will write down, take away, and actually be able to use.”  Really, this isn’t about you, it’s about them. What are you going to share? How will you make them smarter?  If you think in those terms, you’ll have the focus you need to be both effective and impressive. Second, anticipate the questions the audience might ask. That way you have clear, knowledgeable  — and above all brief — answers ready to go. Take these two steps as part of your preparation and you’ll avoid committing one of the two gravest sins you can commit as a panelist:  rambling.  (In the name of full disclosure, I must admit I’ve been guilty of this myself.) I hope it goes without saying that the very worst sin is shilling your company and its services. Please don’t be that guy. If you’re really smart and offer value – the point of being a panelist to begin with — folks will ideally come to you.

Moderators:  Control the conversation and stay tuned to the audience

It’s easy to make a list of questions, put them in order and ask them one at a time. But it’s harder to control, steer and navigate the discussion from a beginning to an end with a logical flow that makes sense and takes the audience on a journey. Yet that is your role. You don’t want the panel meandering. So, you need to know when to interrupt (politely), when to stop a ramble, when to challenge a point, and how to extract contrary viewpoints from the panel members. Equally important is to sense the audience at all times. Are they interested? Or fidgety. Writing things down? Or nodding off. Prepare not only by having that all important list of questions, but a clear sense of what you want your angle to be. Think like a reporter who interviews lots of people but has in his or her mind where she wants the story to go.  And if you haven’t seen it, watch Frost/Nixon. It’s a one on one, but you’ll get the point.

Audience:  Get involved, have challenging questions, don’t be intimidated

I’m always surprised how few people in the audience ask questions. You came because you’re interested, right?  If you don’t get what you want and need from the panel, ask. Don’t worry whether or not anyone else in the audience things your question is dumb or believes you should already know that, ask anyway. If a panelist is unclear or rambles instead of clarifies – hopefully they won’t if they read this post – ask for clarification. Better yet, if it’s allowed, feel free to enter the conversation in the middle of the panel’s discussion. It will keep them on their toes and you’ll get what you came for. Finally, give constructive feedback. If a panelist or moderator does a good job, tell them. And if they disappointed you, tell them so as well, along with a thought or two on what you think would have made it better. They’ll appreciate it. I know I would.

What do you think?  Thoughts on how to be a better panelist, moderator or audience?

Four mistakes you could make in social media

Most social media panels want to hear all about the case studies that work, who’s doing it right, and how to emulate them.  But one question served up today at a MITX event was, “What are some of the dumb ass mistakes that people make in social media?”   Well we’ve all heard the classics, from Motrin, to United to Dominoes, so I tried to frame my answer in the kinds of mistakes brands make.  Here they are.

1. Not responding fast enough

In social media 24 hours is a long time. Really long. What hurt brands like Motrin and Dominoes was simply delaying their responses. In the old days of offline media, if something happened on a Friday, you could think about it all weekend before the Monday business press hits. Not in social. You’ve got hours not days. So have a plan in place.  Then listen, respond, engage accordingly. In all likelihood you’ll get credit for confronting the situation head on. Any good PR or social media agency can help.

2.  Promoting yourself before you have engaged, joined or built a community

This would be like showing up at a social event and pitching yourself to any stranger in the room. This is the classic mass media way of thinking. OK, there’s an audience here, I’ll broadcast a message. Doesn’t work that way out here. You have to bring something to the party,  make friends, perform a few favors before you can even think about asking for anything in return.  If you come to social media with a traditional media way of thinking you’ll be worse than invisible.

3.  Neglecting to be transparent

That means hide or conceal nothing.  And never forget to credit a source.  Olympus camera recently made a video celebrating the 50th anniversary of its PEN camera.  A beautiful story told by editing stills across time, the video was produced for the European market.  But it didn’t take long for the online community to call Olympus out for creating something a little too close to another video using the same technique. We picked up some Twitter chatter on behalf of our American Olympus client and immediately notified them so they could alert Europe and resolve the whole thing by simply giving credit where credit is due. Lesson? You can riff off of someone else in the social space, but never without attributing it to the original creator.

4.  Choosing not to be in social media at all

To me, this is the single biggest mistake any brand can make.  A few months ago, I was asked to make a presentation and proposal to National Grid. In preparing I did a simple Google search for “National Grid on Twitter.” What came up, at the top of page one, in big, bold capital letters was F*@K YOU NATIONAL GRID. For two weeks running that was the number one result. Wow, I thought, how cool is that. I couldn’t invent a better argument for why a brand should start engaging. National Grid was getting pummeled in a way previously reserved for the likes of Dell and Comcast. Alas, my dramatic slide, blown up extra large on a big flat screen failed to convince.  And while Dell and Comcast are now darlings of social, the utility is losing time, credibility and reputation.

I’m sure there are other mistakes you can make.  Got any that you’ve encountered?

Seven consumer trends worth embracing

Dianna Mella’s video response to the Budweiser Lyric spot. Everyone wants to participate.

Trying to figure out how to approach your next marketing plan? Where to invest? What media to embrace? How much to move from traditional digital to social? Whether to put more money into search? Welcome to the club. Unfortunately no one can answer all those questions for you in a generic blog post, but here’s the next best thing. Maybe. Some observations about consumers that might help you figure it out.

1.    Consumers want more participation and even control

Look no further than video uploads, comments on blogs and the hijacking of brands (MadMen, CocaCola).  Consumers want a say and they want to play. They don’t even care if they get paid.  (That’s the good news and bad news.) Anyway, what does it suggest? A. Embrace crowdsourcing as a way to engage them. B. Release control of your brand (you can do this). Let consumers run with it. Hey, they might take it somewhere good. C. Seriously consider building more memes into your content.

2.    No one wants to do business with a company.

Do you? I don’t. People want to do business with people. Real live honest to goodness people. So what’s a corporation to do? First, learn social media and all of its protocols. It’s not that hard. Second, put a face, not a logo, at the front of the company. Third, give more employees the opportunity to represent your brand. They might do a really good job.

3.    Consumers’ relationships with media are more complex than ever

We watch, comment, criticize, socialize and share.

Your customers and prospects are content creators, critics, sharers, and spreaders as well as viewers.  Ramifications? Understand how your customers and prospects alike use and interact with media not just a brand. Learn to be as engaging in social media and community as you are on TV. Finally, take your content to your community. They don’t always want to come to your place. Plus it will save you money building another flash heavy website.

4.    Everyone’s attention span is shorter

Ready for this? One 15-second pre-roll ad causes 8% of the audience to abandon the clip before it starts.  A 30-second pre-roll sends 22% of the audience packing. I read Bob Garfield so I know.  Perhaps it’s a good time to focus on relationships not just messages. Messages disappear; relationships last. Also, try standing for something memorable that can be expressed in many different ways. And finally, master search. Organic search especially. You need to be found.

5.    Expectations are higher

The power of the Internet gave us control and introduced us to on demand. That resulted in our high expectations for satisfaction and problem resolution offline, too. The brands we engage with better get it.  Remember the United guitar story?  Even if United was in the right, it didn’t have to happen. Avoid a similar PR fiasco. Give your service people flexibility; let them apply their own judgment.  Build better UX into everything, not just websites, everything. And finally, surprise and delight in unexpected ways, particularly when people least expect it.

6.    There’s no such thing as perfect. Only perfects.

Nothing you do, say, or create will satisfy everyone. More importantly, the consumer doesn’t know what she wants. Ragu and Prego learned that years ago and the lesson remains relevant. (Watch the video; it’s brilliant.) So, think about enabling customization. Works for Nike. Create content that allows for multiple versions; there are services to help. And constantly invent to see what sticks.

7.    The MP3 is good enough

Put another way, there’s a new definition of quality for everything and it’s not about production value, polish, fine-tuning or dropped shadows. Look at YouTube versus television, blogs versus the NY Times, the MP3 versus real audio. The new definition of quality is about content that’s easy, accessible, and portable. You now have the freedom to make things fast. And also inexpensively.  Go for it.

Those are the trends (some obvious, hopefully some not) that I see.  Got any to add?

Let’s put ourselves out of business

If you believe even a fraction of what the pundits are telling us about the demise of mass media and traditional advertising, you can assume a lot of us are out of business in another few years.

Granted, we’ve heard these arguments, many of them flawed, in one form or another for years. Michael Crichton wrote Mediasaurus in 1993 and you probably remember Sergio Zyman’s book as well.  And yes their hypotheses were different than those we hear today, but somehow the current pronouncements sound a little more convincing.

So what should we do? Hang on for dear life?  Resist as long as possible? Attempt to evolve by preserving what we can and getting ready for what’s next?

How about something more radical?  Instead of waiting for someone else to put us out of business we do it ourselves. We–magazines, publishers, ad agencies–create our own version of a hedge fund.  We invest in a business model that we think is the one that’s most threatening.  If our old model survives, we’ll have a new forward facing division; if the old model implodes, we’ll have a head start on our competitors.

Even though my agency is hanging in there right now, maybe this is what I should be working on: a new kind of agency, one with no overhead, few employees, lots of alliances, a partnership with the best crowdsourcing platform I can find, and an expertise in helping my clients do more of it themselves for less. After all, the media, or what’s left of it, is telling them that they can.  But if that’s so, someone will have to teach them how. Why leave it up to some innovative, upstart competitor who wants to put me out of business. I can do it myself. What to you think? Should we put ourselves out of business in order to stay in business?