There is much buzz about social media marketing in Australia at the moment, which is great news for us. We have been delivering social media marketing to our customers for around 2 years and have a few stories to share.
One of the interesting things is oldskool advertising agencies trying to setup Social Media Marketing divisions without much experience in delivering real results. At the end of the day, they are all experimenting with their clients budgets.
At shifted pixels, we have been pulled into failed Social Media Marketing campaigns for a number of large marketing and advertising agencies to help them recover their positions and not look like complete jackasses to their fortune 500 clients.
So what can we share with you about Social Media Marketing? Well here are the tips of what not to do.
1. Social Media Marketing is not about spreading old creative in new ways
2. Social Media Marketing is not about shouting your traditional media marketing message in new channels
3. Social Media Marketing is a dangerous space. Your audience can revolt and take your message and use it against you
4. Bloggers are smarter and more influential in their networks than you are. Don't abuse them, dont spam them.
5. You need to approach social media - relationship first.
6. If you are interesting enough to create an environment in which social media groups care about you, you might then earn the opportunity to talk about your product.
7. You can't "polish a turd". If your product stinks - Social media marketing can't help you.
We will share more Social Media Marketing case studies in upcoming posts. Make sure you subscribe via email in the sidebar.If you are interested here are some older / related posts in this space
- Social Media Marketing - How to choose a Social Media Marketing Agency (June)
- Social Media Networks & Hyperconnectivity (May)
- Here comes everybody - Organising without Organisation (May)
If you have any questions or feedback, be sure to leave a comment.
Labels: communities, consumer, marketing 2.0, social media, Social Media Marketing, social media optimisation, Sydney Marketing Agency
Posted by Nick HaC @ 5:23 AM
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A great slideshow on happyness as businesses practice
Posted by Nick HaC @ 9:47 PM
At Shifted Pixels, we deliver services that leverage the measurable business benefits of the online engagement.
Give us a buzz! We want to talk to you!!!
Greens EFA, a coalition of two political parties that currently have 42 seats in the European parliament, have launched a pro-filesharing campaign named “I Wouldn’t Steal”. Their goal is to counter the anti-piracy propaganda put forward by the entertainment industry, and encourage people to download and share.
Whenever you rent a movie, the multinational media industry forces you to watch their propaganda. They claim that [downloading movies is the same as snatching bags, stealing cars or shoplifting]. That’s simply not true – making a copy is fundamentally different from stealing.
The media industry has failed to offer viable legal alternatives and they will fail to convince consumers that sharing equals stealing. Unfortunately, they have succeeded in another area – lobbying to adapt laws to criminalize sharing, turning consumers into criminals. They argue that their laws are necessary to [support artists], but in reality all they’re protecting is their own profits.
The Greens in Europe and worldwide has been opposing these laws. We believe that consumers are willing to pay if offered good quality at a fair price. We also believe that sharing is expanding culture – not killing it.
To protest against the faulty propaganda from the industry, we made our own film. The difference is – you can choose whether you want to watch this one.
http://www.iwouldntsteal.net/Labels: consumer, consumer generated media, Copyright, EFF, filesharing, Fun, government
Posted by Nick HaC @ 1:03 AM
At Shifted Pixels, we deliver services that leverage the measurable business benefits of the online engagement.
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Hey guys
If you have a few min (20) spare, have a listen/watch of cory doctorow speaking at google
Very very interesting
Labels: consumer, conversations, Copyright, EFF, Privacy
Posted by Nick HaC @ 2:39 PM
At Shifted Pixels, we deliver services that leverage the measurable business benefits of the online engagement.
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It's quite likely that the COLOSSAL MP3 Player has somehow managed to stay largely hidden from view for some time now, but it is apparently popping up in a number of locations and begging to be purchased as the ultimate tech gag gift.
Apparently, these things come in a number of hues, check in at about five to ten times larger than your prototypical MP3 Plaster and include a USB cable, earphones and 256MB of built-in memory. The humongous units get their juice from four AA cells (which supposedly last around eight hours) and can be found at random drug stores (and probably elsewhere) for under $20. Needless to say, this is the stocking
Thanks Engadget! :)
Posted by Nick HaC @ 4:30 AM
At Shifted Pixels, we deliver services that leverage the measurable business benefits of the online engagement.
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Labels: cgm, consumer, consumer generated media, conversations, government, Ideas, law
Posted by Nick HaC @ 6:06 AM
At Shifted Pixels, we deliver services that leverage the measurable business benefits of the online engagement.
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We have been having some interesting discussions recently about what happens when social networks meet.
For example we recently hooked up out Twitter account to Our Facebooks, and all of a sudden you realise you send messages to Twitter that you probably don't want your Facebook Friends to see.
It is our understanding that different social networks often have different types of social contacts and require different types of communications.
- Twitter are my geek/blogger/influencer friends
- Facebook are my school buddies
- MySpace is all the Cool Bands i like
- LinkedIN are all my serious contacts i know through work.
- WAYN/Hi5 etc are my Travel/Global Buddies
According to the Google Press Release, Google OpenSocial will unite MySpace, Bebo, Engage.com, Friendster, hi5, Hyves, imeem, LinkedIn, Ning, Oracle, orkut, Plaxo, Salesforce.com, Six Apart, Tianji, Viadeo, and XING. A fairly large list.Here's the big question - Will Facebook now be forced to join OpenSocial? Google says they are talking to "everyone." This is a major strategic decision for Facebook, and they may have little choice but to join this coalition.
Some people are saying this is Google Attack on Facebook. Instead of buying a right in facebook, like microsoft, google decides to compete.
I love Seth Godins take on this one
"Usually, when you destroy the barriers in an existing industry, everyone loses... except you."
Have you had any experiences of social networks colliding? What do you think of Googles Plans? Please leave a comment or reply to this on your blog :o)
Sources:
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2007/11/myspace-joining-google-coalition.html
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2007/10/will-googles-antifacebook-plan-work.html
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/11/changing-the-ga.html
Labels: communities, consumer, social media, social networking, web 2.0
Posted by Nick HaC @ 3:53 PM
At Shifted Pixels, we deliver services that leverage the measurable business benefits of the online engagement.
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Source: http://www.pcrm.org/magazine/gm07autumn/health_pork.html
Labels: communities, consumer, government
Posted by Nick HaC @ 3:14 PM
At Shifted Pixels, we deliver services that leverage the measurable business benefits of the online engagement.
Give us a buzz! We want to talk to you!!!
Labels: communities, consumer, conversations, Sydney Video Production, youtube
Posted by Nick HaC @ 3:06 PM
At Shifted Pixels, we deliver services that leverage the measurable business benefits of the online engagement.
Give us a buzz! We want to talk to you!!!
While the US has engaged Online PR much more rapidly than many other countries, it is interesting to see some early activity in Online PR in Australia.
As far as we can see the Australian Online PR industry is evolving in several ways
- Traditional PR agencies are adding digital media to their services ( with little understanding of the depth and technical aspects required by Online PR)
- Boutique Technology PR agencies sprouting up - who are reasonably solid and do embrace social media or SMO (but don't cover SEO)
- Web and SEO agencies rebadging their work as Online PR (without the holistic approach required)
The reality is, PR has changed. PR is all about influencing the influencers. But as we have seen, the scope of influences have changed. No longer do TV, Newspapers and Radio hold the greatest influence over toady's consumers. A recent stat we came across mentioned that 65% of all Australian consumer purchases greater than $200AUD were researched online (ABN 2007).
When researching online, bloggers and social recommendation often hold significantly more influence than spun up Press Releases on any of the major news outlets.
So how do we deliver real value Online PR in Australia?
Well, if PR is about influencing the influencers, then Online PR is about influencing Online Influences, weather the influences are search engines results, bloggers, consumer review sites, forums, social media and community networks such as Facebook and MySpace.
So how to you influence online?
- Find out who is actually influential. We use BuzzNumbers Online Media Measurement to evaluate just where and who is influencing
- Target these Influencers and evaluate who can be contacted (you may require some technical research methods to find out exactly how to contact these people)
- Engage in relevant, honest, authentic, spin-free conversations with these Influencers
- Be prepared to take negative feedback, and to openly and honestly address the critisism.
- Offer influencers something of real value.
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Shifted Pixels provides Online PR Services and Consulting to Sydney and Australian based businesses, and we also offer white label consulting services to Traditional PR and Marketing agencies who may be looking to get ahead in this rapidly emerging space.
Call us for a quick chat with one of our friendly staff.
Labels: blogs, communities, consumer, conversations, Online PR, Online Reputation Management, pr, PR 2.0, seo, Sydney Online PR, Sydney PR
Posted by Nick HaC @ 3:33 AM
At Shifted Pixels, we deliver services that leverage the measurable business benefits of the online engagement.
Give us a buzz! We want to talk to you!!!
Its cool to see lists of Top local australian bloggers, whats even cooler to see is a list of Australian Female Bloggers.
Given most bloggers are male and US based, its nice to see this niche being represented.
http://www.allforwomen.com.au/top-50-australian-womens-blogs/
Labels: Blog, blogs, communities, consumer, online blog monitoring, Online PR
Posted by Nick HaC @ 3:02 AM
At Shifted Pixels, we deliver services that leverage the measurable business benefits of the online engagement.
Give us a buzz! We want to talk to you!!!
Interesting news from the ACCC who say that Consumers consider blogs as reliable and as influential as mainstream media.
Sounds like call to action for online reputation monitoring :P Its also interesting to consider how the ACCC see's its role in new media. Will they try to control and censor australian bloggers and online review sites.
"CONSUMERS who get their news from the internet are likely to trust a blog for reliability as much as a mainstream media site, the competition watchdog said today.
"For a growing base of users, these are all equally valid sources of news, information, entertainment and gossip, and users are not necessarily discriminating between traditional and new sources.""
This is very cool but also scary, what has made the internet great is its total freedom. Will that be eroded by Australian governments and what can we do to ensure that bloggers cannot be held legally liable if they critisise an Australian Company online.
Source: Courier Mail
Labels: Blog, blogs, consumer, conversations, internet, Marketing, online, pr, PR 2.0, reputation, reputation management, reputation monitoring, sem, seo, social media
Posted by Nick HaC @ 6:29 AM
At Shifted Pixels, we deliver services that leverage the measurable business benefits of the online engagement.
Give us a buzz! We want to talk to you!!!
New economy consumers are different. Selling traditional mass market products in the new economy doesn't work.
We are almost back to in the pre-industrial era of the fundamentally open market place, where buyers and sellers are 100% equal.
I think is is a broader change, markets are efficient and business as usual has changed. It will be increasingly more difficult to sell rubbish products and add some fancy marketing and become successful.
Social media, bloggers and online community's will see through the lies and talk about it. This will lead to negative online conversations.
Negative conversation about your company/brand/service WILL impact your search engine reputation, which consumers DO read
The frightening part is what people say about online can never be erased, and can be searched for all time! With services like Google and Archive.org, your bad press online can never be erased!
If what your selling isn't authentic, honest, real and of measurable value... start selling something that is, or it will damage you in the future. If you wouldn't buy it yourself, don't expect your customers too.
Labels: communities, consumer, conversations, Online PR, online reputation monitoring, pr, PR 2.0, reputation management, reputation monitoring
Posted by Nick HaC @ 5:41 AM
At Shifted Pixels, we deliver services that leverage the measurable business benefits of the online engagement.
Give us a buzz! We want to talk to you!!!
Meet Gen C...
The Influencer's Influencer...
The Trend Spotters, the Cool Hunters, The Social Media Influencer's, Bloggers and Media Critics that influence what consumers think online.
We met Gen C on our blog in July 2007, but only just recently (thanks to Nick Hodge at Microsoft) have we put a name to this elite breed of new thinkers.
One of the most interesting aspects of Gen-C, is they can't be bought, reached by PR agencies or brought over to traditional media's point of view.
"In the golden age of branding, several guests at the party held sway: brand, PR, marketing, external relations (ER), research, and the agencies. On top of that, we had a few occasional attendees, such as consumer affairs, investor relations, and community relations.
Today, in the golden age of consumer empowerment, we have the same party guests, but their sway is being challenged in a very big way by an aggressive, sometimes rude and abrupt new guest at the party: the consumer influencer.
They may have accrued influence over time or have situational influence (e.g., they were first to try and review the iPhone, hence setting off a broader chain reaction). That influence often spills from the online zone into the offline or vice versa. Indeed, today's uber-influencers are largely platform agnostic, except they tend to have a more quantifiable digital trail of results online. Put another way, if you search their names, you'll find evidence of something they said."
They are often highly informed, highly critical, strongly opionated. They have little regard for trashing your reputation to millions of online readers if they percieve you to have wronged them in anyways.
So how do we manage and monitoring these what Gen-C says about your brand? We have been using BuzzNumbers recently to manage and monitor what Gen-C is saying about our clients. What have you been using?
What do you think of this Gen-C hype? (Gen-C Wikipedia) Leave a comment.
Labels: consumer, conversations, online blog monitoring, Online PR, online reputation monitoring, PR 2.0, reputation management, social media
Posted by Nick HaC @ 9:38 PM
At Shifted Pixels, we deliver services that leverage the measurable business benefits of the online engagement.
Give us a buzz! We want to talk to you!!!
This story does a good job of pointing out how Legal Prosecuters can trash anyone's reputation just by filing suit.
With increased social media intensity, blogs, and other new media forms this threat is even worse than it was a few years ago.
It is interesting how bloggers, combined with Google Rank, can trash someone on the Internet without the slandered having any recourse.
Call us to find out more :)
Labels: behaviour, communities, consumer, conversations, online blog monitoring, online reputation monitoring, reputation management, reputation monitoring, sydney media monitoring
Posted by Nick HaC @ 1:09 AM
At Shifted Pixels, we deliver services that leverage the measurable business benefits of the online engagement.
Give us a buzz! We want to talk to you!!!
Our friends at PearlPR just sent us this info on Worldwide Search Statistics for August 2007
Some interesting results
- 61 billion internet searches carried out around the world in August
- Google managed 37 billion internet searches were made with Google during the month, accounting for 60% of the total,
- 750 million people aged 15 or over, or 95% of the world's internet audience made searches in August, averaging out at 80 searches per user.
- The Asia-Pacific region made the most searches at 20.3 billion
- Europe made 18 billion searches
- North America made 16 billion searches
- Latin America made 4.7 billion searches
- Out of Google's 31 billion searches, five billion occurred through Google-owned YouTube.com
- Chinese language search site Baidu.com was the third most popular search engine with 3.2 billion searches or 5.3% of the worldwide total.
- Microsoft sites accounted for 3.5% of worldwide searches at 2.1 billion.
Labels: behaviour, consumer, demographics, search, seo, statistics
Posted by Nick HaC @ 12:40 AM
At Shifted Pixels, we deliver services that leverage the measurable business benefits of the online engagement.
Give us a buzz! We want to talk to you!!!