Via Scoop.it – MILE HIGH Social Media
“Life in the stream of images has its advantages”…writes the author of this linked blog… “The current pace of visual transmission online is such that trading pictures has become a form of real-time conversation, a dialogue in which the aggregate exchange is more important than any single component or any individual image” The linked blog is a great in depth article on the effect of the new way of consuming images. This change in how we percieve images is occuring at the same time as legal battles on copyright and appropriation of images by artists, photographers, curators and galleries continue in the courts. It raises the question of how relevant those are if we no longer spend any length of time contemplating a single image but are, rather are immersed in a stream of images…What do you think? When as the last you fell in love with a single image and wanted to purchase it to hang on your wall? The best most artists can hope for is that their image will be shared and at the end of the day is that not the role that “galleries” used to play…a space in which you could walk around and look at alot of art? Is that not the social aspect of the new media called “Social media”?
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Social Media Multi-tasking is the order of the day!
Recently I read an article on how multitasking “can make you less productive”. While I agree on one level – depending on your ability to focus in a perfect world, I wonder how one can work in social media and not multi-task? The diverse number of tools alone presents a challange. Some are better at one thing than others – as anyone who works with software knows. In the past one might have settled for a single programme and simply make due but today, in social media, with the increasing number of free tools or low monthly access fees – one can use a number of different tools for their particular strengths and may even use two that overlap while being on the lookout for an even better solution.
As a content curator I review daily lots of blogs and articles on diverse topics while posting some and scheduling others, juggling different tools, different processes and different accounts. Even the task of logging in and out of multiple accounts can become a distraction to the single purpose of putting the good info that I find in one place for scheduling. This pressure is increased when technical gliches arise and a plan B is needed to actually deliver the goods on a deadline. This happened this morning, in fact, when Tweetdeck, a good social media tool for certain things, decided to stop working for some mysterious reason on my laptop. It is at that moment that I was glad that I had options and could open yet another another window on my browser, launch another tool and try another way to get my work done. While doing that I was trying to find the tek support email for tweetdeck and create a trouble ticket. Surprise — there is no direct support as this is now owned by Twitter and god knows they are buzy enough with that service, so I was forced to read through forums instead. It was then that I noticed that they finally got the ipad version done – since Twitter is in control and funds are flowing for more development so I downloaded that on my ipad. Of course the interface is different which means I had to spend time figuring that out the set up as well. This is what can happen on a bad day…even more multi tasking!
On a really good day when all the technical stuff is working the task of looking at lots of diverse content for various clients can lead to great mental connections with a new spin or insight on something that is already known, creating a piece that is really engaging – which of course is my main task. Making a new connection between two different pieces of information is a nice payback on what I think of as high speed multitasking – when the task at hand is to simply find a good piece content not just for one client but rather to find two good pieces that have a common ground for that particular client and for my other clients as well! Rinse and repeat daily.
In my 20′s I spent years working in restaurants – learning the about food and hospitality. It was in this environment that I first learnt to multitask. I would venture to say that a good Chef working in a busy kitchen is a master multi-tasker as is a top waitress juggling lots of tables and their orders.
I think it was McLuhan who first alerted us to the fact that in the electronic age information continues to move faster and faster. There is no stopping it except by pulling the plug and Who is about to do that unless we are forced to do so? Recently I went through a move and experienced several bouts of downtime. It was an incredibly slow and painful experience. Sure, I recognize life/work balance and took time over the summer to disconnect and be offline. Even then it was my choice to learn to draw on the ipad, starting with my finger as I had no stylus while learning the interface as I tried clumsily to capture my subject before it disappeared or moved away. Multi tasking? Hell yes!
As Bill Gates said some years ago doing “Business at the Speed of Thought” is where we have arrived as a culture, whether we like it or not. To me this is exactly what social media allows us to do. After all we are trying to connect to the potential customer in real time, engage them in conversation and offer them great customer service should they want it. This is a juggling act for sure!
A good chef constantly multi tasks to bring together more than one dish for more than one person!
Like this:
Social Media at its best is a communications model of Mutual Understanding
Visualizing New Media (ART & Telecos) Meta Data from 2 decades ago —- still relevant today!
Last night I was offline going thru old papers in storage when I came across a saved article from 1991. Back then Artists interested in technology were reading about New Media from the likes of MIT’s magazine called Leonardo. We were contemplating what the future would hold with the inevitable convergence of Computers, Telecommunications and Video and we were not sure what the new model of communications would look and feel like once they came together…
In my sorting I found an xeroxed copy of a 5 page article entitled: Art and Telecommunications – 10 Years On. I immediately stopped, got my ipad and googled the title and author with this question in my mind – Would the article I held in my hand have been relevant enough to be mentioned 20 years later?
Not only was it mentioned it is archived and for sale online for $16.00 USD!
I began to re -read the article for relevancy sake, curious to see how the caliber of thought around the issues of Art and Telecommunications two decades ago would hold up in the light of Social Media. This is a knee jerk reaction due to the fact that I am constantly told that I bring nothing to the table as an Artist – except some crazy notions about design…and while I try to argue differently I see eyes glaze over when I mention media theory. What people fail to realize is that it is the artists who inform the great thinkers on communications and thereby contribute greatly to the thought leadership that trickles down to the scientific community, hackers, IT and Marketing consultants and eventually into popular culture. McLuhan said that everything he knew about Media was informed by the poets and the painters.
I learnt alot about Social media 2 decades ago from the Artists who were exploring technology and communications and writing on it. My mind is well prepared for the quantum shift we see today in business, technology and culture.
The biggest take aways? The adoption of the convergence Model of communications AKA – Social Media and the Call to Artists of the urgent necessity to “enter into a dialogue with, as well as a critique of, our technological culture”:
“to avoid embracing contemporary technology is to opt for voluntary cultural fossilization: an an art practice that becomes quaint and irrelvent to all but a “cultured” few. To embrace technology is to live and work in the real world, to grapple with the forces that are shaping our world, perhaps to some productive end”
How Social Media is begining to change “the face” of Hard Core Gaming
When I was a kid I hated to “play games” – mostly because my brother always had to win or else he would cry. Winning is Happiness after all. Most male games have been based on win or lose, do or die. War. Strategy. Tactics. In essence – The 33 Strategies of War.
I would argue that women play a different type of games– as we rule the emotions and therefore the heart. What is the line from the popular Eagles song say? “The Queen of Hearts is always your Best Bet”… Women tend to operate more in the sphere of influence. “Behind every great man is an even greater woman”.
Today Zynga launches a new game. While the exterior trappings might reflect the same old same old there is a new psychology behind it. INFLUENCE. i.e. How to win friends and influence people. Now there is a twist that belongs to the old boy Dale Carnegie. Mind your P’s and Q’s and be nice. The aim of the game is changing. Be social for people, Get Social for Business. Long overdue for all of us who seek new way to win at the game of life.
Utilizing more traditional combat gameplay, the title places you in the role of an island leader looking to expand their influence through military might. While that sounds a far cry different from a game like “FarmVille,” for instance, “Empires” still tasks you with familiar Zynga features such as resource collection and visiting “neighbors.”
Desperado - The Queen of Hearts is always your best BET!
Activate Your New Customer Service Channels Today!
This weekend I attended the Oakville Networking Un-Conference on Social Media and engaged in discussion on Social Media and Customer Service. In an attempt to communicate the benefits of Twitter and Facebook in a simple manner I positioned them as new customer service channel which, as Jay Baer & Amber Naslund note in their fabulous book “The Now Revolution“ have replaced the telephone as a communications channel!
These days when I am asked by a small business owner “When is a good time to get active with social media?” I reply – “If the phone rings in the office, when do you pick it up? First ring, second, third? Who picks it up? Your receptionist, your assistant or you? Imagine that the tool you choose to manage your Facebook and Twitter accounts with, be it Hoot Suite, Social Scope or Post ling is your new telephone. How will you respond to its data?” Naturally in order to connect with a potential client in the past you listened for the ring and answered it. With Twitter and Facebook you must both create the content and manage the response that arrives in the form of mentions and re-tweets, comments and posts. Like a new phone that has just been connected in your office – you will make your clients aware of your business phone number by some form of marketing be it a business card or print ad. When it does finally ring you will strive to respond in a manner that creates trust and credibility in order to move towards a point where you can offer up your service with the intention of making a sale. This occurs, of course, once you have determined there is a need for your offer. If no need is apparent you can continue to educate the potential client on your area of expertise with the hope that when the time is right you will be top of mind.
Below are two reasons why Social Media is here to stay and not just a “fad”. Both are essential to business success in today’s rapidly changing world. The Social Media “figures” of Facebook and Twitter that dominate your new customer service are framed against a ground based on
1. MEDIA – The platforms of Facebook and Twitter both reside in the cloud connected to the internet. This media is not new we have been utilizing for at least a decade, first with email, then with a website.
2. USER CENTRIC PHILOSOPHY – The internet has evolved to place where the user – customer, consumer, client is at the centre. This shift was driven by search engines – in particular Google. Now social media based on networks have arisen to allow your customer to build their own profile and connections and if they choose – they can include you in their network. If you win their trust and crediblity, if you engage with interesting content and insights that same user can easily share your posts, updates and SMS –(real time micro-blogging) to their networks..
These key factors allow for real time conversations powered by social media. When fully utilized this new division of your business can generate leads, engage customers, spearhead campaigns, provide market research and gather consumer insight – all through the simple acts of listening, engaging and conversing and is a must have for all wise leaders “looking to work on their business rather than in their business.” If you find you do not have time to manage these channels then it is smart to outsource it. Hire someone to do it -even on a part-time basis who is media savvey and knows how to sell. An hour a day is a great start and the long-term benefits will serve you well.
The history of advertising began in the late 1880′s with the basic assumption that the product for sale would give you what you need. For almost one hundred years that concept was delivered as a one way message through various media like print, radio and television. While big businesses used the services of large agencies most small businesses have relied on “word of mouth” to get the word out. It was not until 125 years later that marketing began to take on the role of helping businesses to grow by providing services that were accountable, interactive, integrated and targeted.
With the new media of computers, mobile phones and the internet connecting people and extending their reach – a new way to communicate has emerged. Over the last three years the rise of Social Media is radically changing the way in which business is conducted. Social Media brings with it a quantum shift in HOW we connect and share information with customers, suppliers and other businesses. Ironically this new form of media amplifies the power of “word of mouth” as people share electronically with their friends, family and business acquaintances (their social networks) information that is relevant to them.
The good news is that the era of very expensive one way mass marketing is no longer effective. It has been replaced by online marketing which is the most cost effective way to connect and creates the greatest return on investment. Investing in Social Media is a wise decision and highly recommended. The bad news is that social media is so new that many business owners are frightened by the change that it brings. Giving up the phone for a piece of software that manages tweets in hard to fathom. One of the first topics up for discussion at the UnConference was “Social Media is nothing to Fear”. Just as the phone and fax transformed the way business was conducted in the past social media is doing the same right now. As a business leader it is wise to position yourself ahead of the curve. Have no fear, for this time around it is the consumer who will benefit the most – keep in mind that people like you and I are also consumers who seek better access to information on products and services we buy. The more we participate in this experience the more we reconginze how this new type of customer service and its responsiveness is good for the consumer. It is no longer about the one way messaging of large corporations and the frustration of waiting in line for hours to return an item or on the phone to resolve an issue. With new tools in place consumers expect and demand real time resolutions from business. Below is an example of twitter being used by Best Buy as a customer service portal.
Your customers live in one of the most connected areas in the world. For most people in Canada the internet is the first place we turn to search for information on whatever it is that we need to buy or want to research. In addition consumers can now use their social networks for “shopping” referrals. Our social nature is such that we like to share our opinions and thoughts on various topics and services daily whether offline or on. Your customer has already figured out that they are in control of the conversations around what they buy, where they eat and where they can shop and know that they can easily share with others their reaction to each and every business transaction. Instead of fearing this real time interaction wise businesses should embrace the tools afforded by this new media and use them to their advantange by implemeting solid social interactions and real time relationship building.
Social Media, Creativity and Innovation in Canada
I was watching the Lang O’Leary exchange last night from my comfy berger chair with my laptop connected to a twitter tool – when I heard the CEO of the Canadian Business Development Bank — discuss the dismal failure of small and medium sized businesses to innovate and it dawned on me that I could be facing a tough market for a long time simply due to the prevailing Canadian business mindset which is very conservative and risk adverse. As a single entrepreneur, I am not going to be able to shift that anytime soon. I did not do the survey or write the report that says Small & Medium sized Canadian business gets a D for Innovation. The fact that we are ranked 14 out of 17 worldwide for our lack of creativity and innovation is however, shocking. “Yikes”, I said outloud. The cat jumped up. I almost dropped my laptop. Could it be that bad? Way worse than what I had thought but totally in line with what a good friend, who works with Google insiders, said to me some time ago about the state of Canadian business – “They are doomed on their own local markets, if in the next 5 years, they don’t get connected with their consumers online”.
While Marketing is an integral part of business- its first role being to determine if there is even a market for a product – it never fails to amaze me the number of businesses who still think that they can rely on word of mouth as a viable long term strategy for marketing their product or service in a high technology city, province and nation.
Technology of course is the most innovative of industries as it relies on that “analytical computing machine” which has now connected the entire globe in a web of communications. Technology, Communications and Media have now merged in cyberspace and for the most part small Canadian businesses are nowhere to be seen along the information highway (remember when we actually called it that here in Canada?) while the virtual social media space is becoming more and more crowded with consumers, your friends, family and business associates, all piling on in search of information on health, wealth, love and stuff to buy – Canadian businesses are nowhere to be found….not in search, not in the social networks. They are lucky if they have a website, out of date, static, boring with a contact phone number.
I have been blogging on this topic for some time now. In fact, over a decade ago I was in much the same position trying to sell business owners on the idea of having a website. At the time they could see no advantange to cutting print costs or being found on the new medium of the internet. It was a hard sell. Much the same as it is today.
Now that a business should have their marketing focused online you would think that the need for those who are creative thinkers, indeed the creative class would to be embraced, employed and hired to work with them to create a new level of productivity and success. Sadly small businesses are missing in action and if you are tying to secure work a larger client make sure that you have a freshly minted undergrade degree in marketing from a University which did not even touch on social media or have you study the history of media aka MCLUHAN in Canada. Even though creativity (dare we say ART/Apple) and TECHNOLOGICAL (electronic/MS) innovation has transformed BIG business culture over the last three decades, heaven forbid they actually hire someone with the knowledge, skills and experience of this history who could base their innovative marketing strategies on the nature of media, someone who could engage in the type of experimentation needed to sail the uncharted waters that are the sea of Social Media.
With a virtual “tsunami” of tools, apps, methods, numbers, metrics, stats, strategies available today where even medium-sized businesses think that being creative means having a personal facebook account with pictures of the last party you went to or a blog filled with some sort of trivia that reminds one of a content farm.
Feeling depressed about the D GRADE Canadian businesses got on innovation, I googled for a quck fix – the phrase “quotes on innovation” for something positive and the search engine pulled up, guess what? — Quotes on Creativity and Innovation. It seems you cannot have one with out the other. Duh? And yet time and time again I am smacked down for being too creative and too innovative…
So while I stuggle to “sell” the idea of social media to small and medium sized business in Canada at least I now know who is to blame for the conflict. It is not me..it is not my problem, I have an ART SCHOOL Education, I know how to innovate, how to problem solve, how to imagine, how to visulize, how to be flexible, be open, be transparent, be engaging. The problem lies with the make money mindset that has no idea how to connect with consumers in the 21st Century when their is an oversupply of goods and a lack of attention from consumers who are now in control!
This time, I am on the side of the banks. While I may have very little capital in the bank since no one wants to fully engage me to execute any serious social media in Canada — they preferring to sit on the fence and watch their customers disappear down the information highway instead….I will do as I have done for decades now. I will ride out the wave working remaining in the moment of the NOW Revolution of Marketing.
It may be too much to ask for a “standard” small business to innovate on its product offering…but it would be nice if they had the vision to innovate in when it comes to their marketing strategy. Same old product, new way to market and sell it. Now there is an idea.
There are only two options here you either adopt social media or you are swept away. Time waits for no man or woman. Above us is the global connected techosphere where the big boys play. Learn the rules of the game and pay to win Canada. FYI, the name of the game is not HOCKEY – forget the pre meditated brain injuries in this game it is all about BRAINS, Creativity and innovation!
Soical Media is Sustainability
After a couple of years of thinking, debating and discussing Search & Social Media and its relationship to small business one thing has become crystal clear – social media is sustainability. In fact, Social Media = Sustainability. This position, if adapted, of course changes the whole game plan for small business who continue to think that Social Media is some sort of…
A. Distraction
B. Add On
C. Time Waster
D. or “yet to be justified” expense…
Pick one, any one…I hear them all everyday….all day. For a moment visualize yourself manifesting your ideal lifestyle – and then, your ideal client. What does it look like? What does he or she look like? Is there a connection between the two??
Does the keyword “sustainability” enter into the picture at all? One in which you have finally realized that a system designed around the idea of PROFIT only at the expense of your health, the people who work for you and the resources that make up your product offering or service is no longer sustainable?
A realization that something is changing in the way that business is conducted in 2011 is growing in the mind of wise business owners. Those businesses who are taking into account the lifestyle choices of their clients have changed their business models and messaging accordingly. They focus on either being
1. User centric, connected – like Google and FB and Twitter i.e. Social media (aka- SOCIAL responsiblity, social entrepreneurial etc)
OR
2. Environmentally conscious – like Whole Foods for real and any number of “greenwashed” corporations that let you decide where you draw the line on what is good for the planet and what is not…(aka – ENVIRONMENT, environmentally aware, from food to home to health care to energy to office recycling)
What is the market price of “sustainability” on Google these days? Pretty cheap according to the Google search below making one wonder why the whining about green being more expensive is really all about? Is there a hidden strategy here? Are you missing a big opportunity? Remember the old school corporate business model is all about competition, deception and misinformation. Make sure you really know your numbers and act accordingly….
What happens when you put the two together? Whether you adopt green or social media as your platform for sustainability – one cannot grow to its full potential without the other. You need to connect to your ideal client, the one that is informed, healthy, educated and empowered by technology, (which means they have BUYING power) in order to communicate your offering.
HINT: the greener, more local and creative it is the longer you will stay in the “most interesting times” game, for if cheap is your only offering you are either buying from or competing with China. Good luck on that front.
Value added is either customer service (SOCIAL MEDIA) or green (QUALITY). Ironically both can be adopted as positions of sustainability for the long-term.
News Flash! – Old media is not where the new consumer lives. At the end of the day this big Q – quantum shift – is all about the consumer, (which includes yourself) — who is “ALWAYS ON”.
What is the market cost of key word "sustainabilty?"
Tribal KLOUT is in Full Effect
The backlash against measuring influence on Social Media is rising. Before you get up on your soapbox and rant however, I suggest you step back and look at the BIG picture in an attempt to “understand media” and the role that this tool and tactic plays in the evolution of Social Media. As usual I will refer to that 100 year old master of communications – Canadian Marshall McLuhan – born in Edmonton, Alberta under big blue skies and next to a deep river valley, which he said, gave him a perspective on what it is to be human in relation to nature: a dot on the horizon.
Further, I will remind you that these new measures of influence are based on algorithms designed by some programmer and has nothing to do with what you know yourself to be. Then again our entire ECONOMIC culture is based on similar concepts – your credit score for example. This is the tyranny of numbers divorced from the spirit and wisdom of ART. This has been the history of the world for the past 500 years. Get over it.
So McLuhan said that everything he knew he learnt from the poets and the painters. Painting was my first area of study which gives me “klout” with respect to my perception of New Media and its evolution into Social Media…
Consider this:
Marshal McLuhan first noted the retribalizing effect of electric technologies; they collapse space to a point, effectively recreating the continuous, ambient (aural) awareness of the tribe. The tribe is completely connected. All of its members have direct access to one another; there is little hierarchy, instead, there is an intricate set of social relations. Everyone thoroughly understands one’s own place, and that position is constantly reinforced by the other members of the tribe. Tribal society is static, which is to say stable, over long stretches of time – at least tens of thousands of years.
A bit mind blowing eh?? McLuhan is not easy. What he said, to this day, does not sit well with those who do have a firm grasp on the “The Laws of Media”….
Now think about your presence in Social Media. I bet you have already connected with your “tribe” – your family and friends and those who “think like you”. But there is more to it than that, especially if you are conducting “commerce” within that space. Now you have to add the complexity of
1. Connecting with users/consumers who think like you or who might resonate with your offer
2. Building community around your product and or offering – which by the way – better share some of the core values that they hold dear if you hope to attract, engage and build a relationship that leads to a SALE.
Thank Q. Once you have “their” attention the usual social tribal nice-ities are in full effect. The masters of this tradition – our first nations people, in spite of their dismal position in our current economic system, are one of the best role models we have. Study their traditional ways and modern moves —- in which everyone has a voice, everyone can speak in turn for as long as they wish until they have fully expressed themselves….everyone is heard…and everyone is RESPECTED.
As a search and social media strategist I may or may not be asked to show “social proof” of my skills. My knowledge of Media is not consider important – the average Canadian business client wants to know how much it will cost. Typically, they are not even aware of how many fans I have on my fb page, the type of posts I make, how many followers I have on twitter or what I tweet about. They then say in no uncertain terms that they are “too busy” to find out. My response? Time waits for no man or woman. If they choose to ignore the fact that Canada is one of the most connected and media literate cultures on the planet so be it. Their loss both financially and socially….
How can you assign a price to something that you do not even have a value for? The “tribe of Canadian business” owners has not assigned a value to “social media” for the most part they are still trying to figure out search. Further, they do not get the connection between sales and marketing and online world of mouth….still stuck in the idea that they can get referrals from neighbours that they don’t even know…who may be running a credit card fraud operation down their street in their own “nice middle class” neighbourhood…
In the interim, I continue to try to connect to my “tribe” – the CREATIVE and Media Literate. Best described by Derrick de Kerkhove in his book Brainframes as fast paced, flexible, informed, perceptive, ethically aware, technologically aware, environmentally conscious, knowing more than one culture, speaking more than one language, thinking globally, acting locally, ALL with Total artistic perception.
The role of the artist is to update consciousness. It is not a state that most enjoy. Change is uncomfortable and analysis of what that means with respect to big picture factors is not for the status quo. Give them another five years and they will be all on the bandwagon bragging about how much influence they have in their online communities. Human Nature being what it is, not much changes in the hearts, minds and egos of men and women.
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