Thanks to SomeCallMeJim (a WVFF tribe member), who helped summarized this BeingPeterKing novel about what the future holds for social media.
Indeed this 23-page “Social Media Predictions 2009” article should be required reading for marketers… whether they’re concerned about Google buying Twitter, or whether they want to know what to do about “accidental” spokespeople versus the ones carefully programmed by PR groups (hint- don’t fight the undertoe, folks… support the vocal fans, especially if they have drawn a crowd). Example- if HappySlip makes a video about MacBookPro here’s a crazy idea, Mac. Send her one. Thank her. Cultivate a relationship.
I especially like this chart on by Influential Marketing Blog, which shows what marketers did in 2008 and what they will do in 2009 (assuming they’re informed).
first comment hooray
Isn’t the problem with “accidental spokespeople” the possibility that they will change their mind, unpredictably, and turn on their corporate “friend”?
Those undertoes can be scary! The overtoes, too!
(undertow)
@2
What about the inverse, Dahlia? What if the corporation turns on the “accidental spokesperson.” That could get ugly. Yes, yes, I know that corporations have never been known for being duplicitous, but it could happen.
AAAaaahahaha! I may not amuse y’all, but I regale me!
@2
That’s why it’s in a corporation’s best interest to team up with these accidental spokespeople.
If someone who gets 20,000 video views a day on YouTube is always bragging on company a without compensation, eventually there are only a few outcomes
-Company B, who sells similar products to company A, sends a free product to the spokesperson “to give it a shot”. If the spokesperson likes it, they abandon company A and switch to company B
-Company A sends a “Gift” product to the spokesperson. The spokesperson’s loyalty is amplified a thousand fold.
-Neither company dos anything. This is the most dangerous place for both companies, since the video producer may continue to plug A forever, or might get frustrated with it one day, and switch to B. The producer is a wild card.
When you’ve got someone who is in the limelight, and they’re a fan of your product, the best thing you can do is suck up to them. Fans are already more loyal than most employees. Think about it, what employee wouldn’t ditch their job if one paying twice as much came along. But if you go to that same person on game day and suggest that they quit following the Vikings because they suck, and become a 49ers fan, they’ll punch you in the head.
Companies who are smart are realizing that loyal fans who become accidental spokespeople are far more attached to their product than the real spokespeople on their payroll. Now, they can either reward them for that loyalty, or wait for their competition to buy them out.
@Nalts
Did you actually survive the whole 23 pages?!?!? If so, I must say I’m impressed. Personally, I found Ben McConnell’s contribution to be the most enlightening.
Interestingly enough, the same day I posted this ting on my blog, about 20 marketers and social media pros started following me on twitter. Now if I could only get them to subscribe at YouTube…
@5
You present a picture of a logical, orderly business world, jim. My experience of the business world is more akin to the movie “Brazil.” Funny movie. Thank goodness my experience of the business world is not the majority view. Otherwise, our banking system would be all askew with worthless paper called derivatives and our auto industry would be out in the street begging for alms.
😀
Wait, wait, wait. Is anybody else amused by the smartest people in our business world being ripped off tothe tune of 50 billion dollars by a guy whose name sounds like Made-OFF??
I have to read this more carefully later, but let me ask, was what’s about to happen to this economy taken into consideration?
I’m just saying I’m Bear, and sticking with P&G and Hersey because everyone loves chocolate and needs to wipe their butt!
Jan,
This was released not too long ago, and it does touch on the current economic situation. In fact one of the predictions in the paper is that more big businesses will be giving their expensive ad agencies the finger, and move to far less expensive and more universal new media experience.
It makes a lot of sense, actually.
You lost me at the title. *yawns*
I don’t even want to know what an “undertoe” is.
holy shit! what some people won’t say and do to get my money! and it’s really not even so much what they are saying, but how they are saying it. I can’t believe I read the whole thing! Actually, I skimmed a few chunks, but I get the gist of what they are after.
Look, advertisers pretty much hate me, for I am the enlighten consumer! I know almost all of the tricks and am greatly offended by the litter draped upon my hallway floor and puking out of my mail box.
Heads up Salespeople! – Please, don’t tell me if I don’t buy it today it might be gone tomorrow because here’s my answer, “Poor me.”
I can’t even begin to list how many times I was offeneded by some, no most of the advice given in this 23 page “cough” paper
Here’s my summary:
The economy has turned, dollars are scarce, trends in advertising tell us to “Be nice to the customer! Oh, and let’s amuse them too.”
Well, “Gloryosky, that’s why I’m a jerk!”
It’s not going to be that easy, the tables have turned and we are all thinking twice before we part with another point that lowers our credit scores or rather what’s left of them.
But I’ll share this one thought on what a company can do to gain brand loyalty, at least in the coming economy:
Assuming the product is good, Give – It – Away!
Take the radio and TV budgets and flood the cities and towns with hefty samples of whatever it is, use local print shops and attach a $2.00 or more off coupon for your next purchase, litter the hallways with this stuff. Put a tag on the sample that says, “Working to keep our economy strong and vital.” Make the coupon so enticing even men will say, “Hey, Honey you got that (brand name here) coupon with you?”
Hire American Customer Service People and make it clear when the customer calls these folks say, “Hi, Welcome to (company name here), my name is Sue in Newark, N.J., how can I help you today?”
Now that’s just the direct marketing part, if you want to know what to do on the web, or for products you can’t drop in hallways, I will, of course, have to be well compensated to let you in on those tips.+
If you want brand loyalty, which is where all your hard dependable money is going to come from, you need to do a few things.
1. Give a hefty sample of the product away, flood the local markets with them.
2. Give the consumer a very generous coupon off on the product the next time they shop, followed up by a more reasonable coupon off.
3. Be Pro America, make sure the customer knows you are concerned and helping out in the local economy for everyone.
These are all simple common sense things companies Should have been doing all along, business in general will have to make up for their lack of concern. There are a few other tips that can be added, but like I said above…+
Could I have said all this a little nicer? Certainly, but I dare anyone other than Jim,to read those 23 pages without sticking a fork in your eye.
And enlightened consumer has to do more than oppose what the unenlightened consumer is susceptible to.
@13
I’ve tried to write a response to your post, but I can’t keep it under 1,000 words, and ultimately, Peter just summed it up in his post. So I’ll say “what Peter said” and leave it there.
Well no, not quite. I will add that while the advice in the paper CAN be misused as you said (especially by large companies), if one were to take the advice to heart, and actually want to care about and connect with their following, it’s actually useful stuff.
Cheers! 😀
@14
I have found, generally speaking, that the enlighten must often step back and allow the unenlightened to plot their own path; unless, of course, there is the likelihood of immanent danger from the potential fatality of injury or death. Through this method the level of experience can not be replaced or commit to memory as strongly by the lessons of lecture or sermon. Further, amassing the masses must develop organically, in this particular scenario, through mutual outrage; a reflection of a previous battle surrounding the ethers just outside the earth’s gravitational force, gathered some time ago, which has already come to fruition, fought, almost nearly decided and about to descend upon us all, where as, we will collectively rise to the challenges put forth by those external and unnamed forces so that the balance in the world can thus be restored again or stuff like that there.
However, one must always be weary of and heed warning to what harkens back to the throwing of stones through crystallized melted sand or walking towards the preceding spoken deed, but hey! If you got a better idea let’s hear it!
@15
Wow 1000 words and I’m not going to be able to read it?! 🙁
I understand what you are saying and you say it because you have a good heart, however, the advertisers commitment is to the client first and foremost, their occupation is that of the weaver of lies and exaggerations. Their job is to sell a product, what ever it takes on this side of the ethical line, which is subject to change based on the circumstances they make up at the time. We know this to be true because they are well hated and almost the butt of as many jokes as lawyers; oft’ times with good reason, sometimes not.
That’s not to say anyone or any profession isn’t worthy of redemption, but for now I stand by this statement “These are all simple common sense things companies Should have been doing all along, business in general will have to make up for their lack of concern.”
This will take time because ultimately it’s a matter of trust, which I don’t have to tell you is sorely lacking on just about every level in our society. We, and especially business needs to start building.
Let me say, I would have enjoyed this article much more if instead of everyone dancing around the issues and concerns, plotting their next move to deal with the downturn ahead, someone had the guts, been upfront and honest enough to say, our industry sucks and it need to stop sucking!
^ Our industry sucks and it need to stop sucking!
I wrote it here last year and was basically poo pooed by those drunk on derivatives, “Partnership” and fame.
I told you so.
P.S.
Obama is against same sex marriage.
I told you so.
@16
I agree with what you’re saying for the most part, and I agree, the marketing industry has lost a lot of trust, and many of them are pretty unethical. But it’s like lawyers – it’s the 98% of the bad ones that give a bad rap to the 2% with a soul.
Marketing at it’s best shouldn’t be trying to sell a product to someone who doesn’t need it. It should be finding a product that people need, and helping the people that need that product to get hold of it.
For a short time, I sold airtime for a radio station. One of the reasons I left was that I couldn’t stand the attitudes of some of the sales reps. They would call the local shopping mall to the point of annoyance, when the mall doesn’t do their own advertising. They don’t need to: it’s a small town, and everyone goes there anyway.
Instead of trying to cram a product down throats of unwanting recipients, good marketing is a wonderful thing.
Anyway, that’s not quite 1,000 words, but it should be close enough to suffice. 😀
A joke about homeless marketing:
http://revver.com/video/228863/affiliate/209/homeless-joke/
“Marketing at it’s best shouldn’t be trying to sell a product to someone who doesn’t need it. It should be finding a product that people need, and helping the people that need that product to get hold of it.”
heh, I don’t think anyone is going to be able to change the nature of the beast, except maybe the beast, but I think consumer protection and education is a good step in the right direction, and that’s really up to us and, for the time being, government. Actually, it’s what government is there for, to protect us all against the bad guys.
A good way to combat the scoundrels, or at least check the lying greedy bastards at the door is to strengthen our system of justice; torn asunder by both democrat and republican deregulation.
We’re going to need government regulations at least until we all become enlighten beings.
what I’d like to see are the leaders in the advertising community call for more regulations and raise the bar on ethical standards, but I’m not holding my breath.
See if you can spot my 1994 cameo in this Nine Inch Nails YouTube promoted video (I used to be somebody):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JQ9W5Qv20c&fmt=18
I might say that I dedicate this video to Nutcheese, but she might take it the wrong way.
Speaking of NIN, I haven’t known what to think about them since they released their latest stuff into creative commons licensing. I can’t decide if they’re showing their nonconformity, or if they realized that their heyday is over and they’re trying to get tons of free publicity.
It’s Trent Reznor knowing that you have to change with the times or you aren’t relevant.
@21
That looks like my bedroom.
@22
NIN in CC? Really? Where can I find that, jim? I’d like to put my own images to that song @ 21. Can I mix? Maybe something like this:
http://revver.com/video/119999/affiliate/209/tom-waits-hold-on/
LMAO @ “I might say that I dedicate this video to Nutcheese, but she might take it the wrong way.”
How could I take that the wrong way? I think that video is precious.
@22 I think Reznor has always been ahead of the curve and I think the idea behind the online stuff is not only fantastic it’s smart.
Not every artist out there has to be or chain to greedy corporations I hope more artists leave the industry middlemen and become independent entrepreneurs
@24
http://www.nin.com
@26
You’re right, it’s very smart. Beyond that even – it’s genius.
The thing that you need to notice when you see these filesharing lawsuits is that they’re all from the record labels, the RIAA, or some stop on the line after the performing artist. The reason for this is because, according to a friend of mine who is a talent agent in Nashville, the artists aren’t really the affected ones – they make next to nothing on CD sales and downloads.
When You download or buy an entire album, the total profit that the band will make on that one album sale is around a dime, give or take. That dime then gets divided by the dozen or so artists that produced the work. The rest is of your $20 is absorbed by the chain of middle men between the artist and you. Sad, eh?
So where do performers make their money? In concerts. Most of your ticket for a concert goes to the performer, and on top of that, you have the t-shirts and other goodies that are sold.
So intelligent artists, such as Reznor and a growing number out there, have realized that if they bypass the suing bags of crap, they don’t lose that much money, but they gain a much wider fan base, because they’re giving the music away. A much larger fan base means that more people come to your concerts. More people at your concerts equals more cash in your pocket.
before NIN went to CC licensing, they were suffering the fate of most of the great 90’s bands – obsolescence. Why listen to old school when there’s so much new stuff on the market? But now what if that band you grew up with is giving away free stuff? You can find NIN stuff everywhere online now. YouTube alone has countless videos featuring tracks from Ghosts I-IV. And everyone who hears that is a potential conversion to a concert-ticket, far more valuable than a CD.
Of course, now that Reznor’s under his own label, he gets a much bigger cut of the profit, so it’s always a possibility that he’ll stop releasing CC work. But in what must be a surprise to the recording industry, people buy the NIN albums in the store that they could download for free. I guess all those file-sharers who said they buy the album if they like the music download weren’t all full of crap.
Oh Everyone,
I’m writing a new novel. The working title so far is “my next response to Jan”
Any early orders? I’ll autograph the cover.
I saw a news report today about people who are getting buried with their cell phones. Are you going to be interred with your Crackberry, Kevin? Or your iPhone?
So many words, so little interest.
@30
You just summed up my life story 😀
Then, of course, there is services like SnoCap and imeem – which if you are signed up for both you can make money giving away your music. SnoCap is a digital fingerprint service for music, and imeem (ad-supported free music) owns it.
You upload to SnoCap, then upload to imeem, SnoCap recognizes the file on imeem and attributes your rights to it, then you get paid based on # of streams.
For an example of what you can do with it, check out the music page on my site, http://petercoffin.com/store/music.htm
@29 do cell phone have the ability to teleport you directly to heaven now? Actually, this is an interesting idea, when they dig you up in 1000 years they will get a look at what you valued most in life and with the ability now to keep a diary/dailyplaner even stored videos, it’s like a little legacy waiting to be discovered. [There’s your ticket mdj, get that will going for your future great great great great grand kids copyright protection!] Perhaps, in the future they will find one with the encrypted message, “I killed JFK.”
@31 [flings the hard copy version of The Secret at Jim’s head]
If you are going to travel down the self-deprecating road here I’m going to stop writing such long posts on this blog to you and remove you from my twitter! @27 “sad eh?” was, and I say was and never again, in the biz, so tell me about it!
@32^ I like the idea of artists getting paid by advertisers rather than the public shelling out money for a whole CD with just one song they like. BUT if the public likes what you do they can go over to your web site and buy direct from you. This eliminates the hefty profits to the middleman who has little or no talent. This is definitely a positive change for the consumer and a whole new take on the industry! I’m all for it!
@33
You think that’s self-depreciating? That’s nothing! You’ve never been to one of my standup comedy routines I see. After dragging my fat butt onto the stage, I usually open with the line “I hate fat people”, and hilarity ensues from there.
Believe it or not, I have a very positive self-perception. I’m just REALLY good at faking it 😀
@Jim – I’m the same way, except in addition, I regularly exaggerate how great I am as well. This leads people to believe I am bi-polar. It’s pretty funny to me.
I don’t do standup comedy, though. I haven’t worked the balls up to try it yet.
@Jan – The idea I have is to eventually make music worth buying, then give it away on imeem as well has have it easily purchasable through iTunes and Amazon for your MP3 needs.
It’s not easy to steal a song off imeem, actually. They encode the audio to .flv rather than .mp3, which is smart. Then you have to do a bunch of shit, when instead you could pay 99 cents (or less sometimes) for the song in an easy-to-use online retailer. The key is making it easy to listen for free, but annoying to steal, and then easy to buy.
You feel better about buying music from someone who gives it away, too. I do, anyway.
@Peter
Standup doesn’t take as much in the neighborhood of guts as it does practice. I still come off the stage shaking like a leaf, even if the audience ate my act up.
If you ever wanted to work your way onto stage, I’d suggest joining an improv troupe. While in the comedy business, improvisers and comics are sort of eternally locked in a playful feud over who’s better, the nice thing about being in an improv troupe is that you can rely on others, so you have a little more of a safety net in the event you fall apart on stage. I’ve always been more comfortable doing improv than I have been at standup. But then, for some folks it’s just the opposite.
If you want REALLY good advice, start your comedy career at open mic nights. Wait till about 2/3 of the way through the evening to take the stage, so the crowd is inebriated enough to laugh at anything but not so inebriated as to heckle you to death. In the comedy business, a crowd with a bar is a very good thing.
^ I did poetry readings in little Longbeach and Los Feliz coffee shops. It’s exhilarating!