While for now, a business may be able to get away with out having a social media account it is highly recommended that they have one.  With 60% of Americans making social media a part of everyday life, it is only smart that businesses would make that same choice. The issue though is that as of now businesses are unable to see sufficient data proving their return on investment from social media. In the article “Social Media Denial Common for U.S. Businesses” onMashable.com they interview Rob Ployhart, a professor of businesses administration. Ployhart brings up the point that social media is so new and fresh that it differs so radically from the past that any existing theory on communication can’t be applied. He suspects that the data that so many businesses are looking to see before investing in social media advertising will be more easily available within three to five years, giving social media marketing more credibility. That being said, it doesn’t mean that businesses now can’t gain from the use of social media. One of the biggest supports in advertising a business in the past has been word of mouth. Now with so many people connected through social media, word of mouth travels at what seems like light speed compared to the past. If businesses want their image/brand to be portrayed correctly, they must make a presence in the area where so many consumers communicate. Social media marketing can’t be denied, it MUST be accepted.

As a true evangelist, I have owned every major iPhone release (1^st Gen, 3G and 4). Sure, I  have had my gripes about the iPhone eco-system, but look at the alternatives, Windows, Symbian and Android. All a joke compared to iOS, until I recently picked up a Galaxy Note 2 running Android Jelly Bean. Not only did I finally feel like Android had finally had something that could compete, but had the potential to destroy iOS. All the issues that I have had with my iPhone, Android has solved and then packed it with a ton of innovation. It made my beautify-designed iPhone look obsolete. The folks over at Google have made my mouth water with innovative features that I can no longer ignore. I was literally about to buy an iPhone 5 and now my desire to stick with Apple had diminished. Apple has been untouchable in terms of innovation but I have to admit, even though the iPhone 5 is a killer phone, it didn’t have the jaw dropping innovation I have come accustom to and have now seen in competitor’s product!  Apple was years ahead of the competition and guess what, those years have gone and yes, Apple has made improvements but has arguably fallen behind in terms of innovation. Apple has seemingly rested on its loyalty and hasn’t pushed the innovation envelope the way that its competitors have and the impenetrable door of Apple loyal customers has been opened up to change.

This is a lesson that any company can learn from. At anytime, your competitor can challenge you for market share and take your most loyal customers. How do you protect yourself? In the words of the great branding guru, Marty Neumeier, “when everybody else zigs, zag!” When all the competition is doing something one way, do it the opposite. Take direct mail for example. If you send a brilliant direct mail piece to a prospect along with every competitor, it is ineffective! So what do you do? Something else! ZAG! However, when everyone else leaves direct mail, go to it! The channel just got a lot less noisy and thus more effective! You see?

Not even a company like Apple can rest on its laurels. Brand loyalists nay, EVANGLESTS, will only stick it out so long without radical innovation. Innovation that only comes from zagging!

With an overwhelming amount of people now on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, the marketing world has seen a huge necessity to follow suit. There are currently 1,000,000,000 monthly ACTIVE users on Facebook alone, as of October 2012. With that many people on a single common website it would only be logical for companies to take advantage of the opportunity to reach as many potential customers as possible. We aren’t talking just about companies using it just for B2C but also for B2B.

However, it isn’t as easy as just creating a Facebook or Twitter account, throwing up a couple nice pictures on your wall, and then just  “Liking” or  “Following” people. There is a strategy that should be present in every aspect of your marketing campaign. It should have a place for building relationships, listening to the surrounding market, promoting content, and influencing “buyers” before they even know they are “buyers”. So now that both B2B and B2C marketers see the power of social media, the question you ask is how do you harness it? How do you entice and engage your audience to share your message and to be a brand ambassador?

The answer…… Educate yourself with the mass amounts of research being done with social media sites and understand your market. One great place to start educating is with Marketo’s “The Definitive Guide to Social Marketing.” It will show you how to be social in every marketing activity, to drive buyer engagement, and to enhance new business and revenue. Whether you are just starting out or have a well-defined social marketing plan, this guide is your go-to handbook.

Let’s get social! (click here to read more)

TweetSmarter blog put together a list of the events that set the highest Twitter records. 32,097 is the Tweets-per-second (TPS) record, set in the Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Chelsea, exceeding February’s Super Bowl record of a peak of 12,233 TPS. Social Media can move mountains and has given anybody the opportunity to reach millions…yes, even you but this also presents a problem…who to trust!?

Two weeks ago The Orange County Register in Santa Ana held its annual Social Media Day (SMD).  The event had 12 seminars that attracted over 300 attendees. In our quest to further our Social Media knowledge, we enthusiastically participated in many of the seminars. We also had the chance to meet some of the speakers and panelists that we knew but only within the social media context. It was great to finally shake a hand instead of a re-tweet!

These seminars really brought clarity to who we felt was the authority in their field and who was not. Some of people that we felt had authoritative presentations were Ted Nguyen (@TedNguyen) and his presentation on various ways to utilize the iPhone to broadcast live video and Britt Michaelian (@MamaBritt) and her presentation on how to use social media as a freelancer.

Attending the OC SMD was a great event because it allowed us to re-calibrate our “trusted source meter.” It also allowed us to engage with other attendees, which helped further our brand awareness.

The fun doesn’t stop here! Let’s keep the conversation going on Twitter! #trustedsourcemeter

Question #1: Do you recalibrate your “trusted source meter?” If so, what are your techniques?

If not, engage with us on Twitter and have our community give you some answers! (Or just use that old antiquated technology called an “e-mail.”)

*Do you want to see more pictures of the OC SMD? Check out our Facebook! http://goo.gl/Lr42k

Don’t believe me? Well then, simply check your smartphone, email and other IM devices and count how many messages you sent in a particular day. Now ask yourself: how many of those messages could have been enhanced with an old-fashioned phone call, or, dare I say, face-to-face conversation?

Truth is, we ALL need to become better verbal communicators, whether it be well-prepared group presentations, simple conference calls, or even everyday extemporaneous public speaking. Back in college (way back when) as a Comm major, part of my curriculum included public speaking classes. One particular assignment has stuck with me throughout my career: each student had to enter a crowded elevator, turn to the passengers, and make a speech of some sort, either political, seasonal, even proselytizing was encouraged. The whole idea was to engage with the “mobile audience” and simply become more comfortable speaking to strangers.

Fast forwarding to present day, as a professor of branding at the University of California, a solid portion of my curriculum deals with basic communication skills, both verbal and written. After all, as marketing professionals, we must have the ability to articulate our messages.

One of the exercises we practice in my classroom, whether it be a “101” introductory course, or of the graduate-level MBA variety, is the classic elevator speech. Students commonly ask: What is it? Should it be flexible? How long should it be? The answers are quite simple and I offer them here, today, “tuition free.”

Elevator speeches are so named because they should be designed to be delivered at any time, anyplace, and to just about anybody. How long? If you literally find yourself in an elevator, about one minute is a good rule of thumb. Keep in mind that other circumstances would require longer oratories. Think about when you’re standing in line at Starbucks, how about filling up at the gas station? Sitting next to someone at a baseball game? I’ve even encountered opportunities while traveling solo, sitting first class on a long flight. Since desperate times call for desperate measures, simply pop a breath mint and be prepared for a marathon mano a mano. If the conversation is fruitful, you never know when you might pick up a new lead, or better yet, your next big client.

All elevator speeches must be succinct and have proper sequence, (remember the inverted triangle method of writing you learned in journalism class?). You never know when your conversation might get cut-off, so get to the relevant who, what, and why right away. In addition, you must make your delivery with confidence, good tempo, and clarity, using analogy or citing examples if describing your vocation is complicated.

Finally, the number one reason why people are reluctant to speak in public is due to a lack of preparation. So, always be on the ready to deliver a solid elevator speech, after all, that’s exactly what Steven Tyler and the rest of his Idol judge panel does on live TV. It doesn’t get any more extemporaneous than that. I apologize if this blog is beginning to sound a little “pitchy” (pun intended) so at this point, I bid you all “good evening.”

Marc Villarreal
EVP of Branding
Integrity Media

Improved bandwidth has made video easier and faster to watch and load, plus Google places a certain value on video when incorporated in media.  With 86% of ALL U.S. Internet users watching an online video in any given month, it would be wise for any company – or advertising agency – to take full advantage of the power of online videos.

Recently, YouTube announced the building of a major film studio in Los Angeles because they realize that all created YouTube-style videos get viewed more often and get better results.  There’s a lot to be said about how your video is used in the branding process.  What amazes me more often than not is that multimillion-dollar companies have their employees tasked with creating videos to represent their brand and identity that, unfortunately, end up being subpar.  Why do these companies spend millions on perks for employees or prospects but have no budget to produce quality branded videos that represent the company brand? Moreover, what is a brand?

Branding is not just a cool logo or name that tells the story of the company.  A good brand is something you can see, smell, hold, and feel.  It elicits emotion and desire. It’s not what you say you are, rather, it’s how the public perceives your company.   When you see branding elements created by Microsoft or Apple they evoke a sense of quality, speed, or sexiness.  Others believe they speak of passion, greed, or even Bill Gates or the late Steve Jobs themselves.

It’s been said that a good brand is worth a thousand words…. Along the same thinking, video can therefore be worth an exponential amount of words.  Take for instance the story Scott Monty told about how video made a huge difference when Ford Motor Company launched their new hands-free parallel parking assist technology.  They launched the story through traditional media sources and also used social media, mostly Twitter, to get the message out.  According to Monty, it wasn’t until they launched the video that there was there that elusive “ahhhh” moment, because people could actually see and experience the technology in action.

I believe watching video on the Internet is a lot more fun and engaging than simply reading text.   We all use computers everyday but we should be looking at our monitors like we look at our TV.  We watch TV, we don’t read it. The same goes for your computer monitor.   If customers look at their screen as a television, it would make sense to incorporate online video as part of your overall integrated marketing strategy… especially when you look at the latest numbers from comScore. It states that in February 2012, 179 million U.S. Internet users watched nearly 38 billion videos of online video content.  WOW, is that proof in the pudding or what?  The average viewer watched 21.8 hours of online video content, with Google Sites (7 hours) and Hulu (3.8 hours) demonstrated the highest average engagement among the top ten properties.

Indeed, there is truth in numbers, and sometimes these statistics say it all….

So we invite you to contact Integrity Media today to arrange a comprehensive meeting to review what your brand is accomplishing online.

Apple Maniacs are much like San Diego Charger fans: they are convinced they are the best team of all time even though they have never won the Superbowl. At least Apple has some history to back it up (objective observation Charger fans!). Ironically, Steve Jobs was famous for this personality trait and his friends and family lovingly called it, “Steve’s reality distortion field.” I self admittedly, float in and out of this field (more often in than out). It is true that I end up purchasing almost every new Apple product after being wowed by a brilliant keynote presentation declaring the latest product to be “the most amazing, advanced, magical, revolutionary, powerful, beautiful and simple-to-use product they have ever built. Multi-Core, Multi-Touch, Multi-Bucks, there is nothing like it on the planet! Apple has brilliantly taught us all how to “Think Differently” and as someone in marketing, it is worthy of some admiration.

Today as a part of my lunch ritual, I checked out one of my favorite blogs, Cult for Mac and saw a review on the latest beta for Apple’s upcoming Mac OS known as “Mountain Lion.” I (of course) watched the video and sat in my chair a bit disappointed…something rare for most Apple Maniacs. I have to be honest (cue gasps), the last 3 versions of OSX have been disappointing to me as well and yet, much like I did with the other versions, I will download Mountain Lion the day it is released. Even though I didn’t find this product to be “revolutionary” it is priced so well ($30), I see value in keeping everything up-to-date.

As I sit here in my office writing this blog post (typing on my Macbook Pro, while my iPad 2 is sitting on my desk challenging me to figure out what it is actually good for), I am in awe at the sheer brilliance of Apple’s marketing. Many define Apple marketing their “iToys” as, “beautiful products, clean ads and a brilliant presentation with bold descriptions” but it goes well beyond that. I can use the word “toy” with a lower case “i” in front of it and you automatically associate it with Apple. It’s planned out with surgical focus and precision even down to the smallest detail. Think about the amount of research they complete! They know me! Male, late 20’s, lives in Orange County, works in marketing, web design background, an “8 out of 10” on the Apple freak scale. They know that I will pop for $30 bucks on an Apple product even though I don’t think it lives up to the hype.

Enough about the brilliance of Apple… Let’s talk about your business.

Do your services or products fit the descriptions of Apple’s bold nomenclature? Do Apple products really fit their own proclamations? Let me put this another way, do your products / services create DESIRE? If your answer is no, WHY NOT? The wrong answer is, I don’t have the money Apple has for marketing. News flash! You will never have the money if your products don’t create DESIRE. BMW doesn’t sell cars, they sell, “The Ultimate Driving Machine.” They sell the BMW lifestyle. That 328i is more about the statement it makes about the buyer and how they wish to be perceived. If it were just about some nice features in a rather anemic car, a Kia would do the trick! How you position your product can be more important than the product itself! “Can you hear me now?” GOOD! Now I understand for many of you, this is like opening up Pandora’s Box. The thought of where to start is far too overwhelming because of how many choices you have so you choose not to open it. Some of you are about to go straight to Twitter and Facebook to start accounts because your competitor is doing it. Bad idea…They might not know what they are doing either!

Before you do anything let me give you some advice. Take the first bite out of the Apple with a plan! Think about how well thought out Apple’s marketing is. Everything with Apple is extremely well planned and highly researched. Here are some questions to help you get started…Who you are as a company? How does your product / service fit into the marketplace? What you do better than your competitors? Where are your ideal customers are at? Who and where are the market influencers? What are your goals? What is your monthly budget for marketing? Who is going to execute the plan once it has been once it is created? I know, I know, sounds too simple right? Well…it isn’t. The foundations of marketing are simple. You have to start somewhere and if you put together a solid plan, with a budget and allocate time by making it a part of your routine, you are well on your way to a successful marketing campaign. If you want some additional materials to help begin the plan or need some help with the plan itself, I have some great resources that I would be more than happy to send you. It’s time for you to “Think Different” so get out there and “Just Do It!” (puns completely intended).

More to Come!

-Marty

Marty Vasquez, Creative Director at Integrity Media

Its time to get online and start growing using social media! Send us an email or give us a call! We want to make your 2012 louder than ever!

For more information visit their website:
http://feedingsomalia.org