One of our favorite times of the year in media. We get special access to the television upfronts for all the new shows scheduled for the upcoming season.

Watch for our recaps, some video of our “watch party” and our predictions of which network will come out on top for the new season.

We have a lot of fun with this. Our commentary is either spot on or wackily way off base. Check back to see if you agree our “professional” opinions.

The latest “best of” list that our awesome little town found its way onto is Parade Magazine’s list of America’s Hardest Working Towns.

Low unemployment and thriving education and healthcare industries keep our town and our people prospering. That good ‘ole Midwestern work ethic probably doesn’t hurt either.

“The U.S. Department of Education says the town has ‘more exemplary public schools per capita than any other city in the nation.’…home to the University of Missouri-Columbia, which alone employs some 30,000 people, as well as six other colleges and universities…The town has six hospitals and the second-most hospital beds per capita in the country. More than 80 percent of households are dual-income, and the city ranked second on likelihood to work weekends.”

Well, that last part, about working weekends, we may not be too happy about, but making another “best of” US cities list – we’ll always be excited about that.

Conduit Lounge

I can’t believe a week ago today I was wrapping up my first trip to SXSW Interactive Conference. Here’s some more recap from my trip.

My second day at SXSW it only rained on me in the afternoon, and if you know anything about this interactive festival then you know it requires a lot of walking the streets of downtown Austin and trying to catch shuttles to get to your next session. Sometimes the really good ones are full when you get there, and you’re lucky if they’ll let you in to sit on the floor. Some where lined up outside waiting for one person to leave so another could go in.

I started at the Omni hotel with a session I thought would be very beneficial for our clients, especially for those in highly regulated industries. It was called “Social Media and the Law – Can You Tweet That?” This one did not live up to expectations. I think the content was too elementary for the techie audience.

After that I headed over to the Ogilvy Stage for a book reading. Deve Kerpen’s book Likeable Media explains that that, in social media, responsiveness is not a choice. You must listen, respond and provide value. #sxlikeable

I went to others that day as well, “How to Become a Next Generation Media Company” where I learned I heard a great quote:

“Social Media is the operating system that powers the web.”

Love it.

Sunday’s favorite session was again back at the Ogilvy stage where Hubspot’s Kipp Bodnar along with Jeffrey Cohen from Radian 6 explains that prospects don’t care about products, just solutions and that social media is able to drive leads if you can get your audience to -

1. Get ppl connected

2. Get them to share your stuff

3. Place calls to action everywhere

Monday I got to sit in on a lively panel that included @JasonFalls and Jeremiah Owyang called “Social Media Comes of age Without the Help of Porn.” If you’ve ever heard Falls’ version of “No BS Social Media” then you know this one was interesting. The panel debated what is driving social’s evolution and what is coming next.

Falls, Owyang & company

Social media is being driven by people. Social media marketing is being driven by brands and that sometimes don’t understand that Facebook is not the only channel. Message boards, forums, and niche social networks are big players as well.

Social media is being driven by people with smartphones, and by sociology and connections. Self expression, the validation of relationships and desire the to be part of group.

What’s coming next? The panel agreed that small biz should become more educated and will begin to adopt a more well rounded social strategy. They also agreed more legal ramifications are to come.

My last day brought two of my favorite panels, on blogger outreach and community moderation. Three bloggers and a representative from The March of Dimes talked about being on both sides of a blogger outreach campaign.

The most important takeaway here – do your research, participate, and create a personal connection with the blogger. This is an ongoing relationship building campaign and doesn’t happen overnight.

• Actions should be aligned with goals.

• Prioritize reach.

• Make a specific ask of blogger and offer an easy toolkit. Give them everything they need for the task.

• Engaged readers are most important. Don’t forget that people can buy Twitter followers.

• Empower them to be unique.

The “Confessions of a Community Moderator” panel was maybe my favorite of the week.

The panel consisted of community managers from Converse All-Star shoes , Aveda products and the Peanuts gang (yep, Snoopy too).

Best advice:

• It’s about the community and the content, not the quantity of fans.

• Don’t treat legal like the enemy.

• ROI implies Investment. Don’t leave your social to your intern. Invest in it.

• Be the liaison between the community and the brand.

Foursquare Party, Cedar Street Courtyard, downtown Austin

So that’s my big wrap up. And yes, I did go to some of those infamous “South by” parties. My favorites were Tech Karaoke and the Foursquare party. But that’s for another blog.

]]> http://truemediablog.com/2012/03/sxsw-recap-part-2/feed/ 0 http://truemediablog.com/2012/03/sxsw-recap/ http://truemediablog.com/2012/03/sxsw-recap/#comments Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:26:28 +0000 Angela Lechtenberg http://truemediablog.com/?p=1228 Continue reading →]]> I recently returned from Austin, TX where I was fortunate enough to attend the SXSW Interactive conference to learn about new social trends and listen to some great panel speakers on social parties to attend put on by various up and comers and leaders in the tech and interactive industries that I couldn’t keep up even if I had been cloned. And I could have tried, because I’m pretty sure I saw that company with a booth in the trade show exhibit hall.

Here’s my top takeaways from the sessions I attended on day 1. You can follow the conversations from the sessions with the hashtags listed by each.

1. Social engagement and TV ratings – this session had panelists from Bravo, MTV Digital and the Food Network talking about how they use social media to drive TV ratings. The biggest points to mention were to involve the talent with the community and drive an engaging, ongoing conversation. The other biggest think mentioned was that everyone on the panel agreed, but none of them could tell me how exactly they could measure the social results. Which sounds like a typical problem in social media campaigns across the board. #SWTVengage.

2. “Fireside Chat” with Google engineer Vic Gundotra and Guy Kawasaki sparring over the relevance of Google+. Guy played devil’s advocate while Vic tried to convince everyone in the audience that Google+ is actually “Google 2.0.” When Guy pressed Gundotra for an explanation for why people call Google+ a failure Gundotra challenged that most people who think that are using the tool incorrectly. Gundotra went on to say that most of G+ content is shared privately to circles, not publicly.

Guy: “When are you going to open up the Google+ API? That sounds like an oxymoron to me.”

Gundotra: “All that 3rd party content can pollute and I don’t want to piss off developers by doing it and then changing everything.”

Wonder who he’s talking about…

Guy = 1, Google+ = 0

#SXgoogle+

3. What’s the Next Big Thing in Social Media? This one was really awful. The guy spent the first 30 minutes pushing his companies Grindr and Blendr. Then coincidentally, I heard a man on the shuttle bus the next day talking about how he had met someone on “this sleazy dating site Grindr.” Which is funny because he wasn’t in the session with me. But that’s kinda what I thought of this guy. Seemed a little slick and wasn’t really there for any other purpose than to push his products. I left early. #SXblendr

I’ll be back with more insights from SXSW Interactive tomorrow.

I know we were all just getting used to the old format and thought we had everything figured out, but believe me when I say these changes are for the better.  All the new features allow you to create a better brand experience for your fans by letting you brand your company better, create an in-depth history of your company, and engage your fans by taking creative content front and center.  Facebook has used this new platform to encourage companies to interact more with their fans by creating conversations and make the focus on developing relationships “beyond the like.”  While this platform may take more time and effort it’ll be worth it in the end because engaged consumers are more likely to use a product or service and develop loyalty to that brand. And as we know, engagement is what social media is all about.

Some of the new features:

Cover photo

The cover photo will be 850×315 pixels and really allows companies to catch a user’s attention and relay a great brand image to the audience.  Facebook is setting some limitations to the cover photo; it cannot include price or purchase info, contact info, calls to action or references to Facebook features such as the “like” or “share” buttons. Be sure you are all up to date on the do’s and don’ts of this new feature here.

Timeline

The timeline will allow companies to “go back in time” to when they were founded and fill in any important milestones in the company’s history.  This allows fans to get a feeling for the brand; where it’s been and where it’s going.  This feature is especially useful to companies who have been around a long time and have an extensive history, but younger companies can use this to promote certain product launches and other milestones as well. But the nostalgia adds a new layer; it’s cool to see old black and white photos on Facebook when it’s traditionally been a medium for all things new.  They have also enabled a feature that will allow you to pin one important post to the top of your timeline so it the first thing your fans see when the scroll down your page and you can have that post pinned there for up to seven days.

Admin panel

A new admin panel, which will appear at the top of the page and is visible only to administrators, will help keep all top level analytics directly in front of you when you land on your page.  The panel will show you your recent likes, fan activity, page insights, and your message inbox (another new feature which will allow fans to send you a direct message). The new messaging feature partially solves the frustration of many page admins who can’t directly communicate with their followers because traditionally there have been strict barriers to communication between brands and users. A brand still can’t reach out to a user unless the user initiates the conversation. Facebook decided to enable this new messaging feature to facilitate better dialogue in terms of customer service.

How do these changes affect your social strategy?

There are a few changes on the new format that may require companies to adjust their current social media campaigns and most of these changes affect custom tab applications.   In the new layout applications have been moved to the right side of the page directly beneath the cover photo.  One of the downsides is that there are fewer applications shown above the “see more option,” but on the plus side Facebook has increased the thumbnail size to 110×74 pixels.  The old size thumbnail will still work, you’re just missing out on valuable Facebook real estate with which to brand yourself.

When you click on an application it now opens to a new page on Facebook. There will then be a link back to your main page and a drop down menu with the rest of your applications on the top right.  The size of the application has also increased from 520 pixels wide to 850 pixels.

No more gated landing tabs

The biggest change with the new layout is that Facebook has gotten rid of landing tabs.  Landing tabs are apps that would be the first thing consumers would see when they went to your page.  The apps themselves still work they will just no longer be able to make them landing tabs. Your Timeline is now your default landing tab. Facebook suggests that you make post about a particular app and pin it to the top of your page in order to drive traffic to that application.

Are you ready to opt-in?

Right now you can opt in to switch your page, but you don’t have to just yet. You have 4 weeks to add content, find that perfect cover picture, and by March 31st (when Facebook automatically switches all pages to the new format) you’ll be ready to go with your beautiful new Facebook Timeline Branded Page.

So get started thinking about how you are going to utilize all that brand new Facebook real estate. And remember Facebook is all about creating connections and the best way to do that is to be creating content that is engaging and we’ll keep you posted on any other changes by Facebook.

Top five things I love about Pinterest for both marketers and consumers:

1. Encourages my champagne taste – For the marketing side one of the most popular things pinned are pictures of homes, kitchens, living rooms, and bedrooms. If you live in this world start pinning! You can post a picture of a beautiful kitchen that links back to your site where the individual components can be purchased. You can help make these beautiful rooms people dream about and spend hours pinning become a reality. If you’re a contractor or interior designer, post your work on your pinboards. On a personal note, I’m always looking for new decorating ideas! My family is getting ready to move into a new home and each of those pins is something I want to see in that next house. By having the ability to keep all of these ideas in one place, when I get to that point it will be right at my finger tips to get started. Can’t wait!

2. My desire to be Paula Dean – I love to cook, and I especially love to try new recipes. Pinterest is full of them, and so far I have had amazing luck with all of them I have tried. If you have a business that is in the food industry either being a producer or distributor, this is a place you need to be. If there’s a recipe that calls for a certain type of cheese, meat, or sauce don’t you want your name to be in front of that?

3. Craftiness- OK, this one I need some help with. I’ve pinned a lot of crafty ideas that I would LOVE to make happen; I just haven’t had the opportunity to do so. There are so many great ideas out there for things to do with your children, things for the home, or ways to become more organized in your life. Pinterest has them all in one pretty little place for you so that when you are ready and have the time to pursue it, it’s not far away. Some of the brands benefiting from this category with several links back to their sites are Michael’s, Hobby Lobby, Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Etsy.

4. Fashion forward – Everyone is always shopping, whether they want to admit it or not. This category has many aspects to it. This can be used to introduce new products, for example, search Toms in Pinterest. They introduced a new ballet flat to their shoe collection; it was pinned over and over again to the point where the website is on back order for the majority of the colors available. When you have 10.4 million registered users, this can happen quickly! Another thing I love about this category is the fact full outfits are being pinned, what I mean by this is I can already see what it would all look like together. So instead of just purchasing the shirt you like, the odds of someone purchasing the whole outfit go up quite a bit. A way for the advertising to have a higher average sale and the consumer to get it all done in one place with less shopping around!

5. Planning your most important day- Weddings! Weddings! Weddings! I wish more than anything this would have been around when I got married; you can see everything in one place. Ideas on centerpieces, bridesmaids dresses, wedding bands, and of course wedding dresses, if you have anything that a girl could possible need for her wedding day start pinning now! The ladies love Pinterest, 97% of Pinterests’ Facebook fans are women. You better get to talking to these ladies because planning one of the most important days of their lives is worth a lot of money.

That’s my top 5 list for Pinterest. Highly addictive and time consuming, I could get lost in Pinterest for days. How’s that for an engaged audience! There are so many great opportunities for brands to connect with their potential customers.

You can follow me on Pinterest at http://pinterest.com/crotter/

Over time, the terrain became less rocky, the ad options became more robust, and the folks at Facebook itself took strides to become more proactively cognizant about the content of ads being placed and the location of the ads themselves, always trying to keep the user experience first priority. They keep getting better and better, and I’ve noticed that results for our clients are also climbing as well.

This iMedia article from Friday “8 tips for launching an effective paid Facebook campaign” explains the evolution taking place in Facebook ads, and some of the challenges from a media planning perspective while giving great steps for success. I especially relate to the part that discusses segmentation. For a while that was considered one of the all important reason to advertise on Facebook. Now, it’s understood that audience segmentation and targeting is important in varying degrees – some do better on a more segmented scale, some better when the audience is left open a little wider.

If you are a business owner you should consider checking into a Facebook ad campaign. They are simple, effective, and a good way for you to engage on a social media level, especially if you’re new to social media marketing.

You can like True Media on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Truemediaagency for more tips on Facebook as well as other social and interactive marketing.

The musician pointed to a few kids in the audience and asked them to come up on stage for a song. It wasn’t long until 15 kids were on stage dancing around. As the concert went on, one kid dancing in the aisle turned into 30 kids dancing in the aisle. Then three kids started spinning in circles, then five more, then eight more.  A few wanted to climb the stairs onto the stage, then 10 more. One kid decided to sit on the edge of the stage and wave to his parents over and over. This was followed by five more trying to pull themselves up on stage.

While all this was in good fun and the kids were having a great time which is what it was all about, it opened my eyes to the leader vs. follower scenario. It starts early and continues through life and more importantly into the business world, specifically the advertising industry.

Far too often someone will have a great idea then five other companies will put their twist on it to much lesser fan fare. Dairy Queen did their best to copy Old Spice (http://youtu.be/-VtH5xdbMtU), so did Edge Shaving Gel (http://youtu.be/YMJvHpcq52g). Both companies and their agencies came out looking very unoriginal. The old adage of plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery just equates to, I don’t have any original ideas.

It was Steve Jobs who once said, “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”  I couldn’t agree with this more. We in the advertising industry owe it to our clients to come up with unique ideas based on solid research, experience, team brainstorming and a little gut instincts to name a few.

We need to continue to push the boundaries of our industry and our clients alike. If we just give the same ideas year over year in a new package, why would a client keep you around?  Why would your agency keep you around? Better yet, how would our industry move forward? I think far too often, in the back of our minds we are worried about failure. It was Richard Nixon who said, “If an individual wants to be a leader and isn’t controversial, that means he never stood for anything.” While that might be a little extreme it still holds some truth. I would suggest that if a business wants to be a leader and doesn’t innovate; their competition will soon be looking at them in the rearview mirror.

Yes I know what you’re thinking, we don’t have the budget to explore the unknown, I have a sales goal to hit, how will we measure the ROI, if it fails I’ll be looking for a new job, etc. etc. I get it, I truly do, but what is your competitor working on? Better yet, what are you doing to stay in front of your competitor? Or pass them?

I’ve worked on everything from 5 figure budgets to 9 figure budgets and I believe there is room to innovate on any level. Remember, not everything you do needs to be out of the box, off the charts, or hit viral video stardom. Pick your opportunities and commit.

I’ll leave you with one final quote from Steve Jobs who said, “Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.

There is no minimum number of people required to be convicted – if you send out even one unauthorized spam email, it can be enough for a conviction.
The law applies to Commercial Electronic Messages (CEMs) – including email, messenger (AIM) and texting – that is either sent from or received by a Canadian device.  American spammers are not immune and the law will have the full co-operation of American legal authorities.

Cookies or Tracking Pixels utilized to Retarget, build customer profiles, or trace internet surfing habits will be illegal.  The sending of mass emails without express consent of the sender will also be illegal.  In the case of express consent, the burden of proof is on the sender, so expect to see re-confirmation of this permission to commonly appear over the new year.  Existing Business Relationships (EBRs) are also an exception, but there are definite time limits, ie 2 years since last purchase or 6 months since last product inquiry.
Email messages must identify the sender.  The subject line must be representative of the message content.  Messages must include the sender’s contact information (email, mailing address and phone number) which must be active for at least 60 days after message is sent. (note in the case of text messages, the phone number requirement has been dropped).

Email messages must include a conspicuous, simple, functioning unsubscribe mechanism.  If unsubscribed, the request must be processed within ten days.
The bill is still a work-in-progress, and we are encouraged to seek legal counsel on this whenever the final bill becomes law.  The current version can be found here.

The new law will severely change the way that a number of business-to-business firms prospect, especially list brokers that I find are increasingly finding my name on a list and offering me their expertise – which I did not ask for.   I hope the government widely distributes an email address where unsolicited spam can be forwarded and investigated.  I worry about the bandwidth in law enforcement to actually investigate and prosecute so many offenders, but hopefully the penalties are steep enough to curtail many offenders.  Personally I look forward to this legislation and hope that it severely limits my options to buy B to B lists, Viagra, and Russian brides.

Not So Much Love for Mickey D's on Twitter

McDonald’s is sponsoring a trend (#McDStories) on Twitter this week to get conversations started about the farmers that grow their food. It’s a touchy-feely message that has unfortunately, backfired on them as people use the trend to share their McDonald’s horror stories! The New York Observer is going so far as to call it the latest “Hashtag disaster.”

Social Media can be wild and uncontrollable. This is a good example of how social channels can be a scary place for brands, but still they hold great potential to start conversations and engage the public. As a media professional, I commend McDonald’s for being brave enough to weather the storm of unfavorable tweets in order to start conversations with a somewhat skeptical public about the origin of their food. The campaign adds a human element to the corporate giant. However, I’m a little surprised they didn’t see this coming. It’s obvious that they don’t have a high influence among brand advocates on this particular social channel, considering most of the tweets are negative, and no one, not even the brand, is bothering to answer to much of the defamation.

The other promoted trend of #meetthefarmers seems to be a little more friendly and somewhat better received, although it’s not getting near the traction that #MCDstories is getting. For better or for worse.

And who knows, maybe they’ll learn some things from these tweets that can help improve their brand!