December 2011
1 post
A Framework for Keeping CPG's Relavent Online
I’ve been working with CPG’s for years and have figured out why so many have trouble staying relevant online. These insights come from examining internal documentation, and conducting ethnographic studies, from four different global CPG’s and finding correlations. The synthesis of this work has cumulated into “The Ecosystem of Understanding”, a framework for keeping...
October 2011
2 posts
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How The Automotive Industry Can Lead Digital...
Did anyone else else grow-up on stories about the old automotive pioneers? Stories about how every innovation pushed the industry forward. I’m not sure what happened, but let me outline a 5 point plan to re-energize the automotive industry. 1. THE CAR API Let’s assume the constantly connected car is already here. I think there can be 4G syncing for the short-term, and think...
September 2011
1 post
Why Every Project Should be User-Centric
Introduction: How digital ecosystems have evolved. Over the past two decades, the world watched as brand-ecosystems evolved online. Where once, brands merely wanted to establish an online presence; now, they want to engage their customers through transmedia ecosystems. This shows an evolutionary leap forward in terms of digital thinking. Many marketers and agencies have been slow (VERY SLOW)...
August 2011
1 post
Comprehensive Guide To Digital & Social Media...
Over the past three years I’ve invested a lot of time and energy figuring out how digital channels, specifically social media, can be used to achieve business objectives. I’ve received a number of requests to summarize what I’ve learned. This post represents a compendium of my work on social media and digital strategy. This post will cover the following: Determining If You...
July 2011
1 post
Why a Portfolio of Websites Needs to Have Flexible...
As more-and-more brands increase their online presence, they’ll be faced with a dilemma: create strict UI standards, or flexible UI guidelines. There are pros and cons associated with either choice but, with the chancing face of the internet, flexible guidelines seem to be the best option. Firstly, let me explain what I mean by UI standards or guidelines. Anytime a online style guide is...
June 2011
1 post
Bloom’s Taxonomy Applied to Integrated Experiences
Brands have been focusing of integrated experiences and integrated marketing for the past decade or two; recently social media integration has pushed marketers to try new things, like transmedia storytelling.Now, Bloom’s Taxonomy was first proposed in 1956 by a committee of smart people, chaired by Benjamin Bloom. The first domain that was described in first publication is the cognitive domain....
May 2011
1 post
Social Media Interaction Pattern Library
If you’ve ever wanted a resource that outlines a easy-to-reference library of social media interaction patterns, you’re in luck. I’ve outlined the 12 primary social media interactions, their standard conventions, how to use them, and what goals are best achieved with them. If you think there are any additions I should add, let me know. Leave a comment, or send me a note on Twitter...
February 2011
3 posts
Why Fear-Based Mediocrity Can't Be Tolerated
Mediocrity is relative, so it’s not usually something that can be monitored. You can monitor the people you put in charge of leading your business, however. Innovation is rarely the reason companies fail, but when it is, it tends to be a acute failure. On the flip-side, mediocrity is like a chronic sickness that will kill a company, but can keep it alive for decades. I’m usually...
How Should I Use Social Media
One of the most common questions I was hearing two years ago was “How should I use social media?”. Recently, I’ve been hearing the question less and less. I’d normally be thrilled that people were learning how to effectively use social media, except people aren’t. People have stopped asking, but only because they’re jumping in without a plan - or worse, with a...
How Open Innovation Gives Rise to Brand...
I think R&D and an investment in a “Labs” strategy can drive any business forward. I’ve surveyed a total of 1000 agencies & marketers from North America to find out one thing: What do you do with your R&D budget? Although many respondents have a substantial R&D budget, only about 25% have formalized a “Labs” department that drives company-wide...
January 2011
1 post
Why PR is Ruining Social Media
I remember when social networking was about sharing personal content with family, friends, and colleagues. Lately, I’ve noticed a lot of inauthentic brand communications littering my streams with noise.The Conflict I do ‘like’ certain brands, and want my friends to know which brands I have a particular affinity for. However, I don’t want to get spammed with creepy...
December 2010
2 posts
Developing Community Loyalty in Social Networks
Social networks like Facebook & Twitter have massive participation figures. In this post, I offer some thoughts on why people become loyal to certain networks & what marketers can do to encourage community loyalty. The Loyalty Cycle The cycle of developing loyalty is pretty simple, you ask users to take action & for every action they take, they receive a reward. The reward...
Permeable Community Strategies & Sympathetic...
There seems to be an emerging social media trend toward creating brand profile pages intended to have ‘conversations’ with customers. I feel like this is a horrible misuse of social networking & digital strategy. It also creates a poor user experience & is less effective than the strategy I’ll outline below. THE PROBLEM Treating social networks as a medium rather than...
November 2010
3 posts
What does a UX Strategist do anyway?
Having just made the jump to full-time freelancing, I’ve been confronted recurring question: “What exactly do you do?”I’ve primarily been focused on my existing clients, but am starting to get a number of new requests to work together; so I wanted to tell everyone what it is I do - and how you can start working with me. There are three primary ways I’m engaged: 1....
Digital Ecosystem Interaction Map
I’ve created the digital ecosystem interaction map to answer the following questions: How do I tie my different digital properties together? How do I achieve successful community integration throughout my marketing & communications channels? What type of content should I be focusing on creating? What metrics should I be monitoring? How do I respond (if I need to respond)? What can...
Increase Revenue by Giving Content Away
Many individuals, marketers, and agencies struggle with establishing a perception of being a thought leader. This post will help you understand the value of being perceived as a thought-leader, and will offer some techniques to amplify your work. The Benevolent Thought Leader Creates content & shares it openly. These users care less about distributing content & care more about working...
October 2010
2 posts
The Visual Digital Brief Worksheet
This is a worksheet I developed to assist me in my consulting practice. It helps define & focus clients on the project. (download PDF) Instead of creating a multi-page document, this is a one-page visual brief, designed for digital projects. It’s also proven useful for identifying strategic gaps & managing client expectations.Here’s an example: (view full version) ...
Why Marketing Strategies Work or Fail
Marketers have more than just marketing on their minds. They worry about lots of things from cost of production, to quality of customer service; from brand perception to communication planning. The key to a successful marketing strategy is recognizing all the work that has to be done prior to creating a marketing strategy, ensuring it gets done properly & communication between business units...
August 2010
3 posts
Radical Social Design
The days of social media marketing campaigns are numbered. The future lies in radical social design; the ability to socially-enable the things we do everyday. I’m not suggesting we share EVERYTHING we do, but share valuable things we don’t even realize are valuable yet. 6 OBJECTIVES OF SOCIAL DESIGN INTEGRATION Establish A Presence Even @chrisbrogan once had no followers. As hard...
Discovery Optimization (Presentation)
I was recently invited to give a talk to some MBA students on the value of discovery in marketing. There was a great, inspiring Q&A session afterword. I really love having discussions with brilliant people. During this presentation I discussed the overall value of search v the overall value of discovery. This is an addendum to my previous post: Understanding The Cognitive Value of Searching...
Understanding The Cognitive Value of Searching v....
Search engines have changed the way many people use the internet. Understanding the different cognitive rewards searching & discovering provide, can help you determine the most effective ways to deliver a message.Definitions for this article: Search (v.) – To enter a set of key words or phrases into a system that matches those keywords or phrases to a predefined index. This system will...
July 2010
1 post
Appealing to the masses by designing for the lazy
The standards and trends we tap into today haven’t always been standards; they were once innovative user interfaces. Consider the introduction of windowing, the introduction of a pointing device, to the introduction of mega-menus, breadcrumbs, and reductive filtering - all considered innovative and dangerous. Why did these conventions become so ubiquitous, while other interfaces fell to the...
June 2010
1 post
Details that can increase your success on Twitter
Understanding the basics and user expectations can give you a competative advantage when using Twitter to increase revenue, productivity, or brand recognition. Twitter works like a public messaging system, where anything you post can be seen by anyone: Mentions & Replies: You can mention a user by using the @ symbol before a users name. Your message will end up appearing in the users @...
May 2010
1 post
Understanding Social Group Interaction Dynamics
Learning how to successfully interact with your customers through social media channels can be challenging. It can be especially challenging because it can be hard to know when you’re talking to an individual, a group, or a whole society. The viral nature of social media suggests that any interaction could jump across groups & become hard to control. The term “going viral” generally refers to...
April 2010
2 posts
Five Models for Social Media Integration
I’ve recently been talking to some of my friends & clients about the value of integration of social media efforts with online marketing efforts.The big underlying question: How should my website integrate content from my social media properties? HERE ARE A FEW OPTIONS1. Bi-directional hub & spoke model Benefits: 2 way syndication and a well thought tagging taxonomy allows much...
Lead with an evolving digital business ecosystem
The most innovative companies are engaging their audience, customers, and employees in completely new ways with the help of new technology. In the following post, I’ll outline how we’re currently using some technologies & how new/ emerging technologies are changing how we’re able to use them. There are 4 primary spheres that are influenced in various ways by various forms...
March 2010
1 post
Controlling your communications
0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false An issue that’s plagued marketers since the rise of digital communications has been figuring out how to control the integrity of their message. 2 underlying causes of this concern are the editable nature of the internet, and the ease of online-self-publication. The evolution of search & social media has begun to...
February 2010
1 post
Social Media Lifecycle Framework
Many of the clients I’ve been consulting for have interesting notions about social media. One common idea is that social media is an ongoing effort and doesn’t conform to normal lifecycle rules. The Social Media Lifecycle Framework I would agree that social media initiatives are different than many other campaign models, but I do think most initiatives deliver a higher ROI when...
January 2010
2 posts
Does Social Media Make Sense for Me?
Jumping into social media marketing before you’re ready can be devastating to your business. The argument that people are already talking about you through social media channels has been used to push brands into social media marketing before they’re ready. It’s a myth that you’d be better off participating than not participating. The voice you create for your brand can...
Reputation & Social Media: Understanding the...
Reputation is an element of what makes up a brand & can help define a brand within a particular medium. Branding - Primarily about what you say. The message you communicate to your audience. Reputation - Primarily about what you do. The actions you take and the activities you participate in determine your reputation.4 elements that contribute to reputation Identity: The way the brand...
December 2009
2 posts
Data Ownership - the bullet that can kill a social...
What’s the big deal with companies mandating data ownership for online marketing campaigns? I understand the importance of CRM, and understand that owning data makes ongoing communication easier; but is there really any good reason to alienate potential customers? The way I see it; any marketing campaign that mandates data ownership needs to reevaluate its conversion funnel. Example: ...
Is your website costing you money?
A website can cost its owner money in two ways: It can cause you to actually spend more money to maintain, or it can limit the amount of potential revenue your company can make.Realizing your site is costing you money is the first step in putting an end to it. Coming to this realization can be a difficult process; it takes reexamining fundamental, and often long-held, beliefs about your company,...
November 2009
2 posts
How to maximize revenue through social media
Building legitimate social equity requires slowly shifting the perceptions of others. Building social equity, and understanding how to use it, is fundamental to maximizing revenue through social media. Three phases to maximizing revenue through social mediaThese are not steps. When you’ve spent enough time focusing on awareness, your social equity will reach a level that will allow you to...
How to avoid the used-car salesman blog
No one wants to have a blog that makes people uneasy about visiting & reading content. Over the past month, I conducted a survey across Canada/ US & reviewed several dozen blogs to find collective ‘pet-peeves’. Here are 7 things to avoid: Note: There are other content suggestions & UX suggestions I have when it comes to optimizing your blog; these tips are intended to...
October 2009
6 posts
Corporate Adoption of Social Media
Getting a corporation with established marketing rules and complicated communications departments to adopt a new way to communicating to its audience can be difficult. With the rise of social media, corporations are beginning to listen; but still require a process to get everyone onboard. The following is a framework that reviews an ideal process a corporation will follow when adopting social...
Iterative Brand Equity - Model, Framework &...
Model Iterative Brand Equity changes. It doesn’t dispose of what existed before; it will update, hand-off, or reconfigure itself to become something new. (pretty simple, but click here for a larger view) Framework Set expectations - It’s hard to set expectations when you’re uncertain how the next iteration of a campaign will unfold. That being said, it’s important to...
How Social Customer Service Can Make You Money
Customer service has always been that business competency that either makes or breaks the customer experience. Over the past decade, many large organizations recognized this fact and have heavily invested in ensuring extraordinary customer service. In recent years, social customer service has become a necessity. Social customer service can increase revenue in five ways: Increased Awareness:...
Guide to avoiding free mistakes
The classic double-edged sword; giving things away for free. I’ve compiled a few guidelines that might help you decide if you should be giving something away for free; or you should be charging for it. Make a long term decisionThe biggest mistake is changing your pricing structure from free, or to free. People better understand and accept changes in price, rather than a move to or from...
4 ways to elevate your social media strategy
Niche to Niche Everyone knows that social media can help you create ‘tribes’; but not everyone knows how to get the most out of the social media niches.The idea of ‘Niche to Niche’ marketing involves creating multiple tribes and allowing those tribes to interact in some meaningful way. An example could be targeting 3 separate target niche markets and allowing each group...
The Social Media Achilles Heel, Content Generation...
One of the most pervasive social media tactics involves generating content. It’s very easy to do, but very easy to get wrong.When you think about it, almost anyone can write status updates, add comments, create tweets, or upload photos. The fact that creating content can be done so easily, allows for it to be rushed into. Here are my guidelines for creating content.Figure out who you know...
September 2009
7 posts
A Review of the Importance of Social Media...
I’ve been getting asked a lot of questions about social media management and it’s roll in overall social media ROI. There seems to be a lot of confusion about who should be in charge of communicating with the community once it’s created.First, let me explain that the decision to begin a social media initiative needs to be well defined upfront. I’ve walked through this...
3 siblings of social media: social networking,...
Social Networking Primary Goal: Creating connections & relationships Social networking isn’t a new phenomena, & I’m not convinced that the model for social networking has changed that much.The basic idea of social networking is making connections with people drawn together by a common interest. So, here’s the scenario: You walk into a Star Trek convention and...
Guidelines to Strategic Inbetweening for Social...
I recently learned that inbetweening, in animation, is adding additional states of motion to increase the fluidity of a sequence. Flight reference drawings by Jennifer Hager I suggest ‘strategic inbetweening’ can add fluidity, and increase the ROI of social media initiatives.Guidelines to ‘strategic inbetweening’ Recognizing when it’s necessary Here are 4 key...
Roadmap For Collective Storytelling
The ability to tell stories has always been one of the most powerful ways to connect with other people. Social media has given us a unique way to to tell stories as a collective. Here’s a roadmap for collective storytelling. Stop #1 - Define Your Story The process of discovering what you want to tell a story about is always different, but the most important step in storytelling. You need...
How to cohesively tie marketing tactics across...
Let’s first decide which tactic will work best.Here’s the Social Media Tactic Refinement Framework I use: (Click here to download as a PDF) Here’s how it works: Part A: Consider business goals, and distill them into a coherent strategy. Part B: Take the strategy and derive campaign objectives. Distill your objectives into the primary message you want to deliver. ...
How corporate brands can deal with "synthetic...
It’s long been known that corporate brands have started using social media in way’s it was never meant to be used. The fact that faceless entities exist on sites where personal transparency is valued, is unusual. A couple days ago my friend was telling me about having a conversation with Nike Plus on Twitter. He didn’t know who the person was that he was talking to, but...
A Framework for Branding Through Social Media
I suggest there are 5 primary models a brand can use to communicate with its audience via social media. (These models can be applied to other media as well, but some work much better, and are much easier to execute using social media.) Direct Communication Communications Catalyst Cooperative Communication Participatory Definition Brand Embodiment Direct Communication: Occurs when a brand...
V.2 Which Social Media Channels Should You Be...
About 2 weeks ago I posted a matrix designed to help companies decide what social media channels they should be using. I originally intended to outline which channels are best to achieve certain personal branding goals, but as I talked with people who are leaders in personal branding; I started to get a lot of data, and decided to split the posts in two.This post is dedicated to deciding which...
August 2009
7 posts
How to Increase Revenue with Twitter Integration
“How will it make me money?” is, overwhelmingly, the single most asked question I get when I suggest a brand open a Twitter account.There are 3 ways brands can increase revenue on Twitter: Create Awareness First, you need to know who your target audience is: what they’re interested in, what they want to know, and how to talk to them.Once you know that, you can engage them by:...