The Social Conundrum

Nick Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 15 years, and helps the Fortune 100 identify unmet consumer needs, create ideas to fill those needs, and bring them into market. He currently works at Maddock Douglas.

Remember What You Used to Think About Social Media?

"It isn't about making content go viral—though that would be a wonderful byproduct, should it happen—or creating the next great Facebook application," Kinports says. "It's about structuring, and in some cases restructuring, how a business views and interacts with its customer base. The modern consumer is savvy, aware, and fully able to make informed decisions, thanks to a wealth of information freely available on the Internet. The consumer of the near future will make purchase decisions based on information gleaned from unbiased peers and influencers. Social media is the latest tool through which these interactions occur."
SOURCE: Bloomberg-Businessweek, May 26, 2009 (click here for the full article)

Sometimes it's useful to look back and remember what we were all saying about social media and the future of advertising. I was reminded of an article I co-authored in early 2009 that eventually made it's way to Bloomberg-Businessweek.

Here's an inspiring TEDx video from David Armano covering his current views on the topic:



We should all remember what made social media such a buzz word in the first place and why many marketers lost their way. Sometimes to move forward you really do have to look back. What did you used to think about social media and the future of advertising?

Nick Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 15 years, and helps the Fortune 100 identify unmet consumer needs, create ideas to fill those needs, and bring them into market. He currently works at Maddock Douglas.

Engaging Times: My Picks From #Alterian2010

Attending the Alterian Engaging Times conference gave me an interesting look at brands not typically discussed in the advertising and marketing world. I'm going to highlight my favorite comments and links from the #Alterian2010 hashtag. If you want to get the full presentations for the conference check out Alterian's Slideshare page. You can also read an archive of all the conference tweets here.

ADMAVEN's top 10 Tweets from #Alterian2010:

@djeldridge: 86% of consumers want to engage with the brand.

@michaelsantoro: It's up to us as marketers to stop mass broadcasting and start listening, understanding, and engaging.

@AmandaDeVito: Technology has to be at the core of marketing.

@interactiveAmy: Reminder to agencies, brands & marketers: Technology needs same importance as creativity!

@Elyse_D: In Australia, Court Notices can be served through Facebook. A Facebook Summons is considered legally binding

@MichelleRTaylor: @WesternUnion 's corporate guidelines for SM - Take responsibility for what you post."

@DonPeppers: cross channel communication is like surround-sound marketing - don't allow different tones out of different speakers!

@catherinewarren: You can't take something off the Internet, it's like trying to take pee out of a pool

@exec101: Social Media and CRM are inextricably intertwined - Don Peppers.

@markdamicoroch: 96% of gen y consumers belong to a social network per Don Peppers

Nick Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 15 years, and helps the Fortune 100 identify unmet consumer needs, create ideas to fill those needs, and bring them into market. He currently works at Maddock Douglas.

Game Mechanics Increase Brand Engagement

Or do they?

I was recently pitched on Jellyvision - it's an interactive (and pretty engaging) product that helps communicate complex topics. It reminded me of a concept that I've been meaning to address for a while now: game mechanics as a driver for brand engagement. We've all seen the obvious examples in FourSquare, Twitter (number of followers is similar to a score), and now websites that provide badges or achievements for clicking links, commenting and sharing content with your social networks.

Game mechanics make ads and websites more engaging

It may be a Millennial thing, but incorporating achievements or awards - even if they are valueless - in front of consumers compels them to interact with content more often. Incorporating game mechanics into digital outlets doesn't make sense for everyone, but in the right environment against the right audience it can be the tip of the spear that drives return visits.

Not convinced? Here's another example of the game mechanic in action: Empire Avenue. As if you needed one more social media site to participate in... I like Empire Avenue because it takes the next step of creating a marketplace for social currency where you can buy and sell your friends for virtual currency just like stock markets across the world. On top of that you get the whole badge/achievement thing. Remember my old article on "The Currency of Like"? Here it is in action folks. Oh, and if you want to pick up some shares of me, I'm listed under the ticker symbol NICKK.

What do you think? Are sites that build in game mechanics more successful?

Nick Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 9 years, and helps the Fortune 100 identify unmet consumer needs, create ideas to fill those needs, and bring them into market. He currently works at Maddock Douglas.

Top Executives Share Views on Social Media and Interactive Advertising

Here's a nice little CNN Money bit from executives at Twitter, LinkedIn and Zynga on the future of interactive advertising technologies. It's interesting to hear top people at three of the sexiest digital companies dance around the idea of ROI from new forms of advertising.



Nick Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 9 years, and helps the Fortune 100 identify unmet consumer needs, create ideas to fill those needs, and bring them into market. He currently works at Maddock Douglas.

Facebook Fan Value: The Definitive ROI Formula

Ready for the definitive ROI formula to calculate how much every online social interaction is worth?

There isn't one. And you should stop wasting your time trying to figure it out.

Before I tell you why let's look at a couple of tips and case studies to make your marketing efforts more valuable in the the current social technology landscape:

Incentivize sharing across your target platforms. A great case study for this type of engagement is Urban Hunt. Sponsored by FIJI Water, participants in the day long contest are required to open their social profiles (making your wall public on Facebook, etc...) and post bits of information including YouTube videos, status updates, check-ins, Tweets and more to earn points in the event.

Integrate the experience into an every day social activity. Have a look at Bartab. This iPhone app allows you to purchase and send drinks virtually. Participating bars will then sell the real drink to the recipient for $1.00 (a steal in San Francisco - the only participating city at the time of this article). The catch? The only way to get the drink is by allowing Bartab to openly share on Facebook and Twitter that you have sent or received the drink.

The conversation needs to be less about a hard ROI for "fans", "likes" or "check-ins" and more about driving engagement and brand equity with things worth sharing. Let's face it, spending time trying to calculate these figures is futile; before you know it the private companies that own major social platforms are going to commoditize social sharing and pull the rug out from under marketers' feet. I've been saying it for months now, and trust me, it's coming sooner than you think.

The best way to bring social value to your (or your clients') brand(s) is through creation of a unique and highly incentivized sharing experience. Contests and gimmicks are old hat and boring. Consumers demand more interesting, interactive and inherently social applications. Based on accelerating trends it shouldn't be hard to identify that next killer campaign for your brand.

As for measurement? I wouldn't worry too much about the details. Use analytics layered over interactions and revenue to get a good picture of success or failure. Make great social applications that share and scale well and you'll find measurement becomes far less important in the grand scheme.

Nick Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 9 years, and helps the Fortune 100 identify unmet consumer needs, create ideas to fill those needs, and bring them into market. He currently works at Maddock Douglas.

3 Interactive Advertising Trends iPhone 4 Will Accelerate

If you're an Apple enthusiast your world ground to a halt on June 7th, 2010 at 12:00CST for the live announcement of the iPhone 4 (among other, and decidedly less hyped, technologies). Of course most of us had already seen a prototype model leaked (lost) months earlier.

I don't really care about the specifics of the phone itself, and won't bore you by rehashing some of the same old points about how amazing and magical the device is. Instead let's take a look at the trends that the ubiquitous device will accelerate in the interactive advertising space.

First, a disclaimer and an opinion. I own an iPhone and enjoy the experience. I do have my complaints, but overall it's the one piece of tech I couldn't live without on a daily basis. The opinion? iPhone isn't going anywhere. In fact, for the reasons I'm about to outline below, iPhones are going to become even more relevant in the average smartphone user's life.

TREND ACCELERATION: Video Everywhere

Advertisers have, for years, struggled with making video relevant and engaging. Consumers, for the most part, haven't jumped on the bandwagon. Video widgets and ads have actually become less prevalent as advertisers adjusted budget from expensive production to Google ads embedded in YouTube. That's all over now. Watch and see.

TREND ACCELERATION: Mobile Ads That Work

iAd is a great advancement in mobile advertising technology, but the real insight here is ubiquity of a single mobile platform. That means advertisers, agencies, and marketers can begin to think about one mobile culture instead of disparate pockets of early adopters. We've all heard mobile ad budgets are on the rise and will reach seventy three quadrillion dollars by 2052, but the reality is that iPhone 4 and OS 4 will accelerate this process dramatically.

TREND ACCELERATION: Rich Social Ubiquity

Social technologies have come a long way in the last few years. It's generally accepted that some of the more robust technologies like video blogging, podcasting, and lifestreaming haven't caught on the same way that Facebook or Twitter has. Thanks to the ease of use of Apple's new mobile device, expect to see the traditional blog (and to some extent microblogging) made less relevant as it's eclipsed by richer formats.

Do you see iPhone 4 as a catalyst for trend acceleration? What else do you see coming down the pipe as Apple's next big device hits market?

Nick Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 9 years, and helps the Fortune 100 identify unmet consumer needs, create ideas to fill those needs, and bring them into market. He currently works at Maddock Douglas.

BP's New Stance on Social Media Crisis Management: Let it Ride!

About a week ago I asked how BP will handle the coming firestorm of social media parody, impersonation, and intellectual property infringement.

As of yesterday we know the answer.

As the faux @BPGlobalPR Twitter account heats up with tens of thousands of followers and a clothing line, I see a trend forming.

Empathizing with and supporting victims has always been a tactic of crisis management. BP has taken this to the next level by allowing branded co-creation of content and merchandise to take place.

In a way, BP has endorsed negative (and arguably illegal) social media behavior by omission.

Here's an interesting question:

What if BP had a hand in creating the parody content?

It stands to reason that angry consumers feel a little better if they are following what they perceive to be a parody Twitter account and participating in the conversation. BP's position seems to be indifference.

Toby Odone, a spokesman at BP, told Ad Age of the parody Twitter account, "People are frustrated at what's happening, as are we, and that's just their way of expressing it."

Another quote comes to mind... Put you geek hats on:

"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."

Nick Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 9 years, and helps the Fortune 100 identify unmet consumer needs, create ideas to fill those needs, and bring them into market. He currently works at Maddock Douglas.

Online Ad Revenue Set to Explode, As Marketers Struggle With Complexity Who Wins?

Facebook, LinkedIn, AdWords, countless networks, and now Twitter. These are just a few of the major online advertising platforms agencies, marketers, and entrepreneurs are budgeting for in 2010 and 2011. According to Nikesh Arora, Google's president of global sales, the budget allocated to online advertising is about to skyrocket.

I agree.

In an age where traditional media is in the throes of a long and painful death and more of the world spends time online Mr. Arora's estimates are well taken. He states,

"People are shifting their spending dollars more and more to the online world – whether it be direct marketing, or advertising, or branding. And that follows industrial marketing logic which is that you have to go where the eyeballs are, where the customers are.

The next big wave will be consumers consuming more and more video on the web, and you will see more and more brand advertising and display advertising move to the web."

There's just one problem: Most marketers don't understand online ad technology.

I'll admit - I have a lot to learn, but based on some impromptu research of major North American Brands marketers have a long way to go. Take this statement as an opinion only for now; I'm not prepared to present the hard facts on what's out there.

All things considered, here's my prediction of who will cash in and why:

Twitter: the hugely popular microblogging service is about to unleash it's ad platform. I think the concept is simple enough that marketers will flock to the service... at least in the beginning. From a long term viability standpoint I don't see Twitter generating the kind of revenue it needs to be profitable from ad sales. Not to be a pessimist, but I have witnessed the decline of Twitter in the consumer marketplace, and I can't imagine a future where inundating consumers with sponsored Tweets and ads will make the service more palatable.

Facebook: the world's most popular social network has visions of becoming bigger still, and in order to accomplish Facebook's goal of going public (trust me - this IS a priority no matter what Facebook is saying publicly) they are going to have to have some serious revenue on the books. Ad sales are going to make up a big part of this, and I think the next big wave on online ad spending will see Facebook cleaning up as it expands it's semantic web approach. The "Like" button, among other widgets and games will increase the importance of Facebook - and it's value to advertisers.

Ad Networks: though Facebook will get a healthy bump in revenue from selling advertising, it will be dwarfed by the increase in sales through ad networks. As semantic, geo, and behavioral targeting become more refined (and more intrusive) expect the immediate benefits to be irresistible to advertisers looking to squeeze more out of an already reduced budget (raise your hand if you had a healthy increase in your marketing budget over the last 2 years... Beuller? Anyone?).

Video Services: YouTube and others will reap big benefits in online ad revenue from a sharp increase in online video viewing.

What other trends are you observing in the online ad space?

Nick Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 9 years, and helps the Fortune 100 identify unmet consumer needs, create ideas to fill those needs, and bring them into market. He currently works at Maddock Douglas.

BP Suffers Social Technology Backlash Over Gulf Disaster

No one likes the idea of ecological havoc bubbling up from 5000 feet below the Gulf of Mexico. And no, I'm not talking about Facebook "liking".

As marketers, we know a few things. We know that green products and services are becoming increasingly relevant in consumer purchase behaviors. We know that consumers are placing a premium on these same types of products or services, and putting their money where their mouth is.

Then the British Petroleum owned Deepwater Horizon drilling rig blew up, killing 11 workers and sinking into the Gulf of Mexico. Oil from an unsealed bore hole began pouring into the ocean. Since April 20th the Gulf of Mexico has suffered one of the worst man-made disasters of our time.

I'm not political on this issue. I'll leave it to the pundits to play the blame game. I am, however, conscious that it's bad. Really bad. And as marketers, advertisers, and public relation...ers we should be watching the social web to gauge how a tragedy of this magnitude affects consumer trends and appetites for green.

How will the disaster influence unmet consumer needs (especially in the Gulf states)?

Here's a few thought starters:

Beyond Punishment (new Facebook group calling for a consumer level boycott of BP - full disclosure - I support it)
Boycott BP Twitter
Google Blog search on BP (mostly negative and highly political opinions)
Greenpeace Gulf Oil Spill aggregation

Final thoughts after the jump.



I'll leave you with one final question that is of particular interest to me:

How should BP deal with the social firestorm brewing on the web?

Should BP actively seek and shut down Facebook groups, Twitter pages, blogs, and forums that infringe on their intellectual property or should they simply let it all go and chalk it up to internet karma?

Nick Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 9 years, and helps the Fortune 100 identify unmet consumer needs, create ideas to fill those needs, and bring them into market. He currently works at Maddock Douglas.

Twitter Unleashes Promoted Tweets Ad Platform

We certainly aren't first to break the story, but we think we deserve marks for thorough and accurate delivery.

Twitter has revealed their plans to slowly roll out advertising - first on their owned properties, then to third party platforms.

The question is how effective will the ads be in breathing fiduciary life into a non-monetized platform without jeopardizing the user experience. We like to call that trust. When a user no longer trusts a social platform, he or she will quickly move on. Don't believe us? One word: MySpace (*shudder*).

Our opinion is that the onus in now on the wizard behind the curtain at Twitter to protect the integrity of the service. Let's hope the nice folks at Twitter vet ads for content and substance, and only serve ads that equate to value for the target. 0.02% click-through copy ain't gonna cut it my friends.

So let's see what some of the majors had to say about Twitter's new ad platform...

The WallStreetJournal has a lengthy article and a feature video about the changes, but doesn't do much other than regurgitate the announcement.

The Huffington Post has an amusing array of user responses to the news that Twitter, like most things in the world, needs oxygen to survive. Beautiful green oxygen.

Mashable, the social media new juggernaut, and our old friend Ben Parr have a first-hand look at the launch of Promoted Tweets.

Finally our old standby AdvertisingAge channels Josh Bernoff to make a case for why you should advertise on Twitter.

Looks like we can expect a full roll-out with advertisers like Best Buy, Bravo, Red Bull, Sony Pictures, Starbucks, and Virgin America very soon. From what we've seen so far this is a platform like most others. It's going to be up to Twitter and it's partners to make sure things stay above board. Rest assured we will all be watching...

Follow us on Twitter!

As Facebook Grows, Privacy Issues Exposed: Technorati

This article originally published in Technorati October 14, 2009.

Let’s face it: Facebook has done a masterful job of flipping the social networking script on rival MySpace over the past three years. Holding nearly sixty percent of all social network traffic in the United States, Facebook has become the undisputed heavyweight of social technology. Twitter remains the media darling, but has proven difficult to quantify from a traffic standpoint (those of us who use the service regularly have noticed a sharp drop-off in quality content, and rumors abound of a plateau in the near future).

The public recently received an interesting bit of data from the folks over at Facebook: “The Gross National Happiness Index”. Compiling the data was a relatively simple process: the Facebook team conducted a search for recurring words or phrases in status updates and attached indicators.

The moral of the story?

Intellectual property content uploaded to Facebook – even content blocked using privacy filters – is licensed by Facebook. Images, videos, and private messages are all categorized and indexed in massive databases freely searchable by the Facebook team, and presumably available for sale to advertisers.

From the Facebook Terms of Service:

“For content that is covered by intellectual property rights you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook ("IP License"). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.”

Keep this in mind as advertisers and revenue streams for social networks become more sophisticated. As an advertiser, I would gladly pay Facebook a tidy sum to tell me at a microsegmentation level the behaviors and preferences of my target consumer audience.

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Social Media Contests: Benefits Beyond Traditional Campaigns

Big brands have been leveraging social technologies to encourage community and individual participation in contests for quite some time. The last half of 2009, however, has seen an explosion of innovative social media contests across the most popular outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Benefits for brands (aside from the obvious exposure, awareness, etc...) include:

• Content Collection - content that is submitted by participants is owned by the brand, therefore a successful contest can generate a stock of creative images, videos, or stories that can be re-purposed for future promotions.
  
• User Experience/Message Testing - by exposing participants to a set of messages, site content, or other creative work brands that are listening to the chatter can make informed tweaks to an ongoing campaign.
• Advocacy Building - a smart social media contest disburses smaller, yet still valuable, prizes among more participants. An ongoing contest from Lexli International, for example, offers one grand prize and ten runners up. By reaching out to a broader pool of winners and soliciting them for further participation in the brand, a company can create its own group of influential online advocates.

Other innovative social media contests in market today:

Champion's What's Your Everest Contest

Know of other ongoing contests? Let me know by commenting below.

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> Marketers Love Facebook and Twitter, But At What Expense?
> Advertising Week DC 2009: The Capital of Making Big Things Happen
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Marketers Love Facebook and Twitter, But At What Expense?

New data (and common sense) points to Facebook as the best place for brands to have a social presence. This goes in line with the concept of providing valuable information to your target consumer audience in outlets those consumers prefer to access. The question I am faced with - as an individual responsible for large scale social strategy implementation - is the old adage of putting all your eggs in one basket.

Our best quantitative research reveals that Facebook is not only top of mind across a variety of segments, but that it is used on a daily basis by more people than any other social media outlet. These findings cannot be ignored - in fact they must be acted upon. But where do we draw the line? The combination of Twitter and Facebook cannot be the fit for all companies seeking to engage in social media, yet these two outlets are the most common topics of discussion when beginning a project.

Stripping away the Facebook top layer reveals a rich ecosystem of other social media outlets. Marketers in general are ignoring these outlets in favor of the Facebook and Twitter combination.

Moving into the last half of 2009 will see many changes for Facebook and especially Twitter (as it moves to implement a revenue model). As a marketer you should always ask yourself this question, "If X was gone tomorrow, would my brand be okay?"

If the answer is anything but a resounding, "Yes!" you may have some work to do.

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> Advertising Week DC 2009: The Capital of Making Big Things Happen

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Advertising Week DC 2009: The Capital of Making Big Things Happen

I received an email from Advertising Week DC 2009 requesting to post this information; ADWKDC should be a great event!

When?
Monday, September 14th - Friday, September 18th 2009

Got any big names?
You bet! Advertising Week 2009 will feature influential speakers from companies such as
Verizon, Discovery Communications, Inc., Mixx, The National Guard, Interface Media, Blue Pixel, Brunner Digital, RP3 Agency, White & Partners, Williams Whittle, LM&O Advertising, MDB Communications & Arnold DC.

·Shelly Lazarus, Chairman, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide
·Liz Dolan, Chief Marketing Officer, The Oprah Winfrey Network
·Robb High, Principal, Robb High Consulting
·Tiffany Warren, Chief Diversity Officer, Omnicom Group, Inc.
·Stuart Elliott, Advertising Columnist, The New York Times
·Mark Whitaker, Washington D.C. Bureau Chief and Senior Vice President, NBC News
·Chuck Todd, NBC News Chief White House Correspondent, NBC News Political Director, Contributing Editor, ‘Meet the Press’
·David Gregory, Moderator, ‘Meet the Press’
·Nick Moore, Executive Vice President, Chief Creative Officer, Wunderman New York
·Ted Eyes, Senior Vice President, Group Creative Director, Draft FCB NY
·Speakers from Verizon, Discovery Communications, Inc., Mixx, The National Guard, Interface Media, Blue Pixel, Brunner Digital, RP3 Agency, White & Partners, Williams Whittle, LM&O Advertising, MDB Communications, Arnold Worldwide

How can I get updates?
Text ADWKDC to 56333 to receive updates to the program as they become available. Standardmessage rates apply. You can also follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Blogger and YouTube. To link to us and find more information go to: www.ADWKDC.com.

How do I register?
Easy. Visit our website: www.ADWKDC.com

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Marcus Sakey: Social Media Marketing in the New World of Publishing Part 3

Marcus Sakey was an award-winning copywriter on brands ranging from JCPenney to World Championship Wrestling until he left the business to write novels. His books have been translated into a dozen languages, labeled “nothing short of brilliant” by the Chicago Tribune, and chosen among Esquire Magazine’s Top 5 of the Year. His latest, THE AMATEURS, will be released on August 6th. Marcus approached ADMAVEN to tell his story and detail how he uses social media marketing to go above and beyond traditional publisher driven advertising. I found his story compelling, and I am not receiving compensation for allowing Marcus to guest post. With that being said, Marcus will detail his story in three posts that will appear on ADMAVEN weekly.

This is the final installment of my guest editorials at ADMAVEN, and I’d like to thank Nick for the opportunity, and all of you for reading—very much appreciated!

Last week I wrote about how even novelists need to build and maintain a brand. Today I’d like to talk about one specific way I did that, taking advantage of social networking.

Twitter is today’s buzz topic, and a lot of agencies and clients are trying to find ways to maximize the value it offers. To my mind, the most important thing is to remember that Twitter was created so that people could keep up with one another, not so they could be marketed to. The worst thing you can do on Twitter is treat your followers like a passive crowd that you talk at—or worse, sell at.

Okay, fine. But what does that mean?

Well, for me it meant that first, I waited to leap to Twitter until I had an idea of what I wanted to say. I didn’t want to just shout about my books. Also—and this is important—I didn’t want to be an early adopter. Unless you’re Ashton Kutcher, the benefit to being first to something like Twitter is outweighed by the cost in time and message. Remember that before Twitter there was Facebook and before Facebook there was MySpace and before MySpace there was Friendster and before Friendster there was AIM and before AIM…you get the picture.

The next thing you want to do is maintain a direct connection. That means replying to people. It means re-tweeting interesting posts. It means shooting thank you messages to people who follow you. It means spending some time being a real live person.

Beyond general interaction, I wanted to do something that would A) increase the number of people subscribing to my posts, and B) promote my new novel to a large group, while C) not being annoying.

All of which added up to a contest. A carefully planned contest.

My new novel, THE AMATEURS, is about four friends in their early thirties who are dissatisfied with their lives, and who make a risky plan to try to take what they think they deserve. Along the way, the meet every week or so to chat and drink and play games, one of which is called “Ready, Go.” It’s essentially a question game:

“If your best friend killed someone, how far would you go to help them cover it up? Ready, go.”

So for my contest, I decided to host a two-week round of Ready, Go. Every day I would tweet a question. To enter, all you had to do was re-tweet your answer, and tag it with @MarcusSakey and #TheAmateurs. Every answer counted as an entry. My publisher, Dutton, generously provided a prize package, about $1000 in hardcover books (A significant prize is important—small prizes feel small, and no brand wants that).

The idea was simple. At this point, being relatively new to Twitter, I didn’t have a huge network. But this contest took advantage of the networks of everyone who entered. Every time someone responded with:

“I’d help bury the body. @MarcusSakey #TheAmateurs”

it flashed out to their entire network. Thus my name, and the title of my new book, appeared on thousands of screens everyday for two weeks. Not only that, but because the questions led to intriguing answers, a lot of people in those networks checked out what had prompted the reply—and ended up subscribing to my posts.

Of course, at the heart of this is that personal connection. This wouldn’t have worked if it wasn’t a real person putting it together, maintaining it, responding to some of the juicier answers—in other words, interacting. Which is what social networking is all about.

Anyway, I’d like to thank ADMAVEN again for the opportunity. If you liked what I had to say—or if you hated it—please let me know on Twitter or Facebook.

Better yet, if you like to read, check out my new book, THE AMATEURS. I think you’ll like it.

Cheers!

-Marcus Sakey

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Tweetsuits Multiply, Suing People For Tweets Going Mainstream

You may have read the story about St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa and his quest to sue Twitter over an impersonator's account. Recently that suit was dropped, though it marked a major reality check for the San Fransisco based micro-blogging service.

Now Chicago based Horizon Group Management has filed a $50,000 lawsuit against Amanda Bonnen, an individual with a paltry 20 followers, citing defamation for the following tweet:


The complaint filed in Cook County court states Ms. Bonnen "maliciously and wrongfully published the false and defamatory Tweet on Twitter, thereby allowing the Tweet to be distributed throughout the world."

Jeffrey Michael, representative of Horizon, is quoted in The Chicago Sun-Times as saying, "The statements are obviously false, and it's our intention to prove that. We're a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization"

The Twitter account of Chicago resident Amanda Bonnen has since been removed, and it is now known that the removal was voluntary. Horizon claims they did not ask or demand that the offending tweet be taken down. In addition Ms. Bonnen is no longer publicly listed on LinkedIn or Facebook.

Daliah Saper, Principal Attorney at Saper Law, provides ADMAVEN with the following legal analysis:

"140 characters can be enough to defame - false statements proven so can certainly be grounds for a defamation suit. In an ever litigious climate, I'd think twice before publishing anything accusatory online, tweet or otherwise. A good rule of thumb when considering legal risk on Twitter is proof of claim: can you back up your tweet with hard facts? If you legitimately believe you are stating an opinion grounded in truth, then be prepared to state your case if you get slapped with a Complaint and Summons and cross your fingers that the Judge agrees your posting was merely an opinion."

The idea of a company suing an individual for defamation on the Internet is not new. The recording industry, and more recently the film industry, have been pursuing cases against individuals violating digital copyright law for years, and consequently have been vilified in mainstream media and social media outlet alike.

Is it really the best tactic for a brand to sue for these types of statements? One might say it is important to protect the integrity of the brand, but at what cost? At this point in time, Horizon Group Management has multiple mentions on Twitter and national news outlets.

In a world of democratized distribution of information focused the individual is it wise for a brand to come down this hard on someone with a mere 20 followers on Twitter? As more brands begin monitoring social media outlets for mentions, they will have a clear choice: work with consumers or against them. From a marketing and public relations perspective history has taught us that fighting the consumer seldom produces a net positive effect for the brand.

UPDATES 7/30/09

A couple of notable write-ups on the story from Social Media Today and Ars Technica.

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Twitter 101: A Special Guide

Twitter is notorious as the social media outlet with the biggest gap between awareness and engagement. Part of the trouble has - in the past - stemmed from a general lack of information on the official site. Tech savvy adopters don't have a problem seeking out information, but for the masses a general lack of support is viewed as an annoyance and has ultimately led to trial without adoption.

Twitter's new guide for businesses seeks to mend the issue by providing a benefits based analysis and instructions. The guide is basic, but a good start. As more details are added the guide could easily become a comprehensive, official source of information for businesses seeking to take advantage of social media.

Read Twitter's special guide for businesses

Of additional note to Chicago readers is the Saper Law Seminar on July 28th, 2009 covering Trademark and Copyright issues. The seminar is a "101" intro session and should be very informative. Saper Law is a sponsor of the Chciago Media Marketing & Advertising Group.

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The Great Innovation Race! Building Online Advocacy With Twitter

When Dave Wilson and I were tasked to come up with an innovative and educational experience for the Maddock Douglas Summer Interns, we instantly gravitated towards social technologies due to the fact that they are simple to setup and deploy, easy to track or measure, and transparent (read: good publicity for MD). We also knew that Twitter needed to play a major role in the experience because of its especially simple setup, open API, and ubiquitous nature.

The issue for us was how to motivate six interns to create meaningful engagement online while learning how to market a product or service using social technology as a key tool. The solution we arrived at was simple: our interns would compete to build online advocacy around their personal brands over a six week period for a cash prize.

The Great Innovation Race was born!

The goal for our Summer Interns is to amass the most followers on new Twitter accounts (owned by Maddock Douglas) using their personalities and intellects to fuel advocacy. Getting followers is great, but the point of this contest is to build and deploy a winning marketing strategy. The rules prohibit the usual shenanigans and protect our clients' confidentiality.

Benefits for the agency include enhanced PR, discovery of the Maddock Douglas brand, internal buy-in for social technologies, and a great case study to assist in future client deployments.

An interesting thing has happened in the 24 hours since we launched the competition. Internal advocacy for Twitter has been exploding. All of a sudden Maddock Douglas communications have been fractured between Twitter and the usual means. In my opinion, this is a good thing.

Be sure to follow the race - you can check out our intern pictures, bios, and latest tweets at Maddock Douglas.

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The Social Networking Paradox: Daily Relevance and Revenue

As companies struggle to enter the social space, significant investments are being made to both create a presence on and maintain a presence in social networks. The value of these networks is obvious: millions of engaged target audience members sharing information and communicating on a scale never before seen. But how can a brand understand the relative value and public perception of a social network without expending resources entering the space?

There exists a paradox in social networking that has big implications for brands. There appears to be an inverse relationship between the daily relevance a social network has to the public and the amount of revenue it generates. Attempts to monetize create a tailspin of waning interest that eventually results in the collapse or re-engineering of the network itself.

Understanding where a social network is in the cycle of popularity can mean the difference between starting a strategy that is doomed from inception or growing constructively with a network.

Twitter, for example, is currently exploring ways to generate revenue. Some believe Twitter is already peaking in daily relevance. My assertion, however, is Twitter will be relevant for some time to come.

Marketers would be well advised to partner with an agency or consultant that understands this relationship - both where a social network is positioned and how consumers perceive that network.

I'm still working out the details of this visual - your comments are welcome!

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