Techno//Marketer - Matt Dickman on Marketing and Social Technology

IDG Next Generation Marketing 2008 - Jessica Kim, CEO Shout Communications

Jessica Kim is the CEO of Shout Communications and is talking about word of mouth marketing in the Web 2.0 era. Shout is doing a large amount of business in blogger relations and building content for distribution.

Key takeaways:

• WOM - consumers providing information to other consumers
  
• WOMM - facilitating conversations between customers
  
• Communities are tight knit and highly influential in Korea and beyond
  
• Offline WOM is converging online, spreads faster and reaches farther
  
• WOM requires content to be created for pass along
  
• Creator -> Sender -> Receiver (consumer)
  
• 4Ps for WOM -- 1) Product (quality of the content has to be high), 2) Place (where content is distributed blogs, Flickr, YouTube, Daum, Naver, etc. influences what content must be created), 3) People (people can see through fake viral content, need to be transparent, hire credible/knowledgeable people who have hands-on experience), 4) Public trust (
  
• The question of trust is key and also is distributed in the online community
  
• In Korea, influencer marketing is strong - often power bloggers or community operators
  
• Social media allows influencers to strengthen their power, build power and connect
  
• In Korea, Facebook and MySpace are very limited because CyWorld has such a big head start
  
• Bloggers have the most influence, a small subset are power users
  
• Influential bloggers (Power bloggers in Korea) (Charisma bloggers in Japan) have trust and are subject matter experts
  
• Obviously, do not try to control, force or exploit bloggers, it's about relationships
  
• Bloggers need to be able to write a natural review, have experience, have interest that allows them to write in line with the content on the blog
  
• Respect the creativity of the bloggers to give their take
  
• Overt influence backfires when the final product comes out
  
• It's all about relationships, building them long term means giving bloggers a voice inside the company (beta testing, etc.), needs to be win-win
  
• Not blog marketing --> Blogger relations
  
• Make sure your interests are aligned with the blogs
  
• Meet the bloggers in person - point of differentiation
  
• Create a long-term relationship roadmap
  
• Use vendor-neutral language
  
• Metrics in blogger relations are different than traditional ad metrics
  
• Look at pass-through from origin point to new outlets (embeds, links, etc.)
  
• Measure each blog with metrics (Technorati, page rank, Yahoo blog rank, Daum widget blog ranking (Korea), BIKO ranking (Korea), etc.)
  
• PR measurement trends are adapting to digital space (x3, x5, x7 depending on space) and will stabilize over time
  

Technorati Tags:
advertising, conversations, IDG, marketing, Matt Dickman, social media, Techno//Marketer, trends, web2.0, WOM, word or mouth

The scalability of language and conversations

There is a game that every American kid plays in school at one point in time called telephone (also known as Chinese whispers). The idea is that all of the kids line up in a single-file line and then the person on one end of the line whispers a sentence to the person next to them like "Steve Jobs is the CEO of Apple, pass it on". What always happens though, is as the message is passed along it evolves and changes until the last person has something like "Apples are oh so good for you". (The game only works until the age when kids know what the experiment is and then they start intentionally changing it.)

Now, imagine you were playing the same game in a room where nobody spoke the same language. One of the biggest challenges for most marketers, journalists, advertisers and PR practitioners who leverage the Web to operate in the global economy is the scalability of language. This is something that I think about often as I blog, record videos and audio and I work day-to-day on global campaigns for major brands.

Machine translation is nearly useless. What I mean by machine translation is the use of automatic translation scripts (like Google Translate or Systran). This is almost 100% useless unless you only need a vague idea of what is being talked about. There is no substitute for localized translation by a native speaker.

The normal tactic for most marketers, when dealing with language, is to create multiple versions of content all translated into the local dialect under a global umbrella. This works well for written content (outside of having multiple copies of content), but you end up with divergent conversations even though the ideas overlap and each would benefit from the other's experience.

The limitations of video
One area that I feel the effects of more often than not is the limitation of video. When I create a video in English, I am almost entirely locked in to only reach English speakers. It doesn't do much good to Spanish speakers or German speakers, because so much of the value is in the spoken word.

At the same time, video is a superior tool to bridge distance and make people feel like they are together. It's also great for education purposes. So, how can we bridge the scalability of language as marketers, content creators and human beings?

The challenge of conversations
Another big challenge happens when organic customer conversations cross languages. Right now there is no real good way to combine conversations from language silos. Imagine the perspective we could have if people from around the world could have cross-language conversations. That would certainly be powerful.

Most social networks are separated as well where each language is kept separate from each other. Bi-lingual users have a very hard time crossing back and forth. The experience is certainly not fluid. Word of mouth suffers the same limitations.

Over the next couple of days I am going to feature a few of the ways that language is slowly and methodically starting to scale with content.

In the meantime, how do you deal with language? Do you ignore it for now or is it something that is always at the back of your mind? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Technorati Tags:
Google, marketing, Matt Dickman, PR, social media, Techno//Marketer, conversations, language, social networks

Five questions with Rohit Bhargava; "Personality Not Included"

When I met Rohit Bhargava at a conference in Chicago last year, I was immediately struck by how smart and approachable he is. His personality face-to-face is the same as it is on his blog. Over our subsequent lunch together he asked our group (David Armano, Herb Sawyer, Noah Brier and myself) some questions about a new book he was writing. The title and some preliminary artwork had just come across on his Blackberry and he wanted our thoughts. The title seemed right on the money and we couldn't really improve on his concept. That book is "Personality Not Included" and officially launched today.

When Rohit put out a call to bloggers to ask him five questions on the new book, I jumped at the opportunity. What follows are my questions and Rohit's thoughtful responses. I encourage you to read them and visit his listing page of over 50 other bloggers who wanted to be associated with this fantastic effort. If you're launching a book, you would be wise to watch how he's launching this.

MD: What makes a corporate personality and can it be different than the
personalities of the people involved? (e.g.; look at Apple vs. Steve
Jobs/Microsoft vs. Bill Gates)

RG: I defined a personality in my book as a combination of three factors, being unique, authentic and talkable. The interesting thing about writing a book on personality is that you first need to get people away from some of the history of the term. I wasn't writing about personality in terms of individuals (think Meyers-Briggs), but instead was talking about personality as an idea that describes a quality a company would want to have.

MD: Is personality something you can change or modify? How do you become aware of your personality

RG: Great question - personality is definitely something you can change. Chapter 1 is all about how to understand what your personality is and why you need one. Chapter 3 is how to define what yours should be and then putting in a plan of action to portray it. The first part of your question is one of the main questions I set out answer. You'll have to let me know if I managed to do it.

MD: Can you measure personality or the impact of personality?

RG: Absolutely - I think the strongest measure is through customer loyalty. I can't sit here and tell you that having a personality will give you 2% sales lift, because it's not easy to measure that. To a degree, it's the same problem with branding. Companies understand there is a benefit to branding, but it is tough to equate it directly to sales.

MD: Are authenticity and personality directly related? Could a
non-authentic personality work for a company?

RG: They are definitely related. Authenticity is a principle that can be demonstrated by having a personality. On the second part of your question, I would probably change the wording a bit. If by personality, you mean an individual - then I would say we all have personalities in the right situations, the problem is that some people work in a place where they feel they need to check their personalities at the door. Whether or not this is due to some policy - the main idea is that companies need to create an environment where it is encouraged for employees to have personalities.

MD: In social media, often the personality of a company is inferred through the efforts of those doing the outreach/community evangelism. How can companies use this to their advantage?

RG: The easiest way is to make sure and embrace those evangelists. Moleskine embraced Armand Frasco and made him a voice for the brand. Microsoft didn't act quickly enough to embrace Robert Scoble and he left. The other way to use this for advantage is to find ways to identify the newer voices that could become these types of evangelists and provide them the tools they need to grow into this role.

Thanks to Rohit for taking the time to do this. Please do stop by his blog and see the other posts in the series.

Social objects as marketing

Shel Israel's new show on FastCompany.tv is now up and running. In one of his first interviews, Shel sits down with Gaping Void's Hugh MacLeod. In their discussion, Hugh talks about social objects, and their subset of social markers,  as the future of marketing in a social environment.

I tend to agree with Hugh and I love how this concept makes social media more attainable. You create something cool that benefits others and then let them know about it through social connections. If they accept your cool thing they will spread it around. If they don't like it the idea will die.

Per Hugh, a social object is:

the reason two people are talking to each other, as opposed to talking to somebody else. Human beings are social animals. We like to socialize. But if think about it, there needs to be a reason for it to happen in the first place. That reason, that "node" in the social network, is what we call the Social Object.

Similarly, the social marker is an object (person, place, thing) that allows two people to put a social object into context. If, for example, you are at a charity dinner and you start talking with somebody about venture capital, you both may drop some names to let the other person know you are in the same social sphere.

Here is Shel's video with Hugh.

This idea happens all of the time and is a great bit of ethnography by Hugh to bring it to light and give it such an approachable and simple name.

What social objects do you have in your life/business? Are you doing something cool enough to get people to talk about you? What social markers do you use to identify people with similar interests and ideals?

Faster than a speeding bullet, more trendy than a SoHo hipster; the power of search data

Are you a spotter of trends? Do you revel in knowing things before your friends and colleagues? If so I am going to share a little information that will make you a very happy person.

A couple of months ago I came across one of the coolest RSS feeds that I've ever seen. Google Hot Trends now offers an hourly feed that shows the top 100 search terms. Every hour a new item is sent to my RSS reader for my consumption.

Why is this cool you ask? Imagine the power of the collective, "crowd sourced" data of millions of Google searches aggregated into one place. It's pop culture at its best. Want to get the scoop before mainstream media? Subscribe to this feed.

The type of information is unfiltered so you will get things like:

• Scoops on sports trades
  
• Celebrity news
  
• Breaking business and economic news
  
• World news
  
• Scandals of all sorts
  
• See how powerful TV is at driving search
  

To me, Google Hot Trends represents the real power of collective intelligence. In the case of Google Trends this is information aggregated across the globe, but imagine if you could do this only for technology or social media. The trends that you uncover would be catalysts for innovation and change.

What are you doing with your search data?

If you are running a web site, what are you doing with your search data? Are you storing it? If you're storing it, are you looking at it? If you're looking at it, are you analyzing it for trends and insights?

Search is as key to a site as your navigation. The data is extremely powerful and can tell you what your customers are looking for, what they really want and what you need to create more of.

How are you using your search data?

Technorati Tags:
50Matches, Google, marketing, Matt Dickman, Search, Techno//Marketer, trends, data

Keeping tabs on the pulse of the Net

One of the reasons that I include different types of media in my Buzz Friday posts (which I'll post soon) is that it allows you, my readers, to see trends emerge. It also lets you see what kinds of content and what topics take off to the level of superstardom.

Take this example. A photographer named Noah Kalina took a picture of himself every day for six years and stitched them together into a video. The writers at the Simpsons were paying attention when the clip took off and created a parody in their show.

Here is the original by Noah:

And the remake on the Simpsons:

At the root of the original clips is a very personal, voyeur-esque connection seeing him through six years of his life. Trends like this emerge quickly and you have to be on top of things to spot them. How easy do you make it to parody your brand?

So, are you looking around at what's popular? Do you dismiss it or think of ways to weave it into your fabric?

Technorati Tags:
marketing, Matt Dickman, photography, Techno//Marketer, video

Buzz Friday for December 14, 2007

Here is a look at what is happening across social media and new marketing this week. If there is anything that you would like to see in this post or if you have something you think is Buzz-worthy please drop me an email or leave a comment on this post. I want to make this as beneficial for you as I can.

Buzz Friday is also available as part of the Techno//Marketer Podcast on iTunes. Click here to subscribe and take the Buzz to go.

[Feed readers please click through to the post if you cannot see the video.]

Inside the video:

• Google is going to start including blogs in their universal search in a few weeks which will give even more value to blog content in the index. Jim Kukral has a post on this too.
  
• Steve Rubel thinks that Google's new Knol wiki service will kill Wikipedia. With Google's might behind it, it just may.
  
• In the battle for social network platform suppremacy, chalk one up for Facebook this week. They've opened their platform to other networks to allow them to hook into Facebook functionality. This competes directly with Open Social. Bebo made the first move, but we'll have to see who else jumps on.
  

And in other news:

• Doug Meacham no habla Espanol. Too bad Enterprise didn't know that.
  
• Seniors are flocking to the Nintendo Wii as a great way to stay engaged with grandchildren and stay active.
  
• Burger King's new Whopper Freakout video has gone viral. Great concept really let people sell the product for them.
  
• A job description at Apple (one way people figure out what the secretive company will do next) is looking for a Microsoft Exchange sync expert supposedly to bring more support to the iPhone. Could make the iPhone a real corporate contender if it happens.
  
• Mark Goren has a nice post on the great agency debate.
  
• Very nice to see Dell offering, and posting about, hardware recycling. This post covers a Seattle pickup of 275 tons of equipment.
  
• Johnny Vulkan from Anamoly has a nice write-up in BusinessWeek on the year of advertising in review.
  
• Reports are still coming in that T-Mobile has cut off access to Twitter from its devices. Will keep an eye on this.
  
• Webkinz came under attack from watch groups when it tried to run an ad for Alvin and Chipmunks. It took the ad down and apologized.
  
• Andy Beal's 10 questions to ask before starting a social media marketing campaign is a must read for any marketer.
  
• Chris Brogan tells us why marketing is not social media and social media is not marketing. He makes some good, compelling points.
  
• Blogger opens access to OpenID. Could be a banner day to push adoption of the misunderstood service.
  
• Lewis Green poses the risk/reward question for companies looking to dip their toes into social media.
  
• Opera, the biggest browser you never heard of, brought anti-trust claims against Microsoft. Microsoft has now responded.
  
• And the word of the year is....w00t! Not sure this was worthy, but if you don't know this is usually an exclamation of excitement in the gaming community.
  
• Paul Herring points out the new, animated Apple ads for Christmas.
  
• Amazon released their new SimpleDB service to take on Microsoft SQL, Oracle and MySQL on the database front. This hosted service could simplify and speed up database queries around the net.
  
• If you're new to blogging, or even if you're not, this post from Darren Rowse gives a great plan to organizing and creating content.
  
• Are you bored at work? Want to rant about it in an anonymous environment? Check out BoredAt.
  
• Desktop RSS reader NewsGator received $12 million in funding.
  
• Microsoft launched mobile ads for their MSN Mobile network. Look for a lot more moves like this by major players in the coming months.
  
• 50 Cent wants you to steal his music. He definitely gets it.
  
• As Twitter's popularity picks up, it's a lot more distracting as some people are noting. Groups are long overdue on the service.
  
• Speaking of Bebo, it's not in the top 10 social networks. Check out this chart to see who is.
  
• Karl Long pointed out a very interesting fact from a recent MPD report that 63% of Americans play video games. Think about the implications here.
  
• Google Maps is adding comments and ratings to get more social.
  
• Scoble is leaving PodTech for a yet-to-be-determined company. Fast Company is named as one contender. I wish him luck.
  
• Ike Pogott asks if astroturfing is in our DNA. What do you think?
  
• David Armano looks at why Twitter is picking up steam. Jeremiah Owyang is driving quite a bit of this growth himself.
  
• Mack Collier has a nice post about how Facebook may have lost its way.
  
• MySpace and Skype have officially partnered. This has been a long-rumored deal.
  
• David Reich looks at the NYTimes.com's 64% readership growth.
  
• Another RSS reader has received funding. Look for Fav.or.it to launch soon.
  
• Why don't you put your fire extinguisher on your kitchen counters? Probably because it's ugly eh? No more. Take a look at this.
  
• Greg Verdino penned his seven trends that defined 2007 and he left the last one open for us to decide.
  
• Jeremiah looks at LinkedIn's new open API and what it means for the industry.
  
• Valeria Maltoni explains why the agency model is due for a revamp and how to help.
  
• Facebook now has 10,000 applications built on their platform. Some are hot, some are duds.
  
• Justin Smith at Inside Facebook looks at 24 ways to market your brand inside Facebook.
  
• One of the best posts I've read in a while came from David Armano on the Critical Mass blog. Check out his look at how digital agencies can get in on higher level brand messaging.
  
• ESPNU is empowering college sports fans to connect and share info.
  
• Erick at TechCrunch looks at Google's OpenSocial and why it's not yet really taking off.
  
• Verizon has announced that it will support Google's Android platform.
  
• Text messaging turned 15 last week. The first message was sent on the Vodafone network and said "Merry Christmas"
  

Top Five Web2.0 Movers of the Week (using Alexa data)

1. Zippy video
   
2. Flixster
   
3. Oodle
   
4. Woot!
   
5. Upcoming
   

More

Top Ten Marketing Blogs from Viral Garden

1. Seth's blog
   
2. Duct Tape Marketing
   
3. Search Engine Guide
   
4. Daily Fix
   
5. Logic + Emotion
   
6. Brand Autopsy
   
7. The Engaging Brand
   
8. Influential Marketing
   
9. Drew's Marketing Minute
   
10. Diva Marketing
    

View the top full top 25

Top 5 "Viral" Videos This Week

1. Here comes another bubble
   
2. Sex and the City Trailer
   
3. Straight No Chaser - 12 days
   
4. Lost Season four trailer
   
5. Led Zepplin O2 Arena
   

Honrable mention: Tay Zonday (the "Chocolate Rain" guy, has this new Dr. Pepper commercial. Added to YouTube on November 28, 2007 and has nearly 1.3 million views. His original video is nearing 12 million views. Here is the commercial.

More

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To help you stay on top of what is happening and to filter the myriad options, you can now subscribe to the Techno//Marketer podcast on iTunes. Get updates in real time when new videos become available.

If you use another podcatcher you can grab my podcast RSS feed here.

---

You can watch this and other Techno//Marketer videos on your video channel of choice:

   
   

Technorati Tags:
trends, buzz, buzzfriday, matt dickman, Techno//Marketer

Buzz Friday for November 16, 2007; mega edition

Here is a look at what is happening across social media and new marketing this week. If there is anything that you would like to see in this post or if you have something you think is Buzz-worthy please drop me an email or leave a comment on this post. I want to make this as beneficial for you as I can.

Buzz Friday is also available as part of the Techno//Marketer Podcast on iTunes. Click here to subscribe and take the Buzz to go.

[Feed readers please click through to the post if you cannot see the video.]

Inside the video:

• Google announced two huge platforms over the past couple weeks. OpenSocial aims to make app development easier across multiple networks and Android looks to be the OS for mobile devices of the future.
  
• OpenSocket has created a container to allow apps developed on Google's OpenSocial platform to run in Facebook. Where there is a will there is a way.
  
• Blogger Social 08 Ramping up. Are you going?
  

And in other news:

• Toby continues her recap from BlogWorld in Vegas.
  
• Andy Beal looks at the platforms most used in the blogosphere. Blogger leads with Wordpress in a close second in front of Tyepad.
  
• Faris points out a very humorous message in MIT's campus map software.
  
• Hadn't seen this Apple/PC commercial with the PR lady. Too funny.
  
• Josh Hallett is sick of bad presentations at conferences. Can't say that I blame him. Sadly, the same people speak repeatedly to audiences making everyone less smart. Conference organizers, get new, better speakers!
  
• Geoff looks at some key points to consider when looking into social media for your company. His are similar to my points; have something to say, want to say it, say it, get out of the way, support the community.
  
• In what seems a natural tie-in Embark has created a Facebook application to let college students apply to colleges right from the app.
  
• Scott (at my company, DigiKnow) looks at the value of engagement as a metric.
  
• Search Engine Watch compiled a nice list of the top 10 common SEO mistakes.
  
• Joel Spolsky writes a great article on how to demo software. If you do this for a living, take a couple minutes and invest in this.
  
• Tangerine Toad points to a great, emotional ad from JC Penney. Wow!
  
• John Moore looks at Starbucks new TV ad plan. If anybody can break this down, it's John. If you're interested in the changing world that Starbucks needs to adapt to, check out John's Change This manifesto.
  
• Geoff points out November's most influential bloggers. Go Valeria!!
  
• Drew asks a great, timely question. Are you so confident in what you deliver that you'd let your customers choose what they pay?
  
• Noah has some great points he's collected on SEO. Take a look.
  
• Are you being talked about? Olivier Blanchard has a post on why you may not be talked about.
  
• Jim thinks that traffic is B.S. He's pushing for attention and influence. What do you think?
  
• Scoble has problems with his MacBook Pro. Apple community gets him up and running in five comments. That's the difference between Apple's fans and other computer companies.
  
• Greg Verdino is up in the running for a Silicon Alley people's choice award. If you know Greg head over and help him out.
  
• LinkedIn is the fastest growing social network, according to Nielsen, outpacing Facebook and MySpace.
  
• Watch maker Tag Heur is going online with its first campaign.
  
• Mack thinks that AdAge has hoodwinked bloggers with their mis-use of the Power 150 rankings. I tend to agree, what do you think?
  
• Lewis Green's newest book is launching and he's looking for ideas to help get the word out.
  
• Last.fm is launching an OpenSocial app on Ning.
  
• Patrick looks at measuring social media and tags me. I'll respond next week, but check out his post in the meantime. Mack also has a post on the topic.
  
• Ann Handley is guest blogging on Rohit's blog. Check out her post on the top 10 network and blog rankings.
  
• Brijit, a "digg for writers", launched this week. More on this in a video post next week.
  
• A Dutch teen is getting jail time for stealing virtual furniture. Yes, I said virtual.
  
• Ads sent via SMS to your shopping cart? Yes indeed.
  
• How should companies respond online? Mike has some good tips on analyzing the situation.
  
• Publicis is creating a new agency called 'Insight Factory' from a combination of other agencies.
  
• Charlene Li notes why you need to be on Facebook and MySpace as a company.
  
• Stephen posts a good example of a social media news release and how to use RSS to make it better.
  
• Joe Jaffe asks who is responsible for Second Life's lack of reach. Who do you think is to blame?
  
• Duncan at TechCrunch thinks that online content providers will be the winners from the CBS news writers strike. Definitely will give online a boost as the go-to source.
  
• Om Malik looks at the rise of WebKit mobile in line with Google's Android mobile platform.
  
• Flickr hit 2 billion photos this week.
  
• Marvel Comics will put 2,500 comics online for reader enjoyment.
  
• Bebo released their open platform push with Open Media.
  
• MarketingProfs book club is open with this month's feature "Robin Hood Marketing".
  
• My friend George, a Cleveland blogger, reports on his experience from BlogWorld Expo in Vegas.
  
• Kevin has a great PDF of 10 things never to say to the press. Check it out.
  
• Canon's launched a cool site to promote their new 40D DSLR.
  
• Iain points out a cool video for a Minority Report-esque hack for the Nintendo Wii.
  
• Joanna has a great intro to experience design post. If you're looking for basic information on UXD check this out.
  
• Sean at Copyblogger has good points on creating headlines that will get read.
  
• Tangerine Toad wrote a provocative post on the impact freelancing has had on agencies.
  
• Want to know more about nerds and what makes 'em tick? Check out this clever handbook from Rands.
  
• David Armano looks at office influentials. I think he hits the nail firmly on the head on this. Do you know one? How do you maximize their value?
  

Top Five Web2.0 Movers of the Week (using Alexa data)

1. StumbleUpon
   
2. Geni
   
3. Bloglines
   
4. Upcoming
   
5. Technorati
   

More

Top Ten Marketing Blogs from Viral Garden

1. Seth's blog
   
2. Duct Tape Marketing
   
3. Search Engine Guide
   
4. Daily Fix
   
5. Logic + Emotion
   
6. Diva Marketing
   
7. What's Next
   
8. The Engaging Brand
   
9. Brand Autopsy
   
10. Influential Marketing
    

View the top full top 25

Top 5 "Viral" Videos This Week

1. Por que no te callas?
   
2. Android demo
   
3. Not the daily show, with some writer
   
4. Why we fight
   
5. Spice tesco 2007
   

More

---

To help you stay on top of what is happening and to filter the myriad options, you can now subscribe to the Techno//Marketer podcast on iTunes. Get updates in real time when new videos become available.

If you use another podcatcher you can grab my podcast RSS feed here.

---

You can watch this and other Techno//Marketer videos on your video channel of choice:

   
   

Technorati Tags:
trends, buzz, buzzfriday, matt dickman, Techno//Marketer

Planting the seed

One question that I often get when speaking to groups, and in conversations at events, is how to "seed" content. Content has to originate someplace to start moving from person to person, but how they ask? Usually the agency creates it and loads it to the platform du jour (YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, etc.), but then what? You could have the funniest, most original video/photo/story, but without getting it out to your audience what good is it?

I've seen a few tactics for doing this:

• The bait and switch seed - One video I recall that worked on this premise was the Canadian Sunsilk shampoo line. Here is the video.

  The entire video was staged by the agency and received some interesting press coverage. The video gained widespread attention and was a nice bit of PR for the brand once they were "discovered".

• Agency seed - No matter the campaign, agencies are commonly asked to seed their content through their network of peers. This may or may not immediately reach the target.

• Traditional PR seed - A traditional PR agency is increasingly called on to create awareness of specific content, spreading the message to the target through traditional means.

• Social network seed - If placed correctly, and given to key influencers in a community, social networks are great at spreading the content through a specific audience. Facebook is a great example where content spreads through the network from group to group as more and more people engage with it.
  

These are just some of the ways I've seen content seeding and there are many more. What is your take on the methods I've mentioned? What else have you seen out there? What's been most effective for you?

Technorati Tags:
Facebook, marketing, Matt Dickman, social media, social networks, Techno//Marketer, Word of Mouth

So you want to go viral eh?

So I was going through the Q&A over on Gooruze (where I am a founding Gooru) yesterday and came across a question by a member wanting to know what to do when a client asks for something "viral". I've seen this question a lot and I've weighed in on it before, but I have refined my thinking over time and wanted to share where I am right now.

The very first thing you have to do is collectively work to define viral. Viral is a goal, not a tactic. Asking the client what their campaign goals are is crucial. You can even ask them "what would be viral success for you?". Get as detailed as possible (400 pass alongs, 50 comments, etc.). As an agency, you have to decide if their expectations are realistic and make a go/no-go decision.

People have delusional dreams that millions of people clamoring for their content. The part that really matters is the engagement that a piece of content creates with your brand. So if something is watched 1,000,000 times and only 10 of those people know who you are and act on it, you have to ask if it's worth it. Alternatively, if something is seen 10 times and the same number know/learn who you are and act on it, your outcome is better. Which is viral to you?

Content that has the goal of becoming viral needs to hit a few key requirements no matter what.

• Uniqueness - viral usually only happens once. Subservient chicken was great, but tell me one of the copycats who followed it up. You can't. Viral happens once and it's done. You have to be the first.
  
• Resonance - things that go viral resonate with their audience so much that they feel a need to share. Could be comedic, cool or dumb, but it has to resonate.
  
• Easy, multi-modal pass-along - should be email-friendly, embeddable, hooked into social networks, IM-friendly, etc. I've seen people make things hard to forward and that kills the idea in its tracks.
  

If a client still doesn't get it, doesn't have goals or won't listen then you should run the other way. They'll never be satisfied, the product will suffer and they'll take you down with them.

Also, check out Seth Godin's take on viral vs. word-of-mouth. Yes, there is a difference and it's important to know.

Are there any other requirements that you set when creating a new campaign? Have you ever walked away from a project or later realized that you should have? What successes have you had and what made people see the value and pass it along?

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