Social Media Marketing

This is where I will run off at the mouth about all of the questions I have about the lightning speed at which we are moving toward the flat-world of marketing/advertising. This will be a fun ride!

Why I’m sharing my personal email from @BarackObama. #BO

/ John Ayers / Leave a comment

This is not a political post – it is a social media post. My email from President Obama – and others are shared below. Read on for the details.

Politicians (or better yet – their political campaigns) are showing us some great case studeis on social media.

Social Media overload is something that can be debated for sure. And as social media grows at different rates for different people at various geographic locations and cultures around the globe, the depth and pervasiveness of it is relevant.

Having said that, I am seeing a shift in the social aspect of social media.  I have shared before that this may be the time that Warhol was speaking of – everyone’s 15 minutes of fame may be happing now – because it can and everyone seemingly wants their time.

I have also stated that I believe social media is as perfect an oxymoron as JumboShrimp.  Social by it’s very nature is human interaction. Conversely, media by it’s nature is primarily about broadcasting.

Social media then, in its best form finds the balance – right? The social woven eloquently within the media. The nuance of retweets, comments, likes, digital conversations, texts and even face to face, event based, word-of-mouth all wound up into the media – the broadcasting of the overall (long-term) marketing efforts intended.

But the social aspect may be losing.
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I saw this ad inviting little ol me to have dinner with the President and just had to click.  I wanted to see where it took me. And that started the inspiration for this post.

I then recieved emails from Barack, Michelle, VP Joe, John Kerry, David Axelrod, and a host of others.

Click on an ad, and you’re in their sights!  They use the term “Friend”, they sign-off with just a first name, the seemingly personal invite to a birthday party, dinner? Sometimes 3-4 emails in one day – do you buy this anymore? And I’ll say it again – I’m not making a political statement… it is a social media observation – I am getting at here.

A campaign is media but it is not social. Some will buy into it, they likely would have bought into it anyway.

When the media turns social – now THAT is when it can have influence.

You see – I think social media worked liked this 4-5 years ago really well, in fact it worked well for the presidential race back then. There was still a newness to the social media space. But since that time, Twitter, Facebook, and all of the others have exploded in terms of use – and now those using and more importantly consuming are smarter or perhaps more cynical and jaded than they once were.

Sure, the campaign is probably working, but this along with the use of social media in the Olympics shows a sign that the social may be lost to the media in some of the grand-scale (campaigns).

Now I will contradict myself. As horrific and tragic as some of the news has been in the middle east the past year or so, social media has had and continues to have a massive role in that process. Which speaks to the point that when there is a common thread among a large population, social media can unite quicker than anything we have ever seen before.

See multi-page PDF of screen grabs showing some of the emails received over the past 45 days.

SocialMediaPolitics.pdf Download this file

Social Media? – The social is still primary before the media. We need to all remember that. Social media is a tool that can be effective if/when used properly.

Infographic

 

@medium introduces me to @BeyondMeat

/ John Ayers / Leave a comment
Have read about and now just signed up for @medium.

If you’re not familiar yet, you might be very soon.

A new social publishing tool “brought to you by” – well it’s Obvious. 🙂

While poking around a bit in the semi-launched service I was immediately inspired by the user experience, simplicity and beauty of both.

The name medium – is about seeking a niche between the 140 character world of twitter or the quick Facebook post space — and the personal branding of full-time long-form blogging.

Am interested to learn more how the positive feedback will work.

If I understand it, a reader/viewer can provide positive feedback to a post that is within a particular “collection”. The more positive feedback a post gets, the higher that it will rise and therefore – be more prominently displayed/presented on the screen(page). Makes sense.

The collections will be interesting too. Here are some details as @medium describes:

“Posting on Medium (not yet open to everyone) is elegant and easy, and you can do so without the burden of becoming a blogger or worrying about developing an audience. All posts are organized into “collections,” which are defined by a theme and a template. (For example, this post is in the About Medium collection with a simple article template.)

We believe that good design supports the purpose (not just the appeal) of content, so Medium is diverse in look and feel—ranging from different types of articles to images to, eventually, much more.

Collections are sometimes closed (like this one) but optionally open to contributions. For example, here’s an open collection of crazy stories. Here’s one of nostalgic photos.

Collections give people context and structure to publish their own stories, photos, and ideas. By default, the highest-rated posts show up at the top, helping people get the most out of their time in this world of infinite information.

Together, the contributions of many add up to create compelling and useful experiences. You may be inspired to post one time or several times a day—either way is okay. If you’re more ambitious, you might create a collection of your own.

Can’t help to read between the lines that they have big far-reaching plans based on what they’ve learned.

Check it out
Medium.com
Stay tuned.

And if @medium would like to include me in their beta-testing friends & family plan. I’m interested.

Social Media Increases Student Engagement | Inside Higher Ed

/ John Ayers / Leave a comment

See on Scoop.it – Higher Ed Social Media Marketing

There, I said it. Social media increases student engagement. How do I know this? Well, let’s try an analogy. Let’s say that you are a carpenter in the early 1900s. You have a certain toolkit that you use to go about your work. You build houses with said toolkit. Now, let’s hop in a DeLorean to 2012. Carpentry is a totally different gig. The tools have changed…a lot. Big box stores provide ample selections of tools and all sorts of gadgets. Carpentry has evolved, in part, because the tools have made increases in efficiencies possible. In the sense that Student Affairs practitioners are like carpenters – instead of building houses – we build community, increase student engagement, and foster opportunities for student development. The work has evolved over time and so have our tools. Social media provide a great set of channels for communications and engagement. However, here’s the caveat: Social Media are only as good as we make them. The tools themselves do not build houses nor do they increase student engagement. We do. Practitioners actively create structures that enhance engagement.

 

See on www.insidehighered.com