Curation Revolution

HBR makes a conclusive case for why SURPRISE creates the most effective marketing. Surprise is another way of saying exceeding expectations and I AGREE.

The warning shot is if we market ONLY to what we see in our data we become increasingly predictable. We KPI surprise OUT of our thinking and marketing.

Great article on how to build positive surprise into your marketing process and thinking.

The Same Message Over And Over
Social Is Different and we keep getting this message over and over. The problem / opportunity with social media marketing is it doesn't respond well to typical Stimulus - Response advertising so favored everywhere else.

Once you break the S - R curve TIME changes. When you reinforce a behavior you created it feels like you gain brand advocacy. I think you make a transaction and advocacy comes AFTER the sale. 

Social media flips this response. Social media builds a relationship first, secures advocacy and then comes money. If that sounds EASTERN and not very capitalist you are right and beginning to see some of the reasons we S - R marketing pros are having such a hard time with social media marketing.

The answers are NOT to attempt to simply cart one set of tactics from paid to social. No, the answer is to form and find new ways to judge ROI vis brand advocacy and social support. Soon we will see just how much social media creates a base for success IN ALL OTHER MARKETING. 

Marketers are a distrusting lot. Instead of looking hard at our efforts and preconceptions we want NEW things to walk and talk like OLD things, things we understand and trust. Life in a digital age can't afford such singular thinking.

Fuzziness prevails and the over, what we stand to gain, exceeds the under, what we stand to loose well enough to demand and open minded participation as we define the new marketing on the back of the thing we trust (paid).  

I'm old enough to remember having knockdowns about paid too. There was a time when what is trusted NOW was distrusted then. Best to keep that truth close at hand since it reminds us how important ACTING and LEARNING have become in modern marketing. 

Ford Creates DCC For The Fiesta
It is not an exaggeration to say social media saved the Ford Motor Company. DCC or Driver Created Content flowed to Ford because they GAVE AWAY 100 Fiestas for a year. They asked the customers who won the cars to provide real world feedback.

If this sounds like Ford gamified social media you are thinking what I am and what I wrote years ago:

Saving The Ford Motor Company (2008)
http://scenttrail.blogspot.com/2008/09/saving-ford-motor-company.html 

When I wrote that piece in 2008 I wanted convey how the information is more important than the CAR. Ford got it and went me several better. Kudos to FORD and a lesson for every marketer who continues to doubt the power of social media, User Generated Content and gamification. 

Google Header Eats Los Angeles

Yes the Google+ Header just got bigger along with 41 other feature improvements to the leading search engine's social network. Recognizing that the most popular content on Facebook is pictures, Google+ boosted its ability to compete. Here is a quote from the Economic Times post:

"But the most compelling new attraction may be a new photo-management tool that promises to test how much control people want to cede to computers. It will also further blur the lines between a real moment in time and augmented reality."

Live Events & Social Media
Love this quote:

"Social media is a fantastic complement to compelling, live television content," said Toby Byrne, president of advertising for Fox Broadcasting Co. "Not only is it a great marketing tool for us ... [it also] opens up additional ways for us to connect brands with our audience."

Duh! This new partnership is a victory and a defeat. Victory because it signals brands are getting social media. Defeat because the new partnership seeks to make social media just another push network.

Let's hope people smart enough to realize social media can rock live events also understand "live event" means there are threads that should be followed instead of simply pushing more disconnected ads at us.

Agree and Disagree with Heidi 
Agree and am not surprised by the data showing CEOs not on social media. I disagree with why. CEOs make time for all kinds of things that matter to them, so let's take time as an objection off the table. 

Fear of a PR blunder could be a culprit, but CEOs grant interviews and go on TV to talk to the bombastic Jim Cramer so fear also seems a false objection. 

Belief and passion are missing for CEOs. Warren Buffet all but scoffs every time social media is brought up. Apparently the idea that social media is just a faster more efficient version of the annual meeting Buffet puts on every year hasn't occurred to him (or social media hasn't been presented that way to the Oracle of Omaha). 

CEOs an Important SMM Absence
CEOs control the heart and soul of their institutions, so to be absent from social media is to speak mightily of its perceived value (or lack of same).  If you are a CEO and reading this I have three ideas for you to consider:

1. Social Media is a conversation with customers, is it valuable to speak with your customers?

2. Social Media controls the backend of search engine marketing (SEM); do you want your websites to be found? 

3. Social Media will be how we make money in the not too distant future, do you need to make or increase profits?

If you answered YES to any two of these questions then YOUR continued absence on social media is costing your company money. You see there is a problem with social media marketing. I can blah, blah, blah all day, but, in the end, social media will change you in ways I can only predict. 

No matter how good my prediction you will end up surprising and redefining both my prediction about what and how CEOs will and can learn from social media marketing. I've worked with and for several CEOs and they are always surprising. 

In fact surprise is part of why they become CEOs. They see and do things differently. The absence of CEOs is not just hurting their companies it hurts social media marketing too. The minute CEOs adopt and have passion for social media marketing it will change by leaps and bounds. 

 If you know of great examples of CEOs using social to engage, coach and excite their following please share so we can hoist them on our shoulders in the hope that others will emulate.