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Thursday, March 18, 2010

The Role of Leadership in Social Media
We often hear of social media being equated with tools and platforms. But it's really much more than that.

If you're adopting these technologies and behaviors at your company, it's not about the shiny new toys. It's fundamentally about culture change. And that type of transformational change - which may include updating business practices - must come from the top. But more than a top-down dictum, it's got to be part of leadership.

I've previously discussed leadership here - in particular the leadership from Ford's CEO Alan Mulally, who really gets social media. He promotes a culture of transparency and openness that is completely aligned with the way we're trying to engage with consumers online and think about how we do business. Consistency of purpose and of message is key.

The Washington Post's "On Leadership" feature recently did a two-part interview with Alan that captures some of the thinking behind what makes this major culture change at Ford such a success. I thought it was valuable to share these videos with you, since there are broader business lessons here that any marketing, communications or social media professional should understand.

Alan Mulally on catching mistakes

Transcript available here.


Alan Mulally on the "liberating clarity" of his mission

Transcript available here.

This kind of thinking and laser-like focus on our plan is one of the things that continues to set Ford apart. In social media as well as in the industry.

Related:
Paul Gillin's New Media Demands New Leadership
Charlene Li's Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead



Larger Flickr image of ONE Ford available here.



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Thursday, March 04, 2010

How Ford Uses Social Media [VIDEO
At the risk of giving away too much of what we do (not really - everything we do in social media is in the public, so you just need to pay attention or search around to find out), I'd like to share with you a little bit about Ford Motor Company's approach to social media.

Here's a great video that WebPro News did when we were at Blog World Expo last October. It captures a lot of what Ford is doing in the space.






I keep a clipsheet of coverage of our social media efforts (using Profilactic), which is helpful when speaking to reporters or digital media and they're looking for examples of how our work has resonated. I simply refer them to our links and they can sort through the filters to find what they're looking for.

On his blog, Jeff Bullas gave away The 7 Secrets to Ford's Social Media Marketing Success last month. There are some great takeaways there for any company that's interested in social media and some that are specific to Ford and our efforts. And Slate.com's The Big Money covered the success we've seen from the first wave of the Fiesta Movement.

We're working on a lot more - notably Chapter 2 of the Fiesta Movement, in which there are 20 teams of two in 16 cities across the country, creating mini marketing campaigns through social media as well as offline events and media. And our social media strategy is global, reflecting the growing interest from many areas around the company and around the world.

And we maintain profiles on a number of social networks, including profiles on Twitter: @Ford, @FordCustService, @FordFiesta, @FordAutoShows, @FordLatino, @FordEU, @FordAPA and more. In addition, we've got some employees on Twitter. You can find the full list at http://twitter.com/ScottMonty/ford.

We also have a number of Facebook pages, the most prominent of which are Ford and Mustang. All of our pages are favorited on the Ford page, so you can pick which ones you'd like to become a fan of.

In addition, we're active on Flickr for photo sharing, YouTube for videos, Plancast and Upcoming for events, Delicious for public bookmarking, and Scribd for document sharing (where we're the #5 most followed profile). And if you're ever in doubt where to find us, you can see our profiles on the front of Ford.com or on The Ford Story.

Lots of stuff going on right now that's keeping us really busy. Just thought you'd like a window into what some of it is and why we're doing it.

Disclosure: http://cmp.ly/4

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Thursday, July 02, 2009

Talk About Transparency!

When you've flown, how many times have you ignored the safety instructions? We've all heard the same boring routine over and over, and let's face it - if you don't know how to fasten a seatbelt, you probably shouldn't be flying alone.

Air New Zealand has done something to ensure they'll have your attention: they've made a safety video where the flight attendants are wearing nothing but body paint. See if you pay attention to the entire announcement now.

That's what Seth Godin would call remarkable. How is your company being remarkable - and most importantly - making it easy for people to remark about it? Air New Zealand could have kept their video locked up on their planes, but they put it on YouTube. Why? It's not like people need to watch an airline safety video at their desk. But people do have the power to tell everyone they know about this cool airline and what it's doing.

And that's how great content is spread.

Posted via web from The Full Monty

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Saturday, April 18, 2009

Susan Boyle Knows Something You Don't
Over the past week, the name Susan Boyle has been pegged at the top of the Trending Topics on Twitter. You can always tell when there's an item related to pop culture, current events or breaking news, because it rises to the top of Twitter's barometer of culture on http://search.twitter.com.

In this case, the name belonged to a woman who has ascended to the 15 minute throne because of a television show (in this case Britain's Got Talent), the immediacy of YouTube and an amazing talent. Rather than try to describe what's been happening, I'll let you see for yourself. Since embedding is disabled for this video you'll have to click through to see it.

When you come back, we'll talk about another equally as remarkable video.


Just about two years ago, a car phone salesman by the name of Paul Potts had a very similar story unfold on the same show. You can see that video by clicking here. I wrote about it in two posts: "Your Next Creative Genius May be Closer Than You Think" and "What I Learned From Paul Potts."

In both situations, we see something happen with the audience (and perhaps with ourselves) that seems to universally apply to human nature: there's initial skepticism, followed by awe. But ultimately, we want the underdog to win. Why? Perhaps because we can relate to a "regular" person and we like the idea of overcoming odds to be successful.

The lessons that I wrote up in the Paul Potts post also apply to Susan Boyle's situation:
  1. Assumptions can limit your creative output
  2. It's okay to take risks
  3. Know your audience and connect with them on an emotional level
  4. Exceed expectations
  5. When we're constantly hit over the head with polished, branded, uber-cool ads, campaigns and come-ons, it's refreshing to see a down-to-earth, humble approach. It gets more attention.


But here's another thing that's going on. It's been just two years since Paul Potts made his first appearance, but the Susan Boyle phenomenon is being treated like an anomaly. How quickly we forget - the social media pundits and even the the show's judges seem to have forgotten Paul. The reality is we're overrun with the latest headlines, shockers, tragedies, personal issues and more, and things like this will always come and go. I still remember Paul, but mostly because I wrote about him before. I wonder how many others forgot?

Turning this to practical business advice (I wouldn't let you down!), do you think your company's product or service is that memorable? If a Paul Potts with 44 million views on YouTube doesn't even come to mind for the public and even the judges involved, what can you do that's going to stick with people?

Giving them a predictable, repeatable experience each time they use your product is one way - I'd say it's the price of entry. No amount of viral videos, marketing gimmicks or slick mailers are going to matter if you've got a shoddy product. But beyond what's expected, how are you exceeding expecatations, creating the "wow" factor, and still being on a level that they can identify with.

And that's the challenge, isn't it? Britain's got talent, but have you? If you don't, then go out and hire or partner with someone who does. 

Maybe a Susan Boyle or a Paul Potts can help you.

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Monday, February 09, 2009

Leading by Example
I often tell people that one of the reasons I came to work for Ford is that I could see that the senior leadership really "gets" social media.

Not to the extent that I expected them to know what Twitter was or how to write a blog post, or anything related to the geek-speak we're all accustomed to. But rather that culturally, they were already there. (Aside: you may recall that I actually had Ford's CEO answer questions on Twitter)

Prime example: I was told that when Alan Mulally became CEO, he declined having someone assigned to him to respond to all of his email, instead preferring to do so himself. And his proclivity for sending personal notes to employees and even customers backed that up.

So imagine my delight last week when a couple of unrelated items surfaced on the web

First was a pretty widely-publicized event that took place last month, where Alan personally called a customer to thank him for buying a Ford Fusion hybrid over the Prius Hybrid:



Even though the Fusion hybrid was called "the best gas-electric hybrid yet" by USA Today, it still sends a message to have this level of personal touch.

The other was something that I helped orchestrate, but wasn't sure when it would happen. Craig Daitch expressed a "man-crush" on Alan Mulally, and I relayed that to Alan. He responded thusly:



Yes, these are gestures to two individuals by an otherwise very busy man. But it matters. Even though Alan can't possibly thank every customer or send an autographed photo to every admirer, it's the spirit of the interaction that demonstrates an interest in connecting with people.

Coming down from the ivory tower every once in a while and interacting with your customers is an important aspect of any business. It's so important not to lose touch with the people that actually touch and use your products, to hear what they have to tell you and to be open about receiving feedback.

It's a constant challenge to do that on a large scale, but the individual points of input cannot be discounted, for it is these people who will be so moved and so affected that they tell everyone they know about it (or call a television station or make a YouTube video about it).

Social media evangelism needs to happen everywhere at a large organization - from the bottom up and the top down. That's the only way it has a chance to take root.

Photo credit: patries71

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Friday, January 09, 2009

Tactically Speaking
While I like to spend a lot of time reinforcing the importance of strategy, at some point, it gets down to tactics. In other words, how are you actually going to put those great ideas to work?

A recent headline from eMarketer trumpeted Marketers Eye Online Video in 2009. While that shouldn't be a surprise (I think we can all agree that this particular visual medium is advancing and will be a more important part of our ADD-affected lives on a regular basis), as usual, it's some of the associated details that interest me.



As you can see, video gets the attention of about two-thirds of marketers. Pretty significant. But more than 4 out of 10 are also eyeing social media. Not bad for a niche channel that seemed to be fighting for attention over the past couple of years.

I'm happy to see that podcasts are part of more mainstream thinking, and that marketers haven't forgotten about that bellweather, search. I'd be interested to see what the plans are with a tried-but-true methodology: email marketing.

Have you got any unusual - or perhaps even back-to-basics - plans for 2009? I'd love to hear about them.

Photo credit: dbking

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Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Why Video Will Be So Important in 2009
One of the principles that Web 2.0 affords us all is that, thanks to the ease of self-publishing, we can create content in pretty much any form we want. And if you don't know exactly how your customers like to consume information, I'd argue that you should make every version available.

This became pretty clear to me today, when we made an announcement at Ford that we're launching a new feature in the Lincoln MKS called Active Park Assist - which means you can parallel park hands-free. Sounds cool.

We launched a traditional press release along with a social media press release. There were mainstream online articles about it which got some pickup, including Engadget, the Wall Street Journal, and Yahoo. And the reaction was mostly people passing along the headlines on Twitter.

But it wasn't until we launched the video that we had that "a-ha" moment. People saw the technology in action and immediately understood what the text-based pieces and the image above were trying to convey.



In this case, we had a story that was more easily understood by observing how technology worked firsthand. When you couple an image-intensive story with an audience's need for quick information, video is a great solution.

So when it's time to make your own announcement, launch a campaign, or build awareness, you should ask yourself: what's the most effective way of telling your story?

Photo credit: Ford Motor Company

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Sunday, October 26, 2008

"When It Is Darkest, We See the Stars"
Solutions Stars Video Conference | Starts October 29 at 1 PM EST

That quote is from Ralph Waldo Emerson, and it's entirely fitting in today's society, with the global economy in the dumps and companies turning to digital solutions for smarter, more cost-effective ways of connecting with customers.

As I mentioned in my last post, there are some great folks out there that you should be following, who do the industry a great service by sharing their thoughts with us on a regular basis. And I've got an opportunity for you to hear from some of them directly.

In this case, my friends and communications colleagues Geoff Livingston and Shashi Bellamkonda have put together a unique program called the “Solutions Stars Video Conference,” which consists of over 30 experts in SEO, social media and communications. Filmed at Blog World Expo in Las Vegas last month, this video conference is hosted by Network Solutions and will happen on Wednesday, October 29 from 1:00 - 3:30 p.m. Eastern time.

The entire list is below - it's quite the lineup of stars. If you haven't had the chance to see any of these people at a conference, this is an amazing opportunity to see all of them in one place - and for FREE!

The focus of the conference is helping small- to medium-size business owners and entrepreneurs on how the Internet can benefit their business. Nine content areas featuring vignettes of the Solutions Stars will run during the conference, and you'll be able to choose the segments you'd like to watch:

  • Building Web Presence
  • The Social Opportunity
  • Start with Listening
  • Strategy Drives Outreach
  • You Need Social Networks
  • To Blog or Not to Blog
  • Visibility Through Search
  • Rising Above the Noise
  • Time Demands

And here's who you'll be hearing from throughout the 90-minute session:

If you visit http://solutionsstarsvideo.com, you can bookmark the page and come back on Wednesday for the full program. And if that's not enough, Geoff and Shashi will be available via ooVoo (my "oober"-cool former client) for live video chat during the sessions.

I hope you find it a valuable use of your time.

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Friday, September 26, 2008

Social Media On the Road
If you happen to swing by this site, you may have noticed on my sidebar that I've had quite a number of speaking engagements lately.

Below is a short video of an interview I did with Lee Odden while I was at Blog World Expo last weekend. While my panel wasn't recorded, this is a short and succinct insight into social media and large corporations - in particular, my experience with Ford Motor Company.
video

In the meantime, here's a 45 minute-long video of my panel last Monday at the Social Ad Summit. It was moderated by Ian Schafer and my co-panelists were Deborah Korb from J.P. Morgan and Don Steele from Comedy Central. One of my key observations was around 8:00 mark - where I mentioned Your Brand Is Not My Friend, is by my friend Alan Wolk.




Anything you'd add?

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Thursday, September 18, 2008

That's #%*ing Awesome
Pardon the expletive, but it's for a good cause. You see, Bud Light has won its first Emmy Award.

I received the following announcement via email:
The 60th Creative Arts Emmy® Awards were held this past weekend, and Bud Light’s "Swear Jar" received an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Commercial," marking the first time Anheuser-Busch has won an Emmy. The 60-second spot was created by DDB Chicago and directed by David Shane through Hungry Man.

I used Swear Jar as an example when I was debating the proper use of WOM vs. Viral. According to this version on YouTube, it's gotten about 3.5 million views. According to Anheuser-Busch Communications, the aggregate total is over 12 million. Not bad for Bud.tv.

(Incidentally, I believe that the difference is measured in the outcome, because you can't accurately predict virality.)

Here it is again for your enjoyment.


If you want to see what I have to say about the use of expletives in the marketplace, check out Watch Your Frickin' Mouth.

Photo credit: maubrowncow

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Sunday, July 20, 2008

Television Viewership Grows - Just Not on TV
This may and may not come as a surprise to you. The thing that grabbed my attention was that Americans are viewing more television than ever before . I thought that it would have dropped off recently, with the advent of the other ways people are spending their time. But it appears that commercial TV is growing by 1 percent a year.

The part that didn't surprise me has to do with viewing habits: the viewership of television on various types of media skews when you look at different age groups.

Most interesting to me are the 35-44 and 45-54 age groups: both show a significant increase of viewing video online rather than on TV; and the 25-34 cohort shows a twofold increase in viewing mobile video over TV.

This is only going to continue to skew as technology advances. We just need to ask ourselves if we're ready for more advertising interruptions on our mobile devices and if we'll settle for the same-old same-old pre-roll that we've come to expect in online video. As Hulu has shown, people have no problem accepting limited and clearly demarcated commericals in return for high-quality video on demand.

The real question is, where will we the viewers draw the line? How much is too much and what should we give up if we're not paying to watch online video? And if we're paying for mobile access to multimedia, should we be free from commercial interruptions? What do you think?

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Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Why I Won't Make A Viral Video for You
This is something of a public service announcement. I can't tell you how many times I've heard clients/companies say "we'd like you to make a viral video for us." As Greg Verdino would say, "I think I just threw up in my mouth a little."

People, people. It just doesn't work that way. You can't will something to be viral, any more than you can tell an author to go write a bestseller, a director to direct a blockbuster, or an 8 year-old to be a major-league ballplayer.

Virality (if there is such a term) lies in results. It means that if you've created something worthy of passing along and comment, it will be more likely to reach epic heights on YouTube or whatever other way you're choosing to measure it.

For companies looking to create the next viral video sensation, David Meerman Scott recommends creating 10-20 videos in the hopes that maybe one of them will work. If you look at the how many videos actually reach viral status, he's probably right - if not even a little conservative.

I hate to tell you, but you're probably not going to have a viral sensation on your hands. The best you can do is to create content that matters to your customers and prospects and give them the ability to share that content around.

Oh, and the image above? It's taken from the January 1973 issue of National Lampoon magazine. The original caption was "If You Don't Buy This Magazine, We'll Kill This Dog."

Related posts:
"A Mind-Blowing New Advertising Model"
If You're Going to Do Viral, Do It Right
Research + Entertainment = Wildly Successful Campaign
Psst! Want the Secret to Viral Marketing?

Update (7/16 at 2:45 p.m.):
This video was released by the guys at JibJab just 6 hours ago, and currently has bout 2,200 views on YouTube. I think it has qualities that will make it go viral - it's universally funny, it's topical, and you can pass it along. Let's track the numbers and see how they do over the course of the next week.


Update (7/23 at 5:10 p.m.):
It's now a week since the release of the video, and I'll let you be the judge of the results. It stands at over 517,000 views. That's already more than their video from the 2004 election, This Land.

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Monday, June 23, 2008

Think Banner Ads Are Effective?
While many marketing executives may tout banner ads because they're so easy to track, that doesn't necessarily take into account how annoying they can be.

Well, to be fair, banner ads that are targeted and relevant to the content you're reading may be a little more palatable. But in most cases, it's you vs. them. You take your life into your own hands when you click on some enticing offer.

Here's a little gem from Current.tv's "infomania" show:



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Monday, June 02, 2008

Social Media in Plain English
I've been writing about social media for almost two years. But I still have to explain what social media is to people who aren't familiar with marketing and communications. Well, maybe even to some who are familiar with the marketing and communications...

Anyway, leave it to the good folks at Common Craft to give us Social Media in Plain English. As usual, they do a fine job of taking the complex and making it understandable.

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Streaming Media East Footage
As you may know, I was on a panel at Streaming Media East a couple of weeks ago. The panel, which had a few last minute changes in personnel, was well received and well attended.

In case you'd like to see what Jose Castillo, Steve Garfield, Sarah Austin and Sarig Reichert and I had to say, here's the session. And if you don't have an hour to kill, just fast-forward to the 57:00 mark to hear our closing remarks. It's well worth it!



If you'd like to see all of the videos from the show, you can check them out here.

Do you have any thoughts on the future of lifestreaming? Please share them here.

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Wednesday, May 21, 2008

What I Saw at Streaming Media East
I was lucky enough to be invited to speak on a panel at today's session of Streaming Media East by Chris Brogan. The topic was "Lifecasting: The New Broadcasting Platform," and I was seemingly the odd man out, as I was joined by the likes of Sarah Austin of Pop17.com, Steve Garfield of SteveGarfield.com and Sariq Reichert of Flixwagon. I was the only one on the panel who wasn't livestreaming from a Nokia N95, so I felt a little bit out of my league.

But I like to think that I added a bit of reality and business sense to the proceedings, as there were quite a few people there who, in addition to wanting to learn about lifecasting, also wanted to understand how it applies to businesses. I had a few key takeaways about lifecasting that I'd like to share with you here.

Trust
A question out of the gate was, "Why would advertisers be interested in this?" It's a good question that plagues a lot of social media tools. Invariably when customers are asked whom they trust most, the answer is "Someone like me." The 2008 Edelman Trust Barometer Bears this out (visual below). When citizen journalists take to the airwaves with their videos, it's inherently more credible than any scripted, edited piece by a company.

Engagement
The next (predictable) challenge was when some audience members seemed to be dismayed at the number of viewers for some livecasting shows. Numbers in the low thousands were quoted, for frame of reference. But they were missing the point that all of the viewers watch these shows because they want to; they're actively seeking out the content.

My take is that, as a marketer, I'd rather have 100% engagement from 1,000 people than 1% engagement from 1 million people.

Measurement
I'm sure you're following the progression here. The next issue up was: "How can you tell if your viewers are engaged?" I think we all admitted that the jury's still out on this, but that the real innovators would be able to develop metrics for length of views, which content in videos is most compelling (including using embedded comments), etc. There's a lot of room for growth in this area.

Content vs. personality
One of the problems that I noticed is that there seems to be an abundance of data/information out there, much of which is just not that interesting. How often do I need to see someone sitting around their living room, or doing a talking head video? Puh-lease.

The truly compelling content - and I'd argue verticals are key here - is what's going to be of the most interest to advertisers. This means consistency and quality.

Final note
When asked for our final thoughts on the future of lifecasting, I closed with what is a sneak preview of my chapter in the Age of Conversation 2:
When you think about it, the human race can be divided into two camps: exhibitionists and voyeurs. Between these two groups, there'll be enough fuel to keep lifecasting going for some time. Taking Andy Warhol's famous phrase and turning it on its head, "In the future, we'll all have 15 minutes of privacy."

Do you have any thoughts on the prevalence of lifecasting/livecasting? I'd love to hear what you have to say on the future of this nascent activity.

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Friday, April 18, 2008

From Mundane to Engaging: How One Man Does It
A couple of weeks ago, I said that conversation was like the weather. It's ubiquitous, and marketers seem to be the only ones interested in talking or doing anything about it (while everyone else just HAS conversations).

But it got me to thinking about something we probably all take for granted, but rarely have a reason to talk about: the weather forecast itself. You probably can't count the number of times you turned on the TV in the morning to catch a glimpse of the 5-day forecast, or dialed TellMe (1-800-555-TELL) and asked for "weather," or clicked on Accuweather.com or Weather.com for your local forecast.


Local matters
In weather and in social media, local content and connections are part of what make them relevant to us. People care about the communities in which they live and invest a great deal of time, energy and money there. To wit: the Newspaper Association of America just announced that over $2 billion was spent last year on local advertising on newspaper web sites. Why? Because it's targeted, it's relevant, and it connects people to the world immediately around them. If content is king, local content is the emperor.

Now think about how you interact with some social media connections. You're likely to have a network from around the globe - whether you're an individual or a business. But the relationships that you build based on repeated interactions and sharing of content, information and insights - those are brought to the next level when you meet face to face. A sales call, a Tweetup, or a social event in your locality make the interaction even more relevant and create the opportunity for deepening the relationship.

What's the weather got to do with it?
When it comes to the weather, you're really only interested in the conditions where you live or where you're traveling. And you generally don't care how you get your information, as long as it's accurate. Sure, you may develop a one-sided "trusted" relationship with a particular weatherman, but I'll wager you don't think much about the actual presentation of the forecast - seemingly a commodity.

Well, I've got to tell you that every day in various markets on Accuweather.com, there is a remarkable weather forecast. If you haven't had the chance to see Jim Kosek in action, here's your chance. He's bringing passion and creativity to his job and in the process is taking something the boring and making it truly engaging.



What I like the most about this story is that Jim's employers have given him the license to be as crazy as he wants to be. He still does the basics of his job, but he incites viewers - for good or bad - which in turn gives Accuweather a sense of its viewership. More companies should embrace this kind of creativity - not as a gimmick, but as a natural extension of their employees' personalities - to boost morale, productivity, and marketing gold.

Have you got a story about how something mundane and ordinary has sprung to life because of a different approach? I'd love to hear about it in the comments section below.


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Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Do Taxes and Social Media Mix?
April 15, a date that Americans typically dread - because income taxes are due - seems like a perfect time to write about the intersection of social media and taxes. But not from the angle you'd expect.

I'd like to share a story with you about impatience. I know, I can hear you asking, "But what does that have to do with social media and taxes?" I'll get to it. Just bear with me.

Like many marketing bloggers, I receive my fair share of bad pitches. I suppose that makes me hypersensitive to emails in which writers indicate that they've been reading my blog and think there's a fit for their pitch. Usually the fact that they haven't commented or that they only make reference to the last two or three posts is what tips me off to their insincerity.

But let's be honest. Blogger outreach is a hard job. Unless you're already embedded in the community, you have to get up to speed with your target audience very quickly - and usually with many of them. It's incredibly labor-intensive. I really empathize with the people that are doing this, especially with experienced marketing bloggers on the receiving end. We can be harsh critics, maybe simply because we're pressed for time. Impatient, one might say.

And I can be pretty harsh. Most of the time, with good reason. But recently, I let a pitch slip by that I should have spent a longer time considering.

I received an email titled "Do Taxes and Social Media Mix?" I thought it was an odd combination, and when I looked at the body of the email, I noted that the author of the note referenced some recent posts I had made on the blog here. Rather than being encouraged that she was taking an interest in my work, I assumed it was a form email with recent topics plugged in and "social media" as the topic of my blog simply inserted into the title "Do Taxes and _____ Mix?" I immediately hit the Delete key as I thought it was a contrived effort.

I made a mistake.

It turns out that it was part of a pretty well thought out campaign for H&R Block from 360i, the agency where my fellow author David Berkowitz works. Evidently, H&R Block has a pretty sharp VP of marketing for their digital tax solutions, and she's really savvy about social media.

The campaign was pretty comprehensive, including:




If you'd like to read a couple of summaries and professional opinions of the campaign, check out Jason Falls of Social Media Explorer and Jake McKee at Community Guy. Both are positive but fair assessments of H&R Block's efforts.

The bottom line is, had I taken the time to learn about the effort a little more and been less judgmental on the opening salvo, I would have been more likely to pay attention to the campaign.

I probably would have been even more likely to pay attention to it had the author been participating in my community, used a different subject line or been a little less scripted in her email.

Then again, if I had a little more patience, these points would have been moot. Suffice it to say that patience was just a little too (dare I say it?) taxing for me last month.

Update (5/15/05): H&R Block gave a presentation this week at AdAge's Digital Bites breakfast in which they shared what they learned.

Photo courtesy of PPDIGITAL

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Tuesday, March 25, 2008

I Owe You. Big Time.
You're busy. You have many demands on your schedule. Which means that the time you spend glancing over my mutterings and thoughts is valuable time indeed.

Thank you for choosing to spend some of your day with me. Your participation here and in other forums where you link to my posts or talk about a concept I've brought up means a great deal to me.

A few months ago, I was seriously injured and in dire need of help. I asked for your assistance - one of the hardest and most humbling things I've ever had to do. I was embarrassed to ask anything of you, but I was in an incredible amount of pain with no end in sight. But you were very supportive, both emotionally and financially, in my effort to raise money for a snowblower. In the end, you came through remarkably well and donated a remarkable $1,065.

I can't tell you how much your collective concern and gratitude helped me get through a tough time. You made it possible for me to make it through the rest of the winter so that I could recover. As of the end of February, my back and ribs were nearly back to normal. There's still some residual pain, but I was able to literally weather the storms for the rest of the season.

Here's a Seesmic video that I recorded in direct response to your kindness:


And as I said in the video, I'd like to continue to pay back the kindness. I've done so in a variety of ways, supporting other charitable causes that my Twitter network has notified me of, suggesting the Frozen Pea Fund as the charity of choice for My ooVoo Day With, and trying to be helpful and responsive as my community has asked for it (yes, I do owe a couple of colleagues some blog posts - stay tuned).

Also, some time in the next week or so, I'll be posting about a way that I'm planning to give to my community on an ongoing basis. I think it's a method that you'll want to read about, as you may be able to do the same thing yourself. Stay tuned.

Finally, here's some evidence that I didn't run off to Vegas or something:



Thank you.


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Thursday, March 13, 2008

Using New Media to Respond to Customer Feedback
Here's a video that captures the essence of why companies should be thinking about social media with regard to customer issues. And it's from no less an old media bastion than the Wall Street Journal.

Interestingly, they advocate for blogging to come from all levels of the organization, citing the oft-quoted fact that people like to hear "from people like them." So, it's not just for the CEO to blog anymore. And it doesn't just end with customer relations, it's also can help with employee relations.

For the full scoop, click on the video:



Via Shel Holtz.

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Sunday, February 17, 2008

Drive Attention with Context & Relevance
A couple of weeks ago, I was introduced to a new web app that I think is going to be a major force in the digital/social media/web video space this year. It leverages web video and consumer-generated content, but in a new and different way that doesn't require much in the way of new content development. They call it Overlay.tv. I call it fully interactive and annotated video that has the power to change the way advertisers think about online video.

You're probably familiar with Viddler, where you can make comments in the flow/context of a video. But that's only text and it only works if the original video appears on Viddler.

The beauty of Overlay is that you can comment, call out products, make video & iconographic comments, link to other sites, and more (these are called "overlays") that work directly on top of videos from pretty much any video sharing site. Because Overlay.tv allows viewers to rate overlays, the creator can see what works and what doesn't. Bottom line: using existing videos, overlayers can call out what matters to them. Overlay.tv puts the power of context & relevance into the hands of its users, which will drive attention to things they want to highlight.

But simply telling you about it isn't going to convince you of how cool this app is; take a look at a video that my friend Mitch Joel created (which at last count was closing in on 4,000 views on YouTube since Wednesday). Take I look at how I added to it:


(If the video isn't running, here's the direct link.)

While I was watching the demo of the product by Rob Lane, CEO of Overlay.tv, I jotted down a note:
Advertising that's contextually relevant AND part of the content.
This may very well be the solution to the pre-roll spots that advertisers have been looking for when it comes to online video. We all know that it's a pain to sit through a 15-second spot (let alone a 30-second spot) before a 2-minute video. But what's an advertiser to do? Answer: go where the people want you to go.

I understand that there are opportunities for brands to work with Overlay.tv, to offer their products or custom-made fun items to be used in overlays, skin videos and more. And in addition, they may be privy to statistics around views, ratings, click-throughs, purchases and other interactions with overlays. I could even envision brands or agencies offering content that people can experiment with.

While Firebrand positions itself as a repository of great ads, Overlay is more of a portable play that lets people make the content their own. And when you consider the ability to bake in affiliate programs to the program, it could be a huge win for Overlay members as well.

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Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Can I Share Something with You?
I've been a little distracted lately. Not because of Twitter, not because of my other interests, but because of a very complex and detailed project I've been working on at crayon. I'm very excited about it and happy to tell you about it now that it has launched.

To say that this project has been my life lately is an understatement. My colleagues know it. My friends sense it. And my family feels it - and I thank them for their amazing patience and support. But in the end, I think we've got the makings of a fairly unique project that's bringing together bloggers/podcasters/authors and their respective communities like never before - all in the name of Conversation .

Let me explain.

The project I've been working on is for ooVoo , a crayon client that does video chat - but more than just any video chat. As you can see, it allows up to 6 people to talk at once. Plus with the latest version, you can actually record video conversations. I won't get into all of the details here. If you want to know more, just check out some tutorials & stuff on ooVoo's site.

Our goal with ooVoo is to help build awareness - they're a fairly young startup - and introduce people to what they can do. So we came up with a pretty interesting way for bloggers & podcasters to connect with their communities, face to face. We're calling it "My ooVoo Day With..." and we've got 23 bloggers participating - the list includes:

As you can imagine, these are busy people who have little time in general. Well, ooVoo is thanking them by primarily sponsoring the the Frozen Pea Fund, a fund established to support the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer campaign, in honor of blogger, Twitterer and cancer patient Susan Reynolds. A handful of the hosts have selected their own charities for ooVoo to support as well.

But in the end, this is all about conversation - not about ooVoo, mind you, but about whatever these bloggers and their communities want to discuss. ooVoo is just the enabler. In fact, we're determined to see ooVoo become the "unooficial" sponsor of conversation.

So, how does this work? Check it out:



So, all you have to do is go over to My ooVoo Day With..., download the software (for Mac or PC - both are still in beta), and pick the blogger of your choice. You can sign up for a single session with any of them and chat with them about whatever they've got scheduled.

If you'd like to tell anyone else about it, you can grab some multimedia elements from the social media news release that our partners over at Abraham & Harrison created.

What are you waiting for? ooVoo someone today?

(That was a mouthful just to explain - can you imagine trying to coordinate all of it?)

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Friday, February 01, 2008

One More Thought About YahSoSoft
Or MicroHoo. Whatever. It's not long before we see Googlezon, I'm sure.

Anyway, it occurred to me that Steve Ballmer's song & dance performance from his Microsoft keynote address left a vague recollection in my mind. I wondered where I had seen that kind of enthusiasm, that kind of stage presence, that kind of heavy brow.

Then, it came to me...

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MicroHoo?
Breaking news this morning is that Microsoft has made a $44 billion offer to buy Yahoo. There's a lot of shock & surprise out there, but I think it makes a lot of sense. Here's why:
  • MSFT has been lagging behind Google in many areas, and this is a way to shore up the gap
  • YHOO owns some pretty attractive social media sites: Flickr, del.icio.us, Upcoming, to name a few - this is a great way for MSFT to get in the game
  • The combined search capabilities of the two would be something
  • And the online advertising opportunities would abound
Lots of people are excited about it. But no one more so than Microsoft's CEO. Let's see just how crazy Steve Ballmer gets:



Happy Friday.

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Monday, December 24, 2007

Going Truly Digital This Holiday Season
I don't know if you've heard, but Queen Elizabeth II is going digital, as she releases her annual Christmas message on YouTube. What's more, the Royal Family has even established its own channel on YouTube. Not bad for an institution that 10 years ago was being thought of as potentially irrelevant and extinct.

I addressed my share of holiday cards this year (well, truthfully, I used mail merge and address labels, but there was manual labor involved), but I thought what a great time to start integrating some digital messaging as well. Here's one for you:

video

While I recognize that not everyone on my list is able to send/receive electronic messages, odds are the percentage will grow higher each year. Which is why it's cool that I can record a message like this with ooVoo, Seesmic, or any number of applications. If I really get my act together, I can do the ultimate cool thing: connect with up to 5 people at a time on a video chat via ooVoo, which could make for some fun holiday interaction.

Whatever you're doing for the holidays, be safe and enjoy. And I look forward to hearing from you in whatever manner you choose to communicate.

Disclosure: ooVoo is a client of my company, crayon, LLC.

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Thursday, December 20, 2007

Can a Commodity Be Entertaining?
It had sure as hell try to be, if it needs your attention to succeed.

We're tired of interruptions. We want entertainment. But how do you provide entertainment when you're dealing with a commodity? How do you make people thing a little differently about something they know as if it's a part of them? How you you make them care enough about your product that they'll want to share it with others?

The guys of Straight No Chaser came up with the perfect solution. Or so thought 3.3 million (and counting) viewers on YouTube (click through if you can't see this in a feedreader).



While a capella singing may not be your thing, you have to admit that these guys really got your attention. They took the expected and made it unexpected. They transformed the familiar and mundane to humorous.

Is this effective? What are you doing to stand out from the crowd? Let me know your thoughts.

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Wednesday, December 19, 2007

The Best Pitch I've Received
You've probably heard me rant over some bad pitches from time to time. As a matter of fact, they inspired me to create the section in my sidebar titled "Before You Pitch Me," which contains posts from a number of PR, marketing and social media colleagues, as well as from me.

So it was with great relief that I opened a pitch email this morning and was greeted with a comparative ray of sunshine. The message, from Julie Szabo, was simple:
Subject: We made this 2-minute video for you
Okay, good. I know I'm dealing with a video, and I know it'll only eat up 2 minutes of my time.

And then the body of the email:
Hi Scott,
Our video says it all. It's on this page that we made just for you.
[Link to the video]
That was it. Plain & simple. Naturally, curiosity got the better of me and I clicked through to the video to see this:


You'll note that in the video, Julie & Darren:
  1. Addressed me by name
  2. Made a note of where I'm from
  3. Acknowledged that they read the section of my blog about how I like to be pitched
The rest of their message was a broader one about their new ebook, Getting to First Base, a social media marketing playbook, and who it's for. I'll be reviewing it in a future post, but I can tell you that if the authors are following their own advice as they reach out to busy people, then it's going to be a very positive review.

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Friday, November 09, 2007

How to Teach Marketers to Be Authentic
Did you ever take the time to step back and wonder about the various personas you meet online? They could be long-lost friends, bloggers that you admire, or people in your Facebook network whom you may have never met before. But what do you really know about them?

How many of these folks are truly themselves when they're online? I mean, how many are perhaps bolder in their assertions or less cautious with the language they use because of the less personal nature of the medium?

We spend a lot of time talking about authenticity as one of the tenets of social media - how businesses, brands and the people behind them need to be seen as real. There's no doubt that the masses will sniff out a fraud. But how do we guarantee them authenticity?

While you ponder that, take a look at Brad Paisley's take on it:

video

As recently as this week, someone in my LinkedIn network posed the following question: What disciplines should marketers be training within to ensure authenticity? My first thought, was, "You've got to be kidding, right? You want to teach authenticity?"

It reminded me of the old George Burns quote:
"Acting is all about honesty. If you can fake that, you've got it made."
That one-liner often sums up all that is seen as wrong with and disliked about advertising, marketing and public relations - mouthing the words without actually believing what you're saying. Can you blame the public for distrusting advertisers or for thinking of public relations professionals as "spin doctors"?

Many of the other respondents to the LinkedIn question also noted that authenticity is more of a state of being rather than a skill - it's something that has to be imbued throughout one's life rather than taught as a course. Authenticity represents who we are, not what we do. And when we use marketing speak to address our audience, are we being truly authentic, or simply following a corporate protocol out of some antiquated tradition?

I say it's time to step out of those corporate roles and leave behind those traditional templates and speak to our customers as if we're real people talking to other real people. As David Ogilvy once famously said,
"The consumer isn't a moron; she is your wife."
How do you learn how to be authentic with your wife? You don't learn it; you simply be yourself - that's why she picked you, right?

Ultimately, it's worth asking how do your customers or your community view you? I hope you're prepared for the answer, because we live in an age where they'll tell you and expect to be heard.


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Friday, October 26, 2007

Unkommonly Good
Last week, my post New Media Douchebag: Are You One? was a surprise hit. I'd like to think it's thanks to my wise choice of a headline, but I think everyone would agree that it was the entertaining nature of the video itself.

Well, not one to rest on my laurels, I've got another entry in the series. Before I queue it up though, I'd like to acknowledge Kommon Kraft, the creators of these amazingly funny and too-close-to-the-truth videos.

This series is a send-up of Lee LeFever's very successful Common Craft videos - particularly the "Plain English" series. But Kommon Kraft - with a logo suspiciously similar to Krispy Kreme (mmm....hot donuts now...) - is a creation of Kelly Stewart, who clearly is a very talented individual.

In this case, KK has hijacked the conversation and skewers my crayon colleague Joseph Jaffe (among others) in another hilarious video.

video

I wonder who the next (un)suspecting victim will be. Got any suggestions? I'm sure Kelly is listening.

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Thursday, October 18, 2007

New Media Douchebag: Are You One?
If you haven't seen this video yet, you need to watch it. While it may be a little too close to the truth for some, I had a good laugh.


video

I guess the question is: does this really apply to you (or me)? I view my online activities as part research, part education, part self-marketing - all of which lead me to new discoveries, realizations and insights that I can then share with clients.

So while the online busy work may seem (and feel) like it's so much fluff, it's what you do with those findings, how you share them and how you impart your unique perspective that makes it time well spent.

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About Scott

For hi-res, click here

The best way to describe Scott is "Renaissance Man." Friends and colleagues that know Scott from one facet of his life are very frequently surprised to learn of his interests and talents in other areas.

Scott is a marketing and communications professional focused on the digital industry — specifically on social media. His career spans a number of industries such as healthcare, pharma, biotech, travel, automotive, tech, and communications, and includes a wide range of clients, from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies.

Currently on the staff of corporate communications in Ford Motor Company, Scott heads up the social media function and holds the title Global Digital & Multimedia Communications Manager. He is a strategic advisor on all social media activities across the company, from blogger relations to marketing support, customer service to internal communications and more, as social media is being integrated into many facets of Ford business.


Prior to joining Ford, Scott served as Consigliere for crayon and spent a number of years with PJA Advertising + Marketing, a boutique BtoB agency specializing in health sciences & high tech.

In addition to his consulting and agency background, Scott is an active blogger and podcaster. He writes about the intersection of advertising, marketing and PR at The Social Media Marketing Blog and also writes The Baker Street Blog, a literary undertaking. Scott has been featured in numerous news and business publications, on a variety of podcasts, and on national television. Scott is a recognized thought leader in the social media industry and frequently speaks at industry events.

Scott received his Master's in Medical Science from Boston University's School of Medicine concurrently with his MBA from BU's Graduate School of Management. He lives in the greater Detroit area with his wife and two young sons, golfs all too infrequently, and has a hidden talent for voice over work.

Oh, and one last little-known fact: Scott coined the term "tweetup."

You may download a headshot here, courtesy of C.C. Chapman and a PDF version of Scott's bio here.


Books in which Scott's work is featured:
The New Rules of Marketing & PR
Twitterville
Six Pixels of Separation
Monkeys with Typewriters
Read This First
World Wide Rave
Get Seen

Disclosures/Relationships

Speaking Events

Scott speaks on social media at events, seminars and conferences around the world. His topic generally focuses on corporate use of social media, becoming an online spokesperson, and specifically on the progress that Ford has made in the recent past. If you're interested in booking Scott to speak at your event, please send an email to speaking [AT] scottmonty [DOT] com. Scott's bio and headshot can be found in the "About Scott" tab above.






Some previous engagements include:

BlogWell - How Big Companies Use Social Media - Minneapolis - August 13 Keynote at OMMA Global Sept. 21, 2009

MIMA Summit

Brand Camp '09 "I am Speaking at" Widget 135px Direct Marketing Association International conference, Oct. 18-22, 2009



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Who is Scott Monty?

Hi, I'm Scott. I'm the head of social media for Ford Motor Company. This is my personal blog, where I share my perspectives on social media - the convergence of marketing, advertising and PR on the Web - for marketers, agencies, the enterprise and the individual. This blog contains my personal views.

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