STAY DISCONNECTED

I love holiday season! Not just because of those extra days off work, or good food, or even presents. But because of all the special moments I get to share with my family and friends. And while it’s tempting to sneak in a blog post or tweet between family dinner and a movie-watching session, I encourage all of you to stay… disconnected.

Let’s be honest, as much as some of us enjoy it, blogging, rating, commenting, sharing and all the other things we do on social media sites are exhausting. So, this holiday season, give social media a break and, instead, spend extra time chatting with your grandma, playing with your kids or barbecuing with friends. And then, get back to posting, tagging, poking, tweeting, watching, friending… with renewed energy, fresh ideas and clear mind.

Happy holidays!

Photo credit: jmtimages [off]

YOU ARE WHAT YOU TWEET

Again, Courtney Love is causing trouble. This time, the bad-girl rock star is being sued for libel after posting derogatory tweets about designer Dawn Simorangkir. But yesterday’s story on cnn.com goes far beyond just covering Love’s social media flop. It raises some interesting questions about social media, law, privacy, freedom of speech and culture. To learn more about Love’s and other cases read Can the law keep up with technology?

What can we take away from this story? While the government – and society in general – is figuring our how to keep social media in line with the law without taking away from privacy and free speech, our job is to always remember that EVERYTHING we share via social media tools is accessible to virtually EVERYONE. What’s more, it’s there to stay.

Your tweets, blog comments, profile pictures, wall posts, photo albums, videos and more make up your online personality that today easily translates into your image in real life. So, whether you are using social media for personal or business purposes, don’t post something you wouldn’t say or share in real life.

And, by the way, another issue the story on cnn.com discusses is whether the Web is a “unique, separate space” or an extension of what I've been referring to as 'real life.' What do you think?

SOCIAL MEDIA AND MASS MEDIA: ARE WE GETTING IT ALL WRONG?

In his recent post Lee Aase of Social Media University, Global (SMUG) talks about social media’s synergy with mass media. Aase writes that social media and mass media are fueling one another. They are working together to deliver information to the masses. As much as I agree with Mr. Aase that right now social media and mass media are working in synergy, I believe the synergy as he describes it is coming to an end.

Let me explain. Soon, TV, radio and newspapers as we know them will be gone. They will become more interactive and more… well… social. I can see the day when we will be able to ‘friend’ people, share shows and participate in discussions using our remote controls. What's more, as more and more people start using social media to access and share information, social media channels will become new vehicles of mass communication. So, may be instead of talking about synergy between social media and mass media, it’s time to start talking about their convergence?

Why is this important? Because when it comes to delivering your message to the masses, today, using social media is a must. Your audience doesn’t care how comfortable or uncomfortable you are with Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. The number of people who access information via social media platforms is growing rapidly, and it looks like it’s not going to change anytime soon. It’s time for businesses, organizations and individuals to bring their social media efforts to the next level. At the end of the day, whatever you put out there is for the whole world to see.

WHY USING SOCIAL MEDIA IS LIKE RAISING A CHILD

My daughter turned 1 month yesterday. And it was quite a month for both, my husband and I. Only for the past week or so I started getting more or less comfortable with my new role as a mother. I’ve gotten used to being on her schedule. I stopped freaking out when she starts crying in the stroller while we are taking a walk. I know what to do when her tummy hurts. And I’ve learned to recognize her moods and needs. What I’ve also learned is that when it comes to raising kids, patience is everything.

You can’s ask a baby to hurry up and finish eating because you are having friends over and really want to hang out. You can’t tell her to fall asleep faster because your favorite show is about to start. But what’s more, you won’ see the results of most of your efforts till months, years or even decades from now.

That’s why using social media to achieve your business, organizational or personal goals is like raising a child. Ok, may be you won’t have to wait decades to see results. But unless you have already established a large online following (be that customers, fans or members of your organizations), it will take a little while for your efforts to pay off.

But be sure, with the first blog post will come the first reader and with the first tweet will come the first follower. Even if it doesn’t seem like it right now, your efforts WILL bring results. All you need is to be caring, resourceful and patient.

ONLINE VIDEO MARKETING GUIDE

Online video marketing guide by the IAB Video Council will help you plan, create, execute and assess the success of your online video campaign. The guide provides useful info on using online video with other media, planning and executing online video campaigns, setting objectives, developing creative strategy, engaging your audience, targeting, measuring and much more. In addition, it offers a number of case studies to get your creative juices flowing.

The guide is definitely worth checking out before you begin planning your next online video marketing/advertising campaign. Here is "IAB’s top twelve tips for filming online video adverts" from Filming an online video advert section:

By Jack Wallington, senior programmes manager, IAB

1. TV and online: work better together. If you’re filming for TV, incorporate the online shoot into the TV shoot, and make sure it does not get pushed aside in favour of TV. Online video and TV audiences are the same, the quality of your ad should be too.

2. Length: the IAB recommends making online video ads of 10 to 15 seconds long. If you’re only advertising around long form content you can make your ad longer, perhaps using an edited version of your TV advert.

3. Branding: include your brand, packaging or logo throughout the advert to aid recall.

4. Player size: the vast majority of online video is viewed in a smaller player, so make sure text is readable and that you use shots that don’t look cluttered in a smaller viewing space.

5. Get creative and entertain: video is about entertainment. You may not have much time in a 10 second advert but that’s plenty of time to entertain.

6. Sound: in video players the sound will be on automatically when someone clicks to view a video. Sound effects and music can make or break your advert. Car adverts use music to great effect, while annoying sound effects can irritate but be memorable.

7. Interaction: if you want people to interact with your advert make sure the ad includes scenes that show what you want people to click on (e.g. your product), allowing enough time for them to do this. You can include multiple scenes to really show off your product, but you’ll need to plan for this.

8. Actors: if you’re using them, don’t skimp on talent. Watch previous work by professional actors and get multiple opinions to make sure they’re suitable.

9. Pacing: use lots of short clips to give the impression of a fast paced scene. For slow paced ads, use few fewer, longer clips.

10. Call to action: if you want people to do something, make it obvious, simple and eye catching. Use graphics that stand out against the video clip.

11. Engagement: online viewers can lose interest quickly. Entertain, engage and make sure your message is delivered quickly and clearly to a relevant audience.

12. Cut cost, not quality: just because you are online doesn’t mean you can cut production quality, but given the reduced screen size there are tricks of the camera to reduce cost. E.g. to show a crowd at a concert you just need the crowd, you don’t need to hire the O2 arena!

WORLD 3.0

"Did You Know 3.0" is a five-minute slide show on incremental flow of new technology and information that will make your head spin. We live in a society where people get bombarded with information every second of their waking lives and new technologies are being developed (and adopted) with a speed of light... And guess what... Over the past few years we've got so used to this way of life that we don't even notice that the flow of information is expanding at an incremental rate. But I'll stop talking now and let you see for yourself:

GET INSPIRED: HOW COMPANIES ARE USING SOCIAL MEDIA FOR MARKETING

Beth J. Bates, a New Media Special Correspondent, put together a nice list of examples of how companies are using social media for their marketing and branding initiatives. I've added a couple of things of my own, so here it is:

• Cisco hosts a variety of blogs called “The Platform” inviting customers to join in the conversation.
• Dell hosts its own virtual island in Second Life to help better connect with customers globally.
• Ford not only has a social media marketing guru in Scott Monty, they also use a variety of social media tools including social media press releases, photos in Flickr and total accessibility through Twitter.
• With tax day right around the corner, H&R Block has aggregated its social media properties into a Facebook Fan Page. To date, they have over 1700 fans.
• Intuit created the TaxAlmanac wiki enabling anyone to share information on taxes.
• Jeep encourages Jeep owners to share information through a variety of services including Flickr, Facebook and MySpace. They have over 97,000 fans on Facebook.
• McDonald’s features a blog that showcases their contributions to social responsibility.
• Southwest employees connect directly with customers through their “Nuts About Southwest” blog.
• Zappos.com, in my opinion, has the best feel for how to use Twitter to strengthen your brand.
• Sprite launched a video campaign using YouTube and Facebook to appeal to younger audiences while jump-starting a career of a singer and songwriter from the UK, Katie Vogel.
• Agent Provocateu, British lingerie maker, stepped up its social media game using Twitter and blogging in time for Valentine's Day.
• Videoegg used live streaming in conjunction with Twitter to educate prospect about "new ways to make the digital media work harder for brand advertisers."

Get inspired :)