Recently, an intern working on Facebook’s data infrastructure engineering team took a sample of nearly 10 million pairs of friends from Facebook’s data warehouse and plotted out their relationships. The result? This intriguingly beautiful image and an accurate map of the world.
Here are the thoughts that Paul shared about the image and its creation:
After a few minutes of rendering, the new plot appeared, and I was a bit taken aback by what I saw. The blob had turned into a surprisingly detailed map of the world. Not only were continents visible, certain international borders were apparent as well. What really struck me, though, was knowing that the lines didn’t represent coasts or rivers or political borders, but real human relationships. Each line might represent a friendship made while travelling, a family member abroad, or an old college friend pulled away by the various forces of life.
We’d like to see an image of each individual Facebook user pinpointed on a map and see if it is attractive.
What are the three smartest words ever penned in advertising? Any guesses as to what they might be? If you guessed Just Do It, Nike’s fabulous brand tag, you’d be off the mark. While certainly powerful, well crafted and fitting the three word limiter, there are three other words that have sold more product, driven more repeat business and caused a consumer behavior phenomenon that no other three words in advertising have ever accomplished.
How about Wendy’s Where’s the Beef? … guess again. Avis car rental had a good one with We Try Harder, but alas you would also be wrong. Regardless of how many words are used, there are four things that make a tag line, USP or brand message measure up.
Longevity - do they stand the test of time? There are certainly great examples of this throughout advertising history, whether they be with three words or not. Think of Alka-Seltzer, Roto Rooter or the California Milk Board for those examples.
Equity - Have they become synonymous with a company or product? Intel Inside is a good example of this, as is DeBeers A Diamond Is Forever.
Memorability - Have they influenced our culture, media and language? I (Heart) NY, I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up and This is your brain, this is your brain on drugs. Any questions? are all perfect examples of how a brand can influence culture.
Originality - Have they broken new ground in advertising?¡Yo quiero Taco Bell! … Now that was original.
The three words to which I am referring meet all the aforementioned criteria. In use for decades and still today, they are synonymous with a product, are certainly memorable and while original and ground breaking at first, have been copied more than “Got Milk?“. These three words are used today on hundreds of different brands of the same type of product and have driven repeat sales like no other three words ever could. Determining the origin or mastermind behind the copy writing has proved to be fruitless so far, but I continue the quest to give honor and accolade to the man, woman or child that had the brilliant idea to put the words“Lather, rinse, Repeat.” on every bottle of shampoo that rattles of the conveyor belt and makes it’s way into the showers of American homes from sea to shining sea. Shampoo that lasts only half as long as if the packaging had merely said … lather, rinse … we buy twice as much product because we are programmed to do as we are told.
Like Lemmings to the sea, consumers the world over … oh yes, it’s a global phenomena … having lathered and rinsed … repeat the process. Why? Because we were told to, that’s why. I will agree with those of you say that this may be less so with millennials, but even they may follow directions if they think it will make them look/smell/feel better.
So hat’s off to the brilliant package design copy writer, crafty creative guru or brand manager with a “let’s just tell them to repeat it” gleam in their eye … I salute you Sir or Madam. There are not another three words that have affected our culture of cleanliness, stood the test of time or sold more product. Well done.
Now in case any of you skipped to the bottom of this piece to see what three words I was writing about (you know who you are …), let me see if I can influence you with anywhere near their power with three of my own … Read It Again.
Paul Evans is President and CMO of Evans Media Group and can be reached at paul@evansmediagroup.com
Horrors! The delicious smell of roasting coffee as you walk or drive anywhere near Broadway in the heart of down town Kansas City is about to be stanched for ever! Since 1908 the aroma that has been delighting passers-by, its caffeinated tendrils wafting passed the noses and awakening the senses of Kansas Citians for more than a hundred years is about to be snuffed out by parent company, J.M. Smucker Co.
According to an article in the Kansas City Star, Folgers Coffee Co. will close its longtime downtown plant by 2012, eliminating about 180 jobs. A Facebook fan page has already been created to try to make Folgers change that plan. The fan page can be found by going to Facebook and searching for Folgers on Facebook and then clicking the “Become a Fan” button at the top of the page. It can also be accessed directly at
http://www.facebook.com/savefolgerskc . A Twitter page at www.twitter.com/saveFolgersKC has also been established for tweets about the plant, it’s history and it’s impact on the Kansas City community.
J.M.Smucker Co., famous mostly for it’s jams and jellies, bought Folgers from Proctor & Gamble Co. in 2008 and now plans to close several plants and furlough 700 workers. According to The Wall Street Journal, Smucker last month said its fiscal third-quarter earnings jumped 74% amid fewer one-time charges as revenue increased and margins surged.
Meanwhile, the company plans to spend $220 million over the next three years in its coffee and namesake businesses, building a new plant and expenditures for new equipment and technology. Construction on the Ohio facility is expected to begin this fall, with initial production start-up in the summer of 2012.
The grass roots Facebook and Twitter effort to let officials at Smucker know that their customers, jam, jelly and coffee fans alike, disapprove of a company posting record earnings, while laying off the workers who helped them get there, and the shuttering of historic buildings and operations that are part of the fabric of a city and its past.
Yes, that’s what I said. Rocket science. Shaking your head in disbelief? Really?
Well, would you design or develop your own website? Or would you look to a web development company or web designer to complete that piece of your marketing toolkit.
Likewise, would you shoot your own television commercial or buy or place your own media spots to air that commercial? And, if you did, would you be convinced that you are targeting your demographic and getting the best bang for your marketing buck?
Didn’t think so.
Recently, we met an attorney and he told us that we have a unique skill set as creative and marketing minds. In fact, he told us that we were like rock stars or athletes since our product exists between our temples. Our product is our intellectual property. What value does that have? What price tag can you associate with such a product? We know our value, but struggle with that in this ever changing world of new media, but we left the conversation feeling like we need to take out some hefty life insurance policies on our brains.
Just as when the internet revolutionized the advertising and marketing agencies in the 90s, and everyone sat back and waited for the established ad agencies to come in and eat their lunch, it didn’t happen. The eager college grads designed websites for big companies and tried to figure out how this new thing called the internet. The media world is being transformed again, and the question is will ad agencies leverage their client relationships in the social space? It didn’t happen with web development and design. Why you ask? Traditional agencies are about creativity not technology and they left web design and development up to the rocket scientists and we predict the same will occur with social media. Ad agencies will work with other entities that are comfortable in the space, and where the learning curve is short. Given the recent downturn of their industry, they cannot afford to take any unnecessary risks either.
The risks to not adapting to the shift in the market are great, though many are resisting and in fact, ignoring the trends, but then again, there are still nearly 40% of small businesses that do not have websites in 2010!
Consumer behavior is evolving at a frenzied pace. One in which the internet marketers find overwhelming and even those social media strategists. Why? Keeping your finger on the pulse of the marketing and advertising industry is a full time job in itself. Watching and identifying trends, seeking out new mediums to communicate and developing effective messages for those mediums is another. Here is a 50,000 foot perspective.
1. The web is social. 48% of the 1,000 respondents in a recent study commissioned by Retrevo indicated that they check in on social media activity when they are awakened in the middle of the night. Granted, this is heavily skewed by night owls that are in the 25 and under bracket, but a large portion of many big brands target market are online and engaged with social media networks at that time. 61% of Facebook users are 35 and older. Still think your customers aren’t using social media?
2. There’s a reason that they call it “old media.” Media industry ad revenues declined 12% year-over-year to $125.3 billion in 2009, according to a report issued by Kantar Media. The only major growth area? Online ad spending. TV ad spending fell 10%, with spot spending falling off dramatically due to the lack of political ads from 2008. Magazines dropped 17%. Newspapers and radios each dropped 20% and outdoor advertising fell 13%.
3. User content is key to the online experience of millions of US Internet users. Ranging from communications to e-commerce to entertainment, consumers are increasingly in charge of the creation, distribution, and consumption of digital content. The number of people who consume user-generated content exceeds the number of creators. This is true of any content loop – there are always more spectators than active participants. The difference? User generated content is affordable, accessible and integrates well with mass participation. As a result, the gap between creators and consumers is smaller than in traditional media. The downside? The craze of content generation is not likely to produce commensurate rewards for marketers or site publishers, since advertisers shy away from attaching their brands to unpredictable content.
What does this mean for brands and marketers? It means it is even more difficult to manage because the assets from media that traditional media used to control (print, broadcast, online publishing) is migrating to channels that they don’t control and most importantly, can’t. Why, you ask? Because the fun new media that everyone is all abuzz about is invite only.
The media world is changing, and predominantly, online media. The solution? Realize the full-potential of the over 82 million user content creators. How? Marketers and site publishers must be willing to work together. What does this mean for you and your brand? It means taking risks. Something no one wants to do in the current economy, and something few businesses every want to do with their marketing strategies or brand. The other piece of it? It mandates becoming very savvy in the social media segment, finding safe havens with social media channels, and taking refuge among these content creators that you’ve forged relationships with. Until these changes occur, user generated content will remain a phenomenon and the popular appeal eclipses its commercial possibilities.
So, how does this make social media rocket science? The chart below shows that 79.7 million people created content on social networks last year. What does that mean for you? It means that 23.9 million people posted blogs. 18 million videos were uploaded. More than 13 million people participated in virtual worlds, yielding a number of over 88 million content creators, which counts everyone who generated content at least monthly. Just because it’s call the social space, doesn’t men it is like outer space and there is nothing out there. It’s crowded out there. There is a lot of competition, millions of businesses vying for attention. Plenty of things to crash into.
It’s a rocket ship alright. And in order to launch it, guide it and land it safely, you need a scientist. Choose wisely. There are many “experts” out there that may get you off the pad, but solid piloting skills? Not so much. Look for a team that can provide the telemetry you need to effect a successful mission of launching or guiding your brand in the social space.
Written by: Sara Paxton, managing partner, CTO, and Social Media Officer of Evans Media Group, Kansas City’s Social Media Agency, a boutique agency located in Overland Park, KS that specializes in traditional marketing, social media marketing, online marketing, and public relations.
Martin Stein, Founder of RMI Direct Marketing passed from this life yesterday after a losing a battle with cancer. Martin and I shared a love of the arts and as such sat on the board of a little performing arts center in Danbury, CT and enjoyed
many a warm summer evening under the stars listening to artists as varied as The Three Tenors, Willy Nelson, Sheryl Crow, Kenny Loggins and Melissa Etheridge and greats like BB King, Steve Winwood and Jerry Garcia.
Martin had a great love for food and wine and his tent at these Ives Concert Park events always gathered the most people, Martin loved to share.
There was a side to Martin that some did not see, but I had the pleasure ofwitnessing first hand. The humor and boyish glee that rose within him as he yanked the release valve on the “Pumpkin Chucking Cannon” he built with two close friends and dragged out each autumn to the joy of all his Roxbury, CT friends and neighbors.
This thing would launch a gourd or pumpkin skyward with a rush of air and send it 500 yards over field and meadow to the hoots and hollers of the gathered crowd. A cookout and picnic was always set out and whether you brought something or not Martin would not let you leave hungry. “Have a hot dog, a glass of wine … eat something,” He would say as he prepared to load the cannon again.
The last time I attended one of Martin’s events; my son went with me and will remember the day for the rest of his life. One of the attendees had parked his convertible Jaguar E-Type down range along the fence row about 400 yards from the cannon. An ill wind, an odd shaped pumpkin or Martin’s aim (we will never know) caused the projectile to drift wide. We could all see where it was going, could calculate where it would land, but were helpless to do anything but watch as 20 pounds of liquid pumpkin painted the white leather seats of the classic automobile, unfortunately parked at ground zero.
Martin was horrified of course, but with a glint in his eye and a smile on his lips, he turned to me and said … “Did you see the height on that one?”
I will miss Martin, it was a pleasure to have known him. But the next time I hear thunder, I will also hear Martin saying “Did you see the height on THAT one?”
Paul Evans of Evans Media Group recently relocated from Ridgefield, CT to the greater Kansas City metro.
Written by Paul Evans is the President and CMO of Evans Media Group, a boutique agency located in Overland Park, KS that specializes in traditional marketing, social media marketing, online marketing, and public relations.
Overland Park, KS (Evans Media Group) – MARCH 4, 2010, Evans MediaGroup, Kansas City’s Social Media Agency is very pleased to announce the latest addition to its team. Mark Van Baale of Olathe, KS has joined the firm as Director of Social Media Strategies and will be responsible for strengthening the company’s expanding need for key client service in the social media segment.
“We were impressed with Mark’s experience in the social space, but his background in traditional marketing mirrored our philosophy of bringing the two doctrines together,” said Sara Paxton, CTO and Partner at Evans Media Group.
“There are so many “experts” in social media today,” Said Paul Evans, President and CMO. “We come across them every day, victims of “Carpal Thumb” who want to work at a social media agency because they have been Tweeting about themselves or their habits for some time.”
“Our approach at Evans Media Group is much more structured than that, driven by sound business principles and founded on solid marketing experience. We understand and know that our clients needs as they relate to social media is the eventual success of a campaign, with no less weight or return that any other marketing or advertising segment. That is why Mark Van Baale is such a good fit for us.”
Paxton concurs, “Mark has held marketing management positions in both the corporate and non-profit sectors, was a combat engineer in the United States Army and is the education Chair of the Social Media Club of Kansas City. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management Information Systems from the University of Iowa and is the kind of well rounded individual that we look for when adding to our team. Mark will add a valuable layer to our existing offering.”
After a recent relocation from the New York City metro to the greater Kansas City area, Evans Media Group has focused on connecting with localbusiness owners to catapult their marketing initiatives into the online and social media marketing space. As a result of online and social media marketing, networking and word of mouth, the increased client base at Evans Media Group required a prompt addition of staff. The sudden growth also has the partners looking for larger office space.
With a strong background in corporate business strategy, public relations, sales, marketing, and consulting, the team at Evans Media Group also offers social media strategy, research, online, video and mobile marketing and a full suite of traditional agency services.
Written by Paul Evans is the President and CMO of Evans Media Group, a boutique agency located in Overland Park, KS that specializes in traditional marketing, social media marketing, online marketing, and public relations.
In the old days … that is, before the web and more recently social media … choosing the name for your business was a simple matter. If your name was Bob and you were a plumber’s apprentice, there finally came a time for you to spread your wings and go off on your own. Now in charge of your own destiny, you set off for the local print shop to buy your first business cards and maybe some flyers and post cards. “Bob’s Plumbing Service”, you proudly said to the typesetter … “Serving the Metro Area Since …. well, today”.
The story repeats itself a million times worldwide. Naming conventions based on heritage, location, cute iterations (we love the myriad combinations of “Shear” when it comes to hair cutters), rhyme, industry or size. Historically, this was never much of a problem, in fact sometimes it was downright funny.
Examples of humorous names abound; Juan More Taco, A Den of Antiquity, Wok Around the Clock and Mickey Mao’s. But none of these businesses face the problem that arises today when a “commonly named” business tries to brand itself online or in the social space. Businesses with names longer than fifteen characters can forget about owning their brand on Twitter, and if you are thinking at all about (and you most definitely should be) extending your brand online, remember the web is global … so there is always a chance that one of the other 6.9 billion people on the planet might have already registered your name.
So what’s a new business to do? Well for a truly newbusiness, as in one that is still in the planning stages, it is fairly simple. Research. Research, beforeyou name your new business. Find out if the name is available online, on Twitter, on Facebook. Be sure the dot com is available if you have your heart set on that most popular of URL extensions, rather than dot biz, dot net, or dot tv. Plan on naming for ease of recall and intuitive keyboarding, for instance if your name is to be BiState, don’t get cute and call it BuyState, unless you plan on spelling it every time you mention it, and buying both domain names so that someone doesn’t squat on it or worse, link it to a pornographic site.
For an established business, the challenge is much greater. Some true giants of industry have been caught embarrassingly unaware by the fact that somebody already owned their name. McDonald’s had to buy their domain name away from an individual, and Hyundai, GM and Kellogg were not fast enough to claim their names in the social space. In fact, some of the smartest marketers in business do not own their own names on Twitter. Surprisingly, Bank of America, Walt Disney, Sears, Macy’s, Walmart and Nike, Comcast and Volkswagen all blew it when it came to preparing for the social media wave. Even Burger King, Master Card and Berkshire Hathaway, a company owned by one of the smartest and wealthiest businessmen in the world, Warren Buffet do not own their own Twitter handles.
For business owners today, there are a few options. Some have actually (marketing shudder here …) changed or shortened their existing names, or added numbers like the Kansas City Chiefs with @KC_Chiefs1. Others have opted to incorporate a part or all of their USP or tag line or a convolution of their name that makes sense. So Bob’s Plumbing Service, while too long for Twitter, may settle for @PlumbBob, or @DripsNoMore.
So while http://www.juanmoretaco.com is available as a URL and as the @juanmoretaco Twitter handle (hurry if you want them), http://www.BobsPlumbingService.com is not. They are Proudly Serving the Columbia, SC Metro by the way. Need help with a naming convention? Seek out a professional. Seriously, this is not something left to amateurs. there are naming laboratories that charge six figures to come up with business names. This is not something the average business needs or can afford, but at least consult with a creative team, or spend time thinking about what makes the most sense, long term for your name or brand across the many social and online channels of today.
And for Pete’s Sake, (@ForPetesSake is gone by the way) … ask your customers to fan you, follow you and interact socially with you, but tell them how. Don’t just generically send them to the social media channel you’re on, give them a direct link to your profile. Search, in social media is not as intuitive as it is in a search engine, without a direct link, they might not even be able to find you. Just one more challenge in the brave new world of online and social marketing.
Paul Evans is the President and CMO of Evans Media Group, a boutique agency located in Overland Park, KS that specializes in traditional marketing, social media marketing, online marketing, and public relations.
Recently, we were asked if we thought a social media campaign geared towards driving newspaper subscriptions would be effective. Love to hear your thoughts (good and bad) as voices in the social media industry, as professionals and consumers of all forms of media.
These are the most popular tweets that Evans Media Group shared through Twitter for January 10-January 16, 2010. Want to have your favorites or blog posts included? DM or tweet us and we will tweet your post … If everyone else loves you on Twitter, you’ll end up on this list at the end of each week.
Written by: Sara Paxton, managing partner, CTO, and Social Media Officer of Evans Media Group, Kansas City’s Social Media Agency, a boutique agency located in Overland Park, KS that specializes in traditional marketing, social media marketing, online marketing, and public relations.
In previous posts, we have discussed ways to monitor your online reputation, but what if you are the small to medium-sized business owner that is late to the game?
Step 1? Start listening.
How do you do that? Well, this can be done internally, or it can be outsourced, but don’t think because that twenty-something in your office that texts, tweets, and has a Facebook status update for each hour of the day, that they are the candidate to manage your brand, your online marketing strategy, or equally important, your marketing budget. Think you can’t afford to outsource it? Shop around, you might be surprised. Either way you go, the brand ambassador who manages this task must be reading blogs daily, be familiar with the people who are interacting with you on all social media networks, whether they are tweeters, vloggers, bloggers, or just merely commenters.
Listening is only as effective as the content that you choose to hear. You will want to find content that has high relevancy to your industry, your company and your competitors. There are hundreds of millions of blogs out there, which doesn’t include all of the videos uploaded to YouTube, the millions of Tweets, forum posts, and pictures that are shared across the ever-evolving multitude of social networks.
Overwhelmed yet? It’s okay. You read at over 1,000 words per minute right? If not, don’t sweat it. Even if you could, and you couldn’t possibly find everything that is relevant, wouldn’t be able to follow it all, and luckily, you don’t need to. It varies by business, but generally there are less than 20 blogs that generate the majority of conversations in your niche. So, how do you determine what to follow and what is not worthy of your precious time? Go for the biggest fish in the pond. Find the biggest blogs in the community, and monitor other pieces of the digital conversation from other sources.
Here are some of the tools you can use to search for conversations about your brand, your competitors, or your industry, by searching for industry buzzwords, your brand name or your competitors name:
Discussion Forum Searches – BoardTracker is currently tracking 69,230,256 threads in 37,284 Forums
Monitoring the Blogosphere – Google Blog Search is a great tool, but can yield a lot of splog results (spam blogs generated automatically by keyword searches). This would be an alternative to Google News Alerts, if you already subscribe to these. Ideally, you would want to monitor key company executives, your brand, your competition and your industry. (Get the picture yet?)
All of these search results can be subscribed to via email or as an RSS feed, and then you can share the appropriate feeds with any key individuals in your organization that you feel should also be plugged in.
Summary?
The most important step in any successful social media campaign launch is listening. By listening to the buzz about your brand – you will best position yourself to identify the brand junkies in your niche, find out what your audience is most interested in, and determine the best strategies to introduce your company into these conversations.
Still lost? Feel free to email Kansas City’s Social Media Agency for questions, additional details, or to schedule your complimentary on-site analysis to determine the strategies for your 2010 social media campaign.
Written by: Sara Paxton, managing partner, CTO, and Social Media Officer of Evans Media Group, Kansas City’s Social Media Agency, a boutique agency located in Overland Park, KS that specializes in traditional marketing, social media marketing, online marketing, and public relations.
Written by Paul Evans is the President and CMO of 
