03 December 2008 The Internetz
This post was inspired by a slide at the Digital Marketing & Media Summit.
Where will things be in 2012?
01 December 2008 Walking The Walk
The latest episode of Jaffe Juice was one of the best I’ve heard in a while. Definitely worth checking out. Joseph Jaffe and David Spark discuss some common mistakes made when it comes to social media marketing.
One that really made me laugh was Don’t post a comment on your own Facebook profile wall. Although you can no longer do this with the new layout, sometimes something small like this can really make you stand out. Nothing’s worse than looking like you have no idea what you’re doing.
Another thing you can do is ask if someone has a Facebook… you don’t have a Facebook you’re on Facebook. Or you could spell it FaceBook. Capitalising that B doesn’t look good. But if you don’t capitalise the T in YouTube you’re not winning my vote. I’ll probably stab you if you spell it utube.
Here is some other stuff you should get right, especially if you think you’re an SMS.
27 November 2008 Law Ain’t Stopping Me
I should preface this by saying I’ve never been an outstanding university student. My results usually range from average to okay, occasionally I’ll manage a decent mark if it’s something I’m interested in (here’s hoping for an HD in Electronic Marketing!).
Anywho, I got my results for this semester. Failed a law subject.
I think most other students would be a little concerned about this. It’s a permanent black mark on my Academic Transcript. Yet I am not nearly as worried as I suppose I should be.
When I threw out my resume, I threw out my Academic Transcript too. Anyone who asks to see it I think is asking the wrong questions. And even then, I think I’m better off focusing on other non curricular activities like this blog.
But it doesn’t really matter what I think. Potential employers could be reading this blog, so why not tell me, have I hurt my employability? Have I made it even worse by admitting in this public space?
25 November 2008 Our Best Example
Before I get into it, should probably talk quickly about the Digital Marketing & Media Summit. It was okay.
Julian Cole was kind enough to hook me up with a free ticket, and I certainly would have been annoyed had I paid $990. Even then I only hung around for half a day, the student in me decided to wait until after lunch before leaving.
The best thing I got from the day was a couple of ideas for blog posts.
For the audience there, they may have found some sessions useful but honestly most presentations were fairly dry. The exception of course was Julian’s (it’s possible that was only the case because I helped him out on stage).
A question asked to Julian was what were some examples of social media marketing being done well in Australia. He talked about Bigpond on Twitter, which is a great case study, but even then they started out as a disaster.
Clearly Australia is lagging. But before I get too pessimistic, I wouldn’t mind building a list of Australian examples and case studies. So throwing it out to you guys, what Australian brands have used social media well?
23 November 2008 Drawing The Line
“Social media is more than just advertising”, said Julian Cole at the Digital Marketing & Media Summit on Friday. So quotable that I wrote it down to blog about.
I realised that without even intending to, I accidentally drew the line as to what is and isn’t advertising when it comes to social media marketing, based on my two social media strategies.
The first is Broadcast, which is in a sense advertising and marketing focused. The second, Response, however is simply customer service.
Not everyone needs to market and advertise their product. But everyone should be engaging in and developing good customer service.
19 November 2008 A Damn Cool Crowd
I don’t know if it happens to be a characteristic successful bloggers need or just a coincidence, but the Australian marketing blogging scene is… well… cool.
I’ve only met a few of them from the blogosphere, but Skyped with others and exchanged emails with even more of them. For some unknown reason, these people all seem to have a few things in common.
For the most part, very young, especially given their success in their field. They are passionate, keen and very driven. Not only have they been willing to help, but offered to as well. And above all, beer loving, easy going, cool, cool people.
I can’t help but think blogging wouldn’t be nearly as fun without the awesome guys and girls who make up the Australian marketing blogosphere. Hopefully I’ll get to meet a few more of them at the Digital Marketing & Media Summit on Friday.
16 November 2008 RIP Pigs Don’t Fly
My new favourite kid on the block is Daniel Oyster (sorry Adam!). Not only is he a ridiculously cool dude but he’s had a couple of killer first posts.
In his latest post, he asks bloggers to write their own eulogy. So here goes…
In the true style of Pigs Don’t Fly, I will keep this short and to the point.
Pigs Don’t Fly was the start of Zac Martin’s career. Through it, he built up his networks and knowledge which eventually lead him to where he is today. Right up until Pigs Don’t Fly’s death, Zac continued to blog for many, many years, long after he landed his first job.
Over the first few years it slowly built up to become one of the most meaningful, not necessarily popular, marketing blogs in Australia. Zac’s writings, thoughts and contributions to marketing were well respected around the globe and provided some thought provoking content that was discussed by many.
Zac aimed to blog every day like it was his last, often heard quoting, “If I died tomorrow, I would want my final post to be remarkable”.
If Zac had one thing that he wanted remembered from his now passed blog, it would be that pigs don’t fly.
RIP.
14 November 2008 Fine Print
I guess this post is somewhat of a disclaimer.
The way I write, I think many readers often assume one of both of the following points. Firstly, that I believe everyone should have a blog and secondly, that social media marketing is the answer to everything. This is not the case.
I believe the potential a blogger has is incredible, but it would not be appropriate for every single person to write one. Just like some brands would have no benefit in writing one either.
And social media marketing isn’t the answer to everything. I hate traditional and interruption media and in five years your average marketing mix will have their roles very much minimised. But I’m the first to admit there are some amazing television spots, print ads and radio commercials out there and hey, once a year, I get a spam email that is actually useful. Traditional media can only get away with interrupting me if it’s remarkable, and very rarely is this the case.
So dearest readers, these two points are the grain of salt that my blog should be taken with.
12 November 2008 Big Shoes
Last week, Love Digital interviewed Seth Godin. This week they interviewed me. Cue the greatest anti climax of all time.
The interview was a follow up on a previous post about marketing education.
I’ve decided part of my degree should teach people how to handle interviews without sounding like too much of a knob.
11 November 2008 That Blogger Bloke
I really hate that radio bloke.
The campaign consists of a series of radio commercials informing listeners on the benefits of advertising websites through the radio. That statistic used in this campaigns is something along the lines of…
“Over 80% of people who hear a relevant radio commercial referring to a website have visited a website as a result.”
So of every radio ad people are subject to, 80% of them have visited a website. That’s got to be at least fifty ads a day for most people… and only one of them will get a visit… and even then there’s only an 80% chance of that happening. And that’s not even including the irrelevant commercials. Sounds to me like a waste of money with less ROI than a banner ad.
Why not spend that money on paying someone to monitor and engage with your brand’s online conversation?
On a side note, I’ve actually been meaning to blog about this for a while. But I never remembered to because I always heard the ad in the car It wasn’t until the Gen Y Marketing Podcast mentioned it while I was with my notebook that I remembered. Guess that just supports my argument.