Take It Face To Face

While doing my daily internet surfing I came across a link to Crossroads Dispatches, a blog written and managed by Evelyn Rodriguez.  The link directed to one post in particular,  “Slow food, Slow Sex, Slow travel…Slow marketing”, where Rodriguez uses a unique blend of life stories and foreign cuisine to discuss marketing on a personal level.

Writer/Blogger Evelyn Rodriguez

The idea of “slow marketing“, according to Rodriguez, revolves around one-on-one human connection between marketer and consumer, not the buzz/guerilla/viral tactics that have become common today.  What’s interesting about Rodriguez’s approach is its timing.  The “Slow food” post was originally written September 28, 2006.  This is two days after Facebook became open to anybody 13 or over, long before its popularity exploded into what it is today, and ever longer before Twitter joined the scene.

If Evelyn Rodriguez was calling for more human interaction in 2006, what would she say today?  The rate at which information is exchanged seems to get faster daily, with new outlets and channels popping up all the time.  Personally, I used to look forward to watching ESPN’s Sportscenter on a nightly basis to catch up with my teams and the sports world.  Now, by 10:00 PM CT, I already know the scores, have read all the blogs and articles, and could tell you what my favorite players are doing.

And marketers?  We’re able to create accounts for our clients on various social media pages and gain fans and followers without ever actually interacting with an actual person.  I don’t count typing “@_____” as actual human interaction.

I believe that the important message lost in much of the hype surrounding social media and buzz marketing is that, at the end of the day, people are people and while the “buzz” is nice, there is no substitute for directly interacting with the consumer.  What I mean by “people are people” is that regardless of the demographic you are reaching out to, everybody is still human and has the innate desire for human interaction and connection.  This doesn’t change if you’re pitching services to a CEO or starting a lemonade stand at the end of your block, if you make an honest effort to listen to your consumers, you will be rewarded.  And don’t worry about the exceptions to the rule, those who would rather hang out with their Blackberries or Excel, they’ll figure it out eventually.

…that viral marketing is awesome.  I have no idea who’s behind the growing legend of Leroy Smith but I cannot wait to learn more.

Another recent viral advertising campaign was Gatorade’s “What’s G?” campaign, which launched during the Super Bowl.  Gatorade strung viewers along using simple, star-studded commercials defining the unkown “G”.  The commercials were huge hits on YouTube and created the coveted “buzz” marketers strive for.
Charlie Murphy, aka Leroy Smith, you are well on your way.  At first glance, the site appears cheesy, poorly made, and over the top.  Then you see the video game, several instructional videos, recorded song, petition (actually a tool to gather your information), social media accounts, iPhone application, Dave Chappelle (yes, that’s him in the videos), and realize this character is no joke.

Leroy is so far from a joke that, in less than a week, he has stirred up 649 Facebook friends, 443 followers on Twitter, and closing in on 20,000 views on his YouTube channel.  If Leroy continues this pace, he will be a full-fledged marketing pandemic long before the brand behind his existence is revealed.

For the time being, we have to just watch, friend, and follow Leroy to find out what’s going to happen next…

Where have you seen successful viral campaigns?  Who do you think created Leroy Smith?  Does this post make you feel more motivized?

And I wish I had more hands so I can give this ad campaign four thumbs up.

For the last three or four years, the way I listen to music at home has undergone an overhaul. I don’t own a radio, radios are for cars. So when I get bored of my iTunes collection, I start fishing around for online radio sites.

Needless to say, there are hundreds, some better than others, most I’ve never explored. I don’t purport to know which are best. Take this, instead, as one humble listener’s journey through the mire on the quest for the perfect radio experience.

It started about three years ago with Pandora. Pick an artist you like and they’ll play similar stuff. Ban whatever you don’t like. It was great for a while, but the same hundred or so songs do, believe it or not, eventually get tiresome.

And no matter which artist I input, it always tried to make me listen to Jack Johnson. No, Pandora. Stop! I do not want to listen to Jack Johnson anymore! I could ban his songs til kingdom come, but they always came back. It was time to move on.

Enter Last.fm. You can choose the specific song you want to hear, or search for a radio station based on any key word that suits you, as users can tag songs however they see fit. Snazzy. And though it was a great way for discovering new things, it was a tad too eclectic and unfocused. Though I still head back there sometimes, the unusual offerings can be enough to make your head spin.

Next in my travels came Musicovery. Not only can you select or omit entire genres (no gospel today, thank you), but you can pick what decade you’re feeling, whether you want familiar or offbeat selections, and what mood you’re in (because heaven knows energetic, positive, rock is a far cry from calm, dark rock.)

Best of all, it draws a colorful roadmap detailing the play list to come. This computerized selection, though, too came a little bit repetitive. The program is all but convinced that Kelly Clarkson is the only dark pop artist to ever walk the earth.

Innumerable accolades to Blip.fm for reviving me as a consumer of online music. This combination social media site lets users “blip” whatever song strikes them onto their own radio station. The twitter-like setup allows new djs to add commentary to their plays or chat with others. Others, user or not, can listen to you in real time or whenever else it’s convenient.

Find a dj, or 50, whose style you like on Blip.fm, and you’ll never be bored again. And really, it’s just a lot of fun, putting your favorite songs out there for others to pick up on.

So yeah, those computerized radio programs of the past were great and all. But social media, it’s the wave of the future.

Have you checked out Blip.fm? How does is compare to these other sites? Which do you like to use? Tell us your thoughts.

I suppose this is the way of things. With the exception of the enigmatically instantaneous growth of one FMyLife.com (see last week’s post) it’s normal for a website to take a little while to get its footing. Right?

That being said, the unparalleled amount of attention Twitter has received in the last two weeks alone is frankly a little irritating. My feelings likely spring from the fact that I’m not used to being ahead of the crowd. I am not a technological trendsetter, nor do I want to be. But even I’ve been using this site regularly for the past seven months. Where have you people been?

Some sort of strange snowball effect has taken place. The number of people following my posts has quadrupled since the beginning of March, and I have a pretty strong hunch why. One friend’s recent first post reads, “joined twitter because jimmy fallon said to on the tv.” Another, whose account has lain dormant since its creation in October, wrote last week, “I have decided I might start using this thing…but only b/c Ashton and Demi did first…” Oh, the appeal of celebrity.

A friend of mine raised an excellent point yesterday, one which I had completely failed to notice. Facebook’s newest format, which debuted last week, is virtually identical to the layout of Twitter. This includes a revamping of the status function in a way that encourages users to submit a running feed of their thoughts. Think for a second about how huge that is. Even Facebook, the site that’s monopolized the social networking market for years, is starting to sweat over Twitter’s recent boom.

I should probably be happy that Twitter, which has served me well for over half a year, is getting widespread exposure and credit. But really, this is a classic case of too much of a good thing. At the risk of offending a lot of people, it feels as if the whole character of the thing is beginning to change for the worse.

To make a gross over-generalization, the users that joined in the introductory phase of Twitter’s product life cycle were savvy internet users, prone to insightful, creative posts. But now that it’s approaching maturity, I fear that Twitter could become a rather trite forum for people to give mindless play-by-plays of their boring afternoon agenda, or to tell me silly things I already know.

So what to do? I’ve had to revamp my Twitter strategy, that’s what. To avoid being bogged down by drivel, my approach must be markedly unlike Facebook, where knowing a person merits keeping tabs on his or her activity. No, in the dog eat dog world that Twitter has just become, I’ve just “unfollowed” a handful of users that don’t quite get it.  For those of you that remain, I have only one piece of advice: make sure that you’re interesting, or you just might be next.

I recently had an opportunity to speak to a group of high school students about various topics, but one of them was of course social media. Oddly however, one of our conversations was on Social Security and while we chatted something dawned on me… the next generation is more likely to use social media than Social Security.

During our conversations some odd things came up. When I asked my teenagers what they thought social security was the answers ranged from:

“That’s what old people pay.” to ” A program that makes sure everyone is happy.” (close but no)

Compare that to what I heard when I asked them about social media:

“Twitter”
“Wikipeida”
“Facebook”
“My cell phone”
“Email”
“Blogs”

I know this isn’t a scientific study or the largest sample base, but it really got me thinking. Does the next generation see any value in Social Security? Do they think that social media is more important than their future? Have they been conditioned to think that connections are more important than government programs?

I began to explain to them what Social Security was and was promptly told that it was, “the dumbest sounding thing I’ve ever heard of.” When I spoke about creating connections and dialogues using social media everyone in the class perked up and wanted actually told me a thing or two about social media.

I know when I was in high school I wasn’t totally concerned with things like Social Security, but I must admit, I knew about it. The tone of the entire class was very ‘in the know’ whether it ranged from politics to tech to life the class talked about speed and instant gratification…. Something social media provides, but Social Security doesn’t.

Has anyone else had a similar conversation with youth recently? Did you ask them about social media or the future? Let me know.