Sarah Biedak: Why We Seek the New: A History and Future of Neophilia – An interesting look at why we all are always trying to discover the next best thing.

Jesse Davis: Social media measurement is difficult. There’s no one tool that does it all, no one strategy for measurement, no one department that owns this space, but this article by Fast Company has some interesting thoughts about how to organize, strategize and analyze social media ROI.

Melissa Lion: I don’t condone crying at your desk, however, if you’re up for a bit of a weep and some very beautiful stories from people all over the world, check out DearPhotograph.com. And hand me a tissue.

Julie Yamamoto: Video: where good ideas come from http://youtu.be/NugRZGDbPFU.

Gary Rubin: How social media is changing college athletics and recruiting. http://espn.go.com/college-sports/recruiting/football/story/_/id/7510010/social-media-makes-mark-recruiting

Stefanie Week: Ever wonder what those tech-savvy youth are doing online and with their mobile phones these days? Ekaterina Walter from Intel compiled an impressive list of the top stats for how Gen Y is using technology.

What did you read this week?

There’s a lot of coverage right now about personal resolutions like eating healthy food and exercising, however brands and marketers should also consider activities that they want to change this year. If 2011 wasn’t up to par, or you wish you had done things differently when it came to your marketing activity, you’re not alone. It’s healthy to take a pause and review what worked and what didn’t over the course of the last year, and make appropriate adjustments.  Now is the time to evolve and learn from the past.

Our team here at CMD did a lot of evaluation on the strategies and tactics that we implemented for our clients over the past 12 months and without question, it was helpful. After all, the definition of insanity is performing the same function time and time again and hoping for a different outcome. The bottom line? Status quo rarely works.

So, here are three resolutions that brands should strongly consider in 2012 if they want to shake things up and keep evolving in 2012:

Plan, plan, plan: It’s easy to look quarter-by-quarter, but nothing brings clarity to a marketing initiative like looking ahead 12 months, especially when it comes to content on your social channels. Take a shot at planning out your content for the year by asking yourself, “Where are all of our tradeshows? What messages do we want to hit, and when is the right time to deploy?”  Just like attacking a cluttered closet that you’ve been meaning to get to, keep the valuable content items and toss the rest. It will clear your mind and your marketing plans.

Pull the trigger:  How many of you have an idea in the drawer that’s never seen the light of day? Like a bowl-induced, New Year’s Day football coma, inertia kills marketing success quickly. Sitting on an idea or making a plan and thinking it to death doesn’t generate results. Take a proactive approach this year, trust your agency to deliver a campaign that hits your objectives, and go for it.

Remember traditional PR: Because I’m in the Earned Media/Public Relations group at CMD, I’m biased toward utilizing traditional PR channels. I love calling the desks at publications and pitching a great story. Social media has dominated the conversation the past four years, but remember that there are still traditional media outlets that can spread your word far and wide. They are looking for content. A few strategic pitches could bring you more good luck than a dish of black-eyed peas (it’s a Southern New Year’s tradition, look it up.)

What are your marketing resolutions for 2012?

Some futurists predict that one day, we may not feel so compelled to post, update, check in and share as much as we do today.

But right now, the irresistible drive to publish what we’re doing, thinking and experiencing—and the social media platforms to do it on—seem to be getting more prolific by the minute. You also may have noticed your audiences are getting pickier to boot. Now, you pretty much need something new, interesting and unique to say, show or share on each social media channel you adopt (much to the chagrin of those who use handy little apps to simply spew the same thing across all their digital profiles).

This is a good thing for better, more fitting content, but it’s also causing users to have an identity crisis of sorts. The conflict is no longer just about whether to friend an old flame on Facebook. Oh no. The dilemmas of these new offerings draw out and surface the multiple dimensions and personalities that can be found within ourselves, forcing us to decide whether the reflection that social media mirrors back is an accurate one. Consider just some of the soul-searching the average social media user now has to ponder:

-        Should I let my personal and professional life mingle on Facebook and just how awkward could it get?

-        How and what do I focus on in conversations I have with my Google+ circles? Should I share with everybody?

-        Will my obsessions with unicorns and knitting be best featured on Pinterest?

-        Is Tumblr going to be about my serious professional self or completely focused on my cat?

-        Do I want to share my fondness for fried foods on Instagram?

-        What will my coworkers think when they see I’m the mayor of Spartacus on Foursquare?

-        Will my friends listen to my Spotify playlist and believe I’m hopelessly behind the times?

-        If I tweet about these things, will I confuse my followers or run the risk that my boss will see it on LinkedIn?

Here are a few suggestions to help you organize and manage your somewhat split social media personalities:

Partition out of respect, not because you have something to hide

Ok, so you mainly tweet about your profession via Twitter. Given that, it makes sense that the photos of your cat you upload on Instagram may not interest your Twitter followers. Therefore, separating the two is probably a good idea. But the idea is to look at it from your audiences’ point of view and spare them things they may not find interesting, not to try to hide anything from certain people out of fear or embarrassment about what they might see. With that in mind, however . . .

. . . If you’re worried your mother, boss, spouse, etc., might see something, it’s probably best not to share it.

Common sense rules here. It really doesn’t matter how protected you think your circles are, or how well you’ve blocked select content from certain groups of friends, someone can still easily quote you or take something you’ve said and share it with others. With social getting more searchable, and open APIs, it’s pretty foolhardy to believe online activity will always be protected from view and won’t pop up in a search somewhere at some time. Which gets us to the next point . . .

. . . Don’t be so rigid about building those walls

This may seem contradictory to the first point, but keep in mind that the most interesting folks and brands on social don’t always stick to the party line—randomness of conversation, sharing something that may not be strictly in the wheelhouse of what you mainly focus on—is simply part of the culture. So if you want to share that particularly adorable picture of your cat in the bathtub via Twitter, even if it’s outside the things you typically talk about there, do it. Just don’t do it all the time (again, respect for your connections always reigns). That said . . .

. . . It’s ok to sit on the sidelines

Just because you’re using a channel, you don’t always have to swim with the fish. Sometimes, you can sit on the banks and enjoy the stream. For example, amazing photos are shared via Instagram every day. If you don’t feel like putting your photos out there for everyone to judge, it’s perfectly acceptable to join Instagram simply for the viewing pleasure of seeing what others are posting.  Finally, as with everything else in life . . .

. . . Decide what’s right for you

Social media is awesome for people who like to discover and explore. But not everyone is comfortable revealing so much online. That’s smart, and it makes sense to be protective and cautious. Figure out what works for you and don’t feel pressured to participate just because everyone’s doing it and it’s the hot new thing. This also goes to the point of sheer practicality. Unless it’s your job, let’s face it, managing all this stuff is incredibly time-consuming, as it takes lots of care and nurturing. Therefore, decide on your personal favorites and focus time and energy there if you’d like, vs. trying to do it all.

As you try out social media tools, what are some of the ways you use them to share different dimensions of yourself with others? What are your thoughts and suggestions for how to best manage it all?

1. Etsy’s Gift Ideas for Facebook Friends. Everyone wants to give a unique, one-of-a-kind gift to that special someone, and Etsy’s community of crafters and specialty designers is the perfect place to find those gifts. That’s why the Facebook app on their site caught my attention. Here’s how it works: Use the app to select one of your Facebook friends. Etsy will then serve up a handful of suggested gifts based on the information from your friend’s profile. And, shhhh, it’s all secret so that your friends won’t know you’re shopping for them!
2. eBay’s Give-A-Toy Store. Now here’s a great idea that attracted both offline and online audiences. eBay set up interactive window displays in New York and San Francisco. Passersby used their eBay mobile app to scan the QR code on the toys shown in the display to make a direct donation to Toys for Tots. Users not in New York or San Francisco were able to make donations online.
3. American Express’ Small Business Saturday. Now in its second year, Small Business Saturday has become a mainstream movement – securing local TV coverage and even an official declaration from Mayor Bloomberg. The social media extensions for this campaign were endless. One cool thing they introduced this year: Sync your American Express card with either your Facebook or Foursquare profiles, and if you spend at least $25 at a small business, you’ll get a $25 credit on your statement.
4. Intel Partners with The Pioneer Woman. I think I’d be remiss in this post if I didn’t include a brief, shameless plug for a holiday campaign that the CMD team worked on this season … right? Knowing that gift givers are quite busy during the holidays, CMD and Intel went right to the source instead of trying to avert attention elsewhere. Intel and one of the most well-known female bloggers, The Pioneer Woman (aka Ree Drummond), teamed up to host a holiday card challenge where readers submitted their digital works of art for judging by Ree. The effort tied together Ree’s passion for digital photography along with the visual capabilities of Intel’s latest technology. Extensions on Twitter and through a charitable giving effort also helped drive momentum for a monthlong program that drove engagement in spades.

What are the creative concepts that you came across this past holiday season?

With thousands of headlines and tips being shared on Twitter alone each hour, we think it’s helpful to share our favorites—the articles and blog posts from 2011 that really stood out as being most relevant, interesting and insightful. This month we’re sharing our thoughts about the top news, social tools and more for the year. Browse the list and then tell us about your favorite news from 2011.

Melissa Lion: I think this article from Venture Beat pretty much sums up 2011 for me: Surprise hit Pinterest a top 10 most trafficked social network. Go ahead and click that link so you can see for yourself that Pinterest (or as I fondly think of it—crack) has more users than both Google+ and Tumblr. Here’s to more inspirational quotes in pretty typefaces, cupcakes shaped like pandas and nail polish/messy bun/smoky eyeliner tutorials in 2012.

Darcie Meihoff: My favorite re-read of 2011 is not new, nor is it from an online source (although there is a Kindle version). Now in its fourth edition, The Elements of Style, by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White, remains the authority on clear and concise writing. In a world where bad prose can be summed up in as little as 140 characters, this book promotes and celebrates such ideas as, “Make definite assertions. Avoid tame, colorless, hesitating and noncommittal language.” Cheers to Strunk and White, whose fight to improve the quality of writing rings as true today as ever.

Erik Sebellin-Ross: TechDirt does a great, thorough recap of the Ocean Marketting [sic] debacle that proved to be this week’s cause de jour, driving hardcore gamers to rage. What lessons can we gain from this? 1) Your parents gave you good advice when they said you should be polite to people; 2) Don’t plagiarize; 3) Pretty much anyone can call themselves a marketer, so check credentials before you hire someone to represent your brand.

Sarah Biedak: My favorite reads this year haven’t been individual posts as much as daily digests from my favorite sites: Mashable.com and Incredible Things. There is a reason articles from Mashable get tweeted and quoted over and over. The content is timely, relevant and interesting to anyone with an interest in social media. Mashable recently posted a series of 2011 wrap-up/2012 prediction articles; here’s one of my favorites: 5 Tech Trends to Watch in 2012. Incredible Things delivers what the title promises: unique, clever, odd and amazing people, places and things. I look to this site as both an entertaining break from the social media news feed as well as a pulse on what is happening on the fringe of consumer culture. I mean, where else would I find out that the Human Slinky is now available for sale, or that there is a toy that will tweet every time your cat plays with it?

Stefanie Week: One of the most interesting articles I came across this year was a bit of an investigative piece, The Dirty Little Secrets of Search, from the New York Times about J.C. Penney’s search optimization practices. The article gives a great introduction to SEM and also some clear warnings about how to play by the rules.

SEM

Search got social in 2011 when Bing and Google laid the groundwork for changing how search results are delivered. High relevancy scores will only go so far—Bing now prioritizes results that your Facebook friends have liked, and Google is doing the same with its +1 service.

What’s coming in 2012: Social will be even more integrated in search. Users will see the value of signing in while searching. Search results move from a list of blue links to a collection of things your friends and those with similar interests have tried and liked. Search becomes personal in the way that shopping on Amazon has become personal. Marketers need to be ready by making sure that their pages are instrumented with social buttons. In 2012, the most important part of your Web page may just be a few pixels wide.

Web
HTML5 became real in 2011. No technology in recent memory has made it through the hype curve, past the trough of disillusionment, and back to practical and useful faster. HTML5 and its collection of related technologies are delivering on the promise of the Web like no other technology before it.

What’s coming in 2012: In 2012, designers and developers late to the game start learning HTML5 and usher in a new era of innovation in the sites we use daily. At the same time, Flash gets branded as old and tired—its traditional supporters start moving away.

On the enterprise front, corporate sites go roguish in 2012. Companies will realize they can’t centralize all content, navigation and style. So instead of policing the Web and forcing all content into a single set of templates and designs, they begin letting business groups do their own thing. A great home page, and some universal structure is needed, but everything below the header becomes fair game.  This will allow more flexibility in how different divisions, brands and product lines talk to their customers.

Mobile
Wow, there are a lot of apps . . . and a lot of them are bad. Mobile is almost ubiquitous. In 2010 and early 2011, everyone needed an app.  As we got deeper into 2011, people started to realize it’s easy to build an app, but it’s difficult to make it useful. As the year evolved, marketers figured out that building an app isn’t enough. You need a good-size promotion plan to drive adoption and a generous number of notifications to keep your audience using it semi-regularly.

What’s coming in 2012: More of the same: mobile usage will grow, and apps and mobile Web will get better. Marketers will often focus mobile strategies around existing social networks and social platforms rather than always building their own app.

You’ll also start to see more companies use HTML5 to create sites that scale for any device. Toward the end of 2012, the line will blur between Web and app.  The OS manufacturers will race to be able to find a way to allow the mobile Web to interact with the device just like apps do. The one who figures it out could shake up the playing field.

Social
“The only thing constant in life is change,” just like in social media.

The first part of the above statement is attributed to François de la Rochefoucauld. The second part can be attributed to marketers everywhere.

Organizations have matured significantly in the last year. Adoption of social CRM and social measurement systems has grown. Companies are determining what they can handle internally day-to-day, but are looking to agencies for planning, strategy, creation of sharable content, social promotions, and building systems and engagement tools.

What’s coming in 2012: 2012 will see a continued maturation of engagement tools and how companies approach social. From a user perspective, mobile will be the primary point of interaction with the leading social networks like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.  Expect to see more functions of the enterprise adopt social media. Corporate leaders will begin to see the value of social beyond marketing and PR.

Online Advertising
2011 was the year that didn’t. Near field communications were expected to enter the mainstream and they didn’t. Mobile advertising was expected to become more local and it didn’t. Contextual advertising was supposed to be everywhere, and it wasn’t. One thing that did happen was continued growth. Many experts predicted social media would steal some of online advertising’s thunder, but spend on online advertising continued to grow.

What’s coming in 2012: Hopefully some of the 2011 expectations will become real, but then again, we’re all still waiting for flying cars. I do think you’ll see an evolution in mobile advertising and in interactive signage. Mobile advertising will just keep getting better and become more integrated into the mobile context. Interactive or digital signage will be more responsive and more informative based on user input.

Stefanie Week: Is anyone else as perplexed as I am about why it’s taking Twitter so long to publicly introduce their ad platform? It seems like they’ve been in beta for years now (or maybe I’m just really impatient.) Mashable says that Twitter has finally introduced their self-serve ad platform… but it’s still being tested.

Sarah Biedak: Who sits and watches TV without surfing the Internet or checking Facebook? I know I don’t. According to a recent study conducted by Google, tablets have emerged as the go-to multitasking devices which has strong implications for mobile advertising.

Gary Rubin: Sometimes, you just need to read a story that makes you smile and tip your hat to the journalist assigned with telling the tale. Or tail.

Bill Fisher: From Mashable: With the recent announcement of Google+ brand pages, many companies – and their agency partners – are wondering “We’re already active on Facebook and Twitter. Why should we bother with yet another social media channel?” While on the surface Google+ brand pages can seem like just another Facebook with a fraction of the user base, there are a few unique elements that are absolutely worth considering.

Julie Yamamoto: From the Harvard Business Review, What I Learned Building the Apple Store.

Melissa Lion: As a knitter, I’ve been spoiled by Ravelry, possibly the best database ever. As a cook, I’ve been disappointed by communities and databases for food. The sites either seem clunky or the recipes have been reviewed by so many people with different tastes than mine, I can’t trust the ratings. So I was very excited to explore Food52. The creators hoped to build the first community-sourced cookbook, but it’s evolved into a community of fellow food lovers and home cooks.  And it’s the home to the All I Want for Christmas Peanut Butter Cookies.

What did you read this week?

No doubt marketers dream about that magic moment when a video goes viral, but statistics show that the odds of your video becoming a viral sensation are stacked against you. While it’s impossible to force viral, you can give your video the best chance of connecting to the audience and successfully relaying your message:

• Keep it short and sweet or go more deeply: According to the Jun Group’s report on video views, only 10 percent of videos are 15 seconds or less, yet they have the most engagement. The second most effective video length is 60 seconds or more.
• It’s all entertainment: If you have the option, add a little humor to your video. Jun Group’s report found that viewers are three times more likely to click to a brand’s Facebook page after viewing a funny video. Essentially, try to keep your video interesting while providing valuable information. As with every other form of media, content is king.
• Does your measurement make sense? Most companies’ go-to measurement for social video is number of views. This is all fine and dandy if the content’s objective is awareness. However, if your video encourages viewers to follow a link, the number of clicks to the URL in combination with the number of views would be a more telling measurement of engagement.
• Music—what’s a video without it? Have you ever watched a scary movie without the sound? It’s not scary at all. Music brings video to the next level. Match your music’s tempo and style to your video content to help set the right mood (e.g., the CMD-produced video “A Birthday and a Bucket of Voodoo Doughnuts Walk into an Agency…”). Even interviews with talking heads (not the band) can incorporate music to enliven the video’s content. In post-production, adjust the volume levels enough to hear the primary content, and fade the music in and out during silent moments.

CMD Voodoo Doughnut video without sound

CMD Voodoo Doughnut video with sound

• Build some excitement: People love contests and challenges, so why not incorporate a promotion or user engagement into your video? Contests are great because they encourage the audience to take action, stimulate site traffic and are ideal for social sharing, which helps increase the number of views. Make sure you follow the terms and conditions of the social site you’re using or your site could get shut down.
• If content is king, is video quality queen? Without quality, polished content, your video will miss the mark. A video shot with poor audio on a cell phone, without a tripod and filled with jump cuts, might be tolerated these days within channels filled with user-created video, but most audiences will tell you it is not preferable. Stabilize your camera, use an external lavalier mic and shoot in full HD resolution if at all possible. It’s all about representing your brand well and conveying the quality your audience has come to expect.

These tips, tricks and techniques won’t necessarily get you the dream viral video, but they will help your video gain traction and reach the viewers you’re looking for.

Do you have any other tips for a successful video? Let us know.

Over the past few years, I’ve noticed that the Bravo network has made some major advancements in social media. Its reality stars tweet and blog for the network. Hashtag conversations and top tweets are shown on air during programming. Extra footage and webisodes are featured on its website.

All of these social media extensions have come across fairly seamlessly for the viewer. Bravo encourages online engagement, but it’s not essential for viewing the regular programming.

However, that will change this fall with the launch of the new season of Top Chef. Bravo is making new waves in social media by introducing a transmedia element for the 9^th season.

. . . to get the full story, fans need to keep up with separate action on TV, the Web and social media. For instance, after chefs are eliminated on air, they join an online-only Last Chance Kitchen video competition that will ultimately earn one chef the chance to return to the televised show and vie for the title. Meanwhile, fans can crown their own hero by rooting for their Fan Favorite.  If your heart is broken by a too-soon exit, start exercising those clicking fingers; you’ll help the season’s Fan Favorite chef win a special bonus prize.

So cool! Bravo to the Bravo network for taking an already impressive social program to the next level. Normally I check out Top Chef to see the latest culinary creations. This season I’ll be watching to see if Bravo can successfully take this transmedia program to its mainstream users.

Have you seen any recent transmedia programs go mainstream?

Sarah Biedak: Seeking to stay a front-runner in the crowded daily deal space, Groupon has expanded its discount empire to include products for sale on its website. Groupon is still figuring out how it will present its product sales, but it seems the company has its sights on Woot.com, Fab.com, Amazon (especially the Daily Deals segment) and others that appeal to the sample sale crowd.

Melissa Lion: Sure Groupon and Living Social have the big audiences, but why not target a group discount campaign using local markets? Here in Portland, we have some great, local resources for people looking for a deal, including Supportland, and PDX Pipeline’s Deals of Portland.

Julie Yamamoto: From SmartBrief – social media could make retail customer assistance more efficient.

Stefanie Week: Saucy puns abound with Ragu’s social media misstep in their latest campaign. I think an apology would be a good place to start with this one…

Jesse Davis: I saw two interesting infographics. The first is how the rest of the world uses social networks and which networks are most popular in different geographic locations. The other is of how the airline industry has adopted and succeeded with social media.

Darcie Meihoff: It was bound to happen: psychology meets social media. Ever wonder what kind of mood someone is in? Check out their Twitter stream. Interesting new study spearheaded by Cornell University and reported by the New York Times.

What did you read this week?