By now, most the social web and even mainstream media have read the story about Southwest Airlines and filmmaker Kevin Smith, removing him from a flight because he was ‘too fat’ and a safety concern. Let me state this from the get go, I realize that SWA was in the wrong with their actions and don’t agree with what they did.
This year’s Digital Marketing Mixer was once again filled with great panels and smart people who I learned from and got to know during this 2-day event. I wrote a recap a year ago from my first MarketingProfs event, with an emphasis on people and passion, but this year for me focused around two trends – affirmation and testing.
Affirmation
I say this from more of a development standpoint. From hearing numerous panels to having 1-on-1 sit-downs with industry leaders. I’ve seen the growth from both ends of the spectrum, as talks are far past the tools and the newness of social media and deeper into what we’re actually doing right now to help businesses achieve their goals with the help of the social web.
What has this affirmed for me exactly? That the work that I and the rest of the community have put in this past year, since my last smart-people meeting, is helping move needles and shift our thinking forward with ideas and case studies on what’s working for companies today.
Testing
This second takeaway directly relates to that next level of thinking and how organizations are approaching social media today. They’re continually testing & optimizing their strategies and aren’t afraid of failing during this process.
Jay Baer summed up this thought well with this quote: (more…)
Because following guidelines doesn’t always get you noticed.
Because letting your passion and personality ride you through gets people talking.
Because change is a good thing and it challenges people and their thinking.
Because being yourself will always be far better than trying to be someone else.
And because not conforming gives you great memories like this:
I found this video yesterday (thanks to @KatiRyan) when it was only at a few thousand views and it’s now blown up past 1mm (update: a day later and it’s now close to 5mm – wow). I’ve admittedly added to a few dozen of those views, but there’s something to it (minus the overall awesomeness of what this couple orchestrated at their wedding) that gets me excited and pumped about what is possible.
How can you step outside of the box today and challenge the world of conformity?
This morning’s brand brouhaha, if you haven’t seen it already, revolves around United Airlines and a musician’s scorn. The full story resides on Dave Carroll’s site but the gist is that United Airlines damaged his $3,500 guitar, as luggage handlers tossed it around. Nine months past and numerous phone calls and emails later, there was no resolution and Dave’s claim for his guitar was denied. What takes the cake though is Dave’s response. He’s a musician and it was only right for him to write a song about it but better yet, create a music video:
A friend of mine sent me this video last week called The Process and asks ‘What if there were no stop signs…and a major corporation was charged with inventing one?’
Check it out (only 4 1/2 minutes long so you can spare a short break):
The video is damn right hilarious. I’ve watched it several times and have noticed little cues that poke fun at the corporate ‘process’ when developing new concepts or strategies. As humorous as the video is, the truth is that companies often lose sight of who and what their strategy is for and end up putting all their energy towards the wrong ideas (as seen in the video). The team in this video obviously took a very reactive approach when conceptualizing a stop sign, rather than taking the time to understand who will see the sign and then develop concepts for those drivers, not the company.
Realize who your consumers are, people! Don’t focus on being fancy, demographics (the wrong approach to your demo, rather), ads and any other nonsense this corporate team was worried about; put that power towards the people, first and foremost, and you’ll see a much more effective campaign.
In the social media world, we talk about building community and conversations all the time. Well, Matt Harding has definitely taken it to the next level and in 42 different countries:
This amazing video shows how simple creating a community can be. It just takes is a little effort and giving people something to talk about. In this case, it was Matt spanning the globe to spread the joy of dancing.
If you’re not aware about Common Craft’s ‘In Plain English’ show, head over there right now! They’ve created an informational series that simply explains the many mediums of the web through fun and creative videos.
They’ve just released a new video, Social Media in Plain English:
Through the use of a simple story, their newest show explains how Social Media works through communities and the user-generated content each unique network provides. Reiterates that the voice of the people is what makes a community or product special, it’s just a matter of finding your niche; or ice cream shop.
This year’s Digital Marketing Mixer was once again filled with great panels and smart people who I learned from and got to know during this 2-day event. I wrote a recap a year ago from my first MarketingProfs event, with an emphasis on people and passion, but this year for me focused around two trends – affirmation and testing.
