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Love, Love, Love - All You Need is Love

All You Need Is Love Image courtesy of Willie Simpson

I don’t know if you saw the Sci-Fi flick Serenity with Nathan Fillion. Anyway, at the end of the movie Mr. Fillion tells his co-pilot, River, what it really takes to pilot a ship. Here’s how he put it; “Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse... but you take a boat in the air that you don't love... she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down... tells you she's hurting before she keels.”

Mr. Fillion may have just described what’s at the heart of the potential Social Media presents and what it offers to help keep your (brand) “boat in the air” – nothing guaranteed mind you, but a good shot - and that’s love. If this sounds corny, think a minute, how many times in business have you heard somebody say, “Hey, we need to show that client some ‘love’ or “that customer needs some love,” and blah, blah, blah. Maybe you consider this “figurative,” but really, is it? One thing’s for sure, if you’ve been in business a bit, you’ve heard it, and maybe said it yourself more times than you care to remember.

Deep down, when an ad agency’s client asks them about including digital, Social and anything else Internet into their marketing mix what I believe they’re really asking, and they just may not know it, is, how can you, the ad agency, help us earn a seat at the Social Media table so we can show our customers we “love” them in ways that traditional advertising just can’t.

You can show a client the metrics, measurements, reports, and connections, or “all the math in the ‘verse,” and that’s all good, but it’s not going to mean much without that little 4 letter word. Besides, this is Charlton Heston – Biblical – Matthew stuff, which, of course, he made sure was on record… “And the greatest of these is love.” So there you go. If you want argue with him on that, be my guest, I’m not.

This can be pretty scary for some enterprises. Here’s why I think that is. And it has to do a lot with the word “distance.” Automation, mass production, and mass media, introduced by the industrial revolution has incrementally put up a healthy sized chasm between brands and the people they want to talk and sell to. As a result, for the past who-knows-how-many-years, brands, for the most part, have had the luxury of selling to people at a distance, with their advertising strategies coming along for the ride. A brand didn’t have to get “that” close – only perceive to. We all got used to being sold to at more than just arm’s length. All of a sudden the Internet, with its Social Media sidekick shows up, and subtly and methodically hands people the means to close that distance. And close it well. Power to the people, and all that jazz you could say.

Peeking at the brand/Social Media situation from a familiar angle might go like this; how many marriages or relationships have broken up because one party felt that the other became “distant” – even when the other party was there.

Brands have to genuinely get close now - or again – if they want to compete and grow. Just showing up and expecting your message to be heard doesn’t cut it anymore. Every day it’s getting more and more difficult for brands to sell at the distance they’ve been accustomed to. And brands are feeling it.  Ford, Dell, Zappos and Starbucks are some examples of brands that know and go all out to understand this. Enjoying more than just reasonable and continued success, these brands use Social Networking outlets to help them close that gap, build faith, and invest in their customers – their true capital. And, like what love can imply, these are brands which apply their Social Media efforts with a seemingly genuine no-strings approach.

Moral of this story: if you’re going to take a crack at Social Media, maybe start with a little John Lennon and add some Social Media Love to your marketing.

http://www.williesimpson.com - Credit for image

The Church of Me

The Church of Me Where I Can Worship Myself

We love talking about Facebook, not to discuss the DNA or the atomic structure of a “Like,” or dissecting the value proposition of a “Comment” with a UNIX 8-cylinder engine slide rule, or the square root of a Facebook “Hug.” Oops, Facebook doesn’t do hugs, at least not yet. No, we love talking about FB because it’s just fun. A nerd comes along, builds a run-of-the-mill simple upload, post, edit and submit Website which acquires the popularity of Star Trek’s “where no man has gone before” mantra, and the rest is history. Not to mention a little luck, like being in the right place at the right time, (remember our bumper sticker post). So, what’s not to talk about?

All I can say is “only in America.” Maybe you kind of see it like this too, but you just don’t want to say, and that’s Cooley and the gang with us - we respect that.  We respect all living creatures, and some dead - what the hell. By the way, how many other nerds are out there, right now, who are writing an app with fingers crossed, hoping it’ll “catch fire” too? Hell, we might be one of them. Nothing could be more American.

But let’s get back to the matter at hand, and what on earth has made Facebook as popular as the Beatles during the UK’s second invasion of America? I’ll tell you what I think it is, and it’s not the FB user interface, and how it does this, that or the other. What I’m seeing is that nobody, but nobody, at least so far, has cast the perception of something being entirely devoted to “me” better than the Facebook guys. The FB “Like” is genius, it is so very, very human - who doesn’t want to be liked. And who out there that’s on FB so much that they forget to go eat are thrilled to the point of hyper-ventilation when somebody “Likes” them. You just have to post something again, because one “Like” is just never enough, and you got a taste – and it’s good.

With over 700 million users itching to be “liked,” it’s no wonder FB has advertisers drooling. But the thing about FB is this; it's all about me - squared, not the advertisers, and not anyone else. FB’s “gift” to us all is the perceived ability to “enshrine” one’s self – Vatican style. Good luck with diverting eyeballs around that. The advertisers are trying though.  But they’re finding it’s doubly tough to break the preoccupation we have from our most alluring and captivating subject - ourselves.

As a side note, here’s what I ponder during meditation in my lotus garden; when will someone come along, and cater to the “all about me” perception better than FB? We all pretty much know it is only a matter of when, not if.

Contact Pittsburgh Social Media Marketing for your small business by Blackball Online Marketing where it's all about you.

Turnaround King – Outstanding Case Studies on Business

At Blackball Online Marketing we always try to share information we think valuable for your business. While channel surfing on the good old local cable network this past weekend, I came across a show which I feel is a homerun. The Turnaround King is about a business specialist who analyzes businesses that have either gone astray or lack direction or focus and have fallen on hard times.

Nat Geo's Turnaround King - Grant Cardone

I have always been a fan of preventive maintenance. It takes a lot less energy to maintain and sharpen business practices and worker’s skills than it does to retrain or hire new ones. The tips offered by Grant Cardone are solid fundamental advice for any business including ours, which is what drew my attention in the first place.

The tagline on the National Geographic Channel reads “Sales expert Grant Cardone helps struggling businesses turn things around and get back on their feet by giving the business owners the tools for success.”  The two pilot episodes are amazing to watch as I can see many small businesses falling into the same mindset as the owners featured. These problems are universal for small business which is some of the appeal.

The theme for the auto dealer episode is about small business owners who have been operating for years and have lost the ability or drive to aggressively target new opportunities and adopt new technologies. They, as small business owners, are not alone. We live in a fast paced business climate and seasoned businesses can become complacent. Here’s the video excerpt from this program.

Another episode deals with a family owned franchise of a gym. Grant offers some sage advice when the owners get caught up in competing based on price rather than selling their unique proposition; the amenities and strength of a solid training and support staff. High energy goes a long way provided it’s aimed in the right direction and Grant gives a shot in the arm to this business by offering proven methodologies and a great game plan for revitalization of the business. You can view the preview video here.

I’m already looking forward to the next episode and hopefully after reading this you are too. We are constantly seeking sound advice as we realize there are so many things that we can be better at. Are you doing the same? Need help promoting your Pittsburgh Web Design and Marketing campaigns? Contact Us.