Business, Relevance and Passion, Personal Journeys, Uncategorized No comments yet

And the Moral of the Story is…

By on March 28th, 2013

Never think you day simply cannot go from bad to worse. You are always one bad decision away from a frighteningly awful day. Case in point:

I was on my way to a client meeting this morning. It was in a part of Tulsa that is just darn difficult to reach from where I office, so no route is a “good” one. After evaluating the “less bad” choices I had, I chose a route and started driving. While I left on time for the drive, I chose the route poorly… and after a few miles I could feel the pressure of the dash clock on my car as it ticked the minutes away. I found myself sitting at a red light in the left-turn only lane at a major intersection, wishing I’d gone the long way around but avoided this particular intersection which is known to the locals as a time-sink of enormous proportions because the light timing is unreliable. After waiting through one full light cycle without a left turn arrow (oy!) behind a gentlemen who was obviously agitated by the situation (arms waving, steering wheel being pounded), it looked like all would be well. Then, sirens…

First one, then another firetruck approached the intersection and barreled through (during my green arrow, dammit!) and then an ambulance did the same. By the time all the emergency vehicles had cleared the intersection, the arrow was red again and I and the very agitated man in front of me got to wait through another full light cycle. By this time, I am certain to be late. And the guy in the car ahead of me looks like he’s about to have a heart attack he’s so upset. I feel a little bad for him, because he’s obviously in a hurry to get somewhere. Traffic behind me is built up into a long line of people waiting to turn left… and I notice that right behind me is a Tulsa police officer.

I am giggling a little at heart-attack guy in front of me yelling at no one from inside his car when the light cycle sends the through traffic ahead and SKIPS THE LEFT TURN ARROW again. I start to fish for my phone to call my client and make the “I’m stuck in traffic call.” I notice the officer in the car behind utter a choice expletive (thanks, Dad, for making me watch football all those Sundays… I can lip-read cuss words like a boss). Then, I notice heart-attack man GO THROUGH THE RED ARROW ANYWAY and make his left turn.

The officer utters another choice expletive, the arrow finally turns green, and the officer hits his lights and sirens to fly out around my carefully-executed-into-the-nearest-lane-with-blinker-on turn to go stop angry man and ticket him for running the red light. So… to sum up, if you intend to break the rules, no matter how good the reason seems to you at the time, you better check your six first.

For those of you expecting marketing or PR wisdom, I apologize. Regularly scheduled content will resume once I stop laughing quietly to myself every time I think of the look on heart-attack man’s face when he realized he’d pulled that stunt right in front of a police officer :)

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Design, Marketing, Small Business, Social Media, Social Media 2 comments

The Crapification of the Corporate Logo

By on February 26th, 2013

The crapification of logo design lately disturbs me deeply. Though my primary business these days is strategic marketing, advertising and public relations, my degree from lo, these many years past, is in graphic design. The four-year, have to actually learn to draw, kind of design degree. The trend toward “friendlier” logos has been running on for about four years now, pushed by changes in 2009 to Walmart’s corporate logo. Some corporations who joined this crazy train toward homogenized design, such as Kraft foods, have revamped more than once. In Kraft’s case, they’re on their 4th logo in 4 years. Yes, really. One reason for the many changes in Kraft’s logo may be the similarity of the two “smiling” logos to Yoplait’s (also recently redesigned) logo.

The “smiling” logo has replaced the “swooshy” logo as the default graphic element. Those of you who’ve been designing logos (or working with logos) for more than the past five years know what I mean. The movement toward these friendlier, more playful logos might be, as the NY Times article on the trend referenced above says, a response toward the recession. No one wanted to appear big, corporate, and distant. I think it’s also a response to social media influences… a perhaps mis-implemented effort of brands to be more approachable for consumers (another way to engage an advertising audience). Somehow, brands translated “be more conversational” to “we need to lowercase our logo to show that we are a friendly company and that we’d be awesome to chat with on Facebook or Twitter.”

But the logo change that finally prompted me to write this rant post was the Arby’s logo “update.” Or, should I say “arby’s” since they are now a lower case logo, too. I am not against all lower case, everywhere, really. I am against a deliberate attempt to take a brand known for its western shtick and meat sandwiches and try to make it “modern” in a way that just makes it generic. And now, we have a kinder, friendlier arby’s logo (except for a weirdly attached apostrophe that is supposed to represent a slicer blade, the one nod to what arby’s is supposedly all about… slicing meat fresh in house) attached to commercials about finding the real food truth in fishing:

Gravelly male “manly” voice: Our fish comes from a place we call… the SEA. From men who wear things called… BEARDS. Because it’s cold in Alaska where we catch our fish.

With this logo.

Screen Shot 2013-02-26 at 10.05.16 AM

 

Leaving out the fact that the type is 2-D and the hat is an extrusion effect and tilted (so the text and the hat don’t occupy the same plane anymore), and that we have “friendly” type coupled with a western hat and a slicing blade, the basic question comes down to this:

Do you believe the message (real fish, from the Alaskan sea, caught by guys with beards on ships in dangerous waters) from this “face?” Would you believe ANY “real food” message from this corporate face?

I don’t hate every logo redesign, I promise. I’m in the middle of a couple myself for clients. What I hate is such an obvious disconnect between who the brand is (which is not what the people in the offices think, but what the people eating, or not eating, at the restaurants think) and how its represented. And if the goal here is to move Arby’s (I can’t help it, it needs to be capitalized) in a different direction, then why run the “real food by real men” commercials on TV and radio?

I want brands to be themselves. If you aren’t a childlike, friendly, fun kind of brand, don’t put that out there graphically. Be who you are, or put out there who you’d like to be… I’m OK with that, aspirational branding. Just don’t try to be different by being like everyone else. The genericization of brand logos is alarming as a trend and one I hope has run its course.

Rant Post over. What do you guys think… ?

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Business, Relevance and Passion, Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media, Social Media 2 comments

Catfishing – Or, A Primer on “The Interview is Tomorrow Morning!”

By on January 18th, 2013

I do periodic social media and Internet related segments for our local Fox affiliate, Fox 23. Sometimes they are tied to specific events such as Instagram changing its terms of service, or new Facebook “features.” Sometimes, though, they call me when the topic is timely and the need is immediate. Recently it was a story the evening news team was putting together as part of a larger story about a mom suing Twitter and the Tulsa Public School district over an inappropriate photo tweeted of her teen daughter against the daughter’s wishes.

Yesterday’s request was a new one for me… “Can you come on in the morning and talk about ‘Catfishing?’” While I was aware of the Manti Te’o story, I had not heard the phenomenon of online impersonation called catfishing. So my response to Michelle Linn, one of the Daybreak anchors, was tentative: “Um, I am available, but the only catfishing I know about has to do with bait and a river.” Thankfully, Michelle has a great sense of humor and clued me in to the Urban Dictionary use of the word – which made its connection to current events perfectly clear. OK! Now I’m good! So I told her yes, of course, I would do some research to develop some condensed tips to avoid being the next Manti Te’o that would be TV-friendly and see her in the morning.

Photo on 1-18-13 at 9.10 AM #2The keys to a good, short notice TV interview:

  • Make sure it is something you actually DO know about (online interactions I do know about)
  • Make sure you can condense your thoughts into a few minutes of conversation
  • Tie in the current event/story when applicable
  • Do the research to make sure you’re prepared for more than just exactly what you intended to say. It’s live TV… things happen.
  • Wear a “statement” necklace. Well, only if you’re a female, or a guy really into necklaces… but the point is to take a bit of time with what’s going on near your face. It will show.

For those of you who didn’t see the interview this morning, here are the basics we covered… or you can watch the Catfishing interview here.

Red Flag Signs You’re Being Catfished:

  1. Dramatic disasters and miraculous recoveries – Does your new friend seem to live a life more colorful than can be easily believed?
  2. Glamourous careers, trips or experiences – Photo shoots in Hawaii? Model/Photographer/Musician on Tour?
  3. He/She isn’t available except at certain times or in certain circumstances. Scheduled in-person meetings seem to be cancelled at the last minute due to some crisis or family event.

What To Do If You Suspect a Catfish

  1. Use Google. Look up their name, image search for those amazing photos you received, look up any details they’ve provided to check for accuracy.
  2. Ask for a specific photo. One hard to find online and steal…. Consider asking for a shot that includes your friend’s face, a public building in the town they say they live in, and a daily newspaper… perhaps with YOUR name written on it.
  3. Trust your instincts. If you suspect the ‘relationship’ is too good to be true, it probably is. Cut off contact and move on.

Important to note: Some states have “illegal impersonation” laws on the books, but in most cases unless the perpetrator’s intent is said to be/proven to be malicious, no prosecution is undertaken. However, in most cases, if impersonation is used to commit another crime (such as soliciting a child for illegal acts, stealing financial information or identities) then both the impersonation and the other crimes are actionable offenses.

And there you have it. Catfishing for the non-fishing set.

P.S. I am sorry for the serious hiatus from the blog. I promise to be better… It got very, very busy for awhile here at Crossroads Communications. Thankfully, it’s still busy, but I’ve decided to cut back a wee bit on some other avenues of social interaction online and put more effort back into sharing thoughts and having conversations here. Because this is the only online property where my content is mine and the privacy and sharing settings can’t be changed at someone else’s whim ;)

Talk soon… Mandy

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Business, Relevance and Passion, Marketing, Small Business 1 comment

How To Completely Piss Off The Public

By on April 17th, 2012

<sarcasm>

First, be a public agency. One funded by public money and responsible for public information, services and monies. Ensure your organization is in a position of power and authority over the lives of said public, making the public therefore dependent upon you and your information to accomplish required tasks or duties.

Then, and this is vital, make sure your extensive labyrinth of a website is navel-gazing at its bureaucratic best. DO NOT, under any circumstances, attempt to organize information based on how the users, the pitiful plebs who are the public, might actually search for it. Don’t employ breadcrumbs or other visual navigational cues. Don’t seek to put the user, the customer, the public, the reason you exist at all, first in your decision-making process.

You should end up with something like this:

Try to make the navigation choice that the public actually wants, “Where To File,” ambiguous. Do they mean physically where to go to file? Do they mean where to mail my return once it’s done? Do they mean where to go to find someone to help me file or prepare my return? Keeping them guessing keeps them on your site longer.

Don’t bother, ever, to do anything as mundane as looking at common search terms or phrases and checking to see if your site’s content matches them or delivers the information the public is seeking. After all, mystery is the heart of any good romance between a governmental agency and the public it “serves” (air bunnies on purpose there).

Your goal? End up with top Google searches serving results like this:

 

Note the first organic result is from 2009. And the only result from the IRS, our agency in question here, is not applicable. With quotes, “Where do I mail my tax return” and without the year in the search still nets a first page without a single IRS result.

So if you, too, want to completely piss off the public (or your public in particular), it’s simple. Be like the IRS. After all, Honeybadger don’t care about the public.

</sarcasm> 

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Business, Relevance and Passion, Marketing, Small Business, Social Media No comments yet

Relevant Content Matters. Or So I’ve Been Saying…

By on March 30th, 2012

Evidently, I’ve been saying it often since I started writing this blog almost three years ago. The above graphic is a wordle created from the rss feed of my blog. There’s no way to date-limit or post-limit the data pulled… what’s in the feed, or what you enter into a text block provided (handy if you want to dissect a post, an essay, a book, get crafty with your kids’ names) is what you get.

It’s a great “gut check” for whether or not you’re walking the talk. I did a wordle gut check for the blog about 18 months ago, and it’s markedly different in some important ways. It was more focused on community. On blogging, people and audience. Back in September of 2010, I was writing about those topics because many businesses and brands were just beginning to embrace blogging and were trying to figure out how it fit into online communities, audiences and ultimately, how they could use it to better connect with customers, who are of course, people first. For the past year, though, my focus has shifted from why businesses should be in conversation with their customers to what they ought to be talking about, sharing, building and why. Hence the keywords in this wordle are relevant social content. 

How do you go about being relevant to your audience? Hopefully you’re spending some time online and offline in the places your hoped for audience of prospects gathers. Hopefully you’re diligently trying to figure out what they do there, what they want from that channel of communication. Hopefully you’re looking at communication as a two-way street and I don’t just mean someone commenting on your blog post or liking your Facebook status update. Customers also communicate by their dollars, their time, their attention, by email, by online reviews to sites you don’t own, by word of mouth… to be relevant, you need to be delivering what people want, where they want it, when they want it, how they want it, and be prepared to hear them and respond if they have questions, comments, feedback, ideas, criticisms or kudos.

Given the “Search Together” idea that Google has recently implemented, using your social graph, your physical location and your past web history to personalize your search results, relevance is so much more than keywords on your website. If there are no conversations about you, with you, around your space…. you’ll struggle with the personalized search results based on the social graph.

How do you define relevance? How do you engage and converse and be socially present as a brand or business?

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Business, Relevance and Passion, Marketing, Social Media, Writing 3 comments

The New Five Ws… Or How to Produce Relevant Content That Isn’t Crap

By on March 16th, 2012

Filtering happens everywhere everyday.

I spoke yesterday to a great crowd at Social Media Tulsa 2012 about social relevance and how we use our social networks to filter the huge amount of content we come into contact with online every day. Often, the filtering is happening in ways we don’t see or recognize like when Facebook chooses what to show in your newsfeed because of what you’ve interacted with in the past. Or when Google show you personalized search results because of who you’re connected to on Twitter or other social nets. The big ideas, though, concerned blowing up the myth that content is king. Relevant content is king, queen and probably even the court jester as required. And I’m not talking about just making sure your content is SEO friendly or keyword rich. Content can be keyworded to death and still be crap. In fact, is usually IS crap.

Relevance doesn’t mean “how do I get people to find what I’m selling / sharing / writing about on my google ad-heavy website?” Relevance means how do we organzine, judge and interact with information online. How do users determine what is relevant? They evaluate the following:

  • Who did it come from? (my best friend, a business colleague, my old friend from high school, a random Twitter follower)
  • Where did I find it? (Which social channel, which news site, which blog, which portal or website?)
  • What is the context? (Is there an obvious slant or spin?…  Note, how much credence this point is given directly depends on number 4)
  • How important is this to me (how much do I care about the accuracy of the information?)

Users make those judgements quickly when evaluating search results or evaluating content on a site. Relevant content ticks all the boxes…. it’s from a source they trust or value, it exists in an expected or trusted channel or site, the context makes sense or resonates with the user, and the accuracy isn’t suspect. Then… you have a shot at getting that bit of content noticed and possibly retained.

You must know who your intended audience is. You must spend some time thinking about where they go online for what different types of content. Delivering dating advice via LinkedIn might not be the best channel choice, for instance. The context may not be relevant for what the audience is seeking from that site at that time. It isn’t enough to know who, demographically, hangs out where. To be relevant, you have to figure out why they go where they go and what they want to accomplish while there.

Then, you can start to create content that matters. That is relevant to your intended audience. Now it’s time to look at those old stand-bys of journalistic writing – the 5 Ws – except with a social relevance twist.

  1. Who are you writing for?
  2. Where do they hang out online?
  3. What do they do there? (how much time, what kinds of interactions, what kind of environment)
  4. When do they seek out your type of content? (When in the sales cycle? What time of day? What kind of life experience or problem or moment tends to prompt seeking out your content?)
  5. Why YOU? How can you be the relevant choice?
  6. and How can you deliver what they want?

Now you’re ready to write or shoot or create content that matters. And if you follow the above, you’ll see very quickly why you should go, right now, and turn off your autopost from Facebook to Twitter.

See the slides from the presentation here. 

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Business, Relevance and Passion, Marketing, Small Business, Social Media 20 comments

Win A Free Social Media Tulsa Conference Registration #smtulsa

By on March 6th, 2012

Cupcake Sundae? Why yes. Yes, indeed.

Yes, that’s right… comment on this post and you can win. I’d love to make you all do something like tell me your pain points in PR or tell me what you most hope to learn from the conference, but because I really like you (I do!) I’m just going to ask you to comment with something you like, too. Favorite color, favorite food, favorite book, favorite movie, favorite martini or drink… you get the idea.

One commenter is going to get their conference registration paid for in full. I’ll let random.org pick the winner (probably, unless I really, really like someone’s comment) and the giveaway will close on Friday, noon.

PS… if you don’t win, or don’t want to wait to see, you can register now. There are a few early-bird rate tickets still left last time I checked, and using my name “Mandy” as a promo code will save you even more.

Flickr image credit.

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Business, Relevance and Passion, Small Business, Social Media No comments yet

Relevance Is The Big Idea

By on March 1st, 2012

And I’m looking forward to sharing why I think that, what it means to you and your business, brand, or big idea, and how it’s more, well, relevant than you know.

I’ll be speaking again this year at the Social Media Tulsa Conference. And I hope you’ll be joining me, Liz Strauss, Becky McCray, Cheryl Lawson and a host of others who will share the real deal. This isn’t “How to do Twitter” in other words… it’s all about the ideas and tools that are driving businesses, ideas and people forward.

If you want to register, go to the eventbrite site and use “Mandy” as the promotional code. You’ll get a nice discount. But do it before March 8th!

 

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Personal Journeys, Small Business, Social Media No comments yet

Is it Anti-Social Media?

By on February 29th, 2012

This interview, done a few days earlier with me, my son James and his girlfriend Kelli, talks about some of the good and bad. I’d embed it directly, but the Fox23.com site doesn’t allow it. Sorry about that. But I’ll wait while you watch it… it’s a short segment.

What do you think? Is it Anti-social?

James and Kelli on their mobile devices while Frank Wiley Jr. of Fox23 in Tulsa shoots a tease for the story they produced.

For my part, I think communicating face to face AND digitally are both critical skills teens, and adults for that matter, need to master. I use shorthand when I text, but very rarely when I tweet, because to me the mediums are different and I make my living in part by writing. How I write out loud, on Twitter and on Facebook (and on my blog!) matters. I tend to text only my family, friends, and sometimes clients for a specific purpose (already here for our meeting, found a table!) but that communication isn’t public, per se.

NOT teaching teens and young adults how to do successfully communicate digitally both for their own benefit and for the benefit or at the wish of their eventual employers is doing them a disservice. In all likelihood, my kid is going to be working somewhere in a few years with a social media policy and an expectation that he’s connected to the larger world in some way other than just via email. If he doesn’t understand the “rules” of social sharing and building human connections without building resentment or creating stalkers, I’ve failed him. He needs to learn to walk into a room, make eye-contact with someone, walk up and shake his or her hand, smile and introduce himself. And then he needs to know how to follow up via email and connect on appropriate social channels too.

I don’t think twitter and texting have killed our kids’ ability to write well any more than I think video game consoles, first hugely popular when I was a young teen, killed our ability to experience nature or interact with others. What kills kids’ ability to write well is a lack of writing assignments and a lack of standards that require their effort. And a lack of parental involvement with logical consequences for failure to perform… like turning off the data plan for the smartphone until the grades improve, or taking it away altogether. My parents used to restrict our time on the Atari if we messed up in school, and it was effective at keeping us focused on the right things, long term. I didn’t grow up to be an introverted basement-dweller living on day-old delivery pizza, and I don’t believe my social-media engaged son is going to grow up to be a narcissistic, emotionally-isolated, writing-challenged people user, either. But that’s just me…. what do you think? Is social media making our kids more anti-social?

Note… I’m on Pinterest and Intstagram, too, in case you’d like to be social on those platforms, too!

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Business, Relevance and Passion, Small Business, Social Media 4 comments

Pinterest – My New Obsession

By on January 19th, 2012

I’d done some reading, some evaluating, some equivocating… but I finally took the plunge and joined in the fun on Pinterest. Here are some things I’ve discovered:

It’s quiet and undemanding. It’s not about real-time conversation. It’s not really about conversation at all, actually. It IS about connections. It’s about inspiration, curation and obsession. Here are the things you’ll need to know to join in. (Note… it’s invite only. You can let me know you want an invite in the comments for quicker access, or you can enter your email address on the Pinterest.com homepage and one will show up in your inbox in a few days.)

Pinterest is a virtual “pin-board” not unlike the old-fashioned cork board you probably had in your bedroom as a teenager or may still have on your office wall (note image of mine). The difference is now you can have as many boards as you have diverse interests. On my account I have one for places I like to go, one for information I think is worth sharing, one for stuff that makes me smile, etc. Virtual wedding planning, home decor ideas, DIY home improvement, jewelry, crafts, fashion look books… all common boards.

But, the uses that intrigue me and make me think the now 4 million plus users of Pinterest are on to something are ones like these, posted by some of my Facebook friends when I asked them about the service:

  • It’s like being a contemporary art director of dreams. – Jennifer Luitwieler
  • “Mood Boards” for client projects. – Trisha Salas
  • Resource images for photography clients. I can add them to the collaborators on the album and both of us can add images, talk about what we like, don’t like etc. – Marty Coleman (a.k.a. The Napkin Dad)

Successful brands using Pinterest aren’t doing tons of pinning their own stuff. They’re doing lots of putting out eye-catching visuals on their websites and making it easy for users to pin them to their own boards. Each “pin” is embedded with the source link from the website, so it’s a referral engine for pins that go viral and get “re-pinned” to other user’s boards. Commenting is possible, and some people do, but the beauty of the service is, well, it’s beauty. It’s visual, visceral and always changing. You don’t have to comment or feel compelled to “keep up” with the flow. Viewing a board lets you quickly scan a wealth of content in one glance, and users can follow only select boards of others if they want to. For instance, I am not a home decor makeover freak or particularly crafty. I tend to not follow those kinds of boards though I may follow the same user’s “Books I Want to Read” board.

Ready to give it a whirl? I’ve pinned some good Pinterest articles to my Info To Share board, and I’d suggest following Collen Pence’s Pinterest info board, too.

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