One of the fairy tale selling points of social media marketing has been that it presents a level playing field. That is, small businesses and organizations could compete just as effectively as the big boys.
With 300 million active users and a massive amount of external funding, Facebook is really more like a goodly sized, upstart country with no borders and even fewer threats. As such, it's little surprise that the social network has become a marketer's playground, and Facebook's masters have been quick to embrace the corporate world's rush to establish a presence there.
I'm constantly finding better ways to do things, ways to create a smoother and more efficient work flow. Recently, I've had two epiphanies relating to Photoshop's Canvas Size.
"We'll make you number one on Google in 48 hours!!!" "Our techniques will drive 100X more traffic to your site!!"
We see the wild claims all the time. Chances are, they're bogus; if they're not, then the techniques are suspect. Legitimate search engine optimization practitioners refrain from making such wild claims, leaving them to those who are less reputable. Besides, you should never trust someone who wantonly uses multiple exclamation points.
Never being one to shy away from public controversy, the Washington Post has found itself again the center of attention, this time in online circles. The brouhaha? Their new—or belatedly published, at least—guidelines for social network involvement by staffers. The online community hasn't been very accepting, considering they are intended to cover personal use as well.
This week's newsletter is about going "Back to School," so I'll start with a short bit about school.
It wasn't long ago that I was in school. It's interesting to me that I've spent two-thirds of my life in school, the majority of my time up to this point. But a person twice my age has spent two-thirds of his life out of school, his time defined by what he's done since. It's a funny thing to think about—school becomes less relevant as you get older, to the point that school has almost no relevance to a person in their 90s. Crazy.
In one of our recent e-newsletters, we decided to feature some recent video work by using a still shot of the commercial with the ubiquitous "Play" button slapped on top. The implication, I hope, was clear: Click here, and you'll see some moving pictures. But we didn't try to embed the actual video in the email.
Why not? Because video playback in email just isn't ready for the spotlight, despite years of pining from desperate marketers, largely because a handful of cranks ruined the fun for everyone.
I spent a good portion of my formative years in a law firm, as a number of my family members were part of the bar. While I chose a different career path, my time in that environment gave me a few legal insights, including:
It seems I made a bit of a boo-boo in Digett's July newsletter, titled "Join our Launch Party." You see, we try to center our monthly missives around one theme, a practice that helps focus the conversation. Since we completed a number of projects toward the end of June, I thought it appropriate to highlight them and call it a "launch party," a minor mockery of the irrational exuberance of the dot-com boom of the late 90s.
Unfortunately, the title caused some confusion—there was no actual party. In my zeal to create a quirky and memorable theme, I committed a basic communications error by not being clear. I've even been told a couple of people were confused about how to R.S.V.P. for the party, which probably means I now owe some folks drinks and a cheese platter.
We're big proponents of emerging technologies here, especially those that help shake up a medium—like television—that has been done largely the same way for decades. But as much as things change, the more they stay the same. After all, when was the last time you saw something truly different on TV?
