Social Media Without Delusion at ArtsCAP on 1/26

I'll be presenting the keynote speech at ArtsCAP's Electronic Media Bootcamp on January 26th in AsburyPark. I'll be talking about the Three Dimensions of Social Media.

In the meantime, here's my presentation from AsburyPop on "Social Media Without Delusion"



Thanks to Laura Gesin for putting this up on the VoxPop site and to John Kaplow for asking me to be part of this exciting ArtsCAP event!

The Medium and the Message

"The medium is the message," Marshall McLuhan wrote in 1964.

Marketing departments understand this to mean that the media used affects the *power* of the message. This power is measured by such things as "reach," "impact," "click-through," and "virality." In other words, marketing people measure *how many* people see the message and from there, how many of them take action based upon that message. This is, obviously, why advertising during major TV events is more expensive - it is also why large companies seem to always be running after the most popular online space to "have a presence." More eyeballs = more possible action.

What McLuhan meant, however, is that the medium affects the meaning of the message - in effect, every medium changes the message and affects the society in which that medium plays a role.

Your choice of medium affects your message.

This seems simple on the surface. But think about companies that try to communicate the same message across several media platforms. How effective is that same message portrayed in the same way in several media? It's a rare campaign that can manage this.

So how does this apply to your business?

It means that for every Great Idea ^TM you come up with, there is likely to be only one or two really good media on which to execute that idea.

Let's start with a simple idea - a store is having a Holiday Sale. They develop a 30-second TV commercial and buy media space on a Holiday special on TV in primetime. It's straightforward, simple. Now here's the Great Idea ^TM - someone thinks, "well, we already have a 30-second video...why not put it on a site like Youtube, where people can see it?"

Except, the medium changes the message. On TV, you have a captive audience. If they want to watch this show - unless they actively opt out by muting the sound or changing the channel, they will see your commercial. Online, you have to entice them to want to watch that commercial. Of course, you could buy ad time on a online show of some kind, and still have the captive audience (who has fewer options to opt out) but if you put your commercial on your website, or on a video sharing site, that ad better be darn interesting or people won't bother watching. In fact, the message needs to be completely different. There needs to be some entertainment value intrinsic to the video or you run the risk of viewers parodying it to add entertainment value for themselves.

You might have great label copy on your product - whimsical, slightly offbeat. If your Twitter writer keeps that tone, without understanding that sometimes a question has to be answered, not parried cleverly, the message is going to disappear in the "look at us, we're so cool."

Every time you come up with a Great Idea ^TM, consider the media that that idea is truly suited for. Don't try to multipurpose what isn't meant to be multipurposed. A website contest might work really well for people already inclined to visit your website, but could fail horribly as an ad reaching a broad, not necessarily interested audience.

Choose your medium, choose your weapon; from branding to sales to contests. Target the medium to the message and the message to the audience. Or risk the message being changed the moment it leaves your mouth.

Nobody Wants a Virus

One of the most amazing bits of snake oil salesmanship in the Social Media world is the sure-to-rock-your-bottom-line guaranteed "Viral" Video.

Let's look at the nature of viruses and virality for a moment.

When you get a virus, it's no laughing matter. It's a bad thing. You're not pleased when your computer gets a virus, either. In both cases, the virus is not going to help you - it kills critical functions, uses up resources and in general is something you very much want to get rid of as fast as possible.

Virality, in marketing, is meant as a shorthand for "compelling enough to be shared." It makes sense that everyone uses the term, but think about it for one moment and you'll see the problem. People don't want a virus...and they want to get rid of one if they do have it. In effect, they want to share the misery, so they don't suffer alone.

I know what you're saying right now - that a "viral" video is not malware - it's just something that people find entertaining or informative and want to share with friends.

That's true, but let's look more deeply at some very viral concepts and what they *really* consist of.

If you are old enough, you might remember the "Where's the Beef?" campaign Wendy's ran on TV in 1984. In the ads, an old lady, played with sufficient crotchetiness by Clara Peller, looks at a competitor's hamburger and grates, "Where's the Beef?" This was a much parodied, much lambasted and oft-repeated phrase. Hundreds of rip-offs appeared in every media possible at the time. It was as viral as a video clip could be in 1984. It now lives on YouTube, as all viral videos should. If you've never seen it, take a look.

And far more recently the truly "viral" video, The Sleeping Technician, in which a Comcast technician falls asleep at a client's house waiting for Comcast to pick up the phone.

What do these two "viral" videos have in common?

They are annoying.

Viral videos use humor, it is true, but it is very often the humor of outrage, of disgust, of shock. We do not just find "viral" videos funny, we find them outrageous.

Remember Budweiser's Wassup campaign? Remember how FAST you grew sick of it, long before the wave of parody and 'clever' pass-along jokes faded away?

Or the outraged laughter that you heard when people viewed Phillipine prisoners performing Michael Jackson's Thriller?

These were strange, funny in a irritating way and, like each winter's flu, you were sick to death of them long before the epidemic peaked.

"Viral" videos share a key trait with their organic namesakes - people get sick and tired of them as fast as they get them. They suffer from Next Big Thingese. You can tell because with at least one of the above mentions, I bet you rolled your eyes.

Now, think of your business - how do you feel at the thought of someone rolling their eyes at your expensive media campaign? Not so good? Well - that's what a "Viral" video will get you.

I'm not dissing video as a media, please don't think I am. It's incredibly powerful - especially for generations like mine and younger, who grew up playing with, learning from and being entertained by a screen of some kind.

But, if any company promises you virality, take a step back and ask them what they mean by that. Ask them to be specific. What are they going to do to encourage that video being shared, what will it gain you, how is it going to be good for you? What part of that virus will be beneficial to your system?

"Sharing" can be encouraged, promoted and even rewarded, but "virality" is not something you should seek.

Because, nobody wants a virus.