Toluu : Jon Burg's Future Visions

Jon Burg's Future Visions

Chasing the longtail of digital content as it increasingly enables our everyday humanity.

10 ways to make money in social mediaNovember 19

Nobody has THE answer to the social web's most fundamental question: how do we make money off of this thing?

Consider:

Nobody pays Facebook a membership bill.
We aren't paying for twitter (yet).
While many of us pay for Typepad, Six Apart is clearly looking to tack on additional revenue streams (their sales arm came down to my offices yesterday).

So where will this industry net out? How will it drive revenues? Who is going to make money off of this VC backed free-for-all?

There are a number of potential paths to profit, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. So before you set out on your social venture, consider the revenue opportunities in today's marketplace (aside from selling your body, soul and audience to Google) below.

Brand Asset Production - Ex. Rock You - after earning their seat at the table with many Facebook success stories, Rock You now building for brands as well.
Market Intelligence - Converseon, Radian 6, Cymfony, Collective Intellect, Motive Quest, Biz 360, Buzz Metrics... the world is talking and for the first time ever, we can listen, learn and even engage. Any companies will pay handsomly for the capability.
Outsourced Outreach/Relationship Managem

the missing link - measuring motrinNovember 18

Nearly every social strategist or professional will tell you that social success starts with listening.

Monitoring online buzz can generate a wealth of information.

However, does online buzz represent broader non-digital real world sentiment?

Are social content creators and participants an indicative representation of the world at large?
Do digital sentiments reflect real world actions, like purchase, pass along, coffee shop and water cooler talk?

When hundreds of moms jump on the anti-motrin pile-on on twitter, do these actions represent anything larger than twitter and the resulting echo is blogs?

While it is true that digital monitoring provides amazing insights, how far do these insights go? Are we measuring a sample, an entire ecosystem, or a market as a whole?

And when we counsel brands as to how they use social media and social media intelligence, how much do we rely on the intel at hand - digital conversations? Is there a conversion

motrin and the 40 hour work weekNovember 16

So somebody was offended by your video. And they shared it with somebody, who shared it with somebody else.

And before you know it, a hashtag (#motrinmoms) is flashing across social media with blinding speed and the social interwebs are all aflutter. People are pissed, and they are sharing their thoughts with the world. (see graphic below)

It's now Monday morning at the Motrin offices. It's been 24 hours and your brand has already been publicly skewered and is currently roasting over an open roaring fire. The offended moms across social media have already adopted a tribal dance (#motrinmoms) as they weave rhetoric and spew hatred for the brand creative, and as a result, for your brand.

How did this disaster happen?

Firstly, creative is an art, not a science. One copywriter's inspiration could be a target demo's worst nightmare. And for the record, my wife thought the creative was pretty cute.

But most importantly, this happened because social "media" professionals, be they at the brand, an ad/media agency, a social boutique, or PR agency, clocked out. Friday night through Monday morning chatter and performance is something to be dealt with on Monday morning. And this is a mistake.

Because by Monday morning the damage may have already been done.

There is no easy solution. At best, social leads could have (and in many cases, should be) setting up social monitoring alerts. If my brand goes viral on a weekend, someone should be there to pick up the alert and to call in the cavalry. Give them an early weekend on Thursday, but get them in on Sunday.

Consumers don't wait until Monday morning to socialize. We can't wait until Monday to do something about it.

For more, check out BL Ochman's suggestions on things Motrin could have and should now do, and the ever insightful Craig Daitch on where this campaign went creatively wrong.

And now.. the fury of women scorned. Video below

the company-customer pact... what do we think?November 13

There's something great about being a blogger... you get great customer service.

The words "I have a blog", while egotistical and self-centered, often open doors.

Being part of the "inner circle" of the social media/marketing worlds often gives me a speed pass around hold lines, automated telephone trees and endless customer service bureaucracy (real life example - I'm sorry, but that warranty we sold was issued by a 3rd party).

Reaching out to agency and PR friends and colleagues has opened many doors, but it shouldn't come to this.

Everyone should be a VIP. Every customer deserves the time of day.

And customers have responsibilities of their own, including investigating solutions before writing off brands.

We need to learn to speak with one another in a more human and civil manner.

I don't know that The Company-Customer Pact is THE solution, but I think it's a great first step. Check it out. And if you agree, add your name, throw your hat into the ring or your name into the wiki.

It takes a village to raise a market. What steps do YOU think are going to transform or even move the market into a more civill

social for social good - Standing TogetherNovember 13

Yesterday I had a brief chat with Marc Meyer on Twitter regarding Peta's presence on twitter. Regardless of your feelings about this organization, I believe they belong on Twitter and across social "media". They are a social cause. It is their responsibility to their constituency to voice their cause across appropriate social communications channels. And Twitter is one of those channels.

Case Study
One has to look no further than Movember, a quirky movement wherein people grow mustaches in November to raise awareness around various men's health issues, to see the value of digital social activation for social good. Anyone that knows me well can tell you that I find mustaches both intriguing and hilarious. This is a movement that speaks to me as a man, as a human, a humanitarian, a social "media" communicator and as a mustache lover. And as such, this movement it belongs in social "media", be it online or real world.

There is something deeply human about social "media", something that makes people relate-able and trustworthy, makes brand faces rather than boxes and digital destinations into true communities.

Whether we recognize our place in this movement or walk blindly into the future, we are evolving. We are sharing. We are coming together and discovering. We are talking and we are relating and understanding other people, other perspectives and other cultures in a wonderful new way.

The current war in Iraq was not a faceless war against the enemy state, it was a battle with human faces. Connectivity and yes, social "media" changed the way we as a nation and as a race view war. The unpallatable reality that is bloodshed became real. We were fighting a flag, we were fighting people.

I do not live with my head in the clouds, nor do I believe that every gun should be destroyed but I do believe that digital social "media" has made us into a better people. We now understand, respect and relate to other cultures, people and religions in manners previously unknown.

Sure, brands have a place at the table, so long as they don't sit as a logo and harp on themselves.
And social movements and efforts have a place at the table, so long as they behave.
And every adult human being has a seat at this table.
Dialogue may not solve our differences, but mutually human conversation is the first step towards a solution.

Thanks to the wonderful Miriam Schwab for sharing Ann Handley's (MarketingProfs) tweet link to the video below. Further kudos to Chelpixie and CC Chapman for sharing this along to Ann.

The world is coming together.

Join me... join us.... as we stand by one another. Video below.