In an unpredictable world, how can success be predictable? Les McKeown, author of Predictable Success, joins us for a candid chat about visionary leadership, and how Les uses social media to market his book. Interesting perspective from someone who’s by his own admission “very old”

The biggest lesson for any marketer – or any leader, for that matter – is that we no longer have control. We demonstrated this in a very radical way when we launched our current brand.

The reasoning was sound: by choosing a catchy, short phrase and putting a # in front of it, we instantly turned it into a search term in Twitter that others could tap into.

Our research was pretty easy: see what was already happening on the #sy hashtag. Not much, as it turned out – and we were monitoring it for about a month. The only common thread was references to Sonic Youth … not a bad brand association.

Then, about two days before launch, we started getting the weather report from Damascus. Why? Damascus is the capital of Syria … or for short, #SY.

That’s okay. We can share the weather. We even tried to make conversation, but the weather forecaster wasn’t interested.

But as time has gone on, we have met some of the stupidest people I have ever come across. People who tweet foul jokes about sex, but can’t bring themselves to spell the word “pussy”. Instead … you guessed it, p##sy.

If you know me, you know I’m pretty easy going and will roll with the punches. But as the launch faded and we weren’t using the hashtag, and others were (to misspell “pussy”!) it was less and less a reflection of our brand, and more an embarrassment.

So without any fanfare, we’ve quietly dropped the # from sy. There are lessons for every brand here, we just made them very tangible. Here are some of those lessons:

• Possession really is nine tenths of the law. Perhaps even 9.5. Trademarks and patents are okay, but unless you’re actively using “your” IP, it’s up for grabs in the public perception.
• Your brand is what others say it is (especially online). Even if they’re not referring to you! Google (and Twitter search) doesn’t yet know the difference between a social media consultancy and a middle eastern country.
• Your brand is in many places. We’re still finding the # in places we didn’t expect. There are so many places to be listed, which is great for search engine optimisation, but no fun when you have to update everything.
• Facebook doesn’t let you change your company name on your Facebook page. Which is really ridiculous.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I felt like I already knew Julien, because I listen to Media Hacks, the podcast where Julien joins Chris Brogan, Mitch Joel, Hugh McGuire, C.C. Chapman, and Christopher S Penn get together and have highly intelligent, advanced and entertaining conversations about social media – and stuff.

I met (and interviewed) Julien’s Trust Agents coauthor Chris Brogan at Marketing Now last year.

Auckland Theatre Company‘s Anna Connell takes us behind the curtain of social media marketing for an arts organisation. A must for every service business, because we’re all in the entertainment industry now.

We’ve covered a very similar subject before with Josie Campbell from The Edge. Josie’s done some pretty awesome things recently using social media.

On a more sombre note, this episode is dedicated to one of New Zealand’s great advocates for social media in the arts and culture sector, Paul Reynolds, who we lost tragically over the weekend. Read one of the many online tributes to Paul.

Simon's iPhone alarm goes off on stage, while Alistair Helms laughs

Didn’t make it to Social Media Junction? Missing a conference is never the same in the age of Twitter.

There’s photos, videos, and tweets. There’s a pretty darn thorough writeup in StopPress.

I got asked what I got out of it (see my comments and others’), especially considering I probably know a lot of the stuff already. Admittedly, I didn’t get a whole lot of new knowledge. But that’s not why people go to conferences.

Conferences are about making personal connections, meeting the “imaginary friends” you already know online (and making sure they’re real!).

Conferences are often about getting inspired to do what you already know you should do. Never underestimate inspiration.

I had a huge dose of inspiration from Julien Smith, one of the keynote speakers, who was also an “imaginary friend” I listen to on the Media Hacks podcast. Julien’s also co-author with Chris Brogan of the book Trust Agents.

Julien’s presentation, which kicked off the day, went to the heart of adopting social media – the need to be courageous and choose innovation. Here’s a taste of what he said.

It was great to speak to Julien before and after the conference (video coming soon), and to be challenged by this NYT bestselling author to do what I do (reasonably) well – write.

So watch this space. And it won’t be a book about social media, it’ll be about leadership, because that’s what social media will require of you. I’d better hurry up, the topic is on the radar already.

Other highlights:

• The irrepressible Aisha Hilary’s case study of how SBS is using social media to connect with its TV audiences (yes, audiences, they have 4 main segments who are very diverse)
• The practical (and full-of-local-examples) practitioner’s panel, chaired by Vincent Heeringa.
• Mike Hickinbotham’s in-depth case study of culture change and social media adoption at Telstra.
• The very entertaining Andy Beal’s very detailed and practical session on social media monitoring. Full marks for some great local examples – and pronouncing nz as en zed!
• Justin Flitter gets what social media is all about – the opportunity to create a customer-centric organisation.
• Our former neighbour Paul Reynolds (the incumbent, not the Telecom CEO) had some inspiring case studies of social media in the cultural sector.

Heard from the floor

I caught up with marketing veteran Steve Bridges, who at 69 years old has just bought an iPhone. He was loving the conference, enjoying the new information while also reassured that good marketing is what it always has been – creating a customer-centric organisation.

While Social Media Junction had good representation from telcos – with Telstra from Australia and Vodafone, Orcon and 2degrees from New Zealand – it was a bit of a mystery why Telecom weren’t part of the practitioners panel. It was a mystery to Rebecca from Telecom, too, who nevertheless was an enthusiastic live tweeter during the conference.

Fortunately, Rebecca gave a great presentation at last week’s Social Media Club Auckland. Video coming soon…

My top tips

I had the privilege of chairing a bloggers’ panel made up of some veteran bloggers (and one newcomer): Bernard Hickey, Mauricio Freitas, Russell Brown, Alistair Helm and Greer McDonald.

Themes from the panel, in no particular order:

• Have an opinion. Bernard Hickey put it this way: the best bars have the best bar fights. Be controversial.
• Promote your competition. Another one from Bernard, strongly echoed by Alistair. The main aim is to provide interesting stuff for your audience, whether or not it comes from you.
• Adapt to your audience. Greer expected her audience to be people like her – penniless generation Y women. Instead, it’s “old fat rich white men” … although perhaps that’s not too surprising!
• It’s an ongoing campaign. Mauricio runs the metrics on his blog like a perpetual campaign. He sets regular goals and keeps track of them.
• Do it yourself. Alistair’s first post was by a PR company and he didn’t like it at all. The best content comes from inside the company.
• Use the whole ecosystem. As other social media platforms have arisen, they’ve been very powerful as blog distribution mechanisms. I mentioned a Korean study that showed how Twitter is a broadcast medium, with the ability for dialogue when needed.

And finally, here are my top 5 tips for compelling content:

The band 30 Seconds to Mars is coming to New Zealand for the first time ever in August for an all ages concert in Auckland. Tickets here.

EMI Music NZ have developed an online scavenger hunt for fans who want… let me see, this is a long list:

• free concert tickets
• a meet and greet with the band for the winner and a friend
• a Masi speciale fixed gear bike (courtesy of Masi and T.White’s Bikes – apparently just like the bikes from the ‘Kings and Queens’ video) signed by the band

Three runners up will also get free concert tickets and the chance to catch up with 30 Seconds to Mars.

How the scavenger hunt works

Every weekday at 4:30, a new clue has been released on a different blog.

Collect all five clues each week to find ten jigsaw puzzles hidden online. Once you’ve got all ten jigsaw pieces, you will have a ticket. (And you will have earned that ticket!)

Once you collect all the clues and all the jigsaw pieces to form a ticket, email it and your phone number to iamasecretsecret@gmail.com as soon as humanly possible!

The first person to email in their correctly solved jigsaw puzzle ticket wins themselves the grand prize, and the next three people who email in will win runner-up prizes.

Every other correct entry also goes into the draw to fight it out in two separate 30 Seconds to Mars trivia quizzes. The winner of each quiz gets the two final runner-up placings in the treasure hunt.

As if that weren’t enough, there are spot prizes.

Here’s what to do if you want to enter:

HOW TO PLAY:

And now… the clue itself (the 22nd clue ever!)

Today’s clue

‘This Is War’ Clue #22. “There will be no help against evil” said Hesiod… What number age of mankind, is he referring to?

If you’re really keen you could read the terms and conditions and FAQ.

Today’s guest post is by Sam Schuurman, a masters student at Otago University who also advises clients on social engagement and co-creation. Check out Sam’s site, iThnk.

In 2009 there’s no doubt that social media rocketed into the mainstream, but towards the end of 2009 there were various signals pointing to the fact that social media had now become a massive turn-off!

Firstly, Pete Cashmore wrote an alarming post about the fact that there are 15,740 social media experts on Twitter – yuck.

Around the same time last week Simon Young wrote a post called 7 Predictions for 2010. Prediction No.5 was…”Social media will stop being a newsworthy marketing ploy in its own right, as more businesses get on board and start connecting to their audiences. Businesses will need to find something intrinsically interesting about themselves, rather than just the fact that they’re on Twitter…”.

Then on new years eve Alex Williams from RWW wrote a post that somewhat encapsulated just how much of a turn off social media is becoming.

Almost as to signify the death of social media as a buzz-word his post titled Let’s Move Away From Social Media and Get Down to Business described how “social media” has become ripe pickings for satirical videos (like this one), and a more holistic approach is needed.

Click here to view the embedded video.

What’s causing social media’s loss of sex appeal?

Like many of those late night infomercials it was always too good to be true…”with only 20mins a day using our free tools you too will be able to call yourself a social media expert – and best of all… no accreditation necessary”.

It seems that for the moment, with no measure of credibility it’s very much a case of one bad apple makes the whole barrel go rotten. Unfortunately, with 15740 self proclaimed social media experts there’s bound to be more than one or two peddling social media snake oil.

Adding to this is also the fact the every Tom Dick and Harry has now leaped head first into social media…nothing kills sex appeal like mainstream popularity.

While social media may have lost it’s sexy sheen and wow factor, I don’t believe that snake oil salesmen or mainstream popularity will ever truly kill off social media’s inner Fonzie, as there are enough great people doing some truly amazing things with social media to act as a counter balance.

No one wants to be a social-media loser

Losers get no action! Now that every man and his dog has a Twitter account and a Facebook page how is anyone going to get ahead using social media?

Well what made social media so darn interesting for businesses in the first place? Was it the cool funky social tools or was it the fact that some really switched on companies where breaking the mould and actually interacting with people in an engaging way? Me thinks the later.

So it is likely that it will be the same way people have always broken through the clutter, by being outstanding. By finding their own purple cow. For truly great businesses social media may have been a new opportunity but it wasn’t a revolution. The companies who grabbed our hearts and minds before social media came along are the same ones who are using social media to further their focus on customers and who continue to delight us with their innovations. – Just think about what Air NZ have done with the airpointsfairy.

It may be only a matter of time before it’s all just considered marketing again – and just as there always has been, there will be good, bad and downright ugly marketing.

Do you agree? Are you still turned on by social media?

“We were having a discussion in marketing class yesterday about promotion, control and communication…. and it got me thinking!

Companies often don’t jump in to social media tools because they are worried about control. They prefer traditional advertising media – tv, billboards etc because they are seen as the safe controllable option.

Yes, you have control of the message that goes out to your customers, or partners but how much control do you have over how that message is received? Was it received?

With mediums like social media, sure there is no control over what messages you may receive back, but this feedback gives you the opportunity to check if your message was interpreted as you intended, and if it wasn’t, you now have an opportunity to respond back. This will ensure an area of shared meaning is established, and ultimately gives you more control over your advertising.”

Thanks again Bronwyn, for your ideas as well as your avid fan-ship of our updates!

Is Bronwyn right? Does letting go actually give you more control? We think so, but we’d love to hear your experiences in this area.

(Photo courtesy of renatotarga. Thanks!)

John Johnston (JJProjects) led the social media campaign for the World Wildlife Fund’s Earth Hour earlier this year. Find out the connection between success and letting go of your message!

Key learnings:

• 21st century marketing – whether it’s for a non-profit cause or for a business – is about you being of service to your audience. In the case of Earth Hour, JJ’s team were of service to people around the world who cared about the environment, and gave them resources to rally others to the cause.
• The way to scale your social media project is to share control with your audience. Try to control everything, and you’ll never be able to scale.
• There may be malicious or negative people who will try to sabotage, but this is largely self-correcting as your community stands up for you.

There’s a theme here of cooperating with your audience. It’s emerging in all sorts of aspects of business, as I discovered at the Auckland Tweetup on Friday night. Justin Flitter told me that Zendesk finds its staff among its greatest fans on the community forums. Our intern Courtney, who’s also a big fan of Giapo Icecream, found herself behind the counter serving a customer. An apt analogy for what’s happening now.

Will you let your customers behind the counter? When does this not work? Love to hear your thoughts, as always.