Facebook Wants You To Try Google+

Posted on September 21, 2011 by myleftone

Is there any other explanation?

Just in the past month or so, Facebook rolled out new features such as Subscriptions, granular sharing, and the mini feed on the right. They have also eliminated items like the Top News/Recent News selector and Add Link (you could just include it in your status update for awhile now). None of these changes are very intrusive, but they range from annoying to inconsequential.

This morning, many sat down to see their Facebook page changed pretty drastically. The News Feed Top/Recent selector (which was obnoxious when it was first introduced) is gone. In its place is their Top Stories feature. Now Facebook will simply deliver the feed depending on how often you visit or log in. (And everybody logs out when they leave Facebook, right? Right? Otherwise you get status-jacked by your so-called ‘friends’.)

Another new change/annoyance is the loss of the Profile link at the top. You now see your name instead. ‘Home’ really means ‘News Feed’. (As with Twitter, I think these names are a little backwards from what they should be. ‘Home’ and ‘Profile’ should mean the same thing, your profile, while the Feed should have a link called ‘Feed’ or ‘Stream’ or something like that.)

It’s Just Business

By now, we are used to this. It is the nature of Facebook to annoy its users from time to time with these changes. However, lately they’ve been coming fast and furious, and it’s obvious that Google+ is seen as a real threat by the folks at Facebook.

But are these rapid-fire changes a mistake? Now that Google+ has dropped the rope, Facebook’s behavior may cause more users to check out Google+ sooner.

I’m sure developers are impressed with how quickly Facebook has been able to make radical changes, and you have to be impressed if you’re a business and operations geek as well. But users don’t care about the meta, they care about the experience. And the Facebook experience is getting a little ragged.

What Would You Do?

Taken as a whole, it just seems that Facebook wants its users to try Google+. With the new granular selections and subscription features, they are training users for Google+ and pissing people off at the same time.

Perhaps Facebook took a page from their own domination of MySpace. MySpace did not change to try to match Facebook’s features, and found itself serving a niche audience. Facebook’s leadership saw the writing on the wall, and moved to copy Google+’s feature set more closely. Was it a smart move? Or will they wind up simply as a sub-par version of Google+?

We’ll see. For my money, I think Facebook is a very new and clever way to deliver content that is not only selected by the user, but also organically generated by the user’s friends. Facebook should continue to focus on their strength: a complex online process that drives relevant material and advertising to active market participants.

But if Facebook wants to try to be Google+, I’ll bet Google couldn’t be happier.

Nike Running: A Social Media Mistake

Posted on September 20, 2011 by myleftone

Or should I say total marketing blunder? First of all, everyone knows in business that you keep your public discussion about your industry and competition positive. The public, even your fans, are turned off by your negativity about other companies.

Nike’s #EPICFAIL

Nike really screwed the pooch on this one. Their Facebook post seemed innocuous enough: “FACT: Friends don’t let friends wear shoes with five toes” it read. No big deal, right? They’re just having a little fun with a trend that has captivated the running world, right? Those five-toe running shoes are kinda goofy, right? Haha, everyone?

Oops. It turns out a vast chunk of Nike’s audience have tried the toe-shoes and like them, or have seen them, or at least respect the attempt at innovation and industry leadership. Vibram, Merrell, Fila and a couple of other companies are making these weird-looking shoes for ‘barefoot’ running. And apparently Nike has not caught on. Maybe it’s because of a patent, or they think it’s a passing fad, or their internal scientists really feel that these shoes are sub-par, unsafe, uncomfortable, or offer inferior performance. I could understand that.

But this petty little post on Facebook doesn’t have much science behind it, besides psychology. It’s a little like watching a jealous high-school cheerleader gripe about the new popular girl. After a long string of posts that make complete sense for a global brand selling stylish performance apparel, suddenly the company attacks a proven and validated technology.

It’s About The Brand, Not The Shoes

I’ve seen these shoes in action on the hiking trail. Apparently they are better for the feet, as well as for a hiker’s or runner’s ankles and legs. It may be a different thing to run in them than the sneakers we are used to, but it represents a performance enhancement that has definitely caught on. It reminds me of the deep-cut parabolic skis. I thought they were a fad a few years ago, and was among the last to buy a pair. Today I can’t imagine life without them.

Maybe these five-toed running shoes will be a flash in the pan, or maybe they will become the thing we can’t imagine not having in a few years. Either way, that is not why Nike has made a mistake. These shoes right now represent innovation, something that is constantly in demand in the running world and in all of sports. Nike often claims to represent the latest in athletic shoe technology, and it’s difficult to imagine a serious manufacturer belittling a clear advancement in its industry, no matter who created it.

This isn’t like Coke versus Pepsi. It’s more like if a maker of electric guitars bashed a company that makes acoustic guitars. Many of the most avid fans will try other manufacturers’ products and probably respect and own some. These are people who take running seriously. The focus on style may work for the fashionistas, but the serious runners aren’t concerned about that. For a company that just wants high school kids to wear their gear because it looks cool, this Facebook post was a smart move; but for a company that is trying to appeal to serious runners, it was a mistake.

And It’s About The Fans

Some of the Nike-defenders on Facebook have asked “So why did you like Nike’s page?” Well, it’s because these are serious running fans who own Nike products. It isn’t as if Dick Morris’ followers ‘Liked’ Michael Moore’s page so they could post on Mike’s wall and bash his followers directly. Nike’s followers on Facebook are actually interested in the company and its products, but they also favor gear from other companies, and this childish behavior from Nike will rub most of them the wrong way.

I myself follow (Like) the company’s Facebook page, and that’s how I saw this catty little status update. I own a pair of Nike running shoes, but I prefer my New Balance and Asics runners and when I hike, I wear Merrell. I probably follow or ‘Like’ those companies too (seriously, I don’t really know without looking), and if one of them did this I wouldn’t be a fanboy; I would be embarrassed and ashamed.

Maybe It’s Brilliant, (But Probably Not)

The majority of commenters are highly against what Nike has done, and this will be seen as a mistake by the company. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were developing a similar product right now. If this update is simply part of an elaborate reverse-pshychology marketing campaign, this may be the beginning of one of the most clever and elaborate buzz-building schemes in the history of online marketing.

Let’s see what chapter two will bring. For now, Nike stands with egg on its face.

Are You A Twitter Douchebag?

Posted on September 15, 2011 by myleftone

I’ve been reading about Twitter “Best Practices” lately, mainly because I’ve discovered that getting those elusive 60,000 followers is a little tougher than I thought. Maybe it’s me. Maybe my tweets suck, or maybe I just need more time to figure out what the heck to do with Twitter.

I confess; Twitter makes absolutely no sense to me. I know I’m supposed to have an account because it’s all the rage, especially given my profession. As a marketing dude, I need to know what’s going on. I also need to use it so I can understand its value. But after a year or so of doing that, I don’t get it. Why do people want a constant feed of tweets, relevant or otherwise, delivering them links to stuff they don’t have time to read anyway?

And the followers. Oh My God. The followers. You have to be good to your followers. From what I’ve read, a typical Twitter follower is the biggest whimpering, whining, winnowing, sorry social trainwreck in the history of the Internet.

Depending on who’s written the “best practices”, you never know what followers are looking for; They’ll stop following you if you tweet too much, then they’ll drop you if you tweet too little. It’s a little like the Dylan song; “Everybody must get stoned”:

They’ll drop you if you don’t “communicate”.
They’ll drop you if you “communicate” in too many threaded conversations.
They’ll drop you if you use DM.
They’ll drop you if you don’t use DM.
They’ll drop you if you stray from your “brand”.
They’ll drop you if you stick to one “brand” all the time.
They’ll drop you if you call yourself a “guru”.
They’ll drop you if you’re not a “guru”.
They’ll drop you if you’re not funny.
They’ll drop you if you try to be funny.
They’ll drop you if you don’t post a photo.
They’ll drop you if your profile is too pretty.
They’ll drop you if you post your own stuff.
They’ll drop you if you post other people’s stuff.
They’ll drop you if you still use hashtags.
They’ll drop you if you don’t use hashtags.
They’ll drop you if you swear like a wounded pirate.
They’ll drop you if you write like a Victorian schoolmarm.
They’ll drop you if you use acronyms and abbreviated text.
They’ll drop you if you don’t use the latest cool abbreviations.
They’ll drop you if you use a social management platform.
They’ll drop you if you still use the Twitter page to tweet.

In the words of Jerry Seinfeld: “Who are these people?” Are there really people who have the time to surf their Twitter accounts looking for people who posted one too many funny tweets that linked to their own blog so they can nuke them?

“Nope, that’s one too many tweets about mobile marketing this week. See ya!”

“Nope, that’s the second link to your video this week. Bye!”

Douchebags. With too much time on their hands.

The bigger question is: Who has time to custom-tailor their Twitter stream to make these people happy? Not me. Here’s my theory on “best practices”: Do your thing. If Twitter is useful to you, use it. If you’re in marketing and have to use it (like me), use it. If you’re curious about it, use it.

If you don’t need it, don’t use it. If you don’t like it, don’t use it.

And if you’re the type who gets bent because you keep following people who tick you off for whatever ticky-tack nitpicky douchebaggy reason, please please please don’t use it. You’ll allow the people who actually want the thing to use it the way they want to, not the way you’d like.

Thank you.

Business is Not a Competition

Posted on August 25, 2011 by myleftone

“Let’s see who wins!”

That’s what I was asked recently. “Sounds great to me,” I answered. “Are we revving up our stock cars at the Brickyard? Are we pedaling up the Kancamagus Highway in New Hampshire? Are we heading toward Heartbreak Hill while running the Boston Marathon?”

No. We were in a business setting, discussing a PowerPoint template or something like that. We were in a place where competition doesn’t belong.

Did I just say that? There are places where competition doesn’t belong? Yes, I did.

Maybe it’s the business environment we live in today, where people are treated as if they are “starters” or “benchwarmers” on a football team. The posters on the wall read “Go For It” and “Make It Happen”. Everybody’s “stepping up to the plate” or “going the extra mile” to do something that ultimately will not matter to anyone, not even the competitors.

Let’s see who can send the quickest fax. Let’s see who can build that app using the least code. Let’s see who can make the most sales calls in the next four hours.

Seriously?

You hear this kind of crap all the time. The competitive spirit is alive and well in business today. The problem is, the people are not alive and well because of it. We’re sick. Not just in the twisted sort of way, but I think it’s bad for our overall psychology.

Maybe it’s all the reality shows we watch nowadays, where people compete to become models, business executives, hairdressers, or chefs. Chefs! You’ll notice it’s always more exciting to watch people get “kicked off the island” or “sent home” or even “fired” than it is to watch somebody win.

Fired. In the deepest, longest recession I can remember, we’re glorifying the firing of people who are trying to make a living. And we call ourselves adults.

Did junior high school end or is it still going on? Am I missing homeroom right now? Do I need a hall pass? If I make the coolest PowerPoint slide, will the cheerleader notice me?

To me, competition only has one purpose, to improve yourself. If the competition is meant to benefit only others, in the form of sales leads, ratings, viewers, t-shirt sales, or rankings in a school or business magazine, it is not the proper place for competition.

Competition is for lacing up your shoes and running faster, jumping higher, throwing further. And I don’t mean as a metaphor for crunching spreadsheets, but for actual running, jumping and throwing. Competition is not even meant to compare yourself to others, but to yourself. Can you run faster than you did yesterday? Can you climb higher than you did last week?

Competition should matter the most to you, and nobody else. You want to beat your previous performance because you just want to, not because there’s a paycheck, a trophy, or a bonus in it. If you’re looking for kudos from the boss or your viewers, you’re in it for the wrong reason. If you’re forced into a competitive situation where it doesn’t belong, you need to get out, for your own sanity.

Now how do you do that in today’s business culture, where it seems everyone acts like they’re still on the junior high school playground or the racquetball court? It’s easy; You have to say “No”. Probably to people who factor heavily in your ability to pay your rent.

It may take courage to scale high mountains, face raging rivers, or stare down treacherous cliffs, but it takes the most courage to say “I will not play your game.” Especially today, when everybody is force-fed reality shows and business leaders are hopped up on motivational books like major league ballplayers on steroids.

I say let’s keep the competition where it belongs, on the field, or track, pitch, or court. And let’s keep the office as a place of work.

What Preschoolers Can Teach Marketers

Posted on August 17, 2011 by myleftone

I’m kind of a contrarian when it comes to following the rules. Sometimes I just follow my instincts, and sometimes I listen to what my instincts have to say and then do exactly the opposite. Just because. But it has nothing to do with the rules.

The marketing world doesn’t like this. Business punishes those (like me) who fail to follow the rule book.

But I know that the same things that put business success out of reach also make me one blazing hell of a good parent. I take the ‘free range’ approach with my kids. We run and play every single day, rain or shine. I push them to limits that makes most parents turn white. At the playground, my kids are out-jumping and out-climbing kids three times their age. They’re already swimming. By the time they go to kindergarten, they will both have completed a Presidential traverse in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.

Did I mention they are three?

Today my little girl was pushed by an eight-year-old at the park. It may have been on purpose, or maybe not. But she got right up and kept running after him. Sometimes the big kids let my little ones chase them, sometimes the big kids demand they stop. My kids are not the ones who cry for a half-hour after being pushed. They get up and keep going.

I teach them to keep playing. “The other kids say they don’t want to play with you,” I tell them, “but you keep playing with them anyway.”

That’s what the adult world is; a place where nobody wants to play with you. We’re taught to follow the rules. That means if somebody tells us what they want us to do, we do it. We go along to get along.

Screw that.

My kids know that when someone tries to tell them what to do (including me), it’s a test. To pass it, all they have to do is keep pushing. They know the big kid with the tennis ball will eventually start tossing it to them. They know the older kids on the balance beam will finally step aside and give them a turn.They know the kid who pushed them a few minutes before will help them up a few minutes later.

And because of this, I know that physically and socially, they are ahead. I’m not giving parental advice, but I am saying that if you loosen the reins a little, kids will do amazing things. The most important thing they’ve done for me is teach me to keep pushing. Keep trying. Keep advancing. Keep playing even if others have told you to stop.

So throw out the rule book, every day. The latest social media statistics do not matter. Pretty landing pages do not matter. The best email template ever designed does not matter. The words of the book-pimping prima donnas do not matter. Engagement does not matter. ‘Conversations’ do not matter. ‘Brand consistency’ does not matter.

I’m not well-liked by my colleagues or peers in the marketing world, but I am loved by my kids because I let them play and color outside the lines, and I let myself learn from them. And that’s what matters.

How Do You Achieve Total Marketing Immersion (TMI)?

Posted on July 28, 2011 by myleftone

PowerPoint, Flash, Whiteboards, Video, Podcasts, Banners,
Whitepapers, Webinars, eBooks, Newsletters, Surveys, Social Feeds, Blogs…

Anyone else sick of it all? Maybe I’m a little tired from playing with my children (admittedly something I put every ounce of energy into), but I feel like I’m starving for something. The products and tactics above have become unbearably dull to me.

Now let me offer this caveat; I’m lucky to be a marketer. After all, I don’t ever have to run into burning buildings or duck bullets. But then again, marketing is not all that important. I don’t teach children, perform surgeries or save lives. If I am successful, somebody buys products from me. If not, they buy elsewhere. And either way I go home to play with my kids.

Lately I’ve been wishing there was some other method besides the ones above for successfully engaging customers. I talk about engagement a lot. To me it’s a broader term than marketing and communications. It implies more than just a bi-directional exchange of content. It is about highly contextual discussion, focused on individuals, not segments, and multiplied by thousands.

Even with the software to automate this approach (which itself implies a cynical failure to grasp the concept of engagement), who has the energy for this kind of complex, multi-faceted behavior? I can barely keep up with one email inbox. As much as I talk about engagement, I have a very hard time practicing what I preach.

Yet I know people who seem to be everywhere I browse. They ask and answer questions on LinkedIn, they speak at trade shows, they exchange cards (with QR Codes) at cocktail parties, they fly somewhere every week, they tweet (and make direct replies) 75 times a day, they blog daily, and they’ve already mastered their Google+ accounts. These are people who also have jobs, kids, families, and presumably have hobbies and chores like taking out the trash.

These folks go beyond marketing. They are all about their craft. Marketing is not a job to them; it is a state of being. It is not something they do; it is what they are. And that doesn’t mean they are glad-handing automatons, these are decent people. But to me they are like another species from science fiction, where the aliens are always smarter and stronger. They experience Total Marketing Immersion.

What can be done by a person can also be done by a brand. If a marketer is constantly busy creating content, linking to it from various places, and following up with interested people, that’s immersive behavior. If a company does the same thing, a team of people who can write, create graphics, manage websites and maintain a social presence should be able to mimic what the truly immersive marketers can do.

Maybe. These are pretty amazing people. They work at the best companies (that they probably founded), and they are the go-to for speaking engagements, panels, interviews, and thought-leadership.

Copying some of their behavior ought to help an average marketer create marketing and communications programs that build and support a brand. Your industry has these people. Find out what they are doing, what platforms they are using, what events they attend and go there. Copy what they do. It still takes effort. I’ve found that even this kind of cynical behavioral copying is difficult to master.

So my hat is off to those who are able to not just do marketing, but to live it.

Another email service provider breached. A laughing matter?

Posted on April 6, 2011 by myleftone

By now, you’ve heard about the massive breach at Epsilon on March 30.

First, I should tell you, this is no laughing matter. There’s lotsa bad here. Anybody guessing that a few email addresses are not a big deal should know that an enterprise marketing service provider like Epsilon probably got hacked by very determined and highly motivated professional spammers. These guys know the value of an email address, both a lousy one scraped from the web and a good one stolen from a provider to Fortune 100 companies.

If a phishing attack to 100,000 addresses yields 100 successful responses, what if you could steal 1,000,000 addresses? How about 10,000,000? As ISPs get better at blocking spam and ESPs get better at avoiding lousy lists, companies like Epsilon become bigger, redder, hotter targets.

Laughing? Not me.

Let’s say you’re a competitor. Maybe you’re Silverpop. They’re sure not laughing.

AWeber isn’t laughing either.

With every one of these attacks, other email service providers may think about how to respond. Thoughts may range from “How do we exploit this?” to “Let’s just shut up and be glad it’s not us.” This time.

ESP customers will also be thinking about security as they vet their next ESP. So every ESP needs to decide what they’ll say. The best solution is to treat this carefully, in private and in public, making sure to keep the system and software up to security standards, strengthen relations with service vendors, and to communicate a unified response to everyone.

“It can’t happen here,” is probably a phrase to avoid. By now, it seems obvious that somebody is next.

So nobody is laughing.

GMail Changes Ad Display Rules – Now What?

Posted on April 1, 2011 by myleftone

Google is changing the game for email marketers – again. They’ve reconfigured their ad-delivery mechanism to bring GMail users fewer, better-targeted ads. That they’ve changed some code is not a big deal. That they’ve further honed their Priority Inbox technology to drive targeted content is.

Priority Inbox is already a turbocharged email engagement algorithm designed to funnel only the inbound emails that are most likely to be opened to the reader’s immediate attention. Everything else goes to the regular ole’ inbox. It’s not in the junk folder, but more like email purgatory.

Well, Google figures, if you can make a piece of code do that, you can certainly make it prioritize the ads that display while a reader uses GMail.

Now, as an email marketer, you may think, this changes nothing for your campaign strategy. You’re going to continue sending well-segmented, highly relevant emails to your best audiences. Right? And you’re going to run ads in Adwords that carry the same keywords so when your readers engage you, they also see your ads. Right?

Oh, wait a minute. That sounds like quite a coup. And some high-volume online marketers will probably get away with it. It’s also likely that your email will trigger your competitor’s ad, or something relevant but in a hilariously negative way. Fun.

The bottom line: There’s nothing you can do to change that, but just know that if your reader opened your email, it’s a step up from an ad impression. You can try to think a step ahead of your competition and stuff your email with new, trend-inducing keywords they can’t use. A lot of market-leaders have taken exactly that path, and transformed not only their companies but the industries they operate in.

When you ‘own’ a keyword, it means people automatically think of you when they see or hear that keyword. A nice spot to be in. Google’s recent changes to GMail should only encourage you to think a step ahead. Relevance is not enough to drive email engagement. Leadership is the new bar.

Watch Google’s video:

Why Did Salesforce.com Buy Radian6?

Posted on March 30, 2011 by myleftone

By now, you probably know that Salesforce.com is buying Radian6 for a total of $326 Million. On the heels of Salesforce.com’s investments in HubSpot and Seesmic, I’m not at all surprised at this move. HubSpot’s unique lead generation and engagement platform is great for pushing content, while Seesmic is a cool self-service social network management tool. Radian6 can add some amazing analytical value to the mix.

But Salesforce.com? SFDC’s client list is a who’s who of global businesses with one thing in common: they are either commercial product and service companies or the commercial divisions of very large consumer-oriented businesses like Dell and NBC. Yet, social platforms have largely been considered consumer media. So does this investment make sense for SFDC?

Of course it does.

Remember that Salesforce.com is not a trend follower. It is a vision maker. The company helped create the Software-as-a-Service meme, as well as other terms like Cloud Services, which seemed to pop up on their own. They didn’t. It took companies like SFDC to help define and market these terms.

Until now, any buzz monitoring platform could be seen as a useful social analysis tool or a gimmicky waste of time and money for marketers trying to justify their embrace of a fad, even the good ones like Radian6.

As someone who has experience dealing with both, I find this very interesting for several reasons:

Salesforce has not bought an email service provider, and I always figured that was because it enjoys strong relationships and technical integration with several ESPs, and preferred not to jeopardize those.
Salesforce may have had the opportunity to enjoy similar partnerships with various social media monitoring and engagement platforms, but has obviously decided that for this model, direct ownership is more important than partnerships.
Radian6 will be a very powerful tool for tracking the online buzz behavior of business contacts already stored in Salesforce, and it is obviously true that business users use social tools as well.
It makes me wonder if Salesforce has something planned for a consumer-oriented CRM product or service.

I believe this represents a major milestone in social marketing. With this acquisition, SFDC is spending the considerable value of their brand to legitimize a current business trend, changing everything. Thoughts?

God Needs Followers (But Friends Will Do)

Posted on February 25, 2011 by myleftone

I have to admit, I love the MeaCulpa iPhone app. For only a couple bucks, it delivers a lot of penitence. I’ve been using it to confess all sorts of things, like that last slice of pizza I ate, the trip I took with the kids where I forgot to bring their shoes, the yogurt I stole from the office fridge…

Okay, some of my foibles aren’t included in the app, which tend to run more toward Leviticus than Seinfeld. “Have you harbored hatred in your heart?” the app asks. “Have you led anyone into sin?” It’s like a medical questionnaire for the spiritually ill.

But I’ve got to admit, the app is fun. MeaCulpa does help me bear the burden of being such a douche. I wonder if there will be a Facebook app. “Prayerville: Clara wants to share an Our Father and two Hail Mary’s with you. Accept?”

I bet I can build such an awesome Prayerville layout that eternal salvation is guaranteed.

Or maybe not. I’m pretty sure that no matter how many Ave Marias I collect, when the great alarm clock in the sky chimes for me I’ll be on the down escalator. Maybe this post gets me into a deeper circle.

But here’s the bottom line: The Vatican has already approved the app. The highest authority in the Christian religion (and the most brilliant marketers in history), understand that God needs followers. And what better way to gain followers than to gain… followers?

If religion is strictly about penitence and virtuous obedience, maybe the app won’t cut it, but if religion is also about community and service, then this limited method of engagement is a whole lot better than nothing. If that means sporadic iPhone users instead of weekly kneelers, the church has evidently decided to deal.

What would Jesus do? Probably send a shout out to his peeps: “Call me.”

MyLeftOne

Tom Bishop on Marketing, Running, Hiking, and Being a Dad

Category Archives: Marketing

Business is Not a Competition

Another email service provider breached. A laughing matter?

GMail Changes Ad Display Rules – Now What?

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