Sunday, March 17, 2013

social media life of pi

I (finally!) saw Life of Pi last night in all its multi-dimensional glory and it occurs to me that the story can offer a few parallels to managers newly trying to steward brands across unfamiliar seas of social media.

1. Facebook = The Tiger
Facebook is still the biggest, baddest social media animal on the planet, 750 million voices strong and a beast that anybody doing social communications must learn how to feed without losing one’s metaphorical arm.

Here's a helpful guide to the care and feeding of Facebook for business. But be warned. The Tiger doesn’t wake up the same animal every day. It goes through constant changes which you have to stay alert to or pretty soon you’ll be dead in the water. The rise of Facebook’s promoted posts is a new way the medium is asserting its territorial dominance. And have you noticed that Facebook has just unceremoniously swiped the hashtag idea from Twitter?

2. Twitter = The Hyena
The number two in social media’s primal hierarchy, 250 million monthly users strong. Like the hyena, it communicates in short bursts. (Tweets are 140 charcters) But the bursts can gather forbmidable force when replicated (retweeted) in number. Here's a guide to best practices.

3. Pinterest = The Orangutan
This site is mother of all social media start-ups, the fastest-growing web service in history. It was launched in 2010 and now has 85.5 million visitors a month. Use is heavily weighted female. They've just grown analytics. Here's tips from a power-user. Taming advice for business users here and here.

4. Tumblr = The Zebra with the broken leg
Tumblr is a micro-blog. A constrained space, but you can do a lot with it. It started out as a photo posting site and has since expanded into video. Here are the founders talking about it and how it's expanded over the last 5 years. A lot of brands have figured out how to make it work for them. More examples here.

5. Instagram = The Cock
There’s been a lot of crowing about Instagram since it was introduced in late 2010. What's more, it just got devoured by the Tiger. Here's some tips for putting it to work for business

6. Vine = Meerkats
SXSWi was overrun with enthusiasm for this new mobile app from Twitter. Content is 6 second videos. Brands are already coming up with creative uses. Here's a few more.

5 comments:

Sarah S said...

love it~ thanks for the tips/links. great comparisons!

Sarah S said...

great comparisons! thanks for the tips~

Ad Broad, oldest working writer in advertising said...

Glad you enjoyed, Sarah. Thanks for the read.

Claude Forthomme said...

Thanks for all the useful info! I'm quite convinced all this is gold for marketeers who sell products...But books? I have my doubts. I would love to know exactly what creates the buzz around particular titles...Straight advertising does not, that's for sure.

The question to the pro that you are, what does sell books in your opinion? Do you see a connection between your blog and book sales? There's a controversy going on around the Net regarding blogs and books. Could there be actually a disconnect?

Ad Broad, oldest working writer in advertising said...

Thanks for this interesting and salient questions, Claude. Honestly, I'm new to the book business. My book just came out this month. Spent decades promoting other people's products and discovering that the stakes are waaaay different when you're selling your own thang.

I don't yet know the answer to your question, but I'm hoping to discover it. Of course, books are a different product than CPGs (consumer packaged goods) but, as an experienced marketer, I'm convinced that there's a way to sell anything. (Remember Furbies?)

I admire how you're growing a community of readers, which I assume will translate into booksales...for you and also others in the community. Let me know! You coined #boomerlit? #Brilliant!