Innovation is so last year...

Well it's a new year, and I'm all about new beginnings. I'm not a huge believer in New Year's resolutions (my goal to eat healthier never makes it past January), but I do think it's important to focus on new opportunities. This is especially true in the SMM world, because technology is changing by the minute, and you don't want to be late to the party (it's socially and cyber socially unacceptable). So here's my take on the open doors of the new year.

Social Media Opportunities of 2014

• Last year I traveled to France to attend the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and witnessed the introduction of a new category called "Innovation" that honored breakthrough technologies in advertising. Well now it's a new year, which means the Innovation category is, ironically, no longer innovative. But according to this article from Adweek, a new category has been born: Product Design. In addition the festival is modifying the Cyber category to include social media, branded technology, and branded gaming. This signifies that social is becoming more and more important. Brands are now being recognized on a global scale for their social strategies.

• Remember that "sharing is caring." In real life this means that if you like someone, you might share your Barberitos Heavy D nachos with them (*remembers New Year's resolution and decides not to eat an entire plate of nachos alone*). But in social this means that if people don't care about your posts, then they won't share your posts. So use your social platforms wisely. Music festivals, a growing craze among us millennials, are perfect opportunities for this. I've heard from those who have attended that it's hard to articulate just how amazing the experience is. 

  

  "The lights looked like the music sounds. Does that make sense?" "No."
  Follow @JimmyTatro.

  Thus they rely on pictures and hype videos. If brands can somehow insert themselves into the music festival hype, they'll become a part of the experience that is being shared.

• "t-commerce" is the next big thing. H&M is releasing a Super Bowl ad that lets people with Samsung smart TVs use their remote to purchase products from David Beckham's Bodywear line that are featured in the commercial. If H&M combines their social strategy with this campaign (i.e. tweeting at the same time that the commercial airs), they'll be able to hit consumers on multiple platforms. And I mean, who wouldn't want to yank that tank top right off David Beckham? Heyoo!

Tapping Into those Social Skillz

The following is a list of general guidelines that I think we all agree should be followed when navigating the cyber social realm:

The Unwritten Rules of Social Networking...Now Written


1.You should never judge a book by its cover, but you may certainly judge a person by his or her Snapchat timer. Snapchat is a photo messaging app and is the only social platform that I can think of where selfies are acceptable...#noshameintheselfiegame. However, sending a selfie set to 9 or 10 seconds is generally frowned upon. Sweet Brown said it best. 

2. Random Facebook pokes are creepy. The poke war was a thing, but it has since faded away. Thank goodness.
3. Twitter is the perfect forum for hashtags and one-liners (Mitch Hedberg jokes in a Twitter account...perfection. Check it out: https://twitter.com/M_Hedberg). What Twitter is not: 1) your diary 2) your food journal.

If you can appreciate any or all of the above (even you don't necessarily agree with them), then we are in business. Because #tbh social media is really just about using common sense. If you understand general social rules then you can be a successful cyber socialite. However, when you're representing a brand and you're given the task of incorporating social media into your IMC, it's a whole different ball game. Now not only do you have to have a voice but you have to somehow juggle maintaining consistency, stimulating consumer engagement, and delivering a message. 

So, in an effort to learn how to best tackle the social media marketing monster, I'm using this blog as a place to study the social successes and buzz-worthy blunders of recent campaigns.