Throughout the last few days, the website for my business – Muirhead Marketing, as been down. We took it down after experiencing some difficulties with people who use IE, not being able to see the videos or even get into the page.

Today we go back Live! and have made some noticeable changes.

However, I am requesting of you, is that you go there later today -Muirhead Marketing and let us know if you like it or not. We will take your feedback, and continue to make the site better for you!

Thanks for your time,

Josh

“The sometimes turbulent relationship between traditional media, and social media”

Recently, our guest writer Will Burke brought to my attention two different campaigns. One was for “Kleenex Get Mommed” the other “Bounce Fabric Softener.” Both utilized television ads to send people to an interactive website. The sites themselves are well built, but can be difficult to find if you don’t know the exact URL – more so is the Kleenex website which is – getmommed.com

In the ever-expanding world of online, and social media, we’re seeing more of these campaigns

More often, you hear – visit our website, or now – visit our Facebook page. It’s great because with the backing of traditional media you can gain quick interest to your social media of choice, but its once people are there that things need to change.

Currently, a lot of bigger companies are using them as a form of contest promotion –

That’s a good idea if you can manage it, but for most small to medium businesses, giving something away (especially that would attracted a ton of interest) is not in the cards. What is in the cards however, is information, and entertainment.

If you can engage someone in your social media channel – you’ll discover that they will promote far better than an ad ever could.

If it’s in your budget think about putting traditional and social media together, but use them for what they where built for – Traditional: “mass broadcasting” Social: “Conversation and Collaboration”

I was watching Dragons Den a TV show on CBC, and they where posted with a question of investing into a new social media tool

The tool – Scribble Live.

Scribble Live is a live blogging platform similar to Twitter but with a few significant changes. The makers of Scribble Live went to the den to request a sum of money in exchange for 20% of their business. They walk away with the amount of money they wanted but the Dragons (3 of them) purchased 30% of the business, instead of the original 20%.

This got me thinking – social media is a lot like investing, you look into the market, see what is happening, and decide if you would like to invest. But social media is more like an RRSP – the longer you’re willing to invest, the better the results (generally speaking of course).

If you have been considering social media for your business, think of it as an investment, not an advertisement.

- This feature appeared on Seasons 4, Episode 6 of Dragons Den November 4, 2009. You can watch this at CBC.ca under video’s.

Ah yes, change – it is something we all must go through, and something that the world needs -

Recently, I went through a change of this blog – as you may have already noticed. I upgraded from a very good 2.7 Wordpress version, to an amazing 2.8 version.

But this did get me thinking. We live in a world of constant updates, changes, and new formats. If you use a computer as much as I do, you will undoubtedly know that at lest once a week (if not once a day) something needs updating. Usually this is a good thing, and often means better performance, better security or something along those lines. But what happens when the update isn’t all that welcome –

Not to point fingers, but for many people a perfect example of this was when Windows went from Windows XP, to Windows Vista (I’m not saying it was a bad system, I just know people got upset a lot)

Now, Windows seeing this problem had a great opportunity to do something, to make a wrong a right, and connect with those who where most upset, and see how they could fix the system. But, as many already know, that didn’t happen (or at lest not at first). First, there was the – It’s not a bad system, everything else just needs to catch up. Then the – we’ll downgrade (Wait One Second) You’ll Downgrade me? I have never once been on a plane, and wanted to be downgraded from First class. Finally, the did start addressing the issues, kinda – they fixed some of the problems, and even started putting out commercials to show you how easy using a PC was in the – I’m A PC ads, where usually between a 4 year old to 6 year old would show-off their skills.

In this modern day of choice and conversation, Windows took a very risky (and some would say detrimental) approach to a problem. The problem was their upgrade – well, wasn’t a wanted one. And this happens all over the map, companies upgrade when the consumer is really quite happy with what they have – “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” mantra running through their heads.

So, if your in business, and wanting to make a change – Great – but if that change, or upgrade becomes unwelcome, learn from one of the biggest boys mistakes, talk to those who are using your product, and make it right – it’s not like you have much of a choice in the end.

To often we hear this phase -

“Just think outside the box”

But what does this really mean? For most people this engages them to think differently – What if we did it in Blue? However, this is the quintessential mistake that most people make. We try so hard thinking up way’s to change the idea, that we lose focus on what really matters. That there are no limits – that there is no Box.

So, long point short, when you are doing your social marketing campaign remember two things – One) You have no limits, that’s why a 15 year old kid now has a record deal all thanks to YouTube, and Two) When you are doing something be remarkable!

Oh, this fine point was brought to you today via – The Matrix (excellent thinker by the way)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXKFTzlBziI[/youtube]

They say that all change is good – I say change is good sometimes – but other times it’s just down right annoying.

Take in point, I went to our local Tim Hortons – if you’re Canadian this may be a daily activity – if not, think of a local coffee shop that almost everyone in your entire city / country will visit at lest once throughout the week. (It’s kinda of a big deal)

Anyway, I was at Tim Hortons (or Tim’s) to get my large coffee (two milk)…for the past while this has cost me $1.45 per trip – which was good as I knew if I had a loonie and two quarters I was set – But today, today was a bit different. I went to my local Tim’s which I have gone to many times before and order my coffee. To my surprise it now came to $1.52 (note the 2). Now truth be told this is only a 7 cent hike, but in terms of my loonie/quarter idea, I was now short.

This was small but monumental – I no longer had enough, and what I had come to expect day in and day out had changed, and in my mind changed drastically.

Really, this can be explained through the rise in cost of this or that, and with inflation … but to me, all I knew was my coffee was more money for the exact same product I had received only yesterday for $1.45

Now this is not to harp on Tim’s but rather to bring up a very important point – change is good (and yes needed) but a small, insignificant change to you might be catastrophic to someone else. Is the change worth it or needed? most people are resistant to change and is your business ready for that? Did you tell anyone the change was coming, or did you ask anyone before making the change?

These are all excellent question, that to often are not asked in business, we simply make the change, and hope that everyone just goes along. Before, many companies didn’t ask, or tell because it was hard, communicating with their costumers happened only when they where at their location. This is no longer true – now you have the ability to build relationships, form networks and poll people (or just start a conversation) about a change to your business. You can ask if this is going to be a good idea, and effective. Will this increase sales, or will this do the exact opposite. Even better you can now ask what changes should be made if any, or what areas of your product/service they truly enjoy.

But how do you do this? take a look at Linkedin (that’s one of the biggest reasons why it was established). Another is to look at Molson Canadian – they have been utilizing Facebook and Twitter to communicate with their costumers and gain feedback. Finally, take a look at one of the best examples of all time (well for connecting far beyond what anyone in his role has ever done) Barack Obama – he utilized Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and mobile marketing to better connect with people, build a community, understand what issues where important to Americans (and well – win the election)

So change is good, but make sure you talk to someone about it first – as for Tim Hortons – I will be there soon, so I guess the change wasn’t that bad after all – just can’t bring only a loonie and two quarters

Recently I read an article from Never Stop Marketing (click to read), and Jer brought up the point of product placements in movies and how when it appeared natural it worked excellently, but when it doesn’t your left with a bad impression (far worse than no impression).

This got to to think about how we approach marketing, and what businesses to often try to do – Force the conversation -

Many business try – and by try I mean spend the big bucks – to get you to listen to them. “These are all the reasons you should buy this, or here is everyone using our products don’t they look happy.” And, when you have a multi-million dollar budget, this strategy can, (AND DOES) work. But what happens if you don’t have that kind of money, or you want to better use that money and attracted more business?

You don’t force, you engage!

You get to first know who is using or may use your product/service. Then, you talk with them, but more importantly as your talking you listen (to-way conversation) and if they do make a recommendation you actually consider it (not ever recommendation will be put into action, but if people know they are heard, and then explained why something isn’t going to be changed – generally they’re ok with that)

You also don’t close yourself out from the conversation – but allow it to sometimes slow as you can talk about your business all the time.

Finally, with this new modern age, you can engage people where they fell more comfortable (aka, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin) but respect when they really just want to check up with friends and family.

- Now there are a load of excellent books that talk about this exact subject, but the best resource goes back to the point made in Never Stop Marketing – go and watch a movie and see if the product placement is forced or natural and see which one you like more.

Recently I was going through my morning posts, when I was shown this video. It explains Social Media as well as I have ever seen, and goes into debunking the myth that all this stuff is just a fad.

However, then end does get a little sales pitchy, but the book looks to be an excellent read, and I’ll be sure to give it a read/review shortly.

One of the most interesting things about Social Media, is it’s ability to be passed along. People see something they think is smart, educational or in most cases funny, and pass it to their friends. Their friends think the same, and they pass it along. This is called going viral – when without any action on your part an item that you put into a social media gets shared. The most famous, and widely used is videos and making a viral video.

Many people have asked me, How do I make a viral video, or better yet – Let’s make a viral video. Well, it’s not really that easy (sorry)

This approach right of the get-go is wrong, as you can force people to pass anything along. Some video’s are great but they’ll just sit there, others get passed along when no one would have expected it. I read a quote stating “Don’t try and make a viral video, make a video that goes viral” (source unknown)

A great point I thought, just make the best video you can, and if you take the time, and effort to make an entertaining video, it may go viral, but that’s the best you can hope for.

As for viral video’s – a lot of them are just fun and games, not a lot of content, and typically get pass on for a lot of the wrong reasons. Is this good for business? Well, if you believe that any publicity is good publicity than yes they are. However, if your like me – having a movie being passed around for all the wrong reasons may not be at the top of your wish list.

For more information on Youtube – check out Mashable – they have excellent information on Youtube, and social media, or check out YouTube it self. Watch a few of it’s top watch videos to get a better idea of what goes viral, and then look for some businesses using Youtube, you may notice a big difference in the amount of those watching it, and also in how much better the content is.

“Remember – in social media if you have 1 million people watching you, but your not connect with anyone, there is no point. But, if you have 1 person watching you and making a connection, then it has become worth while”