Protean

Staring at goats. The latest social media phenomenon.

For those of you who don’t know, here in the UK we have a broadcaster called Jonathan Ross. Over the years, he’s worked on TV, on the radio, penned a few books and occasionally, achieved notoriety by courting controversy on the airwaves with the likes of Russell Brand. But lately, Jonathan’s career has taken a different turn, with brand agency JCPR naming him the most influential Twitterer in the world – above Downing Street, Barack Obama and CNN.

The new research judges users of the micro-blogging platform not on follower numbers alone, although at the time of writing, Ross (@wossy) had around 275,000. Instead, the agency developed an algorithm that viewed this metric alongside the number of times their name occurs and how many ‘re-tweets’ they receive from other users.  So, it’s a matter of influence and not popularity – and surely, that’s the real reason so many of us marketers turned our attention to the medium in the first place?

There are several reasons for Jonathan’s new-found fame on this medium but the latest is his launch of @atwossybookclub. The premise is simple, it’s a book club. What’s special about it is that it takes place solely on Twitter. On Friday May 15^th, he wrote: “I have a great idea! Let’s start a book club on twitter! Once a week and we all post mini-reviews!”

Having nominated his first book as Jon Ronson’s ‘The men who stare at goats’₁, Amazon reported that the book’s sales had risen an impressive 7,000% over the weekend. Meanwhile the book’s publisher blogged that “unprecedented demand for the book has meant Picador has had to think outside the box on how to get the title out to readers in time.” The result? You can now read the book online as a digital version. Not only this, but between 17.00 and 18.00 on Sunday, as the book club officially opened, Picador made the book freely available to help twitterers “further the discussion”.

The growing power of Twitter, and by implication, social media as a whole is startling clear. Influence is indeed the name of the game. Hey, I read the book when the chances are, I wouldn’t have otherwise. Described by The Observer as a “narcotic road trip through the wackier reaches of Bush’s war effort,” it is, in my humble opinion a great read. And, as a book with conspiracy theories at its heart, it is also in some senses, a book about influence.

As a marketer, it’s hard to ignore the conversation had in the book between Ronson and ‘Dave’, a Senior Cultural Analyst working for the PsyOps unit of the US Military. Discussing the ‘products’ used by the unit to influence Iraqis – leaflets, radio shows etc., Dave says: “We think about how an Iraqi will react to our products, not how an American will react to our products.” He continues: “It’s not like selling Coke, sometimes you’re trying to sell someone something that you know they might not want in their hearts. So it causes ambiguities, and problems.”

This got me thinking that of course, there’s an issue of responsibility here which can be applied not just to a political situation, but for marketing as a discipline. Obviously, it’s not overtly what the book is getting at. But nonetheless, as a marketer, it is food for thought. Selling and communication is most successful when you’re saying the right things to the people who want to hear them. What’s the point in working against the tide? If you have to work that hard, surely it’s a judgement on your objective? For marketers, strategy is everything – market responsibly and intelligently and it’s an easier ride for your brand and your customers.

Back to the book, it’s worth a look. And so the influence continues...

 

1. Jon Ronson, ‘The Men who Stare at Goats’, Picador 2005, p167- 168.

 

Get real people.

Sitting here ready to blog about blogging, it feels like there’s something ever so slightly post modern in the air. But that’s the world in which we live and market. A world where we post and we tweet and we poke. And post about posting and tweet about tweeting and so on. And where does it ever get us?

Today’s brave new social media world is fixed on prizes of fans, followers and conversions. But arguably, the prize goes far beyond a corporate or indeed, personal, ego trip. For marketers, the value is rooted where it’s always been – in the relationship, in the dialogue and in the hearts & minds of real people.

Granted, giving businesses a personality is not always beneficial – just as some personalities don’t seem to do much for the greater good. But for the most part, it differentiates you from your counterparts and ultimately, gives someone a reason to choose you.

As always, the goods or services need to be there to back it up. But if it’s there at the right place at the right time, the context you have provided through social media and the market awareness it has afforded you might just be enough to tip the scales in your favour. So no, Twitter is not the answer to your prayers. And Facebook isn’t your holy grail.  But blog on, because it might just matter.

 

The Spring exhibition season...no high hopes...some small surprises

As I mentioned previously, our recent trip to Las Vegas for APEX’s second year there saw the show hit hard by the weight of the current down cycle. Though against a backdrop of sensibly conservative expectations, the show generally held its own. But as the Spring exhibition season gathers pace, what of its counterparts around the world?

Next in line was Nepcon Shanghai. Still at the ever dreary, Everbright exhibition center, the show drew over 13,000 according to organizers, which was not a bad number in and of itself, but according to exhibitors it was clear that it will be some time still before the electronics market there can once again be termed buoyant. Not so at the China International Solar PV exhibition that followed, however. There, clear signs of a corner soon turning were evident.  

The real pleasant surprise of the spring group was SMT Nuremberg in mid April. Though similarly scaled expectations were the order of the day, the turnout (at 90% of 2008) ran contrary to the state of the electronics niche to which this show is tailored. Raising hopes for yet another good Productronica in November. I expect we'll be told that Q2 2009 was the bottom of the trough...let's hope so.  Meanwhile, as we always say, marketing is muscle and those with well defined strategies will be fighting fitter right now.