Genuine Enthusiasm Can Shine Through:
Between Steve Jobs’ absence from MacWorld and the general economic pall over CES, I wasn’t expecting much excitement from either show this past week. Somehow, though, the infectious excitement over an unexpected unveiling did come through. Not only that, it shows that the “influencers” we can sometimes pretend to be sick of hearing from can still cut through their own noise to show real enthusiasm. I believe Robert Scoble when he gets excited about the upcoming Palm Pre. Supposedly, it’ll deliver a better experience than the iPhone, and Leo Laporte of TWiT showed similar excitement in his latest show. I’m very intrigued, and I’m not easy.
Ah, what might have been. Let me be the 53,763rd person to embed the Onion’s MacBook Wheel video. Priceless.
Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard
HackWorld
One of the highlights of not being at MacWorld the last couple of years was seeing the live blogging coverage from Engadget and others during Steve Jobs’ keynote. While there was no real excitement this year (the new MacBook? If Apple made a car, would it have a removable battery?) MacWorld Rumors got hacked mid-keynote. I guess that’ll have to do for entertainment (Zoom in on a screenshot here, courtesy of David Fisher).
David Meerman Scott takes on the legalese inserted by lawyers into press releases that basically renders them useless. This problem becomes more urgent when thinking of social media, as legal departments tend to play the role of the overcautious gatekeeper and information bottleneck. Raise your hand if you have ever read the legal gobbledy-gook at the end of the press release (put your hand down, Esq.). We have enough problems with marketing gobbledy-gook. Though, as David might be suggesting in there, it would be fun to throw a few “best of breeds” and “leading providers” in court briefs now and again.
Bowie in Berlin: The Lateral Action blog has a nice post on “Ten Creative Lessons From Bowie in Berlin.” I won’t reprint the ten lessons here, but the general theme of shaking things up to get out of a dangerous rut resonates. Plus, I’m a Bowie fan. Next, I would like to see:
– Ten Creative Lessons From Sid Vicious in Manhattan
– Ten Creative Lessons from Keith Moon in Malibu
– Ten Creative Lessons From Frank Sinatra in Las Vegas (preferably not related by Bono)
Finally: Still think President Obama, soon to be the most protected man in the U.S., will use Twitter?
Umm, no.
Technorati Tags: macworld, ces, palm+pre, twitter, obama, lawyers, bowie
The old method of advertising is interactive marketing. The term is misleading. Most people think it means that there is some type of interaction on the part of the person advertised to, and there is. But, it is not conversational. Instead, the advertiser wants you to interact with their campaign in a specific set of steps. Following the call to action and visiting a website for instance. It’s the push to make you do something. Live this image. Buy this now.
Social Media Marketing is just the opposite. It’s the pull of the tribe. The tribe already has your trust so the actions they take are ones you align with. On a larger scale, it’s the allure of belonging in the group as you take action together. “I am doing this so why don’t you do it with me?” On an individual level, the attraction is to behave the same way to get the same results that benefits your fellow tribeswoman or tribesman. “She looks hot! I want to look hot too. I want to go to her hairstylist” and you do. Social Media Marketing uses the power of attraction.
While advertising tries to use the same tactic, with a billboard for instance, of a gorgeous woman telling you the benefits of the salon, it doesn’t have the same impact because it’s pushing you to go. It is not pulling you in as a trusted friend. Your friends have your best interests at heart and advertisers do not. Social Media Marketing is based on building trust and that foundation will make Social Media a dominant player in Marketing.