The Dandelion Approach.
January 7, 2010
At a summit last year, I heard Rory Sutherland discussing the idea that in advertising, we should act like dandelions. I’ve since seen Faris talk about it a bit, and traced it back to this article by Cory Doctorow.
The analogy does have merit here are 5 lessons we can learn from dandelions.
1. Get lots of content out there.
Cory tells us that a single dandelion may produce 2,000 seeds per year. Most will fail, but that’s not important to a dandelion; it just wants to be sure that every single opportunity for reproduction is exploited.
On the web, it is almost impossible to predict what will be have a large “earned” impact. I freely admitted that I would not have predicted the success of the T-mobile dance clip, which to me was just a copy of things already done on the web. But it is clearly a success, with over 16 million views now, and is now one of the first things you find if you search for T-mobile on Youtube (which is the default search engine for some kids nowdays btw).
Some companies have tried to release multiple things simultaneously, and just hope that one of them succeeds. See this case study about Officemax.
2. Capitalise on fertile areas
As my good friend Juuso Myllyrinne pointed out to me, if we act like dandelions, then we perhaps fail to capitalise on successes. The randomness of the approach could mean that we are oblivious to market feedback.
But I think the analogy still holds: Some dandelion seed fall on particularly fertile ground. When this happens, dandelions reproduce quickly and plentifully.
Same with creativity: when something lands on a fertile creative patch, it is possible to take advantage of this situation and capitalise. And as Ben Mason over at 101 Culture says, organisations need to listen more and then be able to react quickly.
3. You’re not in charge. (No one is.)
Just as dandelions can’t control the wind, Brands can’t expect to control the ways in which content and stories will be reproduced, altered, improved upon.
Instead, we should actively encourage reproduction and remixing: In total, the high-quality consumer-generated Cadbury’s gorilla remixes got more views than the awesome original.
4. Make things easy to spread.
Dandelions make it incredibly easy for their seeds to fly. Any wind, from any direction is enough. Don’t restrict the ways your content can be shared.
“Send-to-friend” is not really the answer either: sometimes just making it possible to link to something – and not burying it under pages of Flash – can be enough.
5. Be a valuable part of your ecosystem
Dandelions aren’t looking to win or destroy others; they are trying to survive by being a valuable part of an ever-evolving ecosystem.
Be valuable. Keep your content flowing. Get people to create it with you.
Reach places that you could never reach alone.
Be part of something bigger than just you.
You don’t need a Social Media Strategy.
December 15, 2009
(You just need a strategy)
Right, so now I’m glad that we all agree that there is no such thing as social media.
And that we also agree that everything is social media.
So, we should move on to my next bone of contention:
There is no such thing as a “social media strategy”.
You do of course need a good strategy.
And you definitely need clear goals.
And one of the best ways for you to reach your shiny, clearly-defined goals will probably be to make use of some of the kick-ass new social tools like Twitter and Facebook.
But they don’t need their own separate strategy.
Having a social media strategy is kind of like having a paper-and-pen strategy.
And that just don’t make no sense.
Branding is dead. Long live the Brand.
December 7, 2009
I’ve always had a problem with the verb Branding.
I think some companies spend way too much time thinking about logos and colours.
Of course, I believe in the importance of having a strong brand, but the reality is that a brand is a reputation, not a typeface.
You should try to make a good first impression with your appearance.
But in the end it is what you say – and even more importantly what you do – that matters.
In the long term, the way we treat people has far more impact on our reputation than our outward appearance.
Social Media is NOT MEDIA AT ALL
November 18, 2009
I’m amazed I haven’t really considered this before, but what we all call Social Media is actually the exact opposite of media.
Derivation of the word Media: Latin: medium is the neuter form of the adjective medius, meaning “middle”; as well as, a neuter noun meaning, “the middle”
The singular, medium, early developed the meaning “an intervening agency, means, or instrument” and was first applied to newspapers two centuries ago.
Conversely, “Social Media” is a set of tools for people to communicate between themselves, platforms for interaction and relationships, not content and ads.
What do these social tools (Facebook etc) do?
They disinterMEDIAte of course!
“Who said this is media? Consumers weren’t trying to generate media. They were trying to talk to somebody. So it just seems a bit arrogant. … We hijack their own conversations, their own thoughts and feelings, and try to monetize it.”
Ted McConnell, General Manager-Interactive Marketing and Innovation at Procter & Gamble Co
Social engagement improves search results.
October 8, 2009
I work on a team called “Search and Social” at Nokia, so this report is important to us as it supports our view that the two are inherently linked.
GroupM Search, comScore Announce Study “The Influenced: Social Media, Search and the Interplay of Consideration and Consumption”
- consumers exposed to a brand’s influenced social media and paid search programs are 2.8 times more likely to search for that brand’s products compared to users who only saw paid search.
- 50% lift in click-through rates across the board when consumers had been exposed to social media and paid search.
- Specific keywords that found information about a generic product “went through the roof after being exposed to social media programs,”
- “The biggest challenge becomes understanding how to allocate budgets between the two media, social and paid search. It’s also about understanding when consumers are ready to invite brands into their social space”
ie perhaps it’s not (just) about affiliates and selling *within* social media, but rather using social media for listening and persuasion, then search and owned media for conversion?
Short-term thinking is to blame. For everything.
August 31, 2009
To avoid Marketing Myopia, we need to balance short-term quantitative metrics with qualitative metrics to get a full understanding of what we are doing. That way, hopefully we can’t be blamed for creating the next Jonas Brothers…
Katy has posted this awesome clip on her Seemingly Unconnected blog.
It’s a great monologue, explaining how marketing is to blame for the stupidification of culture, by encouraging us to worship youthfulness and ignorance.
However, I’m not sure about his logic of selling to younger people “so that they buy stuff for their whole life”; actually, marketing is much more myopic than that. This quarter’s targets are usually too important to worry about a customer’s lifetime value.
Instead, I would say that it’s actually the malleability of young minds that has always made them attractive to the Ad Men hungry for quick wins.
Part of the problem is that nearly everything we measure (sales; visits; click-through rates) is short-term. If we are to move beyond making a quick buck and start building value, then marketing and social media metrics needs a Balanced Scorecard, which is what our PESH model is aiming to do. Measuring participation and advocacy scores is then as (or more) important than measuring direct clicks and sales.
Everything seems to be moving at breakneck twitter-speed nowadays, but building genuine value and relationships still takes time.
The alternative is more viral videos… of the Jonas Brothers… wearing Crocs. And nobody in their right mind wants much of that.
Is this the worst ad in Finnish history?
August 26, 2009
This piece of work appeared at my father-in-law’s restaurant, inside a cardboard tube with some extra-cheap beads as a gift.
In order to entice people to use their firm’s advertising services, it basically says: ad men will take the shirt from your back, and the time of the dinosaurs is over.
How very, very true.
Throw in some sexist photography and some rather racist references to “medicine men being from Africa” and ad men “being greedier than Ahmed Ahne”, and you have yourself a mighty fine advertisement for the firm, and for the Finnish advertising industry!
ps the colours were truly spectacular too, but unfortunately i’ve only got a black and white scanner…
Don’t just build bonfires; take part in them!
August 25, 2009
Been thinking more about bonfires, which many people agree is a great analogy for the types of social marketing activity that many of us are trying to encourage.
John has a great slide-set on his blog that is very useful for explaining this concept in very simple and visual terms. Most handy!
But there is still one thing amiss with the deck and from much of the overall discussion: The implication is that Brands have to *build* the bonfires.
This is understandable, as we are used to building stuff in marketing (ie advertising, microsites). But the fact is that many people already have bonfires, and they usually want to build their own bonfires; you know, with their friends and that. They probably don’t want to come to your Corporate Bonfire. Anyone notice what happened with Bud.tv?!
So, to continue the analogy, how can we help people with what they want to do at a bonfire?
1. Provide some stuff: some blankets to keep people warm, some snacks and drinks, maybe even provide some entertainment (a guitar?)
2. Go along to the bonfire and actually have a conversation or two (remember to be a good listener!)
3. Most importantly, of course, you could do something *genuinely useful* like put some extra wood on the bonfire to keep the damn thing going!
People don’t want to go to hundreds of different bonfires. So, before you go building anything new, find out if there is anything going on already, and think about how you can usefully participate.
Fireworks and Bonfires. A true story.
August 10, 2009
Great analogy from the Feeding the Puppy blog: fireworks attract people, but bonfires are needed to sustain peoples’ interest.
To illustrate that this is far more than a simple metaphor, I will now transcribe to you a recent conversation I had with “Mr Adman”, who has been running marketing campaigns for many years:
Mr Adman: “We need to do some Word of Mouth. We need a 360 Social Media Plan, with a clear ROI. I want to be us to be in all the latest Social Media sites like Facespace and Twitty ASAP!”
Me: “Err… OK, how about we do this:
We put on an awesome and magical firework display to attract people, hopefully even make it cool enough for people to call up their friends and say ‘get down to the harbour, there’s an unbelievable firework display going on!’. We could even put up some cool posters to tell people it’s happening.
At the same time, we build a great big bonfire to keep people warm. We ask if there’s any refreshments people would like, and if so we can sell them some tasty snacks and drinks while they are there. (You can even call that ROI if you want.)
Of course we let people take part in building the bonfire. We’ll chat to people about what interests them. If it makes sense, we’ll bring up how our product might be useful to them, maybe even show them how it works. Then – since people don’t need chaperoning – we’ll make sure people have enough wood etc to keep the fire going themselves. We’ll encourage someone to take charge – it doesn’t have to be us. Maybe we’ll even leave a guitar or something so they can make their own entertainment.
Then we move on to another site to build another fire for another group of people. But we’ll check back regularly to make sure the original fire is still burning and ask if there is anything we can do to help.”
Mr Adman: “What about getting on Twitty and FaceSpace?”
Me: “If we do this well and make people happy, they will want to reciprocate and do nice things on our behalf, maybe even buy some of our products. If we exceed their expectations, then they will talk about us in their normal daily conversations (offline, nine times out of ten). But don’t worry, sometimes they will also talk about us on social media sites, so I guess you could call this a social media marketing plan. If you have to.”
Mr Adman: “Great! Absolutely, totally got it! One small problem is that we don’t have quite enough budget available, so my suggestion is that we just focus on the fireworks and skip the bonfires this time…”
Me: “….sigh….”
