About the Video riiPlay.tv, a Vancouver-based video and web production company, filmed the Internet Marketing Conference held in Vancouver last year, and they have kindly sent me the video embed code for my session on Writing for the Web.
Have you ever missed an event and wished you could attend?
Have you ever held an event and wished that someone was filming it?
Have you ever attended an event and wished that you could send your co-workers links to watch the “best of” clips?
riiPlay.tv is answering this by providing the filming of live events, the production of watchable video segments, and the hosting and delivery of those videos online through free or pay-per-view means.
Boxcar Marketing has been out and about on the speaking circuit lately and the following myths keep presenting themselves. Let’s dispel them, shall we?
Myth #1: Social media is a marketing strategy.
Social media is not a marketing function; it’s an overall high-level business strategy that supports your organization’s goals.
Myth #2: It’s all about the online tools.
Social media is not about sending out electronic press releases or setting up a Facebook page. It’s about how we can use the tools to engage with our community. For example, how can we use electronic press releases to capture the attention of a new audience or how we can use Facebook to encourage social interactions that build loyalty and connections to the company and between community members.
Myth #3: Building online communities requires tight control and management.
Nope. You always have people out there talking about you; it’s called word of mouth. In traditional approaches, we make sure that people have a positive experience with us at all levels, from the person who answers the phone to the customer service to the follow-up afterwards.
The same is true with social media strategies. Relinquishing control does not mean abdicating responsibility; it means that you control the things within your control. You set the stage and the conditions that allow for your organization and community members to thrive. That way, people have good things
to say.
Myth #4: Social media is time consuming.
The key here is practice. The first time you do something it takes time. The first press release you ever wrote, the first job description for a new hire, the first report, whatever it was, you were doing something new and you needed to be slow and methodical in your approach. But as you gained experience, things got faster and easier. The same is true with the web. It’s just practice.
Myth #5: Your audience isn’t online.
The average Canadian spends close to 43 hours per month online. And it isn’t just young people who are spending time online. The latest Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada report (PDF) showed that in May 2007: 29% of age 50+ web users visited a social media site in the last month versus just 8% in September 2006; 72% of 20-29 year olds had visited a social networking website, up from 44% in September 2006.
For more information
Read the Harvard Business Review article Getting Brand Communities Right by Susan Fournier and Lara Lee. The site also includes a great quiz to help you determine if your business is social media ready.
Adpages, the Business in Vancouver magazine on advertising, marketing and communications, features “The Online Marketing Game: How the Internet Changed Advertising” by Sara Newham.
The article is a 2-page spread featuring a glossy photo us (Monique Trottier of Boxcar Marketing and James Sherrett of AdHack), plus smart-sounding quotes and commentary on how Barack Obama used social media marketing and how advertising creative can be sourced through social networks.
Smart and pretty on the same day. Thank you Sara Newham for making us sound intelligent and thank you Dominic Schaefer for catching our better sides.
Update: The 2009 edition of AdPages is now available on the Business in Vancouver website.
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