ION Digital

If social media is really like a dinner party, it seems like we’re missing something … humor.

Humor is one of the most effective-and under-appreciated tactics in communications. This applies to every day business discussions, professional presentations, and yes, social media. Look at Pinterest. Some of the most popular pins are funny or offbeat. Twitter and Facebook is even better. Who can’t resist a clever or funny tweet, or conversation starter?

Good humor works because it connects with people at an emotional level. We live in a very serious world. Humor provides us a mental break. For companies, it’s a great way to come across more engaging and naturally-more human.

But humor has to be handled right. Just being funny online is not enough, and there are risks. Here are five tips to keep in mind as you engage with humor.

1. Use humor creatively,particularly when it comes to explaining complex subjects. And don’t be afraid to be a little edgy. Look at thisinfographic which is focused on helping users improve their Facebook Edgerank score. Rather than just a dry listing of tips, “Conquer the Facebook” uses clever humor with news stream posts by “legendary Facebook conquerors” like Julius Caesar (Ex: #5 Ask for Likes- Genghis Kahn states: “Ask for likes if you’re a Mongol with a funny decapitation story.”  Clever and funny. Read the rest of this entry »
   

Facebook managers must have mentioned “content” a dozen times at its marketing conference Feb. 29 in New York City. While everyone else was focused on the new bells and whistles, I was tuning my ears to their focus on content.

The message was clear: marketers must now become real “storytellers” and ignite their fans with engaging content. Facebook promotions (“sponsored stories”) will revolve around strong, compelling content. Your Facebook Page will increasingly be measured by how much fans engage with and share your content.  Content, content, content.

We’ve heard this mantra for so long it’s easy to write it off as just another turn of the marketing screw. But this time I think Facebook is on to something.  Indeed I believe we’re witnessing a wide-sweeping, fundamental shift in the way we communicate to customers-and ultimately, do business. And it starts and ends with content.

First, think of content  as  how we engage with our customers, like real people. Read the rest of this entry »

Clearly, Coke scored a winner with its brilliant social experiment in Portugal late last year.

The backdrop was a popular soccer match between two top teams in Lisbon. With tickets expensive and scarce, Coke planted a wallet in a bustling shopping center. Inside was $200 and a ticket to the soccer event. Then it sent in a camera crew team to tape the reactions of people in the street.

Portugal must be a haven for honesty. Amazingly, 95% of the people who found the wallet and the valuable goodies turned it in. These Good Samaritans seemingly did this because it was the right thing to do, not for financial reward. But Coke surprised them by giving them a ticket to the soccer game and putting them up in their own special sections. They were even honored at halftime on the stadium’s big screen.

This was a brilliant campaign on several fronts, and there’s a slew of lessons for social marketers. Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t you hate writer’s block? You know you have brilliant ideas, but there’s that damn blank screen staring at you when you sit down to blog. Nothing happens. The brain’s in idle. Frustration begins to creep in. (Remember Jack Nicholson in The Shining?)

Many people struggle with writing. But I believe anyone can write and blog with the right approach. It’s not brain surgery, but it does take some work.

First, get over the idea that you have to write a blockbuster blog every time. We find in our training that many corporate bloggers are by nature analytical and perfectionists, which creates a lot of extra agony. It’s great to hit a home run, but mostly this is about hitting lots of singles and doubles.

Blogs are bursts of communications-probably closer to a semi structured email than a traditional article. You’re not writing a white paper or essay. Think “light” and “just good enough” (see the just good enough marketer).

Here’s 7 starting tips to help you get rolling: Read the rest of this entry »

In many ways, 2011 was a fulfilling one for social media marketers/managers.  Many companies finally “get it”-they acknowledge that social media is real and it’s not going away. The main social media platforms, led by Facebook, continued to grow. Twitter didn’t explode. Google launched Google+.  Social content became a very big deal for marketers, and so on.

These are all important. But somehow it feels like we fell short,  sort of like we marched to the 50 yard line of the big game and stalled.  Some companies kept running the same plays, hoping for different results. Others tried Hail Mary passes.

After years of this, we still haven’t revolutionized the way we communicate as companies and/or come close to reaching our potential with social media.

As I’ve said before, we haven’t reinvented anything; we’ve mainly shoehorned social media into our corporate communications/marketing framework. We’re still doing everything the same, just in new channels, disguised as social media. (ex: “Give me 8 tweets this week” “Let’s shoot for 3 blogs a week, and make sure they stay on message”) Read the rest of this entry »