Social Media Week #2 – Digital Journalism for Pay

Toronto – Canada

The one thing that is news, but you mind not find in a newspaper, is the fact that “the news” is going digital. This has wreaked havoc on the paper based business model of journalism. Papers are finding it hard to stay relevant, keep costs low, attract advertisers, retain staff or pay them at reasonable levels. These were some of the issues participants at Social Media Week’s Digital Journalism for Pay were trying to solve. The aim of the night was to discuss alternative business models to print and how a journalist can make money considering their is less money available.

This just in, I might get paid soon.

The panelists for the night were Wilf Dinnick of OpenFile, Toronto writer and novelist Bert Archer of Younge Street Media, and Navneet Alang of the Toronto Standard. With the help of moderator Nate Hendley these three tackled the topic of how to provide the news in the digital era and still make money doing it.

First Wilf Dinnick hit the stage and introduced his new hyper-local news site OpenFile. The idea behind open file is that the news is local and suggested by website followers. There is a chief editor for each locale and they decide and allocate resources according to the reader’s desire. Wilf mentioned that OpenFile’s most popular stories are the ones from professional journalists that are paid at competitive rates. He explained that paying journalists a reasonable rate is an important element of providing news in the digital era. He also elaborated on funding models not reliant on advertising, he stated that OpenFile currently is funded by an investor but also concentrates on strategic partnerships with Universities and national news providers such as the CBC and Global. Although OpenFile still gets revenue from advertisers, Wilf should be commended for his approach to offering an alternative news source and his ability to attract funding from different sources.

Secondly Bert Archer explained the alternative funding model of his employer, Younge Street Media. It is an interesting approach where advertising is not considered an essential component of funding. Instead the company seeks to attract “silent investors” who underwrite a particular issue or topic they are interested in. An issue is not commenced until full funding is received after which the editorial staff directs the writers on what to write about and what to avoid. To maintain integrity the underwriters are not mentioned the articles and they do not advertise. This seemed like a viable alternative to advertising, since as Bert mentioned during his talk, online advertising can be fickle and withdrawn swiftly if advertisers are not satisfied with their results.

Navneet Alang focused more on the elements of what makes a successful writer online. He mentioned that generally there are three types of online writing: light quick, opinion and research based, and long form journalism. These are the types of articles he identified as important for a news site to maintain engaged readership.

The three speakers were incredibly well spoken and did a great job of conveying their enthusiasm for the future of digital journalism. For me the most important take away from that night was what Wilf Dinnick explained as a “Journalism business model problem, not a journalism problem.” According to the panelists within 5-10 years a viable business model will emerge, but no one has figured it out yet. This is an exciting opportunity in an industry that has been struggling for some time. Big news to still to come!

Social Media Week – Monetizing Digital Content

Toronto – Canada

The winter blues in Canada can hit home pretty hard, but this winter has thankfully been quite mild, and in addition to the mild weather Torontonians have been able to enjoy Toronto Adweek swiftly followed by Toronto Social Media Week. Due to school and work commitments I was only able to attend two events, but I managed to keep a common thread throughout: how to make money publishing digital content.

Don't be anti-social, it's Social Media Week!

The first event was graciously hosted by Agility Inc., yes free Steam Whistles and tasty hors d’oeuvres for all those that attended. Andre Gaulin was the night’s moderator, and got the conversational juices flowing. The topic of the night was Monetizing Digital Content for Online Publishing. The panel consisted of Beth Young of Corus entertainment , Laura Baxter of UXD, Ryan Keaveney of RKP Publishing, and Lucia Mancuso of The Blog Studio.

As a combo the panel was well versed in digital marketing. They unanimously agreed that clients are shifting their marketing budget to the online sphere, and as a result present challenges and opportunities. It means that publishers (even bloggers) with space and a big enough following on their websites might eventually have the opportunity to host advertisement on their sites. Yet the challenge faced for some digital providers is convincing clients to go digital with their advertisements. According to the panel, established clients that are accustomed to print advertising are often reluctant to make the switch due to their skepticism about the ROI. However, despite the hesitation there is a general push from clients to go digital, and after seeing their ads up and running they become quite fond of the control and the ability to customize and adjust adspace as needed.

Going back to the theme of monetizing digital content; the panel discussed that it depended on whose content it is. As a blogger you can monetize by having ads and directly related content. The panel commented that, if you are a brand you will find that having an online presence consistent with your other media platforms will help your brand image and indirectly lead to ROI. Ryan Keaveney discussed how his companies print magazines use their online presence to drive viewers to purchase print subscriptions, which has turned out be a successful strategy.

I know you want to tweet about my beard.

Throughout the discussions the panelists frequently reverted to advertising as the most popular form of driving online revenue. This wasn’t quite the breakthrough we were looking for, but they did elaborate on some alternatives. Laura Baxter mentioned that certain associations provide exclusive digital content for members as an incentive to join. For example a “Dentist’s Association” would post exclusive content online for its members, thereby driving membership and providing ROI on the digital content. Conversely RKP’s digital strategy is to have an image consistent with its print publications, but also to encourage vistors to their website to purchase print subscriptions. Besides advertising these were the two alternatives the panel offered for achieving ROI on digital content.

All in all the night was a success and Agility Inc. were great hosts. We will all be looking forward to attending their event next year!

What does Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Think of Social Media?

Toronto – Canada

The Amazon is a vast ecosystem; it has an influence on our planet and is so gargantuan that there are parts of it that haven’t even been discovered yet. In the virtual world we have Amazon.com, which has been making a very discreet transformation from an online bookstore to a provider of, tablets, cloud computing and even a space program; it’s as if Amazon.com is beginning to match the diversification of its tropical namesake. This transition has taken place under the watchful eye of founder, and current CEO Jeff Bezos, whose personal take on commerce and management has had a positive effect on these projects.

And then Jeff was all like... "See ya later books!!!"

Ever since its inception Amazon.com has been an expert at disintermediation, the process by which middlemen or agents are cut out of the supply chain in delivering products to customers. Amazon.com cut out the bookstore, and now with its new e-readers it is cutting out publishers, and the physical book.

While Amazon has fully changed the way we read books it is also working on changing the way we use the Internet through its Amazon Web Service (AWS). As a casual web surfer you might not even know that Amazon provides cloud computing for: Foursquare, Harvard Medical School, PBS, Smug Mug, Virgin Atlantic, Yelp and many others. Turns out Amazon saw potential in cloud computing for its own business, but even more potential in hosting web-content through its cloud computing software. AWS now hosts a substantial amount of web traffic around the world.

Considering these remarkable developments and their current success it is quite clear that Jeff Bezos’ is a credible Internet innovator and visionary. So what does such a leader think of social media in relation to his Internet business? The answer may be surprising.

Firstly, Bezos recognizes the potential of social networking and credits it as being an “incredible phenomenon”. Yet, he is cautiously reserved about its application and practicality for Amazon.com, he states:

“I think what we’re wondering is, if we have a list of 500 of your friends, how can we use that to improve E-commerce? We have some ideas. We’ve actually already done some experiments but haven’t found anything that we think is exciting yet…We look at things through a different lens. We say ‘Oh, here’s this incredible phenomenon called social networking. How can we be inspired by that to make our business better?’ I hope we find something.”

Coming from an E-commerce pioneer this statement may seem disconcerting to many social media believers, but it does ring true of other statements made by business owners and at conferences such as the CMA Digital Day. The consensus on social media seems to be that it is a unique instrument not to be ignored, but it requires a long-term, logical strategy with measurable results.

Of course, this doesn’t apply for businesses everywhere, but it is an important thought. Perhaps Amazon is so ubiquitous, with many channels for communication that it can’t, or doesn’t need to use social media to get its message across. That being said, if we take a look at their social media presence we find that Amazon is active on twitter @amazon.com and its Facebook page and Kindle page have 2.5 million and 1.5 million likes respectively. It is no doubt that if Amazon can figure out how to use social media to its advantage, it will benefit greatly due to its already existing fan base.

Whether Jeff Bezos likes it or not social media is here to stay, and it will probably be a matter of time before Amazon figures out a way in which they can get involved, either on the user or suppliers side. For other businesses Jeff Bezos’ words may provide guidance for what way they should consider getting involved with Social Media.

The comments on this post were inspired by the Wired interview with Jeff Bezos

Goldman Sachs’ Renegade Twitter Feed

Toronto – Canada

Investment bankers do not have a growing list of fans around the world, you just need to look at the thousands of occupy protestors to see that. Yet there is one segment of the investment banking world that has a growing fan base…the Goldman Sachs Elevator (GSE) twitter feed. Twitter, the social media phenomenon that brought you the Egyptian revolution and Lady Gaga now lets you into the macho, fist pumping, money bending, and apparently comical world of Goldman Sachs.

Goldman Sachs, we're seriously quite funny.

Turns out a Goldman Sachs employee has been tweeting some of the more comical and offensive banter heard around the office. The tweets are often egotistical, self absorbed, slightly sexist and definitely not politically correct. Goldman Sachs has apparently launched an investigation to find the source of the tweets, but has had no luck so far. There is a contingent of observers who have commented that the account isn’t actually from an employee, and likely from a vigilante tweeter with a sense of humour. The whole situation becomes even more comical when you imagine that Goldman Sachs will begin terrorizing their employees in pursuit of a “tweeter” that doesn’t even work for them.

Whether or not the tweets are authentic is immaterial because they capture the less savoury mentality of investment banking in a way that is comical and seems to reflect some public sentiment. This wouldn’t be the first time an insider has spilled the beans about what happens in an investment bank – its already a winning formula. It helped Michael Lewis sell his books. All he had to do was transcribe many of his conversations to paper. It revealed a type of black humour normal to insiders, but completely startling to outsiders.

Besides the tweets making a very subtle social commentary, the whole situation has important implications on the use of social media. One is that perhaps social media can become an anonymous whistle-blowing device for frustrated employees. Secondly if the account is fake, how do you stop someone from misrepresenting your company?

Although the tweets have punch lines that are more likely to be from a comic rather then an analyst, some of them could be authentic. We’ve all heard something funny at work before. It makes me think that if things don’t get better in finance these Goldman Sachs employees could fall back on a career in comedy.

Angry Tampons, Social Media Works its Magic

Toronto – Ontario

Yes, that’s right!! Tack one up for the consumer, the female consumer that is. Recently O.B. the consumer goods company, has decided to take its new line of tampons off the shelf to bring in the apparently quite popular “old” O.B. Ultra Brand.

O.B. Tampons "We're Really Really Sorry, Really."

The move comes after outraged consumers voiced their opinions on the website www.obultratampons.com where an organized group of “activists” used various types of social media to raise awareness for their cause. Besides the website which provides a detailed manifesto on why the line should not be discontinued, there are various applications to spread the word including: facebook, yahoobuzz, twitter and stumblupon.

In addition to bringing back the line of tampons O.B. also posted a coupon and a lighthearted, slightly humorous video apology on their website. A nice music video, coupon and bringing the product back? O.B. has definitely upped the ante for anyone apologizing to their girlfriend.

This story is great because it shows social media in action, and a company actually listening to consumers. It is the type of human touch that companies so often talk about, but rarely perform. It is also part of a growing trend where companies are using the avenues of communication available to them to make important decisions. Just recently the GAP also reversed a decision to change its logo due to customer opposition. Considering that nowadays about 9 out of 10 product launches fail, companies might want to consider using this tactic BEFORE they actually launch a product.

In the case of O.B. if consumers can get over the feeling of betrayal, this could be a success story in the making.

Help!! Advertising Stole My Baby! Secret Truths From the King of Branding

Toronto – Ontario

Never did I think that someone deserved or could have the title: “King of Branding”. Yet yesterday I was summoned to a performance from the royal court of advertising at Koerner Hall, where Martin Lindstrom, Time Magazine’s 2009 Most Influential Person of the Year, was giving a speech regarding his new book Brandwashed. Martin came to Toronto to lay down the law on the advertising/marketing world, whats wrong with it, whats good about it, what works, what doesn’t, and most importantly provide insight into his own personal research about Brands and their affect on our lives. I will share with you some of these insights because they are honestly too good to enjoy on your own.

Do not do unto others as Jobs would do unto Microsoft

Firstly, a little background on Mr. Lindstrom would be in order. He is a self admitted Lego maniac who was one of few children actually employed by Lego to advertise their brand to other children. After Lego he spent 30 years in the advertising world building up some of the most prominent brands you see today. Nowadays Lindstrom has made the change from influencing consumers to being a consumer advocate. As admitted in his speech he did some bad in the marketing world (didn’t explain what) but now he is using his powers for good.

Lindstrom predicated his speech on the basis that although we believe ourselves to be rational, throughout our daily lives we make irrational decisions sometimes in response to advertising stimulus or preconceptions that we have as a result of advertising. Being a curious guy Lindstrom decided that talking to us regular folks would not give him the answers he needed, instead he turned to science to solve some of the “irrational” decisions that consumers make. In fact he turned to modern MRI technology to scan the brain patterns of consumers as they react to various ads.

His most interesting project was mapping the similarities between peoples interaction with brands vs that of religion. His research was backed up by two years of traveling around the world researching major religions and brands, along with quantitative data from MRI scans. The results helped him to create a matrix based on the four elements of: Ritual, Sense of Belonging, Story Telling, and Clear Vision, there are sub headings for each element to create a total of 10 tenets to follow. Essentially if a company can “tick” all 10 boxes they have earned themselves a license to print money.

Lindstrom then discussed some effective forms of advertising. Despite the latest craze over social media Lindstrom pointed out that word of mouth is still the most effective in influencing consumer behavior. He suggested that in the future it will not be uncommon for companies to use “seeders” or undercover brand ambassadors to promote products to friends and families. He said its already happening, remember the I-Phone that was forgotten at a bar before its launch? Or even how Lindstrom himself was employed by Lego? There is even a movie about it called The Joneses an idea that Lindstrom replicated in real life called The Morgansons.

If you blink -Lindstrom will sell you this book.

He also dropped some serious branding knowledge about an idea he coined, “the smashable”. “WTF is that you ask?”, a smashable is a part of your product, that when separated from the whole product is still recognizable as an intrinsic part of the main product. Think for example, Apple head phones, or McDonald’s Golden Arches. He said the smashables are some of the most important elements of brand building and recognition.

Lindstrom’s talk was engaging and very powerful, but it was also worrying. He touched on a Filipino chocolate company that targeted pregnant woman with coffee flavoured candy. These children showed a preference for chocolate by the age of 2, the youngest ever documented. This is a target market that cannot even breathe on its own yet.

The use of statistics was common throughout Lindstrom’s speech, the accuracy of his research was not discussed so one cannot help but take it at face value. It clearly shows a worrying trend where science has begun to track and influence consumer behavior to a degree not yet been seen. However, lets not forget that advertising has become a tough game, companies cannot reach the average consumer as before and the consumer is more empowered and informed. So while the companies are getting smarter the consumer is not making it easy.

Lindstrom based many of his conclusions on scientific research that he conducted, but I can’t help and remember that at the beginning of his speech he mentioned, “On average companies now spend about 7 billion a year on R&D, and despite this 9 of 10 products fail.” Now that he did all his research will it be worth the money?

Lets Get Digital – The Canadian Marketing Association’s Digital Conference

Toronto – Ontario

The Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) hosted an insightful conference at the Sheraton Hotel yesterday. The conference was focused on how digital technology can provide solutions and help businesses adapt to ever changing consumer behaviour. There were speakers from: Comedy Central , Rogers Sportsnet, Ipsos Reid, The Globe and Mail, Zoomer Media, Google, Microsoft, Ariad Communications and many many others. Needless to say, with so many speaks from such reputable companies the problem was not finding actionable insights but remembering them all!

If you are just seeing this you just missed Digital Day on November 7, hosted by the Canadian Marketing Association

The day started off with half open eye balls, staring sleepily into coffee cups, but the pace quickly picked up with the first panel discussion. The speakers were Marc Dinsdale, Senior VP of Rogers Digital Media Sports, Walter Levitt, Executive VP of marketing at Comedy Central and Chris Taylor, an Entertainment Lawyer at Taylor Mitsopulos Klein Oballa and owner of the record company Last Gang Entertainment.

Levitt and Dinsdale explained how they are connected to: twitter, facebook, television, radio, and print media to reach their target audience. Comedy Central and Rogers Sportsnet are unique in their approach to social media, because unlike other companies – they use it well. Their audience is well connected and passionate about the content that these two provide, at one point Levitt explained that Comedy Central has amassed a monstrous 32 million Facebook likes. Despite the effective use of social media Dinsdale and Levitt are clearly concerned about the threat that the internet poses to TV. This is where Chris Taylor chimed in, he explained that although record companies have become less profitable due to the internet, they still make money by diversifying the products they offer, dabbling in new media, and offering different price points for their products. So while he isn’t making the same money he would have made 15 years ago, he is still making money. This might be a valuable lesson for the TV execs but probably not one they want to go home with.

Next up was Steve Levy of Ipsos Reid – the market research firm. Levy was presenting the results of his market research into the use of digital technology by marketers and advertisers. His results revealed that marketers and agencies alike are moving away from traditional media outlets such as: print, radio and TV and shifting to mobile, internet and out of home digital. While the shift to newer digital media is important, he stated that the majority of spending is still allocated to traditional forms of media. Levy also pointed out that agencies are currently behind but very closely shadowing what in-house marketers are doing in terms of media focus. What seemed to resonate most with the audience and other speakers was his comment that many companies feel like they need to use social media, but in fact have no idea what they are doing. It seems as though companies are aware of these wonderful tools but not quite sure how to incorporate them into an effective long term strategy.

Steve Levy dropped some serious knowledge on the crowd at Digital Day.

A great panel followed Steve Levy’s talk and it consisted of Angela Scardillo, VP of marketing for Best Buy, Erin Green, Director of Marketing for Dealuxe.ca and Lisa Bradner of Geomomentum. The panel discussed how retail shopping and digital shopping is effected by the new “informed” and “connected”customer. Scardillo mentioned that the more educated the consumer, the less physical visits a store can expect. While this could lead one to the conclusion that staff should be cut, Scardillo mentioned that the quality of staff is an important element of differentiation and can add value to the in store experience. The panel reached a great conclusion regarding the use of social media, they stated that social media connects like minded people into a type of community, and if businesses want to connect with these people they must recognize the community aspect – rather than use those tools for selfish promotion. Having a presence is good, being pushy is bad.

These three talks were the highlight of the day for me, however there were many other great speakers, and informed conference participants. With the conference’s strong focus on how businesses are currently using and could be using digital technology I noticed that three themes were echoed throughout the day:

1. For social media – know your target audience, there might be some great technology out there but if your audience doesn’t want it – you don’t need it
2. Many companies are using technology as a short term tactic, but few have it fleshed out into a long term strategy
3. Those who do not accept technology will be left behind.

It seems like companies are getting more connected to reach you, do you know of any companies that you think are doing it right?