You might say Mozes is on a rock-n-roll these days.

Within just the last few weeks, Wired ran a feature on how the Palo Alto, Calif-based Mozes powers Umphrey’s McGee’s interactive UMBowl, a concert series that enables fans to shape the concert – in real time – using their mobiles phones.

And just this last week, The Silicon Valley Business Journal ran a profile on the company, which focuses on mobile engagement at live events for brand clients such as Coca-Cola, Ford Motor Company and Rock The Vote, among many others.

In part three of tour May Mobile Marketing Roundtable, we get the inside scoop from founder Dorrian Porter (full disclosure: A longtime friend, client, and sponsor of this blog), on how brands are leveraging the power of mobile at the all-important "point of inspiration."

MOBILE ROUNDTABLE (PT 3): MOZES ROCKS THE MOBILE REVOLUTION

Click here to listen to: Mobile Roundtable (Pt 3): Dorrian Porter - Mozes Rocks The Mobile Revolution

(11:07)

ALSO LISTEN TO:

MOBILE ROUNDTABLE (PT 1): Julie Fajgenbaum - How AMEX Banks on Mobile Marketing

MOBILE MARKETING ROUNDTABLE (PT 2): Organic's Rachel Pasqua - Kimberly Clark, Specialized Bicycles Ramp Up Mobile Marketing

The numbers are steadily increasing but a white paper issued in August 2011 by the Society of Marketing Professional Services (SMPS), entitled, ‘The Client’s Use of Social Media and Social Networking’ demonstrated it’s still an uphill climb. More than 1,600 surveys were distributed; 160 responses received. The breakdown of firms using some form of social media was 36% engineering; 24% architecture; and 17% for construction, landscape design and facility owners.

“For many construction firms, all their work is about getting a project off the ground,” said Daryl Andrews, vice president of marketing and business development at 360 Construct, a building management firm. He added that it’s still a slow-go for the construction industry to use social media as part of their business strategy.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Most architectural firms currently using social media tend to be larger, primarily due to the investment in time/labor and having the requisite skills to navigate/communicate effectively on key social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

The engineering community, on the other hand, has been quicker to adapt social media. Way back in Fall 2009 (probably equates to about 50 years in tech time), CE News conducted a survey on social media and mobile devices that was sent to about 750 civil engineering firms. Slightly more than half- 51% - said they use regularly use professional networking sites like LinkedIn; 30% said they use social networking mediums like Facebook to promote their business; 20% use Twitter or blogs. Those percentages have undoubtedly increased.

“Engineering firms can take advantage of social computing tools for knowledge management, expertise sharing and information retention, which is especially critical with the pending retirement of baby boomers and incoming millennial generation,” said Brian Zeve, managing director, Microsoft Professional Services Industry. “Web-based collaboration through wikis, blogs, tagging, and other content management tools can provide firms with a whole new way of architecting knowledge and enabling input and expertise to bubble-up within the firm.”

The current social media flavor of the month, Pinterest, has exploded onto the scene in recent months and quite a few A/E/C firms are now sharing their ‘pins’ in the form of visual portfolios of previous jobs, ideas, and designs conducive to their respective business. Most A/E/C firms usually have a welter of images for key projects so Pinterest is fast becoming an attractive forum to showcase work.

So with the aforementioned in mind, here are a few examples of how a handful of A/E/C firms in the U.S. and abroad are effectively using social media:

Burns & McDonnell

Established in 1898, the venerable Kansas City, MO-based firm has more than 3,400 employee-owners including engineers, architects, construction experts, planners, estimators, economists, technicians and scientists. Burns & McDonnell plans, designs, permits, constructs and manages facilities worldwide. The company also ranks 26th in Fortune’s 2012 list of ‘100 Best Companies to Work For.’

While the 113-year-old firm has roots dating back to the 19th Century, Burns & McDonnell hasn’t rested on its laurels and has readily embraced 21st Century social media avenues.

For starters, the company maintains a comprehensive Careers Blog; recent posts have included ‘How to Establish Your Online Presence’ (see YouTube video in this post; the company also maintains a dedicated YouTube page containing numerous videos); ‘LinkedIn: 4 Things You Need to Know About This Powerful Tool;’ ‘7 Tips for Stress-Free Business Travel;’ and ‘What Recruiters See When They Read Your Resume.’ Posts are cross-linked to the company’s LinkedIn site and tweeted.

Burns & McDonnell also uses LinkedIn for recruiting - two recent posts, for instance, advertise openings for a telecommunications coordinator in the Kansas City headquarters, and a project manager-substation design, in Wallingford, CT.

The Facebook home page currently has 915 Likes; it also features numerous shared links to stories in the news that are of interest to employees, project photos, even volunteer opportunities – a recent one was for Jazzoo, the Kansas City Zoo’s largest annual fundraising event.

As of today, the company had 3,271 followers on Twitter (@BurnsMcDonnell). In addition to company-related tweets and retweets, Burns & McDonnell also uses Twitter for recruiting. Here’s one example from yesterday: #Engineering student looking for the coolest jobs? Check out @BurnsMcDCareers.

Snow Architects

Located in Liverpool, United Kingdom, Snow Architects is a RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) Chartered Practice; projects range across the board – residential properties, apartments, restaurants, hotels, mixed-use city center developments.

The firm utilizes a wide variety of the most popular social media tools – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter; posts photos/videos on Flickr, Vimeo and YouTube. The company’s director, Dave Cornett, is also using QR codes and Augmented Reality (AR) to help with practice development.

“We’ve been using QR codes in our printed brochure to link to additional information on the website, such as videos or additional photographs of the project,” said Cornett.

Cornett’s enthusiastic about how AR can be applied to architecture.

“We’ve done some image based AR and 3D models to show clients; they’ve been impressed when I pull out my iPhone and guide them through their building,” said Cornett.

He added that the company has also been looking at geo located models – these are superimposed over a phone’s camera as you look at the site.

“We’ve had a lot of Twitter interest in this worldwide, which is something I didn’t expect. The main disadvantage right now is that there isn’t a single app which can do all the things I would want to so it’s a case of switching from app to app,” said Cornett.

Cornett said that social media has helped increase brand awareness for his practice.

“Most people have actually now heard of us when we go to industry events in Liverpool and Manchester; we have also had job enquiries via Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook on the back of a tweet or status update which jogs someone’s memory,” said Cornett.

Martell Home Builders

The Moncton, New Brunswick construction firm is one of Canada’s largest home builders.

The company made the plunge into social media because of a key problem – customers didn’t know where to find them when they needed them. So Martell resolved this by adding a ‘Where’s My Contractor’ feature on the web site which lists Twitter accounts of the firm’s managers – this way clients could see what they were doing and know how to find them. The web page is also connected to a Google Map API (application programming interface), which puts a stickpin on a map, making it even easier for customers to find their contractor.

Martell’s Twitter page is popular – to date, @martellhomes has 12,495 followers and the company tweets about a half-dozen times each day on a wide variety of topics – some recent tweets (with links) have included: ‘21 ways of turning pallets into unique pieces of furniture;’ ‘Top 10 ways to add value to your home;’ and ‘What tool can you not live without? 14 must-have tools for new homeowners.’

The company has an extensive YouTube archive – there are currently 79 videos for viewing covering a wide expanse of helpful homeowner-related topics. Some of these include:

• How to fix a door latch
• How to adjust or replace a shower
• Maritime energy solutions

While the jury is still out on whether social media is generating billable projects, it’s definitely helping the A/E/C industry connect with the public and ultimately may lead to new collaborations and clients.

Jing Liu, principal of Brooklyn, NY-based Solid Objectives-Idenburg Liu, an architectural design firm, believes social media will gain momentum across the A/E/C divide over time but with a caveat:

“Younger people who are in their 20s are very much in touch with the technology,” said Liu. “Online there is so much information, however, that I don’t think people completely trust what they read. They need to get know you personally before they give you a project.”

Stay tuned.

What this Means for You

• Go-live from your laptop: Now live broadcasts are only a few clicks away. Stream your hangout publicly on your Google+ profile, your YouTube channel, and your website. In addition, during your broadcast you can see how many people are watching live.

• Auto Save to YouTube: Every Hangout on Air is automatically saved to your YouTube account- no software download needed.

• Editing Functionality: Once your hangout has been recorded you’ll be able to edit the recording when the hangout is over. What is great about this, is that after you edit your video, your post (including the video URL) will automatically be updated to show the edited version.

• Global Reach/Sharing: Your hangout video is shared publicly on Google+ and on your YouTube channel. In addition, you have the ability to re-share the video just like you would with any other. So when I say global- I mean global.

How it Works

Enabling real-time broadcasting is extremely easy and can be done in the following three steps:

1. Click to start a hangout and invite specific people or Google+ circles to join you. Then your hangout a name.
   
2. Check the “Enable Hangouts on Air.” Note: The first time you do this, you will need to agree to the Terms of Service and also link your YouTube account. Learn more.
   
3. Finally, click “start broadcasting” and you will go on air. Note: you will have a 5-second delay and then your hangout will broadcast publically on your G+ profile, YouTube channel. You can also broadcast live to any websites where you have embedded the code for your hangout.
   

Learn more by watching a tutorial.

The Business Case: How You Can Leverage it

There has been a lot of chatter on this in the industry, labeling Google Hangouts on Air as a “game changer.” It could be a pivotal point in terms of online engagement and extended reach. With the ability to share your videos on via your Google+ profile and YouTube, you are canvasing a much larger pool with far less work. The value to customer-focused businesses can potentially be huge. From a customer-centric approach, when used right, this can be a huge asset in customer experience and engagement with your brand.  Video bloggers and podcasters are also going to have a field day with this. Get ready.

If you have a number of national offices like R2integrated, or a remote workforce, Google Hangouts on Air can truly benefit your team in terms of collaboration (with screen sharing and live video) as well as keeping the team experience alive, you can broadcast presentations, virtual conferences, board meetings, roundtable discussions, or you can event interview potential job candidates.

Have you tried out Google+ Hangouts on Air for your business or your teams? Do you think it transforms Google+ Hangouts into a valuable business tool?

Share your opinion by leaving a comment below or get me at @saminj58.

Red Bull's Facebook post in which over 17% of engagements were shares

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In part two of the May 2012 GEN WOW Mobile Marketing Roundtable, I ask Rachel Pasqua, executive director of mobile marketing at New York City-based Organic about her upcoming book Mobile Marketing in An Hour A Day, and her insights into Kimberly Clark's plans to merge its social media and mobile marketing initiatives. 

Along the way, we'll hear about the future of mobile apps and wearable computing at brands like Specialized Bicycles, and much, much more.

MOBILE MARKETING ROUNDTABLE (PT 2): ORGANIC'S RACHEL PASQUA - KIMBERLY CLARK, SPECIALIZED BICYCLES RAMP UP MOBILE MARKETING

Click Here to Listen to: Mobile Roundtable Pt 2: Rachel Pasqua

(9:55)

ALSO LISTEN TO:

MOBILE ROUNDTABLE (PT 1): Julie Fajgenbaum - How AMEX Banks on Mobile Marketing

It's still the wild west when it comes to mobile ad tracking and ad serving. Although some agencies have started to test out various third party ad serving solutions, the delivery of many campaigns are still reported on by publisher, ad network, and rich media company ad servers. Many of these ad servers are proprietary ad servers with a range of capabilities.

There are also companies that are in the process of developing their own "mobile cookie" or proprietary tracking solutions. Some of these solutions require the implementation of third party tracking tags that are Javascript tags. Javascript tags are not yet widely accepted by mobile publishers and ad networks for various reasons from concerns over security to lack of ability to implement it in the ad server. It is much like the early days of online advertising (think circa 1999) when online ads were still primarily gif and jpgs, only pixel tracking was common, and publisher ad server reporting was the norm. We are in a very similar stage right now in mobile and we need to come together as an industry to be open to new methods so we can start to provide better measurement solutions for our clients.

Naturally as more Smartphones come into the market, we will see more rich media advertising in mobile which will help drive ad serving improvements just as we saw online. Until then, let's push for testing new tracking options in the market so we aren't stuck partying like it's 1999.

In a SoHo Lab, HuffPo Mafia rekindles the old magic

A story not only about how corporate dysfunction is killing the creative spirit, but also about how easy it is for the creative thinkers to find a different path. Like water running downhill.

Via @Britopian

GM Cuts Facebook Ad Spending, But Ford Steps on the Gas

Clearly GMs move wasn’t the last word on this issue. But what’s hidden in many of the articles I’ve read is that GM is still pouring a lot of money into Facebook content creation. They may have come in with a bad direct response mindset thinking they could spin Facebook ads into gold, but the fact that they’re still spending considerable sums on their Facebook pages content shows they aren’t anywhere near giving up on Facebook.

Via @Aerocles

Facebook’s Purchases May Hint at Its Future

This really demonstrates the challenges so many large companies are having keeping up. Companies like Facebook are foregoing much of the typical legwork around acquisitions, playing things more from the gut. Of course, the story isn’t over yet, but in the meanwhile, with Facebook able to make large acquisitions like Instagram quickly, it’s making things difficult for their less-nimble competitors.

How Users Are App-ifying The Web, With or Without Publishers

This app vs web story has been an interesting one, and as the article points out, it’s not shaking out the way either side thought. Another example of how lowering production and startup costs add constant forks in the pathway of technology.

Via @bradberens

What the Web Could Learn From Dawn of TV

Despite the relative recency of mass communications, it’s remarkable how cyclical they are. Mobile is following so many of the same routes Web 1.0 took. This article draws the parallels between online video content, and the early days of TV.

Via @learmonth

Facebook giveth, Facebook taketh: A curious case of video apps

Whether or not you saw the NY Times article about Facebook’s ability to predict the future of apps, this is a good alternate view.

Via @mcarney7

Twitter Campaign Donates Your Unused Characters

Another example of advertising seeping into every nook and cranny it can find.

Via @mashable

Banishing Short-Term and Shiny: A Look at Vail Resorts

This is how everyone should be thinking about digital marketing.

Via @ClarkKokich

Your Company Has Social Media Nailed. Now What?

An excellent series of questions to ask after you’ve reach the first level.

Via @RichardLevick

Facebook to Brands: You’re Posting Stuff Wrong

The subjects brands post about is the key to engagement. That’s why text analysis is the key to knowing what works on Facebook.

Why CMO Tenure is so Short

This has long been a known problem for both clients and agencies, and it’s interesting reading what some of these industry leaders have to say about it.

Via @emarxe & @djgeoffe

Facebook Dominates Mobile Social Networking

Facebook’s big story to me has always been the amount of time and frequency with which people use the site. Now it looks like that same behavior is tracking over to mobile. And to think they bought Instagram to better succeed in mobile.

Via @JackMarshall

Ad Account Guy Gets Man Lessons

I like this because a lot of people want to publish content, but aren’t sure what to write about. This guy found a way to get over that hump.

With apps such as Pandora, Slacker, TuneIn, Spotify, Stitcher, and iHeartRadio available at your finger tips, internet radio has become a popular way to access audio stream. Through the eyes of the advertiser, this phenomenon provides the opportunity to get what they really want: active consumers willing to engage in their brand.

Unlike traditional radio, many of these on-demand apps offer customized playlists, allowing the consumer to design the type of content they want. With registration data often including zip codes, this allows the advertiser to place relevant and compelling ads based on the consumers personalized music selection and their location. Internet radio can provide national reach or local market targeting and allows consumers to interact and engage with the advertisers website or Facebook page.

So what do these Internet stations offer and how do they differ in both a consumer and advertising perspective? Here is a brief summary of just a few of the popular stations being used today:

One of the main stations, and arguably the most well-known one is Pandora. According to a study released from Nielsen in June 2010, Pandora is one of the top three most downloaded apps from the Apple app store and consistently ranks in the top five most used apps in the BlackBerry and Android stores.

Like Pandora, iHeartRadio allows users to listen to stations based on artist, song or album. The difference with iHeartRadio is its vast majority of song selections. iHeartRadio listeners can choose from a massive catalog of more than 11 million songs and 400,000 artists- more than 10 times the number of songs offered by Pandora.

Another popular consumer choice is Slacker Radio. What sets Slacker apart from its competitors is that it has professional DJ’s that customize the song selections and stations. This offers more personalized content than the other technology run sites.

Stitcher is the leader in internet radio for the “world beyond music.” This online site “stitches” together news, sports or talk shows from stations like Fox News, CNN and ABC.

TuneIn allows you to listen to live local and global radio from wherever you are. Whether you want to listen to sports, news, music or current events, TuneIn offers over 50,000 stations and 120,000 shows. It gives you the effect that you “right there with the people and places that are important to you.”

Spotify allows branded apps and channels that allows an advertiser to provide an added value to their target audience. Louisiana Tourism recently used this to their advantage. When the campaign is no longer live…the channel lives on as a wonderful reminder. Spotify utilizes the king of social networks; Facebook. You can share your playlist with your friends. They have taken this one step further with the “life sound tracker.” Using the tracker, consumers can select friends on Facebook and Spotify will generate a playlist containing music from upcoming concerts in your area based on a mash-up of your friends’ music. Users can then have the option to generate a Facebook invite and send it to their friends.

Although Internet radio offers advertising opportunities across both online and mobile platforms, users can also pay a fee in order have an ad-free experience, which could be dismaying to a media partner.

But in an article written about Pandora, media and marketing specialist Kathryn Koegel, states:

“Typical radio stations play nine minutes of ads per hour according to a 2006 study and in a study of clutter on radio, it was reported to be as high as 20 minutes per hour on some stations*. A service like Pandora currently runs a maximum of three audio ads or less per hour and banner ads only appear on a device when a phone is not locked or dimmed thus only when the consumer is interacting with the device.”

The research shows that only 9% of Pandora subscribers pay to use the product. It is also shows extreme growth in the amount of users listening to Pandora on their mobile device versus the web. It allows optimization as we saw with a recent client. By paying attention to ongoing measurement, we saw that mobile’s click-thru rate was much higher than the web; therefore we switched impressions to only mobile.

As marketers, we can conclude that the majority of consumers do not mind advertising, especially if it is targeted to the listener. However, we must stay ahead of the curve in terms of unique and targeted advertising. With mobile technology rapidly advancing, the way consumers listen to radio will continue down this ever-changing path.

@amykauffman

© All Rights Reserved I-5 Design and Manufacturer

This is part 4 of a series on the challenge of targeting SMB markets and how the use of buyer-based modeling and buyer-based marketing help organizations to grow their SMB customer base.

When it comes to the SMB segment and the multiple sub-markets, it is just a plain fact that you cannot be everywhere. We addressed the segmentation thought process crucial for buyer-based marketing to the SMB segment in the previous article, Grow SMB Revenues With Buyer-Based Marketing, as a means to know where to have a presence. Therein lays the new buyer realities of today. Having a presence that creates a gravitational pull of SMB buyers towards your organization is the new realty of mastering the SMB challenge.

SMB marketing and sales began to become more than just an afterthought in the early ‘90’s through the early 2000's. Considerable investments were made in establishing inside sales organizations and in outbound marketing activities specifically to reach the SMB base of customers and prospective buyers. Newly created inside sales organizations endured the trials and tribulations of field sales entrenched infrastructure as well as the ownership battle of the mid-size customer gray area. Marketing discovered that outbound tools for inside sales and for marketing to the SMB segment varied greatly from that of a focus on large field accounts.

In a span of 5-7 years we find ourselves in a drastically different world. The notion of reaching buyers is becoming a huge hurdle to climb for those wedded to predominantly outbound activities related to inside sales. As mentioned, establishing an inside sales function can be a sizable investment. The Fortune 1000 and Global 2000 today find themselves with inside sales units loaded with personnel, technology, software, and etc. that were installed and aimed at outbound efforts. What we now have is the challenge of turning on a dime to repurpose inside sales and marketing support to at least gain balance in inbound marketing while succeeding at a level of outbound demand generation as well.

This has more to do with transformation shifts in buyer behaviors with new technologies being the driving force behind these changes. What is profound is that this is more than the labels of the elusive, invisible, or buyer 2.0. No, they didn’t go anywhere and they are not hiding. Nor, should we be of the mind that buyers are now just empowered – as if sellers gave them the empowerment. Buyers today - with SMB buyers a significant part of this picture - are creating new ways of working and conducting business. Here’s the smell the coffee moment for sellers: SMB buyers, in addition to larger accounts, are creating a new world of buyer-driven economies whereby as sellers - if you do not fit or adapt – it is a world in which you will not be participating within.

While I may be seemingly digressing here, I do so to make a very salient point. SMB buyers are adapting new technologies in the entrepreneurial fashion they have started their business with in the first place. Unburdened by large scale infrastructures, they can see how to make new uses of technologies nimbly and drive new ways of conducting business as well as expand their own customer bases. SMB businesses, not so surprisingly, may be surpassing larger enterprises in their adoption of new technologies for interacting with buyers.

What Does This All Mean?

If you are part of a larger enterprise marketing to SMB buyers, what this all points to is a higher stakes challenge. Expectations on buyer experience are being renewed at a constant rate for the reasons mentioned above. Many of today’s new technologies, which for the most part had their original invention in non-business pursuits, have balanced the equation. While larger enterprises enjoyed an advantage in acquiring newer technologies over that of SMB businesses, this may no longer be true. In fact, the opposite in many cases may be true with SMB businesses able to leap frog into newer technologies as cost factors continue to be driven lower.

With this being the case, larger enterprises need to focus on creating seamless buyer-based experiences that allow SMB businesses to act quickly, make choices, and do so in the channels they prefer. This applies to both inbound and outbound efforts. A key focus for inbound efforts is that of enriching the buyer experience. Darren Pleasance, a Principal with McKinsey & Company, recently covered this topic in an excellent article entitled, Serious about SMB experience? Focus on your web site, on McKinsey's Chief Marketing & Sales Officer Forum site. Darren mentions the importance of the web site experience, providing the ability to buy seamlessly through multiple channels, and investing in post-purchase experiences as keys to success in the SMB segment. All of these contributing to enriched buyer experiences. The core of SMB buyer-based marketing and selling will not only be the web site as Darren articulates, but I believe the totality of the buyer experience now becoming the driving force behind how SMB buyers choose.

This brings us back to outbound. Does this mean inside sales and other outbound activities will simply go away? Far from it I believe. A fundamental shift however needs to take place in how organizations view and orient their outbound efforts such as inside sales. This shift relates to transforming from a tools-based approach to a buyer-based experience approach. Here’s the voice of one SMB business executive articulating this point:

“The thing that kills you is that you get what you need from the web site but contacting them directly is a whole different matter. It’s as if they are clueless that I may have visited their site and got information to review. On top of that, I get calls from their people saying they are my account manager. Really? Then how come they don’t know that I talked to someone in their company already?”

This exemplifies what happens when organizations fail to connect their inbound activities with outbound activities in SMB buyer-based marketing and selling. On the other hand, connecting the two tightly enriches the experience as this SMB business owner says:

“I was really impressed to be honest. I went on the site and found a few items I wanted to read so downloaded them. I got a call from the company; his name was Steve, first acknowledging that I had downloaded the papers and then asking if I had questions. We wound up having a discussion on some of things we’ve been working on. Wasn’t pushy or anything like that.”

To create impressive buyer experiences, this integration of inbound and outbound cannot be ignored. While the shiny object these days is inbound and the incessant promotion of content marketing, for some products and services, the ultimate deciding factor will continue to come down to the buyer conversation taking place. One thing we can count on is that more and more SMB buyers today come to table ready for a conversation – are you?

Next Up: Closing the deal in SMB with Buyer-Based Selling

Follow @TonyZambito

Related articles

• Grow SMB Revenues With Buyer-Based Marketing (buyerology.com)
• How To Get To Know The New SMB Buyer (buyerology.com)
• Your Top Priority Is Growing The SMB Revenue Base - Now What? (buyerology.com)
• Channeling Buyer-Based Experiences in SMB (buyerology.com)

But after a teaser video from Google’s Project Glass made the rounds recently, giving a glimpse at life, with the company’s reality-augmenting glasses, it became clear that mobile is just the tip of the wireless iceberg.

The ship is sailing into the unchartered waters toward a post-mobile world where we’ll all be connected, all the time. The boundaries will blur between what is and isn't a device, and with everything mobile, labels like “wired” and “wireless” will become meaningless. Consumers will start looking to technologies and brands to simplify how we engage with the world and information around us.

So how can brands ensure they’re prepared for the changes taking shape before our very eyes? By paying close attention to these five trends that I’m betting will define our collective post-mobile future:

• Smart Everything: The reason Google glasses really capture the imagination is that they seem to make the stuff of sci-fi a reality. And they’re just one of the ways in which technology’s moving in on previously analog parts of our lives. For instance, our homes. Check out this futuristic mirror from Cybertecture that’s doing things George Jetson would recognize. Like this mirror, new screens -- “fifth screen,” anyone? – from watches, to kitchen appliances, to goggles, will put us at the center of a wall of intelligent data, that Adam Ferrier of Naked Communications  says, “represents a paradigm shift in advertising as much as it represents a change in the way we use computers on the move. It means ads everywhere, and different kinds of ads too…”

• Tech Gets Physical: We are witnessing advancements in biotech - and I don’t mean cloning or genetic modification, but the introduction of technology to our very bodies. Data comes from everywhere these days, including our cells. Companies like FitBit are finding new ways to record and leverage that data. For now, they seem to be focused on helping athletes (and wannabes) build better workouts, but it’s only a matter of time before brands begin to look more closely at how such data might be used to develop new customer relationships.

• User-Centrism: One of the most interesting trends we’ve seen in the world of media is the fragmentation of ownership – technology has empowered the masses, and they’re leveraging their power in new ways every week. This is nothing new, but it is something to keep an eye on. Because if brands want to remain relevant to their audiences, they’re going to have to engage in a media landscape where the traditional publishing model no longer exists. Pinterest, Flipboard, and other curation tools are where it’s at right now, enabling content to be remixed, repurposed, and shared by consumers, and not media owners.

• Multi-Multi-Platform Marketing: Prepare your brand to work with the marketing organization of the future by thinking broadly about consumer perceptions of your product, and communicating about them in a holistic way. Be aware of all of the new contexts in our lives, how and when we want to interact with brands, how are lives are changing, and the new possibilities to bring us value and not just marketing noise.

• New Horizons in Innovation: Until recently, most brands, products, marketing, and media were local, and barely traveled; today they’re frequent flyers. The question now is, can innovation in marketing make the leap across borders? When you want inspiration for your campaigns, be sure to look beyond your usual competitor set to find the most compelling and innovative initiatives in your sector, wherever they may be. Big brands are tapping local innovation more and more, testing new approaches and then repurposing them them elsewhere. Coca-Cola took the best approaches of gamification, Shazam, and the second-screen experience and ran with it in China. Tesco is testing out mobile, interactive shopping experiences in Seoul that the U.S. is not quite ready for, technologically and socially.

So what’s the bottom line? Media devices like smartphones and tablets have changed our lives permanently. And as we spend more time in the resulting new media environments, they’ll define how we spend more of our money, too. As brands and marketers explore the new opportunities presented by life in this new techno-data-sphere, we must remain mindful of how consumers are evolving. If we can do that, we’ll be well on our way to a post-mobile future that makes sense for consumers, marketers, and brands.

Imagine you are sitting at a street cafe in Paris. You have a copy of Sartre's Being and Nothingness, a copy of Le Monde, the newspaper, and next to you, as is often the case in Paris, is a cute dog.
You read philosophy, you read the news, you pet the dog.
You don't become stupid when you are petting the dog,
You are just being human!
And when you read the philosophy you are still worldly.
And when you read the paper you are still intellectual.
You talk to your friends at the cafe: sometimes about the dog, sometimes about philosophy, sometimes about the news, and, yes, sometimes about what you are eating for breakfast.
Humans are complex and have emotional needs, intellectual needs, social needs...
- Jonah Peretti, May 4, 2012

We are multi-faceted and the social newsfeed embraces that rather than shuns it.  The cafe Jonah describes is every day on the social web.  That intermingling is an essential element of social publishing and social advertising. It's why the BuzzFeed front page has a a mix of stories like 33 Animals Who are Disappointed in You (the cute dog), a thought piece from John Herrman on Internets service TOS's (the Sartre),  and a hard hitting investigative piece by Michael Hastings on Obama's campaign team (Le Monde).  The sharing and commenting on Twitter and Facebook- that's the conversation at the cafe.

@Buzzfeed breaks major news and the @whitehouse takes notice wapo.st/JNmPgu@peretti@jonsteinberg @lererventures

— Eric Hippeau (@erichippeau) May 2, 2012

It's why BuzzFeed can tangle with the White House, on the same day as having the great memey post 23 Reasons Why May Is Going To Be The Best Month Ever.  We think people want a mix of all different types of social content, and we think an intermingling, organized by social, is what makes the most sense in today's world.  And the Facebook newsfeed and the Twitter feed, prove that in the social era you consume content like you sit at the Paris Cafe.

We no longer Google for news in the morning, head to a portal, or even pick up a newspaper in front of a door. We head to Facebook and Twitter to connect with our family, friends, and co-workers, just like we check our email. Social is the new starting point, and a place we've arrived at after Portals and Search.  Because of social, we consume what is shared with us, and it's organized by people and emotion, and there are no rigid content category lines. It's in many ways a freer and more natural way.  It's why we social publish: Animals, Politics, Internet culture, Women's Lifestyle, Technology, and memes all in one Paris cafe.

The newsfeed changes everything - it's multifaceted, social, and fast - and that's why social publishing is so different from traditional publishing.  In fact, it resembles the Paris cafe more than it does the newspapers we grew up with.

Certainly this is not a new phenomenon, but there does seem to be an urgency that wasn’t there even a year ago. To be quite candid, our effort to get our organization up to snuff has been a struggle for many years—even with a successful digital practice that has been critical to our growth for more than 15 years now.

A very senior-level colleague of mine, who grew up in the traditional agency world as a creative, recently said, “I’ve come to the realization that it’s time to evolve or die.” Essentially he’s applying the “Digital Darwinism” principle to our talent. The statement struck me—no longer is training enough. No longer is hiring new digitally savvy talent enough. And, no longer is it enough to talk about evolving your culture to a more digital mindset. It’s now time for all of us—even those of us who grew up in the technology sector—to evolve quickly or watch our careers die quick deaths.

Is it a harsh reality or overreaction?

The idea that people should lose their jobs because they haven’t holistically embraced digital is harsh. Does that mean that they have to give up their other skills as planners, brand managers, PR specialists, or writers? Of course not. But if brand teams and agencies don’t have this “fight to the death” approach, there is a realistic chance that entire agencies will go out of business, and once-mighty brands will cease to exist. There are numerous recent examples, but just take a look at Best Buy, RIM, Barnes & Noble and Radio Shack to name a few. Digital Darwinism—according to the many writings of Brian Solis—essentially says that many companies have gone out of business (or will soon) because they have not figured out how to adapt as quickly as consumers’ use of new technology. I would contend that the only way to combat that is with your most valuable asset—your people.

As a leader in your organization, what should you do to win in this ever-evolving digital arena?

1) Throw everyone in the game. But, give them a short leash.

In the book The Hunger Games, there are those who are known as “Careers”—those who have trained and prepared all of their lives for a battle to the death. In our industry, there are Careers as well—those digital natives who have a digital title and have spent the past 15 or more years honing their digital skills. But just because they have “digital” in their title doesn’t mean they are equipped for today’s front line. They have a head start, but they certainly can’t rest on their laurels. They need to evolve just like everyone else. On the flip side, we need to give everyone the chance to shine to make sure we don’t overlook some real talent.

2) Selection day... Make it count.

Smart recruiting is critical! Build a digital index to help guide your hiring process... and insist on 100 percent adherence. People who adamantly request training at the first interview is a red flag for the wrong type of talent. We are in a “just figure it out era.” If an employee hasn’t done some preliminary exploration before asking their question, find someone else. It is one thing to do your homework and then talk “digital.” It is another to know how to DO digital in a way that moves the needle for your brand or your clients.

3) Reward the self-starters.

Here’s the tough part. Some employees—even the “Careers”—aren’t going to make it. Not every brand manager, CMO, or agency employee who needs to “learn digital” will have the ability or motivation to do it—even if you build it into their performance plans. In each case, some will rise to the top and show a spark. In the Hunger Games “arena,” those who show promise, and show a spark, are rewarded by “sponsors” with tangible items that keep them going strong. These items build confidence and prepare them further for battle. In our world this could be extra budget for training, landing the better projects or even personal mentoring time. By ferreting out, and then rewarding, those who have the most potential, you’ll give your team the best chance to not only survive, but thrive.

4) Allow there to be more than one winner.

This is critical. We all need to feed off each other. No one can be an “expert” in all things digital. If you meet someone who claims to be, be very skeptical. It’s impossible, and we all need each other to survive. The best digital strategists will freely admit that they don’t know everything. But, it’s been my experience that when they don’t know something, they work very hard very quickly to learn it. And, your digital experts also need to be willing to be teachers. The “I have power because I know something you don’t” approach needs to end. If you have employees who have that approach, they need to change quickly—or they need to go.

Really? Evolve or die?

If you haven’t noticed it is cutthroat out there. The best digital employees have more choices than ever before. The competition for talent goes well beyond other marketers and agencies.

As I test this notion out on many of my peers it seems that everyone feels the same way. Enough talk. Over the next 12 months your plan should include ferreting out those who try to get by as digital experts by showing that they have a great Twitter follower base. Recognize that sending a bevy of employees to SXSW or some other conference does not constitute as “training” or preparation to lead. Accountability for doing, practicing, failing quickly but learning along the way is the only way. My guess is that most agency and brand teams will be up for that challenge.

The Rise of the Visual Social Network

Infographic on the increasing use of photos in social media. Several weeks ago I posted a report on the Zuum blog on research we found that indicates that photos and videos drive sharing much more than status updates and links. Although these visual forms of content are often more difficult (read: expensive) to produce for brands, they're also seeing better response rates. And that can justify the added expense.

Via @adverblog

Mark Zuckerberg joins Viddy – it might really become ‘Instagram for video’ now

If you're wondering what the next Instagram might be, that headline pretty much covers it. Unless you want to see Zuckerberg's first video upload -- of his dog. To manage your expectations, I'll just say that David Fincher's job isn't in jeopardy with this.

Via @Aerocles

Hertz Creates Their Own Groupon Style Deals on Facebook

While this isn't a new idea, that doesn't mean it can't work. I guess the real question is, What's a Share worth? If it's $20 like this offer would indicate, then a lot of speculators are going to have to recalculate what a Facebook fan is worth.

Via @jasonkeath

More PR Agencies Get Into Media-Buying Game

This is a big indicator of the content marketing trend. PR agencies as much as anyone understand the media value of a good story. Once you have a good story, paid media becomes a way to distribute it. Of course, the biggest question is still, What makes a good story. That's where understanding what engages your audience comes in. And developing content accordingly.

Via @alexbruell

How Microsoft Leveraged Bloggers for a Successful Product Launch

Remember when a social media campaign was mainly about engaging bloggers? It can still work.

Via @Mike_Stelzner

Not-So-Slow Recovery: U.S. Agency Revenue Surges Nearly 8% in 2011

Remarkable, industry-leading 17% revenue increase last year for digital shops.

Via @bradage

No UGC, please – but will the Olympics’ social media strategy work?

The Olympic Committee's dilemma captures the challenges media companies and corporations all over the world are facing regarding social media. And like most, they don't have a clear cut policy, which is probably impossible outside of complete openness, anyway. Click through to see one of the better editorial images I've seen in a while.

Via @gigaom

Oreo's post this week: "Fan Lisa T. was born in 1912 - the same year Oreo cookies were introduced. Wish her a special happy birthday below!"

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The Olympic Athletes' Hub offers a hint at how social media will redefine the Olympic experience. The site was created by the International Olympic Committee and was designed to enable fans to effectively stay linked to social savvy athletes. Within the hub, social media content is aggregated from the athletes’ Facebook and Twitter feeds. The site rewards active fans with select videos and prizes.

More than 1000 Olympians have signed on to the Olympic Athletes' Hub

Mobile occasions and Olympic experiences that will engage and connect…

I have been thinking about London 2012 for some time. The city of London, the International Olympic Committee, and brands have tackled many of the challenges for what proves to be a very social and very mobile Olympics. Still, so much will change by enabling fans and their role in these Olympic Games.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Consider this...

The 2012 Olympics must be thought of as more than a lead generation opportunity. Brands have a new position and a responsibility, not only creating a true extension of the brand within the experience, but also enabling people-to-people.

I am encouraging brands to stay very experience-focused, social and to establish an offering that is driven by the level of data that can also be extracted / put-into-play from the experience.

Today, sports fans are emotionally energized and connected. The term “spectator” no longer applies. Participating through sharing personal excitement, critiques and of course, suggestions, enables fans to be a real part of the experience.

Mobile...The physical experience ....the digital experience

I believe that a brand's true Olympic role is to offer service, resources and to be an enabler of everything (i.e. experiences, people-to-people, connections etc.).

During the games, visitors will be looking for a great deal of “other” Olympic moments, activities, and experiences to discover. For these folks, mobile will become a life-tool, enabling an ideal London Olympic experience and the ability to share it all.

Result: Original content for those who could not be there...

Source: TNS Mobile Life |Use of mobile for social networking within emerging Asia

Consider the needs of fans outside of London. For instance, followers in Asia will be looking for real content in real-time and will likely follow the games via a mobile device. Given the global adoption of social media, and anticipated levels of interaction, the ability to include original content and experiences from those with similar interests will create truly unique and far more emotional connections to fans experiencing the games from abroad.

...this is people-to-people!

Need a brilliant example?

Visit MINI UK... They are defining what it means to be a true ambassador of London. Offering a bit of enjoyment to the athletes and  great experiences for fans.

This story was also posted at Pallino1021

I don't think I need to make a case for politics being digital, so I won't bore you with that. But politics is branding. And just like a brand, political campaigns and political issue initiatives need to know where their customers come from. In politics the customers are different. They’re called voters, donors, influencers, or volunteers. By identifying the media patterns of those “constituents” and ensuring that ads you run to support a campaign are relevant and visible, campaigns can act like the most successful brands.

Political Campaigns Are Brands
This ability to advertise to constituents like the most successful brands becomes eminently more urgent because of two trends. The first is the SuperPAC.  SuperPACs are the Super Bowl of political spending. They are the force to dominate the battle of the airwaves with big impact. But as any battle tested brand knows, eventually you need to reach constituents on a micro level, giving way to the second most important trend in a political race:  micro-donations. Here's what I mean. Four years and three months ago, an election was determined by fund-raising, and the different approaches were apparent.

If you’ll remember, at the time, Obama and Hilary Rodham Clinton were in a tight race.  In January 2008, Clinton announced she raised $8.5 million and put in an additional $5 million of her own money for that month’s fundraise.

Obama nearly quadrupled Clinton in fundraising, clocking a raise of $32 million that month.  It was the final nail in the coffin for the Presidential nomination.   Clinton used old school strategy seeking big checks from few people.  Obama departed from the strategy right before Super Tuesday as the $32 million haul came predominantly from donations of $100 or less, with a staggering 90% of those donated on the web.

Micro Donations are Todays Super PAC
Fast-forward. Mitt Romney’s campaign, which has raised $86 million with only 9% of donations coming from $100 or less, is now appealing to smaller donors, which will have to carry the campaign through fall. Ted Moon, president of Washington DC-based interactive firm Pathfinder Interactive, says, “When the average voter plunks down their twenty dollars, things change.  They become actively vested in the campaign and start showing their support with stickers, yard signs, and today’s electronic yard sign:  Facebook.”

But a lot has changed in four years on the web.  Sites like Votizen didn’t exist, and ad technology was just coming into its own with display banner exchanges and real-time-bidding for Internet display banners, which were only an idea back then.

Micro Metrics Are Needed for Micro Donations
“Internet technology has gotten incredibly complex,” says Moon. “The biggest issue is attribution.  Campaigns spend precious ad dollars trying to rope in a donation of $20.  The difficulty is figuring out which ads on what sites and what geographies were the most efficient at raising those $20 donations which will soon amount to $50 million a month for the Presidential nominee.  So if you spend $10 or $30 million of ad dollars to get that $50 million, the difference could be $20 million a month either wasted or kept within the campaign to rope in even more donations.  It’s a huge difference.”

Now political marketers are confronted with the same shock that commercial marketers are now grappling with:  outdated online tracking systems mistakenly using what’s called last ad attribution.  It may take 27 banner ad exposures to get that $20 donation.  The last ad attribution problem with online ad tracking is that entire credit is erroneously given to the very last, 27^th ad, ignoring the value (and the cost) driven by other 26 ads.  Marketers have no idea what websites first prompted the $20 donation.  They only know what ad inaccurately stole credit by being the very last ad.

Perhaps it’s the only industry where you get rewarded for last place, but there’s a history to this flaw, which is estimated to bleed 30-45% from the $30 billion a year U.S. Internet ad industry.  These legacy ad tracking systems were built at the infancy of the Internet in the mid 1990’s.  In 2000, the NASDAQ crashed and tech investors ran for the hills, and everyone forgot about tracking infrastructure as thousands were laid off from Internet jobs.  But in 2004, the financial markets came back, and advertisers came back with it.  As money continued to pour online, YouTube exploded, blogs became the norm, browsers became multi-tabbed, and people began taking advantage of more research, reviews, and opinions before making a decision with their money.

Advertising Attribution is the Solution
In 2008 C3 Metrics began solving the problem by replacing current ad tracking systems so advertisers could finally determine what actually creates and accelerates demand. The longest running study on Attribution from C3 Metrics demonstrated $5 million in additional profit within 12 months.

“In a world of uncertain politics, one thing is certain,” said Moon. “The success of the Presidential race depends on how efficient the candidate is in spending ad dollars to corral $20 donations, which will amount to $50 million a month.  Without a change to the way Internet ad dollars are measured for fund raising, a campaign is dead.  From Super Tuesday on, it’s how 90% of donations will be raised.”

Buyer Persona © All Rights Reserved Cristian Cardenas

The sheer size of the SMB makes for a daunting task for any organization intent on marketing to the SMB segment. When you consider some Fortune 1000 or Global 2000 organizations can have in the 10’s or 100’s of thousands of companies in their customer bases, the expression of zeroing in on your target buyer can sound near impossible. It is a dilemma however that cannot be ignored. The U.S. Small business Administration estimates that the SMB segment accounts for better than 98% of all businesses in the United States.

In the previous article in this series, How To Get To Know The New SMB Buyer, I touched upon the means to get to know the SMB buyer. Marketing to the SMB segment and buyers should first start with visiting the segmentation issue a little deeper. There have been many means tried for SMB segmentation whether it is by size, type, vertical, products, solutions, and etc. To some degree, they have helped to manage the challenge of bringing a tighter focus to the SMB segment and its’ sub-market segments. Analytics of your SMB customer database is like fighting numbers with numbers – you can contain the data but without behavioral insight – you will not be able to get inside them. The call to action now is for organizations to bring more science and evolution to the challenge. Why? Because buyers in general have changed so rapidly in the last three years alone that gaining a competitive edge has become much more complex.

Getting Descriptive

Going beyond conventional methods of segmenting the SMB customer base means getting more descriptive about how SMB buyers behave and how goals drive their behaviors. This includes getting a good sense about their Buyergraphics – their attitudes, perceptions, values, information needs, and more. The attempt here is to answer some tough questions that help to bring more focus to an SMB strategy:

Who are our best customers in the SMB segments and why?

In what SMB sub-market segments are our best customers?

Who are our best prospects and in which SMB sub-market segment are they?

What are the best means of engaging our best SMB customers and best SMB prospects?

Descriptive buyer modeling helps you to get answers to these questions and gives you insight into the data as well. In the previous article I stressed the importance of buyer modeling to help get to know your SMB buyers. Modeling buyers and portraying them via buyer personas and scenarios helps you get to the first two questions mentioned. To help round out the SMB buyer picture, learning their attitudes towards your product, service, or technology and how these attitudes drive information needs help to get deeply descriptive. There are three specific buyer modeling efforts that can help shed light on the attitudes and goals driving SMB buyer behavior and help inform buyer-based marketing strategies:

Buyer Mental Models: collecting a picture of SMB buyer attitudes, perceptions, and goals that influence buying decisions can be a descriptive means for segmenting as well as buyer-based communicating. For example if your product technology is getting high marks for user-friendliness and there is strong attitudinal resistance to perceived complex technology in 3 out 5 identified sub-markets, then creating buyer-based marketing strategies around this mental model is one way of segmenting.

Buyer Content Models: identifying the information needs and goals of buyers today extends well beyond just the concept of content marketing. With the rise of SMB sub-market segments engaging not only in new technologies but forming new ecosystem, the information needs of SMB buyers are vastly different and changing rapidly. Carrying the above example further, the information needs of the 3 sub-markets may vary differently in context and how information is shared amongst both suppliers and partners. More and more, organizations will need to think context-based marketing and context-based selling as opposed to just content-based marketing. While this will apply to all types of businesses, I believe this will be especially true for the SMB markets.

Buyer Experience Models: how SMB buyers view, perceive, and expect experience is undergoing transformative gyrations. The way SMB buyers experience inbound marketing and other newer technology-based marketing and sales is certain to be different than larger enterprises. There are many more what I call Buyer Moment of Truth in SMB that are frankly invisible to marketers and sellers today. Not identifying where these moments of truth are can be a significant disadvantage in laying out both inbound and outbound marketing and sales strategies. Understanding experiences is important since they are instrumental in shaping attitudes, perceptions, and perceived values. For the examples mentioned, previous experiences with technology not yet cleared of bugs may have created entrenched resistance to both new and complex. Reshaping thinking around experience can then become an important strategy.

Modeling SMB buyers to a deeper level and around the three modeling efforts mentioned gets organizations closer to a true buyer-based marketing effort. In addition, it gives more robust ability to segment SMB by behavior and context. Buyer-based marketing can be most effective when it addresses how buyers behave and understanding the context of why they make purchase decisions.

Informed with behavioral buyergraphics that hone in on buyer behaviors and how they are influenced by mental models, information needs, and experience can be a powerful way to resonate with SMB buyers. Getting at the heart of their contextual environments, which will vary by sub-market segments, gives the insight needed to develop specific buyer-based marketing strategies that defies one-size fits all. When it comes to the dilemma of how to make sense of thousands of SMB customers and prospects, taking these steps eliminates wasteful guessing and pinpoints buyer-based marketing at the right buyer, the right sub-market, the right context, and the right time.

Next Up: Connect With SMB Buyer Through Buyer-Based Selling

Follow @TonyZambito

Related articles

• Your Top Priority Is Growing The SMB Revenue Base - Now What? (buyerology.com)
• How To Get To Know The New SMB Buyer (buyerology.com)
• How B2B Leaders Are Understanding Buyers Better With Behavioral Buyergraphics (buyerology.com)
• How To Get To Know The New SMB Buyer (blogs.imediaconnection.com)
• Grow SMB Revenues With Buyer-Based Marketing (buyerology.com)
• Use Buyer-Based Selling To Engage The New SMB Buyer (buyerology.com)
• Your Top Priority Is Growing The SMB Revenue Base - Now What? (blogs.imediaconnection.com)

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