Archive | September, 2010

A Service Description that Packs a Punch

September 30, 2010 Written by History , Social Media

This is essentially a sequel the an article I wrote a few weeks back:  What iThnk We Do. In writing that piece I attempted to illustrate how I would explain the benefits of our services to a business person yet to take the plunge into social media. To do so it took me close to 700 words… [...]

2 Comments • Continue Reading →

No one knows what they’re doing…so go play!

September 21, 2010 Written by History , Social Media

Have you ever stopped to thnk that it’s all one huge continuous experiment…

I’ve been talking to more and more social media peeps of late and the one thing that is clear is that everyone is taking educated guesses…

It also seems that the people who experiment the most are the same people who seem to guess ‘right’ more often then not.

So iThnk at least for me the lesson from this is simple: Go Play

If you thnk about the Brogans, Owyangs & Kawasaki’s of the social media world they’re all considered thought leaders because they were the guys who had done significant “play” before the social web took off.

Leave a comment • Continue Reading →
Insecure

Why are social media folk so insecure?

September 16, 2010 Written by History , Social Media

Are you insecure? Are you constantly judging other social media folk? If so why?

Well I’m not sure about you, but I know that I flux between great pride and terrible insecurity about calling social media my niche.

Why?

Well it’s pretty simple, when I talk to anyone 99.9% of people I get a huge sense of pride about what I do….But when I talk to anyone who has been exposed to a snake oil salesman of the social media world I get pretty tense.

So why am I worried?

I get tense not because I’m worried that we’re not good at what we do. The reason I get tense is because I’m worried that we’ll be tainted by the snake oil salesman’s stench.

4 Comments • Continue Reading →

Free & Social Media – A Seductive Combo

September 6, 2010 Written by History , Social Media

Does social media encourage free? Does free encourage social media?

The “meet, know, trust, buy” process for businesses engaging in social media really makes me thnk about the importance of “free”…

Not only does “free” boost the viral aspect of social media but it means that as your consumer I can try your product/service to get to know you. If I like my trial I’ll trust you and be more likely to buy…

2 Comments • Continue Reading →

Using Social Media To Re-brand A City

September 2, 2010 Written by History , Social Media

Maybe you’ve heard that Dunedin (NZ) is rebranding, perhaps you were part of the #NewDunedinSlogan hype on Twitter, or maybe this is the first time you’re hearing about it. Regardless of whether you’re in the know or not, this is a campaign you should be following – it’s city re-branding with a difference.

Firstly, there’s no search for a gimmicky tag line.

Many cities re-branding efforts only go as far as creating taglines like…

Hamilton: City of the Future or Timaru: Feel the Heartbeat

You’ll see no such tagline in Dunedin. Like all good things in social media, it starts with getting the concept right. Prior to embarking on their quest to re-position the city the DCC (Dunedin City Council) sought out wisdom from branding experts from all over the country.

The advice was simple, the brand is “Dunedin” – not the tagline underneath. This is quite a big step for city branding. Especially as Dunedin was the first NZ city to introduce a tagline – now it’ll be the first city (in NZ) to remove it.

But the big difference in this campaign is the community engagement…

14 Comments • Continue Reading →