This cold and flu season intrigues me. For the first time ever, employers are taking people getting and being sick seriously. For the first time, employers are encouraging workers to stay home if sick. To me, it’s an interesting dynamic and a shift in mindsets across the board.
Having a grizzly swim coach, it’s been drilled into me that you show up for practice, work whatever, no matter what – unless you’re puking your guts out. In the past, most employers and employees alike took a similar approach. I mean, how many times have you walked into work and one of your coworkers looks to be on deaths’ doorstep? Or, how many times have you had to haggle with your boss for a sick day or show proof upon return?
But, today? Calling in sick is like a Get Out of Jail Free card. The first sign of a cough or scratchy throat and you’re being practically “forced” to stay home. Personally, I think it’s a good thing. We all need to take a step back and remember priority #1… ourselves.
Over the last week, I’ve been inundated with the statistic that only 14% of advertising is trusted. But, Word of Mouth (WOM) is trusted WAY more.
Here’s my question… when do we stop trusting Blogs, or Word of Mouth for that matter? With the ridiculous amount of kick backs and marketers being encouraged to utilize sponsored posts, get in bed with bloggers vs. doing “traditional” online banners, etc. when do we stop trusting even our friends? Even with full disclosure, when do the posts we write and things we tweet just become Blogvertising? And yes, I made up that word. Well, maybe it’s already out there, but I’ve never heard it. I wouldn’t want to plagiarize anyone
Okay, back to my point… even if we fully disclose one post, are we writing the next post to get a brand’s attention? Are we hoping that Brand XYZ is reading this and decides to offer us something, you know like a free vacuum? Are we writing a post with the expectation of better customer service?
Like I’ve said in the past, this whole new era of Blogvertising concerns me. It especially concerns me after seeing the rampant sense of entitlement from Bloggers attending BlogWorld. Yes, yes, businesses should move to a social business design, blah, blah, blah. But, as a marketer, I’m in the business of making money. Giving my product away to everyone who feels entitled to a freebie does not equal a profit.
Vulva jewelry. A find thanks to Regertsy. They’re customized designs. Just send a picture. In an odd way, some are kind of pretty. I don’t think I could wear a depiction of my vulva around my neck though. Maybe if I had a girlfriend I’d wear hers.
This picture. Totally stupid. It was the only funny thing I could find the other day.
I lied. This post has no good. But, since it’s still my birthday, I can write whatever I want.
I’m so over this year it’s not even funny. I’d say it’s the worst yet, but I can’t really top losing a son and his father. However, I’d say this year comes pretty damn close.
Acid Reflux sucks. Hands down. It sucks the fun and life out of every. single. thing.
I lost my best friend. You know, that one person who knew EVERY secret. Literally.
I lost 2 more “friends” when I chose to leave the party at 1am vs. 3am. Apparently, I’m un-fun.
I made some really moronic business decisions. I’m paying every damn day.
And the Coup d’etat? Somewhere along the way I started caring for someone and wanting to believe their words. WTF.
I love Augmented Reality. Seriously, the thought of doing something with AR makes me salivate, even if penetration is next to nil.
But, will it end up like Second Life? When Second Life debuted, it was touted as “huge” and “game changing.” The same words and feelings are starting to surround AR. Layar cofounder Maarten Lens-FitzGerald is quoted in Fast Company as saying, “Augmented reality is going to be huge. It might even be as big as the Web.”
No one said that about Twitter or Facebook. In fact, many still poo poo those sites. But, both have far out lived and outgrown Second Life.
Will AR end up as just the flavor of the day? A novelty? Or, will marketers and consumers get smart and use it to its fullest potential?
There’s so many things I could say about this video. Instead, I think I’ll let you form your own comments. BUT, I sure as hell would like a shirt that makes me writhe like that.
BlogWorld Expo was in Vegas this week. What’s that saying? The more things change, the more they stay the same? Yep, that about sums up BlogWorld. It was certainly very different from the iMedia Brand Summit I recently attended and, not in a good way. Maybe I’m just not cut out for social media conferences, as many others commented that it was their best conference of the year. Either that, or they don’t get out much
Let’s start with the Conference itself:
Completely disorganized. Sure there were some tech improvements for registration and monitoring who attended what session, but that was about it.
On a plus note, the Exhibit Hall was much larger than last year.
99% of sessions sucked. What a let down. Panel after panel of people who had prepared ZERO, weren’t great speakers nor had practiced what little material they did bring. When it was decent, the audio didn’t work or you couldn’t see the presentation.
Scheduling. BlogWorld tried WAY too hard to pack in too much. Four to six sessions at once with no repetition. What did this lead to? One session being jam packed and the other three-four being practically empty. Not only does it suck for participants and speakers, but I was also embarrassed for them. Who wants to prepare a presentation for five people?
The conference was filled with more motivational, self-help-like sessions vs. Interactive Media. I guess that’s what happens when you ask social media “experts” to speak. No real campaigns equals no real knowledge.
Now, for the Attendees:
Sure, there were some cool, down-to-earth people that I really enjoyed meeting or seeing again. But, for the most part, attendees were overly cliquish and full of themselves. I guess the Social Media Boys Club translates to real life.
Every hotel, restaurant and club in Vegas was vying for this group’s attention. It was a little sick, okay, it was a lot sick. And, boy, were the majority of attendees RUDE. I’ve never seen people act with such a sense of entitlement. As a Brand Marketer, I highly doubt that I will provide half of what I did this year. If I do, my strategy will certainly be different. Unless BlogWorld changes their format, I think they’ll have a rude awakening next year.
Having a blog or a million followers does NOT exempt you from saying please or thank you. No, I am NOT sending a limo to pick you up at the airport. And, NO, your party is not cool enough for me to get local celebrities to attend it. And yes, both these questions were asked more than once.
I have never seen so many non-celebrities with “handlers.” OMG. Seriously?! You can’t manage your schedule or get yourself from Point A to B without someone holding your hand? Get over yourself.
The ass kissing circle jerk of RT’s or @ replies was OUT OF CONTROL. OMFG. I didn’t just throw up in my mouth, I threw up all over the floor; for 4 days straight.
On a nice note, I got to meet @Comcastcares (Frank). He’s just as cool, nice and down-to-earth as he seems.
Thanks to my BlogWorld experience, I’m looking forward to iMedia Breakthrough now more than ever. Now, that’s a real conference.
The piece takes no prisoners; just tells the truth – no boss cares about the conversation. What do they care about? MONEY. If you’re a smart marketer, you should also be caring about MONEY. And, if you’re truly a smart marketer, you’ll do the following:
Figure out how to talk to HIPPOS about social media in terms of money
Figure out how to turn that talk into action by measuring social media AND making money off of it
And right there lies the problem with most “experts.” They can’t do one nor two. Sure, they’ve done a great job with their virtual “personal brand,” but few (if any) can translate that into $$$ for a big brand. When they do, maybe I’ll actually hire one
To sum up Collier, STOP talking about “joining the conversation” and start figuring out what happens AFTER.
This linkfest has been sitting in my drafts for weeks, but still, a few good links.
QR Codes. People still don’t quite see the possibilities. However, this article does a great job expanding on some of the possibilities and reasons why hotels would benefit from utilizing QR Codes.
My guilty pleasure is AXE advertising. Always edgy, always cutting edge. The incomplete ad that marries traditional print with mobile marketing is simple and pure genius.
I can’t wait for Best Buy’s holiday ad campaign to debut. The way they’re using cookies to engage and provide “value” is brilliant.
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