All in Social Media
There are a zillion stories out there like this and it's a stark reminder that whatever you publish on the web -- either by blogging, Tweeting, Facebooking, etc. -- will always live on then web.
Over the last few years, I've worked with a variety of brands who ask me, "how can we impact business with the help of social media?" My answer is never the same because each business has their own challenges.
One thing that's common regardless of industry or brand stature, each company can use a little help from the Social Media Oprah Effect.
As the queen of day-time TV wraps up her 25 year career, there's a simple lesson to be learned from her impact on business:
Surround influencers with the right content and they will share it with their circle of trust.
With Tweets, status updates, pictures and blog posts being pumped out at a feverish pace, there's no sense on who "owns" the content. While I have a blog and the words on the screen were written by me, do I really "own" those pages despite living on someone elses server?
How about photos and videos? Guessing the same principle is in play here as well.
However, what if you're a celebrity and taking pictures of private moments you want to share with your fan base? Can I, as a Twitter user, take that photo and leverage it for an ad, blog post or other creative items? I guess I can, but can I legally use those images? Probably not.
In order to thwart such efforts, a little start-up is working with a big list of celebs to help them own their social media content, specifically photos and videos.
When I was a freshman at Northeastern University, I didn't have a clue as to what I wanted to do career wise. I thought about going into business and being an entrepreneur. Then I came face to face with accounting and decided that business wasn't for me. The only aspect that stuck with me was being creative, marketing and writing.
After a convo with my counselor, he convinced me to give journalism a shot. At that point, I was headed to co-op (cooperative education where you get real-world experience). My first "class" in journalism was in the middle of the Boston Globe newsroom. Four years later, I stuck with the Globe and was on staff for a period of time after school as a contributing writer. The experience was incredible and really set the tone for the rest of my career (you can read the gory details here).
Back in 2007, I was lucky enough to get hired by a former colleague of mine who was leading the Boston office of Manning Selvage and Lee (now known as the MSLGROUP). I was hired as a vice president and with the explosion of social media, became the director of Digital Communications for the office.
The beauty of social media is that everyone can do it. With a little reading, homework, testing, analyzing and effort, anyone can be a guru. As a result, the space is like a crowded supermarket on a half-off coupon day. It's packed. Some know how to shop smart, some just look good shopping.
One thing "gurus" like to do is tie everything that trends online - literally everything - to a lesson learned.
This was the case with the death of Osama Bin Laden. Just Google his name and the words social media lessons and see what you come up with.
One result that should pop up in the wash is a post written by my buddy @MSGiro over at Technorati, titled, "What Osama Bin Liden Taught Me About Scrapbooking".
For those who follow the social media space and are mobile nuts, QR codes add a cool aspect to both online and offline marketing programs.
In plain English, QR codes are basically bar codes that look like a printer spit ink into a square. Like bar codes, each QR code is unique.
When a mobile user takes a picture of the QR code (with the help of any number of mobile apps) he or she will be directed to something -- a website, app download, coupon, etc.
The biggest issue with QR codes is that your run of the mill consumer doesn't know what the heck they are. The adoption just isn't there yet.
Social media geeks need to be full of C.R.A.P.Social media has introduced me to a number of cool and wikked smahht people and I love when those worlds collide. This is the case with Fiona Bryan aka "Bantering Blonde" and Chris Brogan.
As Fiona points out, Chris talks about C.R.A.P. all the time: