B(abble)log - Archives
1. Oh how I laughed and laughed. This has to be one of the funniest letters of complaint. And if you want to know how things turned out, the epilogue is here.
2. Jonathan Kranz reminds us that relationships are built over time and the purchase of a product isn’t an open gateway to endless customer contacts. Read Teaching Our Customers to Hate Us.
3. Sometimes I think Twitter might be the new “Marsha, Marsha, Marsha.” But as a bit of an addict myself, it’s all Twitter all the time. Last week, the very savvy Ann Handley asked Why do People Use Twitter? (I know it’s from last week, but it’s very good and deserves to be noted!) and this week on AdWeek, David Griner essentially warns us to "use it or lose it." Meanwhile, Mark Glaser notes that we shouldn’t forget our websites and rely solely on Twitter.
4. Offering up an insightful look at humour in brand advertising, and how and why it works, Jim Nicholls at iMedia Connection gives us 14 hilariously effective online campaigns.
5. Last Saturday I stumbled across the blog Word Wise by Dan Santow, and fell in love with his post “One (Isn't) the Loneliest Number.” Wise words indeed.
6. ReadWriteWeb discusses how social media is evolving in 10 Ways Social Media Will Change in 2009.
7. Anyone who quotes Jim Jarmusch is okay by me. Rick at Eyecube delves into the sticky wicket of paying homage to/stealing/appropriating/call it what you will in Talent Imitates, Genius Steals. Does it Matter?
8. The Urban Dictionary had a few new entries this week, including Land it in the Hudson and for those of you who travel, work long hours: bedgasm.
9. Well, after watching the videos, I’d have to agree wholeheartedly when the Denver Egoist asks, “What in Satan’s Hell is Ray Ban Doing?”
10. I would be remiss if I didn’t cover this: This week the often controversial and highly influential Michael Arrington of TechCrunch publicly announced he was taking a break after death threats and being spat on, stating “I write about technology startups and news. In any sane world, that shouldn’t make me someone who has to deal with death threats and being spat on.” It seemed everyone had something to say. http://search.twitter.com/search?q=arrington Arrington doesn’t have a reputation for being a “warm-fuzzy” kinda guy, but as Monica Guzman correctly pointed out, if Arrington can’t take it anymore, who can? Paul Carr insightfully wrote about the Cult of the Snark, noting "you simply can't have a system which rewards nastiness over niceness and which offers no consequences for those who commit cowardly anonymous attacks and then act surprised when people don't know where to draw the line.' and made a commitment to be more positive.
Friday Fun
I love 404 pages. And, Smashing Magazine has, once more into the breach, dear friends, once more, put together a list of 404 error pages. You can also follow Smashing on Twitter and vote on articles, send suggestions, etc.
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If you live in Montreal and only do one thing on this snowy Wednesday, visit Twestival Montreal and buy a ticket to the event on February 12.
Why?
1. Because all proceeds go to charity: water, which builds wells and brings safe drinking water to people in developing countries. Right now 1.1 billion people on the planet don't have access to safe, clean drinking water. That's one in six of us.
2. Because you’ll be able to take advantage of the Early Bird price of $10. It will go up to $15 soon. So, skip your trip to Starbucks for a day, and redirect your money to a good cause.
3. The party is being held at the Suco Lounge, a swanky part of the Opus Hotel, and there will dancing, perhaps a live show and, I’m sure, lots of other surprises.
4. You can be part of something really big and amazing. Twestival was started in September 2008, a group of London, UK, Twitterers based in London UK decided to organize an event where the local Twitter community could socialize offline and tie this in with a food drive and fundraising effort. Now only a few months later, from Montreal to Mumbai and from Austin to Amsterdam, there are over 100 cities involved, meeting, talking and tweeting about it to raise money for charity:water.
So, like the little bird in the logo says “Tweet. Meet. Give.” Or if you prefer,, “Tweetez. Rencontrez. Donnez.” So, go on, buy a ticket!There’s only a few of us and we still need help, so if you would like to be involved, just let us know.
Well, it’s been awhile folks… but it is time to relaunch my Top 10 Reads for the week. So without further ado, here they are:
1. In the world of “Friends I have over to the house for dinner” “Online friends I haven’t met in RL but we talk online often” and “People I don’t really know, but I’m connected to on Twitter”, Scott Hepburn asks Should You Have One Social Media Identity, or Two?
2. Thinking of creating a microsite and using it to target a keyword toward your main site? Don’t do it!! Rand at SEOmoz explains why it’s a really bad practice.
3. I couldn’t get away with not mentioning Obama. So, let’s all give CNN the award for worst headline. Apparently they took it down in a hurry. (Hat tip to @jmoriarty)
4. Want to see some fabulous ads? Advergirl has a great little post about how emotion-driven ad campaigns can help change public perception. Great videos!
5. I love photography, and this is simply beautiful – The Photographic Dictionary will have you clicking for hours, and exploring the visual interpretations of words.
6. Curious about what sort of new jobs might be on the horizon in this age of social media and web 3.1 (surely we’re at least at version 3.1 by now, aren’t we?) David Griner talks to Mack Collier about some of the emerging careers that are out there.
7. Is it time to update your site? Give it a little facelift? Consider the call to action. Paul Boag of Boagworld gives us a rundown on the key elements to a successful call to action.
8. Do you have a soft spot for typography? The FontFeed showcases some of the work from Some Type of Wonderful.
9. My colleague Kathryn from Zoonini and I are foodies, and will often go into detail about the heady delights of a really good brownie. And we often compare websites to restaurants. (For instance, a Flash intro is like the maitre d’ insisting you sit in the foyer and watch a short movie about the restaurant. It wouldn’t happen in real life, why do it on the web?) So, of course, I loved this piece at Marketing Profs: Is Your Web Site as Good as Your Favorite Bistro.
10. Here’s a clever use of ambient advertising, car wheels that look like drunken eyeballs to raise awareness about driving under the influence.
Friday Fun
Dreaming of spring? Wondering if the groundhog will see its shadow? The Pennsylvania Tourism Office has put out a rather warped microsite, which had me giggling from the first shot of the “groundhog.” (The costume makes photos of Bigfoot look credible.) Groundhogdreams.com offers a glimpse into the mind of a drugged-up, semi-lucid groundhog. Watch his dreams and read the interpretations by Squirrelmund Freud.
Think about your last vacation. Where did you stay – a hotel, an inn, or a bucolic resort? Were they on Twitter? Probably not. Only a handful of places in the hospitality industry seem to be. (If you know of any, please leave their Twitter names in the comments section.) Why should a travel destination be on Twitter, you ask? Well, if Deerhurst Resort’s (@DeerhurstResort) experience is anything to go by, there are a whack of reasons – everything from brand awareness to customer service to market intelligence to just plain fun.
Yesterday, I spoke with Deerhurst Resort’s Director of Communications Anne White about the resort’s foray into social media.
Twitter is still relatively new to many businesses, why did Deerhurst Resort make the decision to get into social media marketing?
More and more, people are planning and booking travel online and so we were receptive to online marketing channels. Twitter was the most interesting because it provides an immediacy that other channels simply cannot.
Travel is often a discretionary spend, and particularly in these economically tough times, we wanted to take advantage of any opportunity we could to connect with our customers, showcase our destination and personalize the Deerhurst brand.
We're an independent property, so staying ahead of the curve in this space is very important to us. It gives Deerhurst a way to demonstrate our customer-focus by being able to send greeting to customers, respond to questions, issues… everything, both good and bad. So, last November we created the account.
Are you involved in any other social media?
Aside from online travel forums, we started our online activities with a Deerhurst Resort YouTube channel. We’ve just launched a brand new Facebook fan page with partners for our winter destination, Ski Muskoka. Now we're exploring Twitter. As we add customer touchpoints, we want to make sure that each one is successful, adding value and working well before we go onto the next.
Do you use any online or offline methods to advertise your Twitter presence?
We just added a Twitter link to the homepages of the Deerhurst website as well as our partner site Ski Muskoka at the start of this month. We're also adding Twitter to more of our email signatures. As the “chief twit", I will definitely be adding our Twitter name to my business cards!
Why did you decide to be the Deerhurst spokesperson on Twitter?
I already work with our director of sales and our SEO team on our database emails as well as manage our content on travel sites, forums and so forth, so I was the logical choice. Plus, I'm personally keen on web 2.0 and how it's affecting the traditional PR and marketing roles. But I also get a lot of support from across the resort – the staff sends me bits of daily news, ideas, tips and recipes, so the whole team contributes in that way.
Did you set any Twitter guidelines – the type of messaging, the tone, etc?
We knew it had to be friendly, fun and interesting. I think the fact that there is a 140-character limit, that sort of brevity pushes you to interact in a way that is more captivating and more personable. Our Twitter voice had to reflect our "classic Muskoka" brand in an informal, helpful way.
We want to listen and learn first, always. Make it as much of a one-on-one conversation as we can, like you're talking to a trusted friend or travel insider, and not just promoting a product. Yes, promote our town, destination and area happenings as well as the resort but don’t be invasive.
What challenges or successes have you experienced with Twitter?
On the success side, it’s given us the chance to engage with potential customers and send them specific answers and details about various offers. I can use Twitter to search for terms like “Muskoka” or “skiing” and send a potential guest information directly, if they want it. Every day I answer questions about what you can do at or around Deerhurst.
We can also respond to existing customers more easily and more immediately with answers to their queries or customer service issues in a way that we might not be able via our website or other traditional means.
Another upside has been the real time opportunity to observe and question hospitality industry leaders and top Twitters, as well as find out what our potential customers are looking for in a getaway now. We can use Twitter to spot travel trends.
As far as challenges go, I guess learning how Twitter works, like a lot of other Tweeple we're new here. Secondly, time allocation - making sure that new followers are responded to in a timely fashion and keeping up with the tweets.
But in the few months that we’ve been on Twitter it has been such a positive step. And it would be a shame not to be there, because we’d be missing out. There’s an evolution, and our new customers will be the ”digital natives” – it’s our next generation of guests.
How does Deerhurst define "Twitter success"?
Right now it's about engagement, awareness and thinking about the customer. For instance, we monitor the sort of questions we get and then look to see if there are gaps in our communications. For example, over the winter I’ve received the most questions about our dog-sledding and snowmobiling activities, which was a bit of a surprise because skiing is a better-known winter sport. So, we’ll use this information to update our website and communicate some of the answers that weren’t there.
In the future as we begin to post Twitter-specific offers, contests etc. it will become more quantified in terms of site traffic, return site visits and, hopefully eventually, bookings. But we're definitely pleased with the value versus investment so far. And of course, I'd like to earn an "A" from Twitter Grader too, but that's me!
Additional Resources
Here are some Twitter tracking and measurement tools that Anne sent via email as additional resources:
• TweetLater
• Trackur
• Twitterberry
I was as pleased as Punch to find one of my Flickr photos – the one above – used on Spacing Montreal, an online magazine that explores neighbourhoods, architecture, urban planning, transit, cycling and just about anything that involves the public realm of the city.
Even cooler, I learned a new word: psychogeography.
According to Wikipedia, psychogeography is "a whole toy box full of playful, inventive strategies for exploring cities...just about anything that takes pedestrians off their predictable paths and jolts them into a new awareness of the urban landscape."
Sounds like a little dose of the unexpected in a walk-about format.
If you’ve ever let yourself be thoroughly, completely captivated by a foreign city or new area of town, drifting and wandering happily from street to street, drinking in the personality of the place – the architectural shapes, smells, feel and colour – and letting yourself be delighted by something new, then, you’ve done a bit of unbeknownst psychogeography.
The creative process is similar. A bit of happenstance. A serendipitous drift. Suddenly, two unconnected bits/thoughts come together and form that “Oh, now that’s interesting” moment.
It’s Saturday. Try something new. Maybe a psychogeographical mosey? Or rearrange your bookshelf by colour.
Luckily for me, my friend Lenny loved film. And, thanks to him, I’ve seen every Hitchcock and Orson Welles film ever made, far too many Werner Herzog films for my liking, and just about every B-movie that involved aliens, Vincent Price or rebellious teenagers (often together and directed by Roger Corman).
But one of the features of our movie nights was a series called The Prisoner. Our little coterie of friends would flop out in the living room, drink and dissect every episode. There was always lots of “No, no, I thought it meant this…”
Yesterday, Patrick McGoohan, star and co-creator of the series, passed away.
While I had loved The Prisoner, I didn’t realize until I was trading quips with various Twitter pals that so many other people had loved it as much as I had. As the topic started to trend it was obvious The Prisoner had made an impact that crossed generational lines.
One of my favourite lines from the series –and, incidentally, words to live by— is:
I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
And of course, the famous cri de coeur: “I am not a number. I am a free man.”
Another person noted the iconic “Be seeing you”, which, in a town that was under constant surveillance has foreboding undertones.
Why does this series resonate with so many? I’ve got a few theories, but first and foremost, I’d say because it is well-written, unlike a lot of the dreck that passes for television content these days. (If you haven’t read it, Wired.com’s analysis of The Prisoner’s cultural influence, is outstanding.)
Define well-written you say. Okay, here goes:
Intelligent writing that challenged the audience, because it can be understood on a multitude of levels.
At the core, the series touches upon some basic human principles: the right to freedom, the relationship between the individual and society, and the duality of humanity to be both good and evil. The theme of personal identity in a technological and sometimes faceless society is as pertinent today as it was in the 60s.
There is no tidy resolution in The Prisoner. Because the writing is open to interpretation, it’s subjective. We can place our own meaning on top of it. The back and forth of the dialogue had a Beckett/Pinter/Stoppard disjointed feel to it. And, it was deceptively simple. Consider the opening, a cat-and-mouse series of questions and answers that create a feeling of anxiety:
Number 6: Where am I?
Number 2: In the Village.
Number 6: What do you want?
Number 2: We want information.
Number 6: Whose side are you on?
Number 2: That would be telling. We want information... information... information.
Number 6: You won't get it.
Number 2: By hook or by crook, we will.
Number 6: Who are you?
Number 2: The new Number 2.
Number 6: Who is Number 1?
Number 2: You are Number 6.
Number 6: I am not a number, I am a free man.
Simple on the surface, but designed to trig complex emotions.
From a copywriting perspective, there is much that can be take away from The Prisoner:
- Be thought-provoking and never dumb it down.
- Tell a good story.
- Add an element of the unexpected.
- Make people care by getting them involved emotionally.
- Be deceptively simple.
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