“Well this is awkward…” -David Sedaris

BREAKING NEWS: Interview Postponed

By Jason Akali

A Sad Day

Unfortunately our Social Media Expert had to move our interview to later in the summer. But, that’s the reason he/she (ultimate secrecy) is an expert. This person is in extremely high demand and unfortunately just couldn’t make the interview today. But worry not, they will be back soon!

Stay tuned…

- Jason Akali

“I could live online. No really.”

- My Teenage Son.

Consider yourself at home.

By Jason Akali

Relaxed

The following idea is simple. Almost pea-brained, but as it seems to be with Social Media, the simpler the idea the more potent it is in implementation and success.

Home Invasion

With the previously mentioned advent of the Television, advertising found an easy and non-intrusive entrance into homes across the world. In fact, it is reported that (sans DVR’s) almost 25% of the television that plays in a home is made up of commercials. People have become used to this. A talking box or entertainment center that has the best recommendations accompanied by clever quips or smiling faces.

Everyone knows how popular adds are on Youtube or hulu, so I’m afraid I can’t offer a hearty online endorsement for a series of corny facebook videos.

Comfort

The Holy Grail of putting people at complete ease online has yet to be discovered. Most people aren’t completely paranoid about every link they click on, but with the recent prevalence of spam on social networking sites it’s no surprise that people are a little more hesitant to click on or “like” something. All this spam has made the social media Market a little disheveled. Fortunately there are three quick fixes to employ when trying to make a reader or future readers comfortable.

1. Be Honest

Even if what you have to offer doesn’t end up being malignant, if you talk about one thing and then present something that appears to be even remotely separate, people will be quickly suspicious. It doesn’t matter who you are, you could be the Mother Theresa of Facebook, and people would still be quick to navigate away from your content.

2. Humor

I’ve already talked about the roll of humor in social media multiple times, but the humor you put into your posts greatly effects not only the success of your campaign but the kind of audience and demographic you attract. Do not be afraid to amp the wordplay or be clever and quick with your puns or spins on relate current events.

3. Avoid Abreviations and ALL CAPS

“ZOMG BRO I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS… YOU AHVE TO SEE THIS!” While I’m almost positive, the majority of internet users are smart and professional enough to post serious content. But it may be ever so tempting to put the occasional “lol!” in or at the end of a post, and often times for comedic effect. I’m not saying to never do this, just be careful in any situation where you might post something along this line. People will be quick to dismiss you, not only in terms of professionalism but because they won’t feel comfortable.

Earn your reader’s trust, let them know you mean business. They’ll return the favor.

- Jason Akali

“I find people a whole lot easier to please when they are happy.”

- Dale Carnegie

Spare the Rod, Spoil the customer.

By Jason Akali

Carrot

While it might be hard to digitally “punish” anyone it seems increasingly easy to offer people things online. It just makes sense. Scientist have said that our Reptilian Brian is most active when we analyze a cost and reward situation. We enjoy seeing what we will gain from a risk, or what we will accomplish in any situation. It’s a basic survival instinct. But how does this same thought process apply to a digital existence? How can we successfully explore this region of our nature without completely losing our integrity and becoming a complete slave to the commerce? There are quick and immediate answers: lower risk or minimize time spent. But are those really the best means for a medium like Social Media?

Television has been around for fifty years, Print advertisement has existed for probably around three-hundred, Social Media as we know it, and Marketing therein is around five years old. That’s a literal baby in the marketing world, anyone who claims to have the system jerry-rigged our figured out is not only stupidly bold but probably lying. In the short time of its existence though, some solutions have presented themselves. Some are common sense, others not so much.

The F Word

Hopefully by now you know what I’m talking about, the “free” word, silly people. It’s very easy to think you’ll gain a large spurt of followers and listeners cling onto your social media if you offer a free lunch. People will be clinging to your every word, waiting to see if lightning strikes twice. And perhaps it does. Out of the goodness of your heart, you offer a second deal that is too good to be true and everyone goes absolutely bananas, but ultimately you just end up with a bunch of eager meteorologists (followers) who eagerly expect more lightning. This accomplishes nothing It’s important to really foster growth in your followings . This being said, be sure to avoid the

Billboard Bimbo Syndrome

It’s easy to slam “NEW release was a big succes!” or “Fall Conference went very well!” onto your facebook and twitter feeds and that pat yourself on the back for such a valiant and worth effort in social media marketing, but it’s so far from the truth. We’ve all made this mistake, and it’s causing a lot of Social Media Campaigns to fail: You treat your campaign like people can’t talk back to you.

Here is this great new idea, people can literally give you feedback with the click of a button. It’s funny. Whenever I mention, “instant feedback” people are quick to say, “Oh, like Focus Groups!” but that is so far from what Social Media can achieve. Yes, you can post two models of your latest product, a green one and a red one to see which your follower’s like better. But instead of focusing on product reception, why not focus on people reception?

Don’t ask what people think, demand what people speak. It’s a difficult concept to understand at first, but creating content that is interdependent on the communication of your followers is extremely powerful and results in a tool that is almost invaluable.

This brings us to the main point of this blog.

The Digital Family

No this is not a legalize computer marriage proposition, it’s common sense. When you create a truly powerful following, something that is potent and begins to form its own almost hierarchal society, that is when your campaigns have truly been successfulness. By putting out content that is interactive enough to allow a community to grow around your ideas you have created your own “religion”. The cult followings received by websites like “Threadless” and “Reddit” are absolutely key examples. You have created an almost self sustaining society, hopefully one that will continue to run with your “guiding” (sorry, I feel like I’m getting too religious) hand.

Ultimately you have your own digital society or advertisers and marketers. These people who so admire your ingenuity, humor and candor will gladly share what you have to say and encourage other to hear it. And let me clarify: The goal is not to take advantage of these people. I firmly believe that you if you have or fathom the intention to do so, your initiative will fail completely. Look at digg.com for a prime, but polarized example.

Build a village. Love the village. Really. And the village will love you.

It’s that simple.

- Jason Akali

“I’m easily Overwhelmed.”

- William Goldman’s The Princess Bride

Choices, choices, choices.

The above picture (although a bit of an exaggeration) is meant to illustrate the vastness of Social Media as we know it to today. All of the above names show either some relation to or a direct correlation with Social Media. It is the great Social Media Aggregate. There’s a lot to do and be done on Social Media. There’s much to be done, much to learn, much to learn from and much to be revolutionized. But Social Media has expanded so quickly since the term was coined that the ratio of websites that are considered a form of “Social Media” to the number of users has sky-rocketed.

You and Your friends

The most popular Social Media Websites were (and are) the ones that focused on your “residual self image” or more acurately: how you presented yourself to the digital world. With the initial rabidness of teenagers on Myspace, with demands for “unique” profiles and theme songs on profile pages. And then the slow but steady rise of “The Facebook” and what is now the worlds most popular Social Media site, Facebook. These sites garner the vast majority of attention and users of Social Media. They’re the big-dogs, the big-leaguers and they offer invaluable resources that cannot  be overlooked.

The Minor Leagues

I probably shouldn’t refer to any of these sites as minor, because that’s certainly the last thing they are. These sites are stellar, beautiful examples of niche communities that will garner huge attention and powerful following if done right. But also, it’s important to remember that a Niche, is a niche. You might have  a genius visual marketing campaign, but chances are, the people at flickr (the leading site for photographers to share their work) won’t be worrying and/or interested in your advertising, they’ll just want to see your work.

Then there’s Linkedin. A stellar site for anyone who deals with B2B systems, services and marketing. LinkedIn has helped some industry peons find success and climb corporate ladders faster than they could have ever hoped to without it. Once again, this a niche market. LinkedIn does not represent the vast public like facebook does, but it does represent people who will probably share the same goals, needs and interests as you do. Do not overlook this site.

YouTube. Youtube has been around a lot longer than the rest of these sites, and there is a surprising level of hierarchy/long-time users who’s voices carry more weight than one might think. Youtube is less of a Niche market, but you still are forced to have one medium of communication, in this case: video. Now, by no means is that a bad thing, it just means you need to know what you’re doing. Your talents and abilities are bound to find appreciation from someone, but what level of work are you willing to put into your Youtube content? How much do you need to put in for the cost/benefit to actually reap the proper rewards?

I’ll take a limb out and talk about another site: Reddit. Hopefully you’ve heard of reddit, but this little website has become the most successful ”forum” on the web in the past few years and with its unique format its considered a form of Social Media. Hundreds of thousands of users submit links and then all users “upvote” links based on level of interest, hilarity or “Awesomeness”. The best thing about Reddit is its clever use of “SubReddits”, meaning that within the vast whole of Reddit are a series of smaller Reddits that deal with specific subjects like: Askreddit, Blog, Buildapc, Oratory, Phxmeetup etc. Then, the most popular links from each subsection tend to be “upvoted” on to the main page. Reddit boasts one of the most tight knit communities I have ever seen on the internet, the users there is the most friendly and supportive bunch I have ever seen on the internet. But…

Is this a great place to market yourself?

That’s an extremely difficult question to answer. With such a tight knit community, people will be quick to shoot down anyone who just shows up and start “selling something”. So do you infiltrate the website, steal the users hearts with your charm and ingenuity and then slowly and meticulously advertise them to death? I make it sound a little more evil than it actually is, but it’s a question to be asked regardless. Where does the Marketing end, and the Social begin?

On and On…

I could continue to list hundreds of Social Media sites, but I’d literally be here until the end of time.  Just remember, not everywhere is a place that can or “needs to be” marketed on. Sometimes Social Media, is just, Social.

-Jason Akali

“Having more than one is overzealous. But a little overzealousness never hurt anybody.”

-Steve Ballmer

One and Two.

By Jason Akali

Twitter Power

We here at KPO Global pretty obviously believe in the power of Twitter. It’s a stellar tool that allows you persistent and almost instant access to an audience who is directly subscribed to what you have to say. We’ve talked about the use of humor in a Twitter feed and the different means to go about making you posts, but one of the most clever things you can do for and with Twitter is to have more than one account.

Don’t Spam

Having a second account doesn’t mean you should repost the same material and try and rig a “double exposure” system to your followers, it means you have the complete opportunity for two personalities to define your business, website or personality. Much like we mentioned in some of our previous blogs, turning your Twitter feed into the stream of consciousness for two separate characters is one of the wisest things you can do. It expands your audience, provides an opportunity for discourse and will give you ample opportunity for some stellar one-liners.

This should be Easy

Don’t overthink this. You don’t need to employ an intensely agressive campaign with the most clever tweeters around. If you feel like have a two-fold Twitter feed is a task your up for, then have at it. Make it fun. Have yourself control one feed, and then that Sales guy you never get along with have the other. See what happens, jib and jab at one another and great things will start to happen. Be Patient, fervent and consistent.

It’s Twitter. It’s that simple.

- Jason Akali

“The Above picture is totally irrelevant, but its genius makes up for the lack of relevancy and the general theme of this blog.”

- Jason Akali

Don’t put all you eggs… It takes two t… One in the bun is worth a dozen in the oven.

By Jason Akali

A Vast Consortium of Age Old Advice – Comedy

Comedy plays a huge roll in the Twitterverse, yes it’s completely fine to announce “Convention was huge success! Leaving Vegas tomorrow! Free treats for all!”, but it’s very important in an environment that is so fraught with humor and witty quips to come armed with your own sling of jibes and word-play.

It’s not about having your audience roll like Steve Martin, it’s just about making them crack a smile. Anyone and everyone knows that the amount of effort it takes to break out a smile, let alone laughter from text alone is difficult. It’s much easier when you are in front of an audience or watching a video to burst into fits of laughter. Here, we’re doing something much more difficult and we’re also trying to do it in less than 140 characters. No big deal right? Actually, you’re right.

1. Style

Is your business painfully sarcastic? Naively enthusiastic? Overly cynical? Find your business’ voice. Figure what you want your image to be, and then swing with it. Keep swinging and keep striking out, until eventually you find that golden stroke that will continue to land you base hits and the occasional home run. This might even help to have “multiple birds” around in this situation (see the next blog).

2. Ease

You have 140 characters to use. That doesn’t mean you have to every single one of them. Some of the best tweets I’ve seen have been four or five words long and either been side-splitingly hilarious or more informative than any press release would have ever been. Don’t fill the page, fill your reader. Whether with laughter or important information.

3. Relaxedness

You’re a business, poke fun at yourself. Make fun of quarterly reports, have a blast with anything and everything you have to offer. Twitter is a place to be fun and informative, leave the suits and coffee for the next quarterly.

- Jason Akali

“Logging in is too much work… I just want to be there already.”

- My Wife

Tweet like you tweet no more.

By Jason Akali

Quick and easy means of alternative tweets.

1. The Phone

It’s that simply, and it’s also relatively obvious. You text your updates to the required number from twitter and then the inter-web works its fantastical black magic. In fact, this was the Twitter was started, and how it was intended to be used. Automatic, instantaneous updates with SMS as the base means of communication

2. The Smart Phone

Twitter’s Droid and iOS apps are both fantastically crafted and allow you a little more liberty when posting your tweets. With easy ways to provide hyper-links to other websites and pictures, the Twitter app makes things just a little bit flashier.

3. The Hootsuite

Hootsuite is a Social Media Management program employed through the website Hootsuite.com. It’s an invaluable tool for anyone who’s looking to manage multiple aspects of a social media campaign, but it’s also valuable for Twitter because you can, get this, schedule tweets. So, if you know you’re going to be absolutely slammed at the convention center or throughout the days meetings, you can still maintain a positive tweetitude buy panning ahead. Cheating? Maybe. Genius? Yes.

4. The Good ol’ PC

While feels almost foreign to call the tower that sits on my desk a “Good ol’” machine (like a farmer would a dieing horse) it’s true. With the Mobile ease of access that is so prevalent today it’s easy to forget where it all began. But, believe it or not, sitting down at keyboard and typing out your Tweets with a well thought out “headline” and perhaps even a little rythym or alliteration does a tweeter good.

5. Pay A “Genius”

If scheduling your tweets isn’t cheating, this definitely is. It’s one thing to have someone manage a corporate facebook page, but this silly trend is becoming more and more popular and has seen quite a bit of success. Business and celebrity alike have been employing someone to say what they are currently thinking, but simply more elegantly. Overkill? We think not. Who doesn’t want a English B.A. to make you look good?

- Jason Akali

“Squeak Squeaker, Squeak Squeakin.”

- The Emperor’s New Groove

Tweet for Tat.

By Jason Alakali

The Birth of the Bird

Founded in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Twitter had a rough start. An SMS Social Media application was a little far-fetched even for 2006 and when it started, Twitter was met with much reservation and criticism. People were slow to latch on to the habit of “tweeting” their everyday activities but eventually the idea took hold. Skeptics and connoisseurs of the “My whole life can be downloaded from the Internet, and that is bad.” attitude were considerable silenced and the majority of people began to except this level of digital integration not only as a privilege, but as a fact of life.

A Celebrity is, A celebrity does.

The phenomenon of “important” people using Twitter to keep their public informed is almost a modern day form of  Monarchial Medieval timed messengers. But instead of trumpets, these messengers carry with them a simple and blue bird. Celebrity personalities are a big deal on Twitter. Tom Hanks, Ashton Kutcher, Jimmy Fallon and series of other entertainers and/or politicians have made daring use of the Twitter service to stay in a more constant contact with their “public”.

NPR recently addressed the subject, and devoted a story to how Twitter had become so populated by the wealthy and famous. The program devoted a hefty amount of time to a series of experts with their professional opinions and a series of data sets, but ultimately the success boiled down to one thing: demand. The vast majority of the blogosphere and socialmediaphiles wanted a more reliable means to keep in contact with their idols. The Celebrity twitterverse filled a “well needed” niche.

What is means for Us.

So, to garner a serious following on twitter you pretty obviously need an Oscar winning actor/actress. To do this, first you need to call an exe…

Just kidding.

Twitter has place for everyone. Whether you want to update with 5 characters or with the whole 140, whatever the message is, you can always find an audience who’s ready to listen to what you have to say.

It’s simply the matter of finding them…

Come back tomorrow…

By Jason Akali

“So it’s like… Having a digital bouncer for your digital club?”

- KPO Project Manager, Drew Leatham

Seriously, it’s that simple.

By Jason Akali

Exclusivity

So the idea is relatively knew in application, but not in actual existence: Exclusivity. The idea is best exhibited above: You only let readers access your content once they “like ” you. It’s a win-win situation, your readers get access to your content and you have the potential to further the spread of your content.

There’s not a whole not more to it then that. I tend to write longer blogs, but as complicated and clever as Social Media may sound at times, this is really straightforward. Build a little page that will be placed on the front of your facebook profile to strangers, and have it encourage them to “like” your material. It’s a literal doormat.

Instead of droning on with a serious amount of over-information, I’ll just provide you with a few more creative examples.

Old Spice Gets fancy with a Video

And of course, our favorite Soda Provider:

I could probably find hundreds more, but hopefully by now you get the point.

Like it! NOW!

- Jason Akali

“Now Facebook is doing it… What’s not to like?”

– Aaron Decker, WIRED Magazine on Facebook Apps

To Farm, or not to Farm.

by Jason Akali

APPular

Last month we spent two weeks talking about mobile applications. Ideas, implementation, tips, tricks and anything else you could possibly want to know about the Mobile application development scene. Thus, two weeks later, it is only fitting that we return to the subject again. But this time, in regard to Apps for Facebook.

Really?

What are the overwhelming majority of Facebook apps? Games. You probably already knew that, with almost enough hours logged in Farmville and Mafia Wars alone to have rebuilt the Great Wall of China… by hand… That’s some serious time spent making digital corn and taking out digital hits. It’s probably not a surprise that Facebook games (made through their apps) have been so successful. So many people are used to seeking out time wasters online, and now there’s a social website that hands them out by the truck load. Here’s a graphic from BusinessInsider.com and FlowingData to look at the relative distribution of Facebook apps and what they do:

Not a huge surprise, yes?

While the Just for Fun and Gaming categories are separate, many of them pertain to the same items. Just from this graphic, it’s easy to see that this market is not fully saturated and still stands open for the taking on many fronts. There are no Facebook app giants, Yet.

Your Niche

Many people claim that the only real markets/business members that stand to find true success on Facebook are Hobby Businesses and NPO’s with an accessible cause. This isn’t always the case though. There’s always a niche to be filled, and perhaps it may be one that you would never have thought you or your business would have fit in before. Perhaps what you’re looking for is something completely opposite of what your current business model is, or maybe you just need a simplified version.

Here are a few examples:

Airline – Ticket App – It’s kind of surprising that this hasn’t been fully integrated by a major airline yet. With some simple programming and stellar customer service, you could have greatest “ease of access” an airline has ever seen. With integrated “event” and “group” support, businesses, tourists and travelers alike would be able to scout, chart and plan their travel all from the comfort of a singular website.

Food – Grocery Delivery – A few chains have already toyed with Facebook delivery, but not with any rambunctious results. Many fast food chains still use online ordering systems (the last time I ordered Papa Johns, I fabricated a digital pizza) but to only limited response and use. Facebook stands to take a firm hold on this market, but the Grocery Delivery market stands to make an immense fortune by having an easy to use and integrated facebook app.

Music – Streaming – These applications are well on their way, but have yet to go public. With many companies like Pandora, and Grooveshark stealing inter-continental bandwidth, it’s likely that these companies will soon be trying to integrate something with facebook and let users find a little aural entertainment while they “creep” on their friend’s latest Vacation.

App World

The Facebook Applications market isn’t intensely competitive at the moment. And it is rearing for a few stellar companies and individuals to present some truly ground-breaking and “life-Simplifying” applications.

There’s always an application that you or your company can, with the proper help, brainstorm and birth into a popular and frequently used tool that people won’t be able to remember a world without.

- Jason Akali