Racquet Social

The growth and adoption of social networks and smart devices have created many a grey area with respect to social norms and etiquette. Here is a brief look at a few such situations that we encounter in our everyday lives.

Food Porn (a.k.a. Food Photography)

How would you react if you walked into a restaurant and saw a sign that read “photography strictly prohibited”? The good old days of merrily snapping pictures of your ten-course tasting menu and Instagramming it to your friends may be coming to an end; at least, in some finer establishments. While some of you may say “about time!” it is worth spending a couple of minutes to ponder this one. I agree that flash photography in a dimly lit restaurant is intrusive and distracts patrons. On the other hand, a bunch of well-heeled, self-proclaimed foodies promoting the restaurant and its fare ought to count for some free publicity that no marketing department can duplicate. The concept of paid vs. earned media is gaining momentum with businesses trying to leverage positive customer reviews and comments for marketing purposes over expensive advertisements on traditional media.

Hookers on LinkedIn

A number of sex workers were caught off-guard when LinkedIn modified their user agreement to include language that prevented them from using LinkedIn as a platform to solicit business. Workers in the world’s oldest profession feel that they have a right to tout their skill-sets and experience on LinkedIn which is the largest social network for business professionals. After all prostitution is a tagged skill within LinkedIn’s “Skills & Expertise” section, though often it pertains to law enforcement professionals and support groups. A few of the other options within this section are shown in the image below.  If you are someone who has been generously endorsing people on LinkedIn, you may want to do a quick check to make sure that your endorsements were intended.

Google GLΛSS

By now you would have heard about Google’s much awaited GLΛSS – eyeglasses that double as a mobile computer. It lets users surf the web, store, retrieve and share pictures and videos similar to the way you would do with a smartphone.

Currently in limited distribution, there have been many views on the usefulness and usability of this device. Besides looking a little stupid, there are other ramifications that deserve attention here. Privacy is an obvious one, and some businesses have already banned or are considering banning Google GLΛSS from their premises. For a start, these include casinos, banks and movie theatres. Keeping in mind that the wearer of this device can snap pictures with the blink of an eye, how comfortable would you feel around someone who wears one?

Texting at the movies

How would you react to someone, sitting next you in a theatre, engaging in an ongoing chat on a mobile device? Even if that person confines their incessant communications to texting, the bright screen and the act itself can be distracting while you are trying to focus on the movie or concert. With the proliferation of smartphones and the users feeling the constant need to stay connected, this may be a trend that is here to stay. When compared with some others who actually initiate and answer voice calls in a theatre, texting may be deemed to be the lesser of the two evils. Will you take a laissez-faire attitude to this, or react like this theatre-goer who grabbed the offending lady’s cell-phone and tossed it?

Turning the flash off on my camera as I head out to Momofuku Shoto…

So what do you think? Is social media blurring the lines of social etiquette? Please comment and share using the options below.

I recently wrote a blog about Pizza Hut’s yet unheard of 140-second-long job interviews to fill the position of “Manager of Digital Greatness” in the company. Gimmicky as it sounds, it gives pause for thought, and offers a view of the signs of things to come. Relevance, attention, and context are playing heavily into the marketing world. In a world of serious information overload, attention is sparse. Content is no longer limited to traditional sources like media channels and publishing houses. Everyone with a smartphone, tablet or PC can produce content – blogs, podcasts, pictures or videos – if they choose to. There is no longer dependence on middlemen or businesses to distribute content; all you need is a social network of friends, connections and followers who are willing to absorb what you create and extend it to their network connections, effectively magnifying your reach. And yet, not everyone becomes a Huffington Post, Mashable or Techcrunch!

As content sources multiply, the patience of the content consumer is fading. If you cannot impress in the first few seconds, you probably will lose them. Let’s take a look at some of these sub-sixty-second phenomena that may affect your life at some point in the future

Real-time marketing is a relatively new term coined to describe creative tactics or communications adopted by businesses to take advantage of a critical moment during an event to promote their products. A good example of this is the now famous tweet that came from Oreo Cookie’s account during the power failure at this year’s NFL Super Bowl held in New Orleans. Can you really prepare for real-time marketing? Is there a right-place-at-the-right-time element to this? Clearly, it is difficult to plan and staff for real-time marketing. On the other hand, you could be like Maker’s Mark, the Kentucky-based bourbon giant, who managed to turn a poor marketing decision to one that got them a lot of positive attention and tangible revenue gains. 

If you are in Sales or Marketing, you may want to keep your eyes open for real-time marketing opportunities like the one above.

Skippable Ads: The last thing you want to watch is an advertisement for sinus medicine when you are actually trying to watch a video from a recent PSA squash tournament. Much to the viewers’ frustration, these streaming ads usually last from fifteen to thirty seconds. With You Tube introducing skippable ads, viewers now have the option of skipping an ad after viewing it for a very short period of time – five seconds. If you stop and think about it, someone is being paid to make these ads meant to grab your attention and entice you to take some kind of action – buy a product, visit the company’s website etc. Often the companies that create these ads are paid on the TrueView format which ensures that the ad agencies get paid only if the viewer watches the ad for an agreed length of time or until the end of the ad. Assuming that a fair percentage of the viewers will skip the ad, you have five seconds to capture and keep their attention. No mean feat! At 4.5 Million views, here is an example of one that did.

Vine, launched by Twitter earlier this year, is an application that lets you make six second videos that you can share on Twitter and other social networks. Vine has gained popularity with companies jumping on the bandwagon to create short videos that promote their brand and social engagement. The level of creativity and uniqueness that you can bring into a six second clip will determine whether it becomes the next Gangnam Style type phenomenon or gets buried in some digital wasteland of unnoticed content. Vine, combined with the idea of real-time marketing, could be the next big opportunity for the creatively inclined social media enthusiast.

Hackathons: Hack is a term that alludes to software developers and other technology buffs colluding at a “hackathon” to develop a product in twenty-four hours. This is a true example of changing times and timelines. At the end of a hackathon, entrepreneurs get sixty seconds to pitch their start-up business to an audience that include investors and technology peers. Based on the merit of the pitch, the panel shortlists and ultimately chooses a winner who becomes eligible for funding that is often essential for these start-ups to move forward. This year’s Disrupt New York Hackathon offered prize money of $50,000 which was won by Enigma, a data indexing start-up. If you are in the business of software or technology, this may be something for you to follow.

Snap Chat has been around for a while. It is the modern-day version of self-destructing communications, the likes of which you have seen in James Bond movies. The idea is that the short videos that you create and share using this application has a predefined shelf life after which the message will disappear from the receiving party’s device. No, this is not an invention funded by Tiger Woods; though, it would have come in handy during his alleged indiscretions! If you are planning to try your hand at some risqué stuff yourself, keep in mind that there are many tools out there that allow people to take screen captures and snips that could still land you in proverbial hot water!

So, what do you think? Do you believe that these aspects of real-time digital communications improve our lives, or, just add unnecessary stress? Please comment and share using the options below.

Looking back at my university days, I realize that I could have done better! While I prioritized sports over quantum mechanics, my friends prepped for business school.  An undergraduate degree seemed par for the course of life. The prospect of not having to continue my studies were even better. Fast forward a few years later, I realize that knowledge and the ability to apply it are keys to a person’s success. Fortunately, the world has evolved. Universities and colleges, the way we know them, are no longer the only sources for the acquisition of knowledge. If you feel that you are ready for some innovative learning methods, check these out.

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) represent a thriving segment of the education industry.

The very essence of a MOOC is that it is free, and it is offered online. Unlike conventional colleges, there are no pre-requisites, SATs, or essays to be written for admission. There are no associated diplomas or degrees. The concept behind a MOOC is disbursement of knowledge. Enrollment in MOOCs does require registration and the courses have a beginning and an end date. Students are not penalized for dropping out. Courses cover a wide range of subjects that range from poetry to artificial intelligence. Online networks play a vital part in the delivery and popularity of MOOCs. If you are wondering about the quality of education, you may be surprised to find that MOOCs are offered by prestigious universities that include Stanford, Harvard and Yale. With the loose structure of this education system, it goes without saying that motivated students fare better than the ones who lack the motivation.

Explanation Videos are the visual version of idiot’s guide to a myriad of topics! Unlike how-to videos like Videojug and Howcast, explanation videos give you a quick graphical overview of a concept, trend or meme. Companies like  Commoncraft specialize in creating explanation videos. Typically the videos are short and last less than five minutes. Explanation videos are perfect for promoting your products and services. Here is one on “Augmented Reality” that you may find appealing.

News Aggregators and RSS Readers are excellent sources for up-to-date information on topics of your choice. If you are a news junkie and are still using news papers and television as your primary source of news, you may want to do some rethinking. With many aggregation sites like Huffington Post and Flipboard offering content that you want to consume, moving around from one site to another becomes a problem. News readers like the recently discontinued Google Reader and Feedly are excellent sources for aggregated content. Popular web browsers like Chrome and Firefox offer extensions for feed readers that help you add blogs, news sites, and feeds into a single reading pane.

Podcasts as a medium to keep abreast of the goings on in an industry is gaining popularity. In my blog titled Four Podcasts and a blog, I had recently talked about how podcasts have yet to secure a mainstream audience. With the proliferation of smart phones and the easy integration of podcasts into car audio systems, the opportunity to make use of your commute time for a little education should not be missed. Websites dedicated to podcasts like Podcast Answer Man and The Best Podcasts list will help you explore options in this space.

So there you have it. We are living in a world of information overload; every piece of new information or knowledge that we are able to pick up and retain make us richer!

If you liked this post, or use other non-traditional methods to stay ahead, please comment and share using the following options.

Over the past few years, the job market has evolved. Businesses are increasingly mobile. You can transact and consume while on the move. Employees are dispersed and virtual as they move away from the confines of brick and mortar. Where you live, is less relevant than what you can do. By leveraging visual communication technologies, enterprises are able to interact with clients and co-workers irrespective of geographical boundaries. Throw in social media into the mix and the picture is complete. The winds of change come with a host of new opportunities for the adventurous. New industries, jobs, and titles are becoming mainstream as the workforce adapt to the dynamics of the job market. If you are in the market for a job or are contemplating a move, you may want to start thinking outside the box. Here are some industries that you may not have considered for employment in the past.

Marketer of Business Ratings and Reviews – Making a living getting people to write unbiased reviews and comments about a business or a service may not be top of mind for a lot of you job seekers out there. If you are to go by the success of companies like Yelp, Angie’s List and Glassdoor, this is a mushrooming industry and an opportunity to be looked at seriously. When was the last time you picked a restaurant for a date night without looking up some reviews about it? The jobs in this industry can vary from advertisement selling to analytics of reviews to determine consumer reactions, preferences and dislikes.  If you are already in a business – like running a restaurant – that relies heavily on customer reviews, you may want to give this new industry some consideration.

Reputation Manager – If you think that this is something that Lindsay Lohan could use, you would not be off base! The wide-spread adoption of social media and the reckless abandon with which users have portrayed their personal and professional personas publicly have often come back to haunt them. The reputation business is about fixing all your missteps. Truth is a relative sentiment, when you have the right agency working for you! The world of reputation management is complex and involved. A corporate “fixer” may be what you could become if you set your mind to do it.

Social Media Community Manager – If you are passionate about social media and already spend a lot of time engaged with your friends, followers and connections this one may be for you. In this role, you can leverage everything that you have done for fun and turn it into a career. Along the way, you will need to fine-tune some of your skill-sets like content development, customer engagement, social listening and brand image building while ensuring that you avoid embarrassing social media gaffes. You may also have to provide some analytics to senior management to demonstrate that your efforts in social media community management are paying off and that you are an employee worth retaining.

Social Influence Analyst - The influence industry is becoming big business! Attention is scarce. With businesses vying for customers’ attention, getting the influencers onside of your brand is essential. With companies like Kred, Klout and Peer Index setting scoring systems to benchmark a person’s influence, service levels can be directly tied to a person’s influence. Despite a few large corporations incorporating influence into their marketing metrics, mainstream businesses remain skeptical of its ability to drive online engagement and revenue. If you are connected and maintain credibility in social media circles, you may want to look at a career selling or marketing influence analytics.

Social Recruiter – With almost every working person creating a profile on LinkedIn, this may sound like an obvious one. With social media networks like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter competing for the recruitment dollar, established online recruiting resources like Monster.com and Workopolis.com have to be more agile and creative in sourcing and screening potential talent. If you are already in an area like Human Resources or Customer Service, this may be an avenue for you to expand your employability in the future.

While some of the jobs and industries listed above may appear to be a stretch for some of you, the intent of this post is to provide a sense of the opportunities out there. So, while continuing to explore avenues within your comfort zone, do not ignore what may be just beyond that!

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During his key-note session at the recently concluded Social Media Marketing World, Michael Stelzner, the founder of Social Media Examiner, asked the question “Is social media dead?” With forty social media celebrities and over a thousand enthusiasts in attendance, Michael answered his own question by pointing out that social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter have only been around for less than ten years. Not exactly what you would call a lifetime! Social media is young and growing. To say that the event itself was kind of a modern-day Woodstock for social media would not be unreasonable! Here is some food for thought from the conference.

Are you rolling with the times? We are living in a world where Huffington Post, a blog started in 2005, is rated on par with the mighty CNN, as per Alexa, the web traffic measurement site. Traditional channels for news media are rapidly being overshadowed by blogs, aggregation services and social media platforms like Twitter. The postal service is in disarray due to customers choosing near real-time communication options like email and text. The role of the sales person as a middleman is increasingly being marginalized with the proliferation of online information resources.  The success of podcasts has come at the expense of traditional radio. Newer model cars are being delivered with on-demand information radio and podcasts integration. BMW‘s recent announcement of the integration of Stitcher into its audio system is a perfect example of the signs of things to come.

Are you connected? Ability to connect is the most powerful skill in the world! Power of connections goes beyond business; it applies to friends, family and even children. Unlike perception, it is often about giving than receiving. People will forget what you said or did, but they will always remember how you made them feel.  Larry Benet’s repertoire of engaging social acronyms included, ABC – Always Be Connecting; GSD – Get Stuff Done and PFU – Poor Follow Up!

What is your Dunbar Number? According to British anthropologist Robin Dunbar, the number of people with whom that a normal human being can maintain a stable social relationship falls within the range of 100 – 230. So, if you have five hundred friends on Facebook, you probably are only engaged with a small subset of that group. No, you don’t need to start dropping friends to get back to 200! Groups will evolve as people drop in and out of your core group. As per Ric Dragon, the author of Social Marketology, people tend to learn more from their weak ties than the strong ones because the strong ties are often known quantities!

Does size matter? The question about the size of a person’s following comes up in many a social media conversation. Guy Kawasaki, author and entrepreneur, was clear about the importance of a large following or friends circle for social reach. Everyone who uses social media for business is there to build a large following; if they say otherwise they may not be being truthful. He may have used the words lying! If you plan on being active on social media, you should know the five” P”s that pertain to the popular social media platforms: Facebook is for people; Twitter is for perceptions; Google + is for passion – like photography; Pinterest is for pinning and LinkedIn is for pimping – like pimping yourself for a job!

Do you still think that Facebook is for baby pictures? Facebook as a marketing tool is not top of mind for the average user. Content like baby pictures, cute cats and funny videos engage people. Facebook for business would follow the same principle. The content, be it text, pictures or video needs to be relevant, timely and compelling. The affable Mari Smith, co-author, Facebook Marketing – An Hour a Day pointed out that while “content is king, engagement is queen, and she rules the house!”  Managing the timing and frequency of your posts, and ensuring responsiveness to fan posts and comments are keys to the success of a Facebook strategy.

Generally speaking, people consume social media content for entertainment, education or empowerment. So, what kind of social or digital content engages you the most?

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When was the last time that you tried some street food? I mean gourmet food, from a truck! No, I am not referring to your favourite hot dog vendor outside your office. If you have not noticed, street food has been undergoing quite the makeover, both in terms of quality and popularity. Artisan food is all the rage! If you are a foodie, you have one more avenue to indulge your epicurean curiosities.

Walking around the streets of New York City over the Easter and Passover weekend, it occurred to me that the growing popularity and success of the street food culture has a lot to do with digital marketing and social media!  There is an ecosystem of news reports, websites, blogs and social media-based communications that ensure that a customer and the food truck of their choice are always within a tweet’s reach! Unlike restaurants, food-trucks are mobile and do not always operate from the same place every day. Real-time communication is required to ensure that customers are made aware of the location of the truck. Facebook, Twitter, and web pages are excellent channels to build up a fan base and inform customers of changes to the menu and locations.

As a marketing guy, I have recently been exploring the concept of paid, owned and earned media. In simple terms, paid refers to anything that a business would pay for to get their message out. A television or a print advertisement is a good example. Owned media, on the other hand, pertain to assets that a business may have, like websites, blogs, brochures etc. Facebook likes, positive reviews and recommendations by customers fall into the earned media category. As you can expect, real customers saying positive things about a product or business can actually outweigh the benefits that can be achieved through paid or owned media. The street food business revolves around earned media. A simple comparison of customer reviews on Yelp shows that the popular food truck Halal Boys received a whopping 3200 reviews compared to the respected Gramercy Tavern of Flat Iron district, NYC, which received just over a thousand!

As the opportunity to promote street food through digital and social media grows, food trucks bear website addresses, Twitter handles and Facebook profiles. The culinary delights range from basic breakfast sandwiches to complex food choices that include Mexican, Indian, Korean and others.  Niche marketing opportunities cover aspects like halal, kosher and healthy life-styles. Many new apps and websites like roaminghunger.com and nyctruckfood.com have also sprung up that specifically promote the street food business.

A quick search on Google will show that the trends in street food and the impact social media has had on it is not unique to New York City. It is reasonable to assume that with challenges like licensing, parking, and other regulations imposed by the cities it is not all rosy for small businesses that operate these food trucks. Getting the customer on their side through good food and social media would be a step in the right direction.

Is there a food truck in your city that you recommend? Please comment and share using the options below.

Last August I wrote a post titled Six tips for Twitter users who have less than 25 followers. As a relatively new Twitter user who had two hundred followers, I wrote about the initial doubts and concerns that I had about having a public profile that showed that I had next to no followers. Seven months and seven hundred followers later, I have decided to write a follow up post on the same subject with the primary intent of communicating a few more insights that I have acquired along the way. These observations may be deemed basic by some of the seasoned Tweeps out there.  Here they are.

Don’t be an egghead Eggs are great for breakfast! Not so much, as a profile picture.

Not having a real picture of you in your profile is a dead giveaway that you are not there to engage with others. If you are worried about the lack of followers, remember that everyone on Twitter started with zero followers! I generally do not follow anyone who does not have a real picture as part of their profile. The exceptions are a few friends who have yet to upload their images and continue to use the default Twitter avatar image. To put things in perspective, I was surprised to see my Twitter followers climb when I switched my profile image from a casual look to a formal one!

Your profile is your business card This one may seem obvious. But, the number of Twitter users who have profiles that do not accurately reflect their interests or their professional status is surprising. If your primary intent is to build your business network, your profile should indicate what you do.

If you would like to share a common interest like a sport – squash, tennis, sailing etc. – it should be obvious in your profile.   Since my Twitter account is not tied directly to my work, I have chosen to show a bit of both in my profile. If you are new, I see no harm in indicating that in your profile. Linking a decent LinkedIn profile to your Twitter account can get you instant credibility.

Why follow someone who does not follow you back? Unlike Facebook “friends” and LinkedIn “connections,” the term “follower” has a connotation that may not appeal to everyone. A CEO of a large company may be perfectly OK “connecting” with me, while he or she may think twice about “following” me! Twitter connections are not one-to-one. You don’t need a person’s approval to follow him or her. The flip side of that is that you can end up with a large number of people that you follow, who have not cared to follow you back. In my view, Twitter is about engagement. Following a large number of people who do not follow back does not make sense. If there are thought leaders or prominent people within a certain industry that you want to follow, you are better off subscribing to their blog, podcast or RSS feed. Why clutter your Twitter timeline? I do accept the fact that not everyone will have common interests. So, when someone does not follow back, I do not take it personally. I give them two weeks and then I unfollow them.  

An active vs. passive presence on Twitter Twitter is about tweets. If you want to engage through Twitter, you must tweet. The frequency of your tweets is an indication of your presence on Twitter. It is true that as a newbie nobody will pay any attention to you; especially when you have a low follower count. Most blogs, websites, and news media give you the option to tweet items posted on their sites. Use it to tweet about an article or post that you find interesting. Once you have a small following, it may make sense to occasionally, mention some of your followers in your tweets to start engaging with them. If all you do is complain on Twitter, it will not get you far.

There are gamers Occasionally you will come across users who have built up a large enough following without really tweeting about anything. These are people who game the system for a high follower to following ratio. Here is an example of someone who proactively followed me and quickly unfollowed me when I followed him back! I use a tool called Commun.it to track such behaviour. Needless to say that I have no patience for such users and make sure that I unfollow them post haste.

Retweets are a rare commodity No one retweeted you yet? You don’t have to be disheartened. If you are used to Facebook “likes” and LinkedIn “endorsements,” you will quickly find that retweets are a rare commodity indeed! After being on Twitter for over a year, I have only had a dismal 9% of my tweets retweeted by others. On the bright side, this is considered acceptable! Only a select few make it past the 20% range. In the short term, focus on what you find interesting and retweet the ones that you really enjoyed. Your turn will come!

I realize that reaching out to someone whom you have never known or met, to make a connection, is sort of like making a cold call to a sales prospect. It may not be for everybody. However, with mediums like Twitter gaining more and more mindshare as a marketing and communication channel, it certainly would make sense to try!

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If I were to answer my own question, I would have to say “not very well!” As someone reasonably active on Twitter, I consider myself eloquent enough to communicate my thoughts and opinions in 140 characters or fewer. But a job interview, that’s another matter!

Some of you may have heard that over the past two weeks Pizza Hut, headquartered in Plano, Texas, conducted interviews for the position: Manager of Digital Greatness.  The candidates were informed ahead of time that the length of the interviews would be limited to 140 seconds. Here is a snapshot of the job posted on their Facebook page.

So, is this a sign of the times? Some of us who hold sales and marketing roles are familiar with the concept of an elevator pitch. However, the prospect of being hired or even short-listed for a job based on a personal elevator pitch is daunting. Having said that, it is quite clear that for certain types of jobs, social and digital media knowledge is becoming an important yardstick.

If you go by the job posting from Salesforce.com shown here, companies are starting to include social influence scores in the list of “desired skill-set” that potential candidates posses. Is it fair to assume that this trend will creep into other areas of a business like Sales, Marketing, Public Relations and Customer Service?

On another related note, most companies and hiring agencies have started looking towards LinkedIn as one of the primary recruiting tools. Most business professionals have created profiles on LinkedIn and have been building up their “connections” and “endorsements.” A passive presence on LinkedIn may not be enough to build up your social equity.

You may want to start working on your elevator pitch!

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