As much it is the hype and norm around the world, Australian companies and brands are still flirting with social media like an awkward 14 year old prepubescent boy. This behaviour has got us labelled 'fresh meat'. International ‘social media and viral’ agencies are flocking in from UK and US selling ‘seeding’ capabilities dressed up with ‘relationship with bloggers, twitterers, youtubers and internet influencers’ and 'guaranteed eyeballs' in a bid to get more business.
I know for a fact, the real influencers would never sell their credibility like what these guys are saying unless they are Kim Kardashian or truly believe a brand and have a connection with them. Online cred is EVERYTHING. We have an opportunity to do something fresh but I'm afraid time is running out as as agencies buy into these 'viral specialist' services. Sometimes, these appear to be value-adding the possible reality is that a brand just looks like a wannabe when their content is disseminated this way (bought placement). There are many contributing factors to why they might employ these services - crap content, actually, that's it, crap content.
True 'viral'has no other formula than AWESOME! (content). Brands that invest heavily into 'seeding' services should just invest heavily into creating emotional, creative and fun ideas. Aim to do something no one has ever seen before rather than making mediocre crap and paying loads of cash to make sure it is spammed out like herpes. I'm certinly not saying disregard these services completely, rather just use them when you need to such as when launching it in the first 2 weeks but not rely on it or make it the centre piece for your strategy.
P.S. I saw this video, and it just reminds me how my profession is currently being perceived... It makes me sad because I just love everything digital and will do anything to protect user experience (that's probably why we get rejected all the time). I'm not blaming anyone because at the end of the day everyone has to somehow make a living, but it just reflects what careless 'eyeball' driven social media tactics or 'apparent' strategy can do to both brands and socail media strategists.
Social Media Fresh Meat
Labels:
social media,
video,
viral
Share This
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
About 8apixel
- 8apixel
- Optimist. Geek. Info-Junkie. Chess Player. Drummer. Market Maven. Graphic Designer. I’m obsessed with design, advertising, technology, fashion and culture. I dance around the questions how? and what if…? and most times I find inspiration with no real sequential thought. However, that said, I also have border-line fetish with information, news, business, technology, politics and fashion. This blog serves as an outlet for sharing my curiosities. It is also a commentary on world happenings from the perspective of a not-so-typical Gen-Y.
2 comments:
KT, I think one of the problems is that despite a lot of great ideas, in most cases you still can say: show me the money! I agree that the 'big' agencies don't have the answer, but they pretend to have. But on the other hand there are 'douchebags' out there. The more money these 'douchebags' spend the willingness to invest in the real talents decreases.
KT ... I love the fact that you are bringing back 'the content' in your discussion. I have been hearing far too often that it is not the content but the SEO and tags etc that matter. I say and will always say "content is king" long live the king.