Random ChatterBachs Musings and Updates

It’s the last day of July, and I realize that I haven’t written a blog post this month. Well, it’s not that I haven’t written one, it’s that they’ve gone elsewhere.

I was excited about this interview with Sarah Lugo of Digitec regarding the upcoming ASAE Annual Conference in Atlanta.

I even got to be a part of a JibJab, which, quite frankly, I didn’t even know what a JibJab was until I was featured in one!

JibJab with Sarah Lugo of Digitec and Jay Daughtry of ChatterBachs for ASAE Annual 2013

I’ve also written a guest post which will appear in a DC-area magazine in October (more details on that at a future time).

Additionally, I’m working on a blog post and presentation for a flash learning session at ASAE Annual on “Content Marketing Lessons from Major Brands for Associations and Nonprofit Organizations”. I’m excited about the brands which are willing to talk about their successes for this work. I have a feeling that it’s not going to be a one time and we’re done kind of topic.

I’d also like to explore further the concept of walking meetings or sessions. What are the best cities or venues for walking sessions? How do presenters weave architecture, history, nature, scenery, etc. into the topic at hand? Have you had an experience with this concept? What are your thoughts and feedback?

I’ve advised more clients on visual social media in the past month than ever before. I’m excited about the ways businesses and nonprofits can use Pinterest, Instagram, Vine, and other platforms to better connect with and engage their audiences.

As always, I welcome your comments and feedback below or on Twitter.

08.06 Update: My flash learning session on content marketing lessons for associations  at ASAE ’13 is today at10:45 am in Room B218.

Vine, Instagram, and the Evolving Visual Web

I knew that things were becoming more visual in social media. I even tell that to people frequently. YouTube has been cited as the second largest search engine. Pinterest has grown immensely in popularity in the past two years.

The Shift to Visual Social Media (Image by @SociallySorted)

But, as I sit here on a Friday afternoon- the last Friday afternoon of June, and the last Friday afternoon in the first half of 2013- I realize how much my own use has changed in this regard just in the past three weeks.

I now have a Vine account where users can create 6-second looping videos. I’ve used the app to capture moments ranging from my younger son’s field day to a monster truck ride to the disappearance of my morning juice which reveals a photo of my sons in the background. While these are merely experimental, it’s amazing to see what really creative minds have done to take advantage of the six seconds and the looping effect. The appeal comes in that it’s a small investment of time (in fact, it’s so small that one may find themselves watching a video over and over), and it provides a richer experience than a static image. I have to give a shout out to Chris Brooks of Hilton Worldwide whose simple video of cycling around New York City caught my attention and prompted me to sign up for Vine.

Then three days ago I read Ernie Smith’s piece on Why Instagram Can’t Be Ignored. Instagram now has 130 million active users and has launched its video functionality as well. Again, I felt the nudge and activated an account. I found myself looking through photos on my iPhone from the past several months for just the right ones to Instagramize. I’m certainly not one with a trained eye in this regard (my wife is the artist), but I couldn’t help looking through framing and filtering options, trying to decide if Amaro or Hefe or Kelvin was just the right look for a given image. I’ve found the platform to be a great way to connect with friends and those from professional circles alike.

So, as we move to a more visual web, it’s also reminder not to be stagnant. The social media landscape is quickly changing and evolving. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn may be the primary three platforms for many individuals and organizations, but opportunities may be lost for those who think those are the end game. Take time to dabble and experiment. You might be pleasantly surprised with how a new platform can connect you with your audience.

What trends are you seeing with the evolving visual web and social media? What new platforms or apps have you started experimenting with? What are the lessons for organizations as they seek to connect with and inform their employees, customers, and members?

Digital East in Less Than 180 Seconds

I present to you “Digital East in Less Than 180 Seconds”: the best of the notes, quotes, tweets, and posts from Digital East 2012. I have organized these topically rather than by session or chronologically. I have put in bold ones that are my personal favorites or resonated with me in some way. May the content below inform and inspire you to more and better in the digital space!

Facebook

• Facebook ads outperform Google ads and are much cheaper.
• 99% of sales on Facebook are from Facebook users who see ad but don’t interact with it. Brad Smallwood
• 54% of Facebook traffic comes from mobile.
• Brand pages reach only 16% of fans each week on average.
• 65% of consumer engagement across Facebook is on timeline; 29% in newsfeed, 6% in ticker.
• Photos and videos drive most engagement on Facebook’s top 10 brand pages.
• Facebook posts that include photos are 180% more effective than text posts.
• Videos posted on Facebook are 12x more likely to be shared than links + texts combined.
• Users spend 432 minutes/month on Facebook.
• Fastest growing Facebook segment is women 55+. Have doubts? See @AARP‘s Facebook page. 

Social Media

• Shark Week: 20 million viewers; 1.6 million tweets; 35% of cable TV social conversations about Shark Week.
• The heart of everything you share on a social network is a story.
• There is marketer and audience. But we are all slaves to third party platforms we use.
• Engage your customers before you meet them.
• LinkedIn is an oft missed social property for brands; you already have a presence – use it.
• It takes 2 secs to create a channel; takes a lot longer to create a community.
• Ad dollars are moving online at a record pace- to display, video, mobile, social. Digital would outspend TV by 2016.
• Social networks reach 82% of the online population.
• Two types of social media: bridging (people not like you) and bonding (people like you).
• Must-read social media books from @gbyehuda: Connected, The Shallows, True Enough, Cognitive Surplus, Reality is Fun
• We talk a lot about listening & engagement but people still want to listen primarily for compliments.
• @devonvsmith‘s Twitter tools to check out: Crowdbooster, FollowerWonk, Topsy, Rowfeeder.
• What to share on social? 10% direct promos, 30% links to company content, 60% links to 3rd party content .
• The social web is about communities of interest.
• Google+ is driving engagement… but not traffic. Important for another reason.
• Pinterest generates more clicks than LinkedIn, Google+, StumbleUpon and Twitter.
• Make everyone part of the social media team. Increases buy-in and brings new ideas to the table.
• PBS has a 1x/wk social strategy meeting that includes anyone who has an interest in social.
• Empower your staff to become your brand. People want to follow people, not organizations.

Images/Video/Audio

• Convey the significance of numbers with visuals.
• 90% of information transmitted to brain is visual. YouTube & Pinterest are platforms leveraging this statistic.
• Storify makes anyone a journalist; Instagram makes anyone a photographer. Users will be creative w/ your content.
• An Instagram is worth a thousand tweets.
• Turn quotes into images and use them on Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr.
• 40% of top brands have Instagram.
•  Approach every campaign by thinking about how it can be represented visually and in graphics.
• Video infographics are the immediate future of video marketing.
• 20% of online video views click away from a video in the first 10 seconds or less.
• People watch 12-14 minutes of live streaming vs. 2-3 on an archived platform (like YouTube).
• #1 reason to stream live media: to amplify a brand event.
• Facebook uses live streaming to connect w/ users who can’t be there. 1500 present, 450000 online.
• There is a tremendous opportunity in digital audio. Saves time. Think podcasts.
• Mobile photo apps can do 90% of what Photoshop can do.
• Visual marketing is the trend. Infographics rule.

Mobile

• 70% of desktop searches lead to transactions within a month. 70% of mobile searches lead to transactions within a day.
• 64% of mobile time is spent in apps.

Fundraising

• Simple thank you emails without ask for donation brought higher-than-average end-of-year donations for Nature Conservancy.

Word of mouth

• 80% of all purchase cycles involve some form of word of mouth recommendation.

Content

• Content strategy must be rich, repurpose, recycle. Write once; use many.
• Sweet spot for valuable content: Intersection of your goals w/ your customers’ interests & pain points.

For more from Digital East check out “Top 10 #DEast12 Tweets We Absolutely *Love*” from Ruiz McPherson Communications and the Storify “Digital East 2012: The 10 Best Things I Learned” by Dan Oshinsky of StryUs.

What would you add to this list? What are your key takeaways? What other Digital East 2012 blog posts or links to presentations have you gotten additional insights from? (Feel free to provide links below.)

I’d also like to thank Casey Higgins, Michael Murray, Leigh George, Scott Shepherd, Joseph Olesh, Philip Luca, Chris Brooks, Merge, Timberlake, Razoo, Extole, Amy Bridges, Yvette McKechnie, Angela Brown, David Plotz, A.K. Strout, Todd Thurman, Devon Smith, Mick Winters, Heather Kuldell, Melissa Makfinsky, Susan Cato, Allison Wallace, Kevin Dando, Christie Michalec, and so many others who made it fun and interesting and for their tweets, presentations, comments, and contributions to my understanding.