I’m increasingly becoming a fan of Jeremiah Owyang.  One of his recent reports at Forrester is Online Communities: Build or Join? With the increasing desire by brands to “go social,” it seems many frequently rush to judgment and build their own community without recognizing there are many vibrant, enthusiastic communities already out there. By “joining” instead of “building” it can save them a TON of time and money. But for some brands it might not be build “or” join…it might be build “and” join.

My reaction to the new MorphMonkey marketing campaign on Facebook is… well awkward. It just makes me feel a little uncomfortable. Yet that’s the point.

A press release from the American Social Health Association explains the campaign:

“In an unusual creative move, a team at Duval Guillaume (DG) has agreed to spread an infectious disease by working with the American Social Health Association (ASHA). The aim is to… highlight the dangers of Chlamydia to young people during April, which is STD Awareness Month. …(The team) devised a Facebook application called MorphMonkey in which users are invited to “make a love child” by morphing pictures of their own faces with that of their friends.

The humor then takes a different turn. The infected user is notified that they have caught the infection from their friend and is prompted to discover more on the ASHA website: www.ashastd.org. The message is “Spread it here so we can beat it here”, according to all involved with the program.”

I learned about this new application from a post on TechCrunch. I find the comments below the post interesting to get the social buzz. The campaign is quite edgy in that the MorphMonkey application page on Facebook makes no mention of Chlamydia. Essentially participants… dare I say it… get caught with their pants down.

Here’s the MorphMonkey application page on Facebook.

Whether it’s Google’s fault or not, the web is getting smarter. The technology itself is moving toward a place where it understands more about who you are as a user, and what it’s showing you inside of your browser. Years from now these developments will have a profound effect on web experience for users, and it will have a profound effect on the economics of online influence for marketers. What will it all look like?

Search becomes Artificial Intelligence. Right now, search engines merely seek to show you something relevant to the keywords you typed in based on much-guarded, mysterious, and ever-changing algorithms. But these algorithms are limited because they are based on keywords, and as even Shakespeare lamented, words have their limitations. As the semantic web becomes a reality, search engine technology will break free of words and actually gain an essential understanding of what web pages ARE - beyond the words on them. This will make search engines more like a search “brain”, which will be able to synthesize the web to meet your needs - once it understands what those needs are.

Your identity unlocks your web. But even if next-generation search engines understand the web better than ever before, the understanding of what you need is still limited to the keywords you input, right? Well, there are big changes there as well. OpenID is the movement to unlock your identity from the websites where it is most established (think LinkedIn, Facebook, or MySpace profiles) and make it portable, such that when you arrive at a new website it will be able to know who you are. This goes beyond solving the inconvenience of managing a multitude of login profiles - it means that websites could understand your interests, your web usage, your shopping habits (provided you let them). The implications are sweeping. The web can then unfold itself to you in a way that it doesn’t for anyone else, and the gatekeepers for making that happen will be the next-generation search engine. Google and others will eventually know you, and know the web, such that it might at times seem as if it is reading your mind.

The web as one big social network. If you unlock your identity from any specific website, it follows that you will also be able to unlock your social connections in the same way. An unlocked set of connections that you have to other people is often referred to as your “social graph.” You may be thinking how nice it will be that you won’t have to put all that work in to “friend” people as much, you’ll only have to do it once and then you can take it with you. Actually, the way that is done will change too. Friending will cease to be the main means of establishing your social graph. You see, the communication technology you are using (for older folks it is email, for younger folks it is IM and texting) is listening. It’s learning who you communicate with and how often, and about the length and nature of that communication. It knows more about your true social graph than you probably do, and in the future it will be able to make that graph portable and attach it to your now-portable identity. Signs of this happening are already evident. Google’s OpenSocial platform and Social Graph API are great indicators.

The web experience in 2015 will be one where you take your identity and your network with you, and semantic search engines and websites will respond (if you let them) by showing you where your friends are and what content most meets your needs.

How does this affect online influence and marketing? Some of that is already being explored by the folks who are dealing with marketing in the insulated social networking environments that exist today. The successes and failures there are being well documented and adding to professional understanding of best and worst practices, so I won’t try to cover that ground here.

The key thing to understand about this 2015 vision is that in the future social networks won’t be a side attraction to the main flow of information on the Internet - they will be the Internet. Those who explore and begin to understand the dynamics of that new environment by playing in it today will be well-positioned to lead, while others may be left behind.

Roger von Oech’s classic “A Whack on the Side of the Head” just turned 25. I used this book a lot in college and at my first agency job. We’d do a few of the exercise to kick start our creative sessions. This led to numerous fresh ideas.

The 25th Anniversary Edition of this creative classic has just been released. It is updated and features many new exercises, puzzles and more. There’s a good interview with von Oech at Guy Kawasaki’s blog on Sun’s SMB site.

Check out Roger von Oech’s Creative Think blog. My favorite part is his online creative whack. Just click on Roger’s photo at the top of the page and a new creative exercise comes up. A few of my favorites include Avoid Arrogance, Imagine You’re the Idea and Slay a Dragon.

Whether you’re working on an online community, creating original content or writing for a blog – these brain teasers will help you stay on your creative toes.

“Brand Building 2.0” is the manner marketers use to effectively reach and relate to their audience in today’s world. This method employs more than just digital media, such as the Internet and mobile devices. It requires consumer empowerment. This was the topic at last week’s ANA Conference at the Hard Rock Café Times Square in New York.

Presentations were made by such respected brands as American Express, P&G and Ford. Of these, Claire Bennett’s discussion on “How new media has enhanced the American Express brand” was the most compelling. “It takes risk” was her summation about creating online marketing programs. Courage was the word she pin-pointed as the important take away.

It also takes time, explained Bennett. Her experience has shown that program ROI can not be realistically expected in the first year. A web site needs an opportunity to build momentum through trial and error, refinement, cross media promotion and WOMM. American Express strives to create marketing programs that “surprise and delight.” AMEX had only two such web sites in 2004, but now has eight successful ones, including MembersKnow and OpenForum.

The most interesting presentation at the conference was made by Tony Hsieh. He is the CEO of Zappos “a service company that happens to sell shoes.” The business is steadfastly focused on culture and service. The vast majority of their marketing budget goes into improving the customer experience. This includes stocking millions of shoes in their warehouse, providing exceptional and untimed call center support and surprise overnight shipping upgrades. Items not normally found in a marketing mix.

The goal is to create as many “wow moments” as possible. This creates loyalty and referral business. The approach is working. Zappos was started in 1999 and is expected to achieve over a billion in sales this year.

The Zappos culture is shaped by passion, fun, values and humility. Their core values are published on their web site. And a Zappos Culture Book is published each year featuring entries by all employees of the company – even negative comments. This radical transparency and humility seems present throughout Zappos.

I find the Zappos brand refreshing and empowering – so much so that I placed an order at Zappos this morning. In addition to the cool Paul Frank monkey shirt I bought for my son, I ordered the Zappos 2007 Culture Book. I paid $15 for it despite the fact that Tony Hsieh said he would send me one free if I emailed him. I just felt compelled to support the Zappos brand, culture and employees. Now that’s brand innovation.

Flight cancellations from American Airlines created a lot of news coverage and consumer angst this week. The result of wiring problems on MD-80 airplanes, this situation got me thinking about how the involved communications teams are responding.
Are they holding cards close to the vest or communicating openly?
Are they leveraging the Internet and social media?
How are consumers reacting online?
 
American Airlines’ customers have been highly inconvenienced, with over 2500 flights cancelled. Their home page had a single line: “ADVISORY: AIRCRAFT INSPECTIONS AFFECT SOME AA TRAVEL.” This linked to a simple page of text summarizing the situation. It was not all that helpful.
 
American Airlines’ chairman Gerard Arpey’s press conference today is already up on YouTube (uploaded by a consumer, not American Airlines). In the video, he personally accepts responsibility and apologizes for the problems. Other videos tagged with “American Airlines” posted on YouTube.com this week have been viewed over 20,000 times.

In the blogosphere, Greta van Susteren’s post on the subject has created a good amount of consumer conversation with nearly 50 responses since 11am this morning.

These events show how consumer conversations take place in real time online. Communication professionals need to account for this in crisis communications plans. We need to monitor, analyze and interact with the blogosphere and UGC communities before, during and after such events.
 
As advisors in social media, we have a responsibility to encourage and facilitate a more open conversation in the market. This is even more important in difficult times.

If you were a consumer (and you are) - would you like your marketing? Would you want it done to you? Your family and friends? I’ve been in marketing for nearly 17 years and have found myself (unfortunately) on more than one occasion hypocritically applying a double standard. “I don’t want that product’s marketing noise in my inbox/mailbox/living room…but hey, when it comes to my stuff I’m sure they want what I’ve got. I’ve just got to tell them. Often.” BTW, I’m doing my best to stop that. And I am DEFINITELY not alone in my remorse. See this. And this. And this.

The great thing is that “new” marketing (done right) makes it easier than ever to treat others as you’d like to be treated. And in many ways it’s easier to mea culpa for mistakes. Because we’re all going to make them. And we should, because we should be trying new things all the time – just like Einstein said.

So next time you’re about to launch that new campaign or initiative, remember the Golden Rule.

Social marketing, as a realm that many brands are just starting to explore, is bound to feature many missteps as we learn what to do and what not to do. Nothing is more educational than failure, and just to make sure that failure isn’t you it’s a great idea to watch and learn from what other people are trying.

This was the theme of a recent panel discussion at South by Southwest Interactive here in Austin. Social marketing specialists from across the nation gathered to discuss, and have the audience vote, on the worst social media campaigns of the past year. Offenders ranged from Molson to Rudy Giuliani, and the awards had over 20 nominees.

The important thing was not who was the worst or what the particular offenses were (most of them have been removed from the web already), but why the efforts were failures. After listening to the nominees I believe that the mistakes break down into five areas - the five lessons of social marketing disaster:

1. Don’t be a brand control freak

Nothing panics you faster as a brand manager than someone else requisitioning your carefully crafted brand image and completely recasting on the web. The first impulse is to call the legal department, but unfortunately that will just make it worse. Once your brand image has become part of the social world it no longer belongs to you, and rather than fighting against the way someone might mash it up you have to look for positive opportunities to ride that wave of free, participatory marketing.

2. Be transparent

Many of the most damaging things brand did to themselves among the cases reviewed had to do with secretive behavior. Blogs, Facebook groups, or Youtube videos that pretend to be consumer-driven but have corporate marketing dollars behind them are exposed 99% of the time, and they can be extremely difficult to recover from once the resulting online revolt begins. If you pay for something, make sure it’s clear you did so, and make sure you expose as much about what you are doing behind the scenes as you can. The more open you can be, the better.

3. Don’t enter the objectivity zones

There are places on the social web where marketers marketing aren’t welcome, under any circumstances. Just as in the offline world, there are outlets that pride themselves on their objectivity, and these communities often police themselves very effectively. Most of these areas are open and participatory in nature, so they can be a temptation to individual marketers. Wikipedia is one such destination. Entries in Wikipedia that contain bias are quickly exposed and rolled back to previous versions, and if it’s discovered that a corporate marketer was involved it is likely that the effort will be publicized and panned on the open web. Know the landscape.

4. Stick with it

The word “campaign” can be a bad word in the world of social marketing. A campaign by its very definition has a time limit, and when a social marketing “program” launches it needs to have a minimum lifetime that matches the scope of the audience it is reaching. A successfully established social environment will weave itself into the fabric of its users’ lives, so if it is jerked away or cut off prematurely it can leave them disenchanted. That also severs a valuable connection for you. The best way to approach a new program is to make an ample commitment and leave yourself an option to continue it indefinitely. Hopefully you’ll have the opportunity to take that option.

5. Don’t ignore it

In the featured examples there were 20 or so brands that tried, and failed, at a social marketing effort. They were guilty of doing it wrong, but there are hundreds if not thousands of brands guilty of not doing it at all. At the very minimum you should be listening to what the social web is saying about you. At this point, you should probably also be planning a foray to get you into the mix - you can be assured that your competitors likely are. The sooner you start the more you begin understanding the vagaries of how the social web works within your category, your brand, and you can start building a conversation with your customers. That learning, and that conversation, is invaluable.

(Photo Credit: Bonnie Martin)

The South by Southwest Interactive festival is starting up in Austin today and continuing for the next few days, with a host of keynotes and panels that will appeal to web designers, developers, and businesspeople alike.

Powered will be rolling out some folks that fit in all of those various categories to attend the proceedings, but here are just a few good panel picks just for marketers relevant to the social space. Keep in mind that they are producing audio recordings of every keynote and panel, and these will be available after it’s all over.

The Suxorz: The Worst Ten Social Media Campaigns of 2007 - 3.8 @ 11:30
Likely to serve up some valuable lessons in terms of what not to do

The Art of Speed: Conversations with Monster Makers - 3.8 @ 3:30
A take on viral and social marketing from web pioneers

Social Marketing Strategies Metrics: Where Are They? - 3.8 @ 5:00
Marketing thought leaders get “real” when it comes to investing in social initiatives

Social Strategies for Revolutionaries - 3.9 @ 11:30
“You’ll need to combine a radical’s spirit with a strategic framework to get your company to act.”

Sunday Keynote Speaker - Mark Zuckerberg - 3.9 @ 2:00
This young CEO and his company Facebook are challenging for social dominance

Social Networking and Your Brand - 3.10 @ 11:30
Understanding this relationship has been the genesis of social commerce