Jon Samsel

As I have stated in previous posts, for a company to be successful online and to grow its brand in a calculated and constructive way, executives and marketing managers must develop a proactive strategy that directly influences and impacts who, what, where and why branded content results are FOUND–whenever, wherever, and however social publishing is performed.

Yeah, that’s a mouthful!

Successful online branding, especially via social networks, may require a company to consider a range of possible tactical approaches, including:

• Social media publishing, syndication, outreach, monitoring, and measurement activities
• Embracing a multichannel marketing approach that includes both paid marketing (search, display, email, mobile, etc) and well as emerging marketing activities (social-search, SEO, blogging, etc)
• Partnering and experimenting with pilot programs in a way that frees up proprietary content & data, empowers employees & customers, plus supports open networking & really simple integration

Even if you actively participate in all of the above activities, you still need to be part of the social conversation. And the rub is–many of these online communities don’t want you there. That is, unless you have something of value to offer–and you can do this is an honest, straightforward, and transparent way.

If I were a brand manager ‘worried’ about social markets diluting my brand, I would hunker down in my boardroom with some of the best and brightest staff (along with an many agencies & consultant that I could muster together in a room) and figure out the best way to leverage this ‘loss of control’ and morph it into an opportunity to ‘influence & expand’ my brand reach. The way I look at it, if your product or service is solid and your efforts to become part of the community are sincere and of value to others, I can’t see why the social web wouldn’t benefit your customers, your staff, your investors, and your company.

Your brand is a living, breathing example of your value proposition in action. Your challenge is to determine how best to humanize your brand and become accepted as a trusted community partner–while encouraging the masses (your customers & your constituents) to be constructive advocates for the brands they are passionate about.

Most companies I know use a handful of different tools (free and paid) to measure, monitor, and influence their social media efforts. The reason being:

1. Companies looking to monitor the social web each have their own unique budgetary constraints
2. Most firms have varying levels of internal staff skill sets
3. No one social monitoring tool does it all

When I think of social monitoring and analysis tools, here is my wish list of top 7 features:

1. Analysis of the external social web + unique website characteristics
2. Multiple, real-time query & filtering abilities
3. Site, sentiment, and SEO analysis
4. Trending, charts/graphs, save & export functionality
5. Theming, grouping, or targeting around a topic/category
6. Competitive & influencer analysis
7. Ability to share, mix, or compare with external data feeds

That said, here is a short list of social tool providers:

http://www.converseon.com
http://www.ecairn.com
http://www.scoutlabs.com
http://www.radian6.com
http://www.techrigy.com
http://www.nielsen.com
http://www.trendrr.com
http://www.overtone.com
http://www.cymfony.com
http://www.heardable.com

I also recommend these tools that monitor site traffic, demographics, and SEO best practices:

http://www.websitegrader.com
http://www.compete.com
http://www.quantcast.com
http://www.conductor.com

Note: According to social media pro, Gunther Sonnenfeld, Ecairn was recently was recently rated by several top creative marketing agencies to be the most detailed and comprehensive social platform on the market.

“Ecairn’s phrase mining capabilities are superior and they have the best ‘market searching’ tools,” claims Gunther. “The simplest way to explain this is that platforms like Radian6 and Scout can keep track of brands, but they cannot easily deep mine conversations that may or may not be endemic to those brands. Ecairn’s engine thinks categorically, not just topically or according to brand sentiment.”

Do you know about a quality social web monitoring tool or service that I didn’t mention above? Drop me a line and let me know about them and I will add them to my list! Or, if you represent one of the companies above, pitch the benefits of your platform by responding to my post. I really would like everyone to have a chance to make their voice be heard.

I’d like to answer my own question by first making two cautionary statements: 1) Ghostwriters are hired hands, 2) A brand is a terrible thing to waste.

That said, I think a company runs a huge risk outsourcing their social media activities to an outside microblogging service unless that ‘ghost-brander’ has some skin in the game. As hired hands, a ghostwriter can make a mistake, be fired, and move on to her next gig while the brand must suffer through the blunder, repair the damage inflicted, and then control the negative impact of the snafu’s aftermath.

If you are a marketer at the helm of a large brand, I would urge you to think twice about the quality of the ghostblogger (is this an individual, a social media agency, etc.) and what type of training and recourse you may have in the event an unforeseen error occurs, or word gets out that your brand may not be as ‘authentic’ online as the corporate brand promise pontificates.

In the book, “The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding,” the authors state that the most important aspect of a brand is its single-mindedness. They tell how most great brands possess a singularity of focus, a clarity of message. Playskool has done it with safety; Armani with class; Apple with “hipness.” The authors caution that the easiest way to destroy a brand is to put its name on everything. Diversification, they argue, can lead to a weakening of a brand’s quality, a drop in top-of-mind awareness, and more.

The gold rush of brands to quickly embrace social media–either to begin listening, to engage and solve, or to get heard–can lead to some pretty poor decisions that could cost your brand dearly in the long run.

Many firms are experimenting with social media by looking at it as an extension of their internal marketing department’s duties. Some have already found great success by promoting social advocacy as an extension of an employee’s job function–training and empowering certain staff to become the living, breathing, extension of their brand’s value proposition (the face of the brand). Ford’s social media advocate, Scott Monty, comes to mind. Another is Tom Dickson the CEO of Blendtec–who can ignore his “Will It Blend” series on YouTube? Then there is Frank Eliason, the man behind @comcastcares on Twitter. Consumers seem to value the sincerity of the brand voice and in most instances, press accolades confirm what everyone feels–this activity makes sense and is good for both the consumer and the brand.

Alternative social media outreach initiatives that many companies opt for instead resemble classic outsourcing models which utilize external creative agencies, social microblogging, and even ongoing monitoring services to represent brands on sites like Twitter, Posterous, Squidoo, Facebook, YouTube, and the like. With the ‘right’ brand partner, extensive training, a tight service level agreement, and close oversight and direction by internal marketing staff, brands can have success embracing ‘ghostbranding.’

The rub comes when a consumer asks questions such as: “With whom am I speaking to? Are you a company employee or a hired hand?” How this questions is answered is critical. An honest answer clarifying that no, this is not an actual brand employee may turn off a portion of your followers and perhaps generate some bad press. A dishonest answer could cause much greater harm if the truth ever gets out, which will surely have a negative impact on your followers and your brand image–likely resulting in a press feeding frenzy to shame your brand into an apology.

I don’t believe most consumers care whether they are having conversations with a ghostwriter or a company employee as long as the dialog with the brand is honest, timely, helpful, useful, consistent, straightforward, and as transparent as possible.

I don’t advise brands to utilize ghostwriters for social services such as Twitter, especially if you are a popular, well-established brand with the wherewithal to develop an internal social media outreach strategy involving real, authentic employees. If, on the other hand, you have tried to launch an internal social outreach program to no avail, or if you are a small, emerging brand with less to risk, partnering with a capable third-party to properly represent your brand on social networks is entirely feasible.

Suffice it to say that the risk of not participating in the social web at all far outweighs the risk that something may go wrong in your attempts to engage in meaningful social conversations.

So you have a wonderful idea for a new interactive game. How do you transform that raw idea into a fully finished product? Writers, designers, programmers, content experts, and project managers usually start by creating a written document that describes the project in detail–as a way to sell the concept to investors, producers, and distributors.

This document can take the form of a proposal, an elaborate treatment, a complete design document, or even a screenplay. Design proposals, in particular, allow each member of the financial, development, creative, and marketing teams to review the idea, its characters, its settings, its game play and its potential marketability prior to investing hundreds of thousands of dollars and several years to produce. A written document may also serve to demonstrate your ability to produce a concept.

Here are the basic elements that make up an interactive design proposal:

1. Story summary
2. Character descriptions
3. Interactive design structure
4. Viewing matrix
5. Sample screenplay pages
6. Technical specifications
7. Creative team bios
8. Production timetable
9. Marketing plan
10. Budget and/or Profitability forecast

Here is a sample story summary for “Subterfuge,” an interactive sci-fi series created by author, Darryl Wimberley.

SUBTERFUGE

The Premise

It is the year 2139, an age of transitional technologies, of rapid advances in cyberspace and near space, in biogenics and nanotechnology. But technology never brings Utopia in its wake and human nature remains the same. The streets of New Las Vegas are as familiar to us as The Strip of today. And JAKE STRYKER, our lead protagonist, is familiar too.

The interactive series will weave Jake’s active story from his alcoholic beginnings in orbit above a suffocating Earth to his salvation beside Saturn’s rings. The Solar System is Stryker’s beat. But even that place, large as it is, is no larger than the human heart.

The Period and Place

The interactive episodic series takes place in the year 2139. The action ranges from a man-made station near Jupiter to the series’ primary location in the red-light district of New Las Vegas. There are no gimmicks here. Jake can’t warp-drive to distant galaxies. He can’t beam himself out of jeopardy. There are no force fields in Jake’s world which can deflect a handy shotgun. It’s not that people have given up on these ideas, of course. In fact, the opening script features a power-hungry man in a global corporation who puts big bucks on the line to make a futuristic technology possible.

But Jake isn’t much impressed. Stryker feels a strong sense of nostalgia for the old vices—Cigarettes. Hamburgers and fries. Whiskey straight from a bottle. And, no thank you, an hour of cybersex just isn’t the same as the real thing.

Story Summary

The opening episode for this interactive series introduces JAKE STRYKER, a one-time rocket jock no become an alcoholic with a dead end job loading cargo and contraband on a space station falling apart at the seams. The brutal murder of Jake’s lover and one-time partner, SANDY AIMES, brings Jake quite literally down to Earth. Sandy’s reputation is sullied in death, her murder being claimed by authorities to have resulted from Sandy’s involvement in a criminal consortium stealing nuclear-fusion technology from TERRA-SOL, Inc., based in New Las Vegas.

Jake doesn’t believe for a moment that his one-time love would steal a dime from anyone. He cannot abide the notion that Sandy’s killers are of no concern to the Cops on Earth sooo….Jake quits his job, grabs his last hundred credits, his antediluvian .45 automatic handgun and drops to Earth. Reaching New Las Vegas, Jake teams up with an illegal android, ROLO DEX, and a shady casino owner, BELISE SHAFFRON, to redeem sandy’s good name. In the process, he unearths a major corporate scandal and a host of bad guys on a home planet which, in the 22nd Century, is reaching a social and ecological crisis. Jake does find Sandy’s killer and in the course of saving her reputation finds redemption himself.

To read part one of this article, click here.

As I stated in my previous post, every article writer can use a helping hand now and then to come up with ideas for an article. An external stimulus, for example, can often jump start the creative process.

Here are another twenty tips to ponder when you’re searching for new article ideas:

21. The characteristics of a geographic area. This is similar to that of creating an article based on a place, but with a larger area in mind. Examples: “The Charm of Living in Aspen,” “Basking the Beaches of Ibiza,” “Cape Hatteras: Graveyard of the Atlantic.” Consider or study various geographic areas. When you travel in a new geographic area, be thinking of possible articles at all times; they are all around you.

22. A key historical figure from the past. Examples are “The Staggering Achievements of Benjamin Franklin,” “Billionaire Businessman Howard Hughes,” and “Dreaming in Color: Josephine Baker.”

23. Various statements of command. You see these commands daily on billboards, in magazines, greeting cards, newspapers, and many other places. The ‘‘you’’ (meaning whoever reads the command) is implied in each one. Examples of command statements: “Hang in there,” “Brace for unrest,” “Keep your chin up,” “Make someone happy,” and “Go out and make it a great day.”

24. A saying or proverb. Here is an example: “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link,” or “Put your best foot forward.”

25. An angle on how to do something. Example: “Professional Sales Presentations with PowerPoint,” “Eliminate Foggy Bathroom Mirrors Using Shaving Cream,” “Increase Your IQ Through Music.”

26. A title. You can easily prove this to yourself by glancing over titles of various published articles. Some may suggest variations for new articles. In other words, the title of an article can lead a writer to see other possible titles and thus eventual articles. Example: “How Washington Wastes Your Tax Money.” This title might lead to articles on how people waste time or how the natural resources of a nation are wasted.

27. A basic truth. Here is an example: There is an old, popular saying that “truth is stranger than fiction.” Events that occur in real life are often stranger, more curious, and more incredible than the stuff of fiction. Example” “Man Shot For Making Noise During Movie.”

28. A specific personality or celebrity in mind (alive or deceased). Examples: “Brad Pitt: Myth in the Making,” “Elvis Presley Predicted He Would Die Young,” “Heather Graham Boogies Her Way to Stardom.”

29. A cliché or overused expression. Clichés should be avoided within the article itself, but may hold the seed of a possible thought or phrase that could lead to a new article. Example clichés: “When the cows come home,” “You eat like a pig,” “Happy camper,” and ”Cheer up, it’s not the end of the world.”

30. The signs of the zodiac. Each sign may yield several possible articles. Examples: “10 Ways to Catch a Leo Soulmate,” “My Sister, the Libra.”

31. Patriotism (an individual’s, a group’s, or a nation’s). Thinking about patriotism in general can lead to a variety of articles. Example: “The Sleeping Soldier at Arlington.”

32. The tool of curiosity. Everyone is curious about something. You have only to decide what you think might wet the appetite of your readers. Be guided by what you find curious. Examples: “What Will Colonies On Mars Be Like?” and “Why Dogs Chase Their Tails.”

33. Some aspect of change and its effects. One way to get started is to list the changes ahead in the next century, then think about the effects of those changes, and what people can do to be ready for them. Examples: “Social Media Divas Starts Twitter Cat Fight,” “The Vanishing Garage Inventor,” “Realdolls: Wives of Tomorrow?”

34. A special promise or appeal to the reader. Simply ask yourself what kind of article readers would find appealing. What articles hold promise of being an extra-good read? Examples: “The Road To Success In Affiliate Marketing,” “Swimming Pool Landscaping: Secrets To Success,” “Nine Green Gift Ideas for Christmas,” and “A Slimmer You in Thirty Days.”

35. A key contemporary person (someone in the news daily). Suri Cruise. Sarah Palin. Daniel Craig. Barak Obama. Victoria Beckham. Plenty of examples can be found on TheDrudgeReport.com, TMZ.com, or Politico.com.

36. A dream or a nightmare. Keep a journal next to your bed and keep a record or your nighttime visions. A few of them might spark article ideas. Examples: “Monsters in the Closet and Other Childhood Fears,” “The Strangest Sleep Disorders,” and “The Boogeyman is Real and He Lives on the Web.”

37. One of the major professions. Articles about doctors, lawyers, teachers and clergymen can be quite effective. Example: “Do Doctors Have the Right to Play God?”

38. Common, everyday things. Examples: “Eight Proven Ways to Save Money,” or “Relieve a Sore Throat in Five Minutes or Less.”

39. Historical, economic, political, cultural, or military influences affecting a nation. Examples: “The Ultimate Defense: The Case for a National Missile Defense System,” or “Will a Fierce Battle Over Gay Rights Split the Anglican Church?”

40. The answer to a question. An example is “Why Clocks Tick Clockwise,” or “The Coldest City in America May Surprise You.”

You may want to read over this list of suggestions for jumpstarting ideas for articles from time to time. As a writing exercise, select one of the suggested 40 topics and write a practice article. The process of writing will surely trigger other new ideas for articles.

To read part one of this article, click here.