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Twitter can be a lot of things to a lot of different people. One way I use it is to get articles delivered to me from RSS feeds I might not absolutely have to read every day (I’ve got Google Reader for that). One cool service I’ve recently discovered is Paper.li. Paper.li lets you create a virtual Twitter newspaper, collecting the content from an account, a hashtag, or list. The site compiles the information that floats by all day and presents it in a format that is readable and might call attention to some of the stuff you missed throughout the day.
I’ve created a version from the W5 twitter feed and it’s an easy way to browse all the stuff I miss during the day.
All of the great stuff from Old Spice got me whistling…
The past week has been all about one athlete and his personal brand. As Lebron James gets ready to host a one hour special on ESPN to announce where he’ll sign, it’s perhaps more interesting to look at two other athletes who have taken different, more understated approaches to their personal brands.
First, Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder avoids the spotlight in signing an extension to remain with the smallest market NBA team. Heannounces his new deal via Twitter. The second example is Mariano Rivera becoming a model for Canali. Both have gone about their brands in an understated way, allowing their play on the field to be the most vocal aspect of their brands. While neither is matching LeBron in terms of outside endorsements, they’re not getting the venom of late.
In the past week, LeBron has gone from a likable athlete to being described as the villain. Why? Because he’s made it less and less about winning and more and more about his brand. Brand building and promotion are fine, but if you don’t do your job (in Lebron’s case win championships) there’s a backlash. He’s now in a position where he will have a hard time repairing his image. If he goes to Miami, he’ll be expected to win every year. If he goes to New York, New Jersey, or Chicago he’ll be seen as jilting poor Cleveland and chasing money. If he stays in Cleveland people will call him an ego maniac who just wanted to world to watch him for a while. Whatever happens, the expectations for King James may be unattainable.
The best thing a brand can do? Let the quality of your product do the talking and promote that.
We see a lot of data and present it in a lot of different ways, so when someone is out there analyzing the analysis it brings out the research geek. I tripped across Junk Charts today, a site dedicated to highlighting some of the worst in infographics. You can also follow the site on twitter, here.
This has been making the rounds, but it offers a very nice overview of how government works. If Schoolhouse Rock didn’t give you enough detail, this infographic from Good should help.
Thanks to the creator, Mike Wirth, for a link to the updated version found here (and below).
A little while back Tom wrote about Kickstarter, the site where people ask strangers to fund their projects. Today I tripped across Fiverr, a website where you can purchase services from strangers for $5. What can you really get for $5 you ask? It turns out you can get a wide variety of things, including:
- Someone to post fliers for you around their college campus
- Astrological readings
- Transcription Services
- Custom created birthday cards
- Voiceovers
- Advice
- Exposure for your website
While much of it is silly, it’s a sign of how the web creates personalized products and services, micro-services if you will. While $5 might not seem like much, if someone can perform a $5 task several times in an hour or leverage the power of their own social network to advertise over and over again, they might make a little bit of extra money. More importantly, services like this and Kickstarter continue to lower the time and money investment needed to start something new.
I’ve been hearing and seeing a lot of advertising lately that is attempting to be green or to connect with consumers via social media or create community. Too often, my response has been “REALLY?” The idea is somewhat sound… give consumers what they want and like to get them more involved with your brand. Create some love. I get it. The problem is the execution.
Today on my way in, I heard a radio spot for a body groomer for men. The ad highlighted two things: 1) the company will plant a tree for each unit sold and 2) you can go to their website to create an avatar, a virtual shaved you. Honestly, what’s the point? They have a series of humorous videos to both explain the product benefits and drive interest, that makes sense to me. But the social/green aspect feels out of place.
First, if your brand wants to go green, that’s great. But don’t greenwash. If you go green it needs to be related to your product. So if you plant trees but still use toxic chemicals or kill indigenous plants and birds to make your stuff, that’s no good. How could a body shaver go green? Maybe they could make the product more energy efficient or use a high percentage of recycled plastic in making it. Those would both be relevant. Otherwise, don’t bother.
Second, not every product needs or deserves a community. Using a viral video to highlight benefits, drive interest, etc. makes sense. If it’s cheap and you think it will have any impact, do it. The problem is do I really want to be in a community for a product like this? Do I need an avatar just for me? Does any guy really talk to their friends (or strangers for that matter) about grooming and how they look? The answer is not really. So while you might think it’s great for your customers to talk to each other about your product or brand, you still need to understand if they’re actually going to do it.
I’ll give some brands like this credit though. They provided a few how-to videos to let guys escape embarrassment and learn about new ways of using the product on their own.
Green and social were new and interesting and have become “expected.” However, as with anything else in life, they’re only worth doing if you do them well.”
