Using Buffer to Preschedule Tweets

I am staring to use buffer app to preschedule some tweets.  I have sync’d MOZ with buffer so that it will post my tweets at the exact times throughout the day that my followers are most active.  Sounds pretty great, huh?

There are two questions that this leads me to contemplate.

1. How do we trust in machines to perform better then we can?  We are all already part cyborgs (iphones) and comfortable with machines (vending or mHealth ) however, social media seems too intimate to trust to a computer, right?  However, if an app can make my personalized messages resonate to their max, it seems foolish to not utilize technology to assist in my posting.

2. Now we enter the more interesting question of the “tragedy of the commons”.  If everyone uses the buffer app, it stops becoming useful.  This scenario is very unlikely, but if social media becomes networks of bots talking to other bots, doesn’t that defeat the purpose of using it to begin with?  A more realistic scenario would be that after a certain number of followers use buffer and optimize post times, then you will be technically posting at non optimal times due to systematic error.

The solution I settled on was to use buffer to post key pieces of curated and original content at agreed upon peak times ( morning, lunch, getting off work ), and then still actually manning my twitter handle for engaged conversations.  I am not sure how long I will use this app, but I have become to understand and appreciate the added value of using a 3rd party service to help me post my social media updates.  I can focus more on content rather then execution.

14 minutes.

pd

 

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Despicable Me: Facebook Messenger Marketing

Clever channels for content marketing. 

When the characters for a movie become the tools for how you talk, rather then the thing you are taking about, they are onto something. 

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Analog Digital – Social wants to be Physical

 

This new Facebook Like counter from http://www.smiirl.com  , has long been in the making. Several DIY versions of this have surfaced, and we even proposed a version of this while I was working at R/GA.

As technology moves things into the digital realm, there is a natural counter culture that wants to express these digital forces as physical analog experiences.  What other instances can you think of where experiences born in digital become novel by moving to analog?

-pd 

 

Nike #Fuelband app adds pictures. Still waiting for #Vine option

 

The Nike Fuelband app just added the functionality to share your goal progress with a picture. This simple change in user experience was a brillant marketing decision.  Although I am not sure I always want to hear about my friends working out every day, this helps hearing about nike plus in two ways.

1. With a picture, I get to tell my workout story or active day in a more visual way that I choose and am accustomed to on Facebook. We all know that images get more shares and likes then text alone, so this makes sense in how the app would evolve.  I would imagine that this gives my friends a better picture of what I am doing, but also is more entertaining to see and watch then just a sentence about a workout routine I may not care about.  The ability to add a picture makes this experience about the story and the person rather then just the number.  And in a way, it might add more Nike+ stamps onto other lifestyle activities.  What if every picture you took during the day had a fuelband stamp rather then just when you hit your goal?  Its a great opportunity for nike to move more into the storytelling space.

2. This will also help serve as an earned media database for images for Nike+.  Now all the nike plus stories are sharable. They can find a home on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest.  Images are more likely to tell the nike plus story and be told and received in a new way.  Ultimately breathing new life into the nike plus ecosystem, and raise awareness of the digital brand.

2 other features I would love to see:

1. Video. Video clips would be natural extensions of this UX.  And sometimes a video can really show a better story then a snapshot alone.  Vine integration would be awesome. hint hint. 

2. Networked apps: Lets say I was skateboarding with my buddies. What I would really want to do is to take a photo of someone else doing a trick and tagging their fuel moment to that picture. As much as we love taking photos of ourselves in this narcissistic era, sometimes you just cant while you are active. But your buddy can.  Not sure how this could work, but it could be really great for content production.   Perhaps the best way to implement this would be to have an API that would allow for the nike fuel points and timecodes to be exported to other medias.

Everyone is an athlete. Now we just have more ways to tell the story. Share on. 

-pd

Social TV meets earned media dollars – The Voice Season 4

 

 

 

Many reality TV shows utilize people’s “social capital” ( shares, likes, tweets ) to raise its own level of influence and boast higher levels of engagement and earned media levels.  However “the voice” has take this to a new level.  If you have wanted to vote on these shows in the past you could pay for a text (sms) if you were on a specific carrier, or sometimes vote through on online portal.   However, this year ( Maybe last year)  they added a new element where part of the voting is dependent on how many people download (pay for ) the contestants songs on itunes. Now this changes the cost per vote from a few cents, to dollars. This is several orders to magnitudes greater, and is a really smart profitable decision. And I am not sure how I feel about it.

One one side I feel that they are double dipping on getting paid. Once with traditional ad based models on tv, and a second time with itunes. However, I actually wonder if this creates a more authentic version of how these shows should work. I like that the artists probably get a small cut per each song sole. And I also like that the people voting in this sense, are more likely endorsing their song versus someone they think is cute or a good showman – 90 more cents is a larger barrier to entry compared to a nickel.

There is one thing I still dont understand. I wish the voice was a bit more like the Jersey Shore. In the sense that everyone wins. This is still reality TV. However, with new publishing models around, there is NO reason except for entertainment value that there should be a winner.  I feel like at the end of the show, everyone should publish an album. Obviously those who were on the show longer have a higher chance of  getting more screen time and thus free advertising – but this show still runs on a hunger games type of model. There does not have to be only one winner. As far as I see it, they all have incredible talent, and I hope they all go one to use this show as a springboard.  The models they have introduced to TV really blur the lines between what is owned media, how does real time marketing change programming, and how do influencers ( hosts / cohosts ) act as curators of the crowd, and ultimately . . . who can win ?