Earlier today, Imagination Publishing’s Jim Meyers received the “Custom Media Innovator of the Year Award” from American Business Media! The annual award recognizes a custom media professional who played a key role in driving the performance of his company, or who contributed to the reputation of the overall custom media industry.
Jim was nominated on the basis of his and Imagination Publishing’s early embrace of digital media and social media as creative and distribution channels for custom content. Imagination produces a series of webcasts and an extensive video library for a financial services client, and it pioneered event development via streaming media for an association client.
In 2006, Imagination built an in-house recording studio for audio and video work, and in 2009, the company launched an in-house social media practice.
David Armano (@armano), VP of Experience Design at the Chicago marketing consultancy Critical Mass, posted an enigmatic tweet on his Twitter feed. “Hey everyone. I am going to need a very BIG favor from you. It’s going to be asking a lot. I’ll let you know more very soon.” A few minutes later he posted a request for help for Daniela, an acquaintance in a bad situation.
Sadly, we’ve all heard similar stories before. But what happened next was nothing short of phenomenal. Armano’s network of 8,150 followers swung into action, spreading the word about Daniela. Within a few hours, donations had reached $5,000. This morning, donations have topped $11,700, and there’s probably more to come.
Facebook was the second most visited webpage on Christmas, accounting for one out of every 22 online visits for a market share of 4.65%. This is a 69% increase from 2007. Only Google was more visited on Christmas.
This article from the Venture Beat has been making its way through the ‘twitterati,’ with much excitement. It’s easy to see why. Web 2.0’s Achilles heel is that many of its limbs haven’t been easy to mine from a revenue perspective because a fair number of organizations jumped in without putting much thought into using Web 2.0 and social media tools in a manner that supported/augmented their existing business model, organizational structure or business objectives. Clearly, as the Venture Bear article indicates, Dell did.
The lesson: you can make money from tools like twitter, if you make room for tools like twitter in your approach.
Now that the novelty is (kind) of wearing off for facebook, twitter seems to be the next ‘big’ thing in the world of social media.
Without missing a heartbeat, analysts and afficionadoes alike are arguing about the value of twitter for brands, as they in this post on Mashable.
At the recent Search Engine Strategies conference I attended in Chicago, this topic came up with reference to social media strategies in general. The prevailing sentiment seems to be that squeezing a brand’s identity into a social media tool/platform is kind of like moonwalking at your kid’s prom. Not very cool.
The primary reason for this is simple, in my opinion: the rules of engagement, and the structure of interaction in social media is different to the ‘marketplace’ as it was known before. While billboards and print ads presented static representations of the DNA of brands, the Web allows for more dynamic representations. Rather than simply present air brushed images of brands protected from the opinion and voice of the consumer, the Web wants the perspectives behind the brand in real time with a slight difference.
Unlike the past, users/consumers no longer want to see the brand represented the way it always is, i.e Apple as the ‘cool’ guy, or Ford as dependable. They want to see that brand identity as it manifests through the thoughts, opinions and interests of its creators and administrators. So rather than converse with a corporate employee whose sole task is to market a company, users want to hear from a Steve Jobs or a Bill Gates to see what he reads and shares. It adds a certain dimenson that can’t be created through advertising or marketing, but in a sense it’s the best form of advertising or marketing because it creates a unique relationship between users and brands.
So where does this all lead? In my opinion, back to the basics. If brands want to integrate new, social computing platforms and techniques into their outreach (be they auto companies, newspapers, magazines, or associations) the first and most important step is developing a complete strategy that outlines how elements like twitter, facebook, commenting etc fit in with respect to both audience/user needs and in terms of overall business objectives.
I was recently discussing the How Do You Connect blog with a coworker. We were sharing criticisms of each other’s posts, less about topics and content, but more on general formatting and structure. The conversation reached the conclusion that since so many different people contribute to this blog, it might be helpful to create a structure and formatting guide so that all the posts are similar and fit a certain, agreed upon, model.
Although I agreed with the idea at the time, I recently watched this presentation about the future of social media, which presents an alternative view. It presents the notion that the power and intelligence of the Internet comes from the collection of alternative and differing views. The contributions of so many different minds and so many different styles gives the Internet it’s vast array of knowledge and insights in many topics. But the downfall and weakness of this massive giant is the forecast that those who spend lots of time on the Internet who begin to recognize and follow the trends of linking to other content or formatting in ways that other bloggers are formatting, are actually becoming more similar to other users rather than remaining different. It suggests that over time more and more users will fall into these trends and remove the vast differences that make the Internet strong in its diversity.
Back to my original topic, while a consistent format may bring ease to readers of this blog, it does not harbor the acceptance of difference or allow for individual creative expression for which blogs are intended. Check out the video:
It was fourteen years ago today that I set up an eight foot gate leg folding table in a four room office above a pizza kitchen in downtown Chicago and opened the doors of Imagination Publishing. As I sat alone in that first office, excited about my first custom publishing project, I was also overwhelmed by all the emotions that every small business owner knows all too well. I’d invested all of my savings in an idea that companies would be interested in using custom publishing to add value to their existing customer relationships in a medium that they could control.
I had approached traditional publishers, business associates and friends about investing in my new company but each of them chose not to after expressing varying degrees of skepticism and doubt. But as a successful marketer for nearly 20 years, I rarely listened to what others around me had to say because marketing is about having a vision and a focus on doing whatever is necessary to make that vision a reality. If you listen to the naysayers, you’ll never accomplish anything.
For years I had plaque on my wall with the Albert Einstein quote, “Imagination is more Important than Knowledge”. I always believed passionately that Einstein was right and that belief that served me well for so many years in the corporate world is still right on target today. You see it’s not about what you know, or what you’ve done. Success comes from having the imagination, the passion, the curiosity and the focus to make your dreams real. So it seemed only natural to name my company Imagination Publishing.
But now the stakes were different. I was playing with my own money, my home, my family’s livelihood! And often during those early years I’d lie awake at night with the “monster over my bed”. I’m sure that every small business owner knows that same monster.
Small Business Monster
After working six and seven days a week with 12-14 hour days that monster would always being there reminding me of everything that could go wrong. Learning to live with that monster by beating it down with an even stronger sense of confidence and purpose is part of the secret to building a successful small business.
Luckily, I had two other things going for me. A great wife and family who supported my crazy dream through all the tough times, never once questioning my resolution to succeed. And my first two hires who set up their folding tables a week after me. Rebecca Rolfes and Doug Kelly shared my dream and passion and have been huge part of the success of Imagination Publishing. Without Rebecca’s endless sense of optimism and Doug’s rock-solid work ethic and stability, we would never have reached the success that we now enjoy.
Today, fourteen years later, Imagination Publishing has more than 50 full time Imagineers and more than 20 fantastic clients. Many of our clients are Fortune 100 companies and leading trade associations who all have found custom publishing to be an effective means of communicating and engaging with their customers. Print custom publishing is still more than 60% of our business but the explosion of digital continues to grow at a breakneck pace even in the current economic recession. Today, we’ve become experts in rich media, community management, SEO and analytics, and strategic integration as well as custom magazines in order to meet all of the custom media needs of our clients. Custom content continues to grow while traditional media continues to decline because it works.
It’s been a fabulous ride but I have a vision that the next fourteen years will be even better. While some only see risk and peril in today’s economy, I see nothing but opportunity. I have to, it’s all I know.
I just came across this video. Titled “Please Don’t Vote – Tell 5 Friends,” its content is clever, funny, urgent and–best of all–relevant. It also contains no fewer than three calls to action.
At this point, it seems nobody can deny that social media is here to stay. While different forms can still constitute fads (myspace anyone?) there is no doubt that interactive communication platforms are powerful sources of online content.
As per emails floating around Imagination today about Dell’s recent dive into the depths of social media, they have launched a blog and a customized facebook page both focused at sharing information about how small businesses can endure challenging economic times and utilize these social media devices to share knowledge and develop relationships. Good work Dell.
But what that really brings to my mind is an excitement for the future. With social media and blogging becoming popular and useful (rather than considered the activities of people who sit alone at their computers on Friday nights) i look forward to being challenged with custom content projects in the future.
After proposing a blog and an interactive content portal on a company’s website, I want them to counter with a utilization of twitter for their membership group and interactive webinars that connect to a sponsored channel on Youtube where participants can post their reactions and questions. I want clients asking why the articles on their site aren’t on digg. But most of all, I want our customers to always be challenging our ideas and asking us why we propose what we do.
I was always told that the best way to prove yourself in an interview is not in the answers you provide, but in the questions you ask. Those are the testament to the extent of your knowledge and your ability to think. So the exciting part of Dell entering the social media sphere is not so much that they figured out how to get involved, but that they are setting the example for other companies, that social media is useful and has diverse application.
