There are many trending topics happening this week.  I could discuss this year’s best Super Bowl ad.  The return of Ferris Bueller – hands down, am I right?  Seriously... I think I’ll just watch FBDO for the 1,000^th time on Sunday instead of the Super Bowl.  Why aren’t my days off half as glamorous as that one?  Must be the car…

Anyways, today I’ll be talking about Infographics.  Infographics are everywhere.  Just go on Mashable and every other entry contains an Infographic.  There are Infographics about what people look up on Facebook, how we use Twitter, the economy, the election…there are even infographics about infographics...lots of them

Wouldn’t all this information be better presented in a list?  I know you’d love that Dave….

Some people just love Infographics.... here's what Blue Wheel Media says about them:

"Infographics have the ability to transform a boring collection of statistics, facts and figures, into a stunning masterpiece that you won't be able to keep to yourself.  Upon finding a great infographic, the reader is overcome with a thrill of discovery - almost like an adrenaline rush, triggering desire to share."

So if this is true, how can you apply this latest trend to your business and have the biggest impact with your documents?  If I had any design talent, I would create my own infographic with pie charts, symbols, squiggly lines and shiny colours, but I’ll just have to do a list

People respond to visuals – so don’t be too texty.

Keep it short

People are busy, we have lots of things to do and we get distracted easily.  So if you want us to read your quarterly sales report, keep it short…because after page 1, I’ll be bouncing over to YouTube or checking out Perez Hilton.

And it the same vein:

Keep it simple

Avoid jargon, fancy abbreviations or acronyms.  Don’t use 4 words when 1 would suffice.  Forget complicated – use simple, direct, easy-to-understand words that every single one of your audience will get.  No one wants to feel condescended to when reading that ubiquitous sales pitch. Indubitably!

Don’t just dress it up, back it up

I thought for my inaugural blog post as the newest Account Manager at Infinity Communications, I’d talk about something that I find absolutely fascinating, especially in light of some recent events that happened this weekend: #trending.

#trending might sound a little complex but not to worry, it really isn’t.  It simply means that many people are talking about a given topic through Twitter at a greater rate than other topics, so the topic becomes singled out…and trends. 

Twitter has changed the communication landscape.  People can get breaking news the second it happens, as long as they are on Twitter.   Nobody has to wait for it to be reported in that evening’s news broadcast or in tomorrow’s newspaper (I can’t even imagine waiting that long to get news anymore).  Everything is instant.  Then people talk about it and then more people will talk about it and before you know it, the topic is now trending.

These days, trending is now a goal.  I get inundated with twitter messages asking me to retweet something to get it trending.  Sometimes I participate, most times I don’t.  To me, it’s the same thing as spam.  Once in my news feed, there was a message about a girl who had passed away and her wish was to become a trending topic, so pls RT! – hashtag sad.  Obviously they didn’t read the rules about Trending Topics from Twitter’s Help Centre:

This past weekend, we had two big trending topics in the Twitter-verse, #tebow and #BlueIvy.

#tebow was trending in a big way this weekend after Tim Tebow’s and the Denver Bronco’s game-winning OT performance in Sunday’s NFL game.  Twitter exploded with everyone talking about this game…to the point that it made records.  It became the 2^nd highest Tweet Per Second topic ever with 9,420 tweets going out each second about Tebow and the game.  That is over 565,000 tweets per minute! 

(FYI the highest Tweet per second topic was ‘Castle in the Sky’, a Japanese anime movie that had 25,088 tweets per second… I can’t even wrap my head around how many tweets per minute that is – over 1.5 million!)

Now Tebow has become a bit of a social media phenomenon, with his touchdown stance of kneeling to thank God becoming a trend in itself.  All you need to do is google #tebowing and you can see all the websites, the blogs, the YouTube videos, the t-shirts and all the photos uploaded with Instagram of people copying the stance.

#BlueIvy... In case you haven’t heard, Beyonce and Jay-Z became parents this weekend!  Beyonce gave birth to her daughter and named her Blue Ivy Carter.  It’s worth noting that when Beyonce announced her pregnancy, she placed third in the Tweet Per Second record books with 8,868 tweets per second on the topic, so it’s well established that Beyonce has a powerful brand and a heavy following. 

Within seconds of the birth announcement, #BlueIvy was trending and with that came all of the critiques and conspiracy theories about the baby’s name.…in the past 48 hours since she was born, several more trending topics have emerged: #B.I.C., #Glory – after the song Jay-Z released commemorating the birth, #whatIwouldnameBeyoncesbaby.  This baby is already famous and she’s only two days old!

Now it’s all in good fun talking about the latest pop-culture topics in social media, but what does this mean for your business?

Well first of all, if your business isn’t already set up on Twitter, DO IT NOW!!  Get your voice out there, connect with people and start conversations with your target demographic and key players in your industry! 

Get people talking about your business by posting relevant, engaging content and interacting with your followers.  Talk about your business' products and services, promotions, calls to action.  Keep your eye out for the negative and do your best to diffuse any situation and turn your foes into fans.

REMEMBER– be strategic and careful with the messaging that you post.  As easily as positive messages can go viral and trend like #tebow and #BlueIvy, the not-so-positive messages can trend just as fast and just as much.  And the last thing you want is to be associated with a controversial, trending message.

Leverage the power of your brand and your followers will become your advocates and ambassadors.  Odds are you won’t see trending numbers like #tebow and #BlueIvy are getting, but positive word of mouth will only drive your business forward.  So get out there and get #trending!

Alana Seale

Happy New Year! 

I know, I'm only 4 days late but hey- it's been a while. I should have probably finished this series before the holidays but things just got crazy busy here (crazy is good)and the blog got put on the back burner. But alas! I have returned to finish this mini series: Cutting Through The Clutter. Here's a quick recap of what we discussed in the previous posts:

• Of all the social networking sites out there, less than 5% really matter to your business
• That 5% of the pie is also important to 95% of your competitors
• Your 5% varies on your industry, location and culture- so make sure you get it right
• Bottom line: everyone's putting all their eggs into the same basket
• The goal: cut through the clutter and rise above your competitors to reach your audience

      

Dave Siekanowicz

In my previous post we established the nature of this ‘weird devil’ known by many names but living under the umbrella term of “Social Media”. Our attempt at managing the digital strategies that go into a successful social media plan concluded with something that looked like an evil math equation (yes, yes- I know, ALL math is evil; but this equation is super evil!): Over 1000 “known” SMS+ less than 1% matter to your business+ that 1% also matters to 95% of your competitors= high risk of getting lost in the clutter.

In hopes of cutting through everyone else’s clutter (because of course your business is the only one that matters), it’s crucial that you manage your 1% at 100% capacity. But wait, where is YOUR 1% located? It’s easy to hop on the popularity bandwagon and do what everyone else is doing, but what if that’s not what’s best for your business? Sure Facebook is important to most businesses, but if you’re located anywhere in Brazil or India then forget about Facebook and focus on Orkut. This Google owned platform has exploded in Brazil since 2004, where it is now the top social networking website. What better way to reach your Brazilian audience then by switching to a Social Media platform they have embraced?

No biggie, after all you are located in Canada right? So you should go ahead and put all your effort on Twitter, but wait- your business is a restaurant. Well if you’re a restaurant then you will find that your 1% should focus on Yelp! Yelp, is a food/restaurant review social media website that encourages user generated content. Your customers can post reviews, highlight favourite menu items, post videos or pictures of the food and most importantly connect with other foodies via a platform that is popular in the foodie community.

One more? Alright, your business is a high-quality boutique film production studio interested in showcasing the highest standards of video to an exclusive community that can appreciate the work, effort and quality you put into every project. You had the bright idea of putting up your vides on MySpace, STOP- oh I jest, no one uses MySpace anymore. You had the idea of uploading your videos to YouTube, alright that’s pretty good- or maybe not. How about Vimeo? Vimeo is a video based social media platform that has less ads than YouTube, features higher viewing quality, nicer branding/graphics and most importantly has a community of passionate film makers who feel they are too good for YouTube. Boom- there’s audience. Vimeo it is.

The moral of the blog- to maximize your 1% don’t necessarily go running with the wolves. Instead find out which pack your audience is running with and go there (wow that’s a terrible analogy). Sorry about the length of this one, join me next time for Cutting Through The Clutter: You’re Supposed to be Social, SAY SOMETHING!

Dave Siekanowicz  

Today as I was doing my morning blog roll, I came across an interesting line written by Alan Cross (a popular music historian and guru) in a recent post on his Explore Music blog. The post was in regards to the latest reviews of the new Broadway Musical written and scored by Bono & The Edge of U2 fame, entitled "Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark". So far the musical, now dubbed The Most Expensive Broadway Production Ever*, has not been a favourite of the critics. With constant criticism, a poor story line and dangerous stunts that sent several actors to the emergency room, the new Spiderman musical couldn't catch a break. 

Despite all the setbacks, the musical opened again to favorable reviews. Much work still needs to be done, but at least it is no longer a complete disaster. Alas I digress, the line which stuck out to me was Cross' final comment in regards to the future of the production "And there is still much work to be done on the PR front. It [Spiderman Musical] needs many weeks of big crowds just to break even".

Regardless of the many technical improvements, the poor PR the production has been plagued by thus far has left some deep scars the public will remember when buying tickets. This is just one of the many illustrations that helps put the weight of brand/image/public reception at level with basics concerns such as quality/product/expense. Without the proper framing, branding and marketing that PR professionals provide, even the greatest product can suffer. All the hard work and investment that goes into production, development and distribution can be time/money wasted if members of the public (future customers & clients) are not properly engaged.

What will happen to the Spiderman Musical in the coming months will either serve as an excellent case study of how much PR can accomplish if implemented properly or an example of how all the re-vamping and TLC’ing in the world can’t help resurrect a show if the PR misses the mark.

 Is your PR working for you?

According to urbandictionary.com, the mustache “is a universal icon representing the epitome of authority and raw manhood.”   Since 2003, the mustache has also evolved into quite possibly the most genius non-profit marketing strategy of all time.  Every ‘Movember,’ men all over the world grow a mustache or a ‘Mo’ for 30 days to raise money for Prostate Cancer.  Not only are these sponsored mustaches raising money for a great cause, they have also become a recognizable symbol that forces people to discuss men’s health and the somewhat embarrassing topic of prostate cancer.  As our CEO Alan has found out, when you are growing a mustache there is no hiding it.  Wherever you go, people are going to ask questions, roll their eyes, or giggle, and men find themselves forced to talk about why they are growing and the cause behind it.  Combine that with testosterone, male camaraderie and a serious dose of competitive spirit (beware of peach fuzz… you will be mocked) and you have got yourself an incredibly successful fundraising campaign.  The mustache has arguably reached the elusive pink ribbon branding status, and it is growing every year.  Last year in Canada, Movember raised a total of $7.7 million for Prostate Cancer Canada.  This year they have already raised $4.4 million and it is only day 5. That is almost a million dollars a day. 

The secret to this year’s increased success is a combination of better merchandising and a great social media campaign.  Much like the pink ribbon, on the Movember website you can purchase t-shirts, jewelry, cufflinks, toys, skateboards, mugs and even flip cams all branded with the iconic Movember mustache.  In fact, the mustache brand arguably has better selling potential than the pink ribbon because it appeals to both men and women.  Ladies with “mustache envy” can purchase fake Mo’s and mustache jewelry, or they can support their mustached-man with t-shirts that say “I heart Mo.”   The mustache has the novelty factor that maybe other campaigns are missing, and that is the key to its branding success.  

Movember has also amped up their social media presence this year.  Mo Bro’s can link up their ‘Mo Space’ fundraising page to Facebook and twitter to keep their fans updated on their ‘stache, which increases awareness and boosts fundraising potential.  There is also a live plixi twitter photo feed that shows photos of Mo Bros from all over the world that have hash tagged #Movember, thus uniting growers and followers and demonstrating the true reach of the campaign.  Mustache growers can also make their own videos and post them on You Tube for a chance to enter the ‘Moscars’ – an award ceremony for the best Movember film.  Lastly, there is an app for that - iphone has created an app for Mo Bro’s, so they can keep track of their fundraising and share mustache updates with their friends and family on the go.   

           Just like Alan’s mustache, Movember is growing fast and it cannot be tamed.  The beauty of the campaign is its simplicity and its ability to grow organically through a universal symbol that everyone can recognize.  Rather than creating a new logo or branding to raise awareness for men’s health, Movember harnesses the natural essence of manhood and engages the most important marketing tool of all... face-to-face communication. 

When disaster strikes celebrities are the first ones to jump on the “helping” bandwagon.  It’s a win-win for the cause and for the celebrity. They get the chance to promote relief efforts for a disaster with their recognizable name, while promoting their own brand in a positive light.

George Clooney hosted a star-studded benefit concert for Haiti relief that featured names like Bono and Rihanna.  The concert was immensely successful and raised a whopping $68 million for the victims of Haiti.  The star power helped to raise awareness of the devastation in Haiti to those who otherwise may not have cared.  Celebrities who lend their time are essentially promoting themselves in a positive light, while helping a cause that is timely.

When the devastating oil spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico it wasn’t five days before a benefit concert was being planned.  Lenny Kravitz, John Legand and Ani DiFranco were among the A- listers to perform during Gulf Aid, which raised over  $300,000 for relief efforts. Along with the crisis and relief efforts that were covered by every major news station, the Gulf Aid benefit concert and its celebrity contributors were among top newsmakers.

When celebrities throw their efforts into a timely cause they not only benefit the relief efforts, they also benefit themselves and their personal brand. Mel Gibson, if you are listening, there is still a ton of work that needs to be done in the Gulf!