Think Media » Google

Change What’s Wrong, Not What’s Right!

alex — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:39:39 +0000

In this day and age, the big trend is to experiment in the ways we communicate and market to our consumers. While this change and reinvention is most definitely necessary (due to the changing nature of consumers and the evolving media landscape), many companies don’t seem to understand why they are doing it; and this is a major issue. Companies shouldn’t simply alter the way they do things because it’s the trend. In fact, they need to have a reason to believe that the change will induce positive returns. Changing things (even if they’re small) without properly understanding the context and situation might leave them unpleasantly surprised.

Before altering their practice, companies should ask themselves a few simple questions: What is the problem and is it really a problem?, Where does this problem come from?, how will the envisioned changes help resolve the situation? What is in it for their customers? Doing this could save them from taking decisions they may regret.

Dean Markadakis from Fast Company cleverly exposes a situation where precipitated changes didn’t actually solve a problem, in this video interview produced in association with Google and the Wharton School of Business. Enjoy!

Companies, Public Relations and The New Media Landscape Part.2

alex — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 03:16:12 +0000

The new media landscape has created huge PR opportunities for companies and organizations yet many have failed to recognize these. One of the great advantages is the simple shift from a media landscape based on control to one based on openness. This situation is caused by the unique fact that consumers can now cheaply and effortlessly create content. In the past the high costs of production forced the content to be produced by large and specialized media companies. They subsequently had the final word on what they wanted to distribute. But, in a world where anybody can produce content at minimal cost, the gatekeepers are bypassed and companies can independently decide what they deem to be newsworthy. This valuable opportunity enables them to keep their publics informed day-in day-out and increases their ability to react rapidly in the event of a crisis. More significantly though, this shift has enabled them to be directly connected to their audiences.

Some will argue that this is not beneficial to PR, as skipping the gatekeepers also does away with the opportunity to benefit from “3^rd party credibility”. While this might seem like a valid point, I tend to believe that the shift in the landscape hasn’t completely altered the phenomenon of credibility and that the benefits brought on by the changes firmly outweigh the disadvantages. Remember that any new medium also brings new producers, and that it is inevitable that some of these producers will become more trusted than others. Hence, contrary to public belief, organizations can still benefit from 3^rd party credibility in new media platforms on the Internet. The credibility just doesn’t belong to the same people they used to deal with. Chris Brogan, a media consultant, author and respected marketing expert calls these new sources of online credibility ‘trust agents’. He defines them as: “people who use the web in a very human way to build influence, reputation, awareness” (Brogan, Smith) While they can take many forms, trust agents are most commonly bloggers that gain high amounts of authority & trust on the Internet and subsequently develop a huge community of readers.

Engaging with and using such new sources of credibility is part of the changes companies must make. As a matter a fact, in some cases it may be more beneficial for organizations to get online ‘trust agents’ to preach their message than to use traditional large-scale media outlets. This is due to the fact that their (trust agents) communities are extremely targeted, specialized and dedicated to the subjects they follow. This relevance is crucial. In other words, speaking to 1 million people is useless if only 50 are interested in your cause. Ultimately, the goal is to get these dedicated followers to preach the organizations messages as well. It becomes a virtuous circle of word of mouth.

While some might want to stick solely to traditional media, I would argue that developing relationships with ‘trust agents’ is a compulsory part of corporate public relations in this new media landscape. Not engaging with these agents and their communities could very well be fatal. Consider the following: “A recent PEW study found that nearly 40% of Americans say they have doubted a medical professional’s opinion or diagnosis because it conflicted with information they’d found online. If users put that much faith in what they learn on the Internet, what will they be willing to believe if members of a social media forum start trashing your organization?” (Kane, Fichman, Gallaugher, Glaser) The reality of the current situation is that people will be talking about brands and companies online whether they like it or not. Chris Anderson, a bestselling author and the chief editor at Wired magazine comically expresses this idea when he states: “Your brand is not what you say it is, it’s what Google says it is.” (Anderson Chris) Consumers have been voicing their ideas, thoughts, concerns, worships and complaints over these online media channels for years. It is now up to companies to do the same. Doing so will ensure that they remain in control of their image and reputation while portraying engagement. In the end, this will also enable them to develop better relationships with their stakeholders; which was the goal of public relations in the first place.

Brian Solis, author of "Putting the Public Back In Public Relations" presents this brilliant graph that exposes the multitude of new media channels available to PR in this day and age, while giving some quick insight on how to use them. Creative Commons photo courtesy of briansolis.com

TinEye Image search engine

alex — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 01:01:57 +0000

TinEye is a specialized search engine developed by Idee Labs. I say specialized due to the fact that it can only search images. You might be thinking: Well Google already does that! But, no not really; not this way at least.

While the idea behind TinEye remains the same as most search engines across the web (Input a search query; get some results) it’s the way you search that differentiates it from others. Instead of imputing a textual search query (as with most search engines) TinEye lets you upload an image or link to its page. It will then search for others based on resemblance (by looking at the pixels in the image). This means no keywords, tags or file names are used to complete the search (just similarity). I find this great as it uses the intrinsic features of images to provide its results.

Another cool product of theirs is the multicolor search lab. This will let you search Flickr’s creative commons database by color and not by subject. The result’s are truly astonishing. You will inevitably be impressed by the number of cool looking photos that come up. What a great way of finding copyright free images! I truly enjoy these kinds of products as they offer alternative ways to search for content, and sometimes, an alternative is exactly what you need! While many may never use these products, I believe their existence is important. They give us choice, and choice is something of tremendous value!

Multicolor search lab: http://labs.ideeinc.com/multicolr/

TinEye image search: http://www.ideeinc.com/products/tineye/

Google Fast Forward: Advertising & Marketing channel

alex — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 22:55:46 +0000

In association with the Wharton University of Pennsylvania, Google has just released a new site that focuses on advertising and marketing. They have created a destination which is packed with insight and useful information on the ongoing transformation of the marketing world. I am sure it will come in real handy and be appreciated by many.

But coming to think of it, Google has created much more than a database with useful content and advice. It has actually set up a place for fellow advertising and marketing aficionados to find each other and get connected. This will instantly lead to people debating ideas, sharing content, spreading knowledge and really just talking about their passion. One big collaborative marketing conversation!

You may under-estimate the power of such a place, but don’t! It is places like these that fully show the power of tribes (And companies like Google understand that power). As Seth Godin explained in the Ted video I previously posted (find it here): ”Tribes are about leading and connecting people and ideas” he later goes on to explain: “it turns out that it’s tribes, not money, not factories, that change our world, that change politics, that align large numbers of people. Not because you force them to do something against their will. But because they wanted to connect.” Enabling people to meet, exchange and collaborate often leads to, brilliant ideas, great surprises and more valuable content. Who knows, you might meet your future business partner in a place like this! Google hasn’t created a marketing & advertising tribe. Tribes of this kind already exist. It has merely offered a new space that will let existing tribes unite and develop. Use this to your advantage. Make connections, think, share, create!

Whether its here or elsewhere, I encourage you to find subjects that inspire you and join the conversation. Help ideas develop. It will make you grow and others as well. Everybody benefits.

http://www.youtube.com/fastforward