Turkish Airlines Kobe v Messi selfie shootout

I've flown Turkish Airlines several times between the Middle East (e.g., Dubai) and the US (i.e., Chicago), and they're simply not a well-known carrier in the US.  But this video commercial is a really good one at rectifying that.  It pairs American basketball star Kobe Bryant with Argentine soccer star (`footballer) Lionel Messi.

It's clever, contemporary, and cosmopolitan:

• A `selfie is now a common term to refer to self-portraits.  Credit social media for encouraging people to take their own pictures, often with others in the same shot.  
• A shootout is a sports concept that many of us can relate to.  In soccer, it's called penalty shots, in order to decide the winner, after teams play to a draw.  In hockey, it's called a shootout.
• Finally, it takes Bryant and Messi to cool destinations that Turkish Airlines flies to, so the locale of this delightful game of oneupsmanship matters a great deal.     

Ray-Ban ad draws on quaint and pretty

A promotional ad for Ray-Ban sunglasses, that draws on quaint and pretty, patient and nurturing, and ultimately on reversal and playful.  

Beyoncé taps the power of social media

Beyoncé

You see, the power of social media, for vast hordes of us small business owners, brand managers, or community leaders, is more latent than manifest.  It's something to nurture over time, be patient with, and regularly work at.  

In this light, it is very difficult to replicate what Beyoncé just did, that is, in eschewing traditional album launches and being wildly successful at it (rf. Beyoncé Rejects Tradition for Social Media’s Power).  Obviously it helps to be a star to begin with, but at some point she was an unknown but she and her backers worked at her act, her brand, and her marketing.

What lessons can we draw from her move?

• Buck convention.  Question the people who say `It's how things are done around here!  Then, do it differently.
• Tap convention.  It may sound like I'm contradicting myself, but that's because the article - Beyoncé herself - fools us into believing it was all, or mostly, social media.  You can count on her to do the usual touring, TV spots, and radio play.    
• Make it multimedia.  Music is so much more than just music (i.e., sound).  It's visual, it's technical, it's emotional.    
• Take a pulse.  It is impossible to know everything or to script everything.  But keeping your eyes an ears open and keeping tabs on what's going on around you, your target market, media and technology developments position you to do what Beyoncé just did.

Sometimes it's easy to attribute any successful effort to the very things you did leading up to that success.  In reality, so many more things are at play, which are out of our hands.  So besides the four points above, I'd say it's a lot of hoping, praying, and seeing how it all turns out. 

Practical tips for business blogging

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Writing great blogs for your business is one of the most valuable marketing techniques you will find, yet it is often forgotten. In fact, small businesses who consistently blog receive 126 percent more leads than those who do not and benefit from 55 percent more visitors to their web pages. However, just writing any old blog isn't enough -- if you're not producing fresh, dynamic and interesting content, you may be sending the wrong message about your brand.

Reference: The 20 Golden Rules of Business Blogging.  

Have at it.  

IKEA cats show us how home feels

Three years ago, an IKEA creative team released 100 cats in its Wembley store in the UK, just to see what would happen.  They couldn't control what the cats did, but I'd say it was this very fact that ultimately made this promo ad a wonderful, brilliant idea.  Everybody on social media seems to love a cat, and cats left to their own device are cute and cuddly, funny and finicky.  All that the team did was to be prepared to capture whatever they could on camera, then spend a good deal of time editing the footage into a one-minute video.

Got social media? Participate yourself!

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If you would like proof that those who are charged with leadership are often not all that aware of what it is they are helping to lead, just take a look at the latest board of director appointee for Twitter (Marjorie Scardino) and her Twitter ‘presence’ as of last night.

Reference:  New Twitter Board Member Has Used Twitter - Once.

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I wouldn't go so far as to conclude that Scardino isn't aware of what she's helping to lead.  That may or may not be the case.  Still I would say that it's a poor showing to be a monitor and an adviser to a major company and not use its high profile product.

At the end of the day, it's a matter of choice for any director or executive.  But if you're a business owner, and you have staff handling your day-to-day social media, do not follow Scardino's example: Get involved, get active, participate yourself!

Waterford Patch blogs focus on local businesses

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The five reasons that Erin Quinlan lists in her article - Hey, Small Business Owner: Why Aren't You Blogging on Patch? - for why business owners ought to blog are clear and straightforward:

1. Improve search engine optimization (SEO)
2. Build subject matter authority
3. Connect the dots among your social media and websites
4. Generate more website visits
5. Take advantage of free blogging platforms

But curiously what Quinlan doesn't address is a unique feature of Waterford Patch: namely, its community focus:

Simply put, Patch is an innovative way to find out about, and participate in, what's going on near you. 

We're a community-specific news, information and engagement platform driven by passionate and experienced new media professionals. Patch is revolutionizing the way neighbors connect with each other, their communities, and the national conversation. 

We want to be the most trusted, comprehensive, and relevant news and information resource in your community. What can you do on Patch? 

• Keep up with news and events
• Check out photos and videos from around town
• Learn more about local businesses and the people behind them
• Participate in discussions
• Share your perspectives via our Local Voices blogging platform
• Submit your own announcements, photos, and reviews

Give it a try.

AT&T ads keep it simple, funny and cute

AT&T keeps it simple: More is better than less, and now is better than later.  Even better is better than worse.  And these kids are the cutest ev.ver.

You can cook up your own promo video with a dash of simplicity, a pinch of funny, and a dollop of cute.  

Social media has huge influence on online sales

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The title of the article in Mashable - Social Media Drove Just 1% of Black Friday Online Sales - is misleading and irresponsible, I'd say.  Editors either didn't know enough about how to interpret a scientific study, by IBM in this case, or, if it did, it purposely chose a controversial title to generate more copy.

"I would essentially describe it as being flat year-over-year, no dramatic change," Jay Henderson, strategy director at IBM Smarter Commerce, told Mashable in a recent interview. While these findings may frustrate some marketers who poured resources into social media campaigns, Henderson is quick to note that social networks do have a "huge indirect influence" on shopping decisions by building brand and product awareness.

For one, the metrics for determining buying behavior are constrained by (a) the limited tracking ability of online behavior and in-store purchases, and (b) of course privacy laws around tracking of personal information.  For another, even if tracking were better and open access were available, (c) determining the causal relationships among social media activity, brand and product awareness, and buying behavior are challenging indeed.  Not impossible, but not so easily set up or demonstrated.

In any event, evidence of just 1% direct sales impact does not mean social media had little influence on online sales.  Better metrics may in fact bear out what Henderson himself pointed out about the huge influence of social media.   

Please feel free to contact me at DrRonontheInternet@gmail.com, if you'd like to better determine social media influence and better clarify those causal relationships.  I can help you figure it out and set it up.

Kristi Stalter blogs into fashion success

Kristi Stalter

By day, she is a bright, energetic 24-year-old who teaches second grade at Stevenson Elementary in Bloomington, a lifelong Twin Citian who went to Bent School and University High before moving on to a liberal arts college in Indiana. 

Then there’s Kristi by night and weekends. 

That is when, while quietly seated behind a laptop in her Bloomington home, out of the glitz and lights of such worldly fashion capitals as Paris, London or NYC, Kristi runs a highly popular fashion blog. 

It attracts up to 20,000 views a day, has sponsors, gets her free clothes, counts notables and celebs among its “fans” (Emily Maynard, most recently of ABC’s “The Bachelorette,” is a regular visitor) and more recently led to a series of tweets, posts and even a blurb on the sports-gossip site www.terezowens.com that romantically linked Kristi to Clay Matthews, the star linebacker for the Green Bay Packers.

Reference: Flick: She’s blogging her way into fashion fame.

Bill Flick writes a wonderful story about Kristi Stalter, who has apparently made herself into a blogging success.  The Coral Court is straightforward, and simply set on Blogger.  She isn't a professional model, and her photographer may not be professional, either.  But she makes for a very pretty look with the everyday fashion that she showcases.     

What underpins her success?

• She is genuine and earnest as a person, and her blog speaks to everyday life.  So much of what passes for high fashion in Paris, New York or Hong Kong runways are simply not wearable.
• She brings her blogging to life with her colleagues and friends.  After all, fashion may be admired, learned and sold online, but it's about actually wearing it.  
• She doles out a warm, positive spirit: 

Kristi’s blog is not about glitz and high glamor, but instead work-a-day wear and simply looking nice. Or as she puts it, “creating an environment for positive female relationships ... and being confident in life, including how you dress.”

Bud Light videos speak to football fans

We'll never know if somehow, in someway we can affect the outcome of a game. But when the clock's winding down and everything's on the line we all believe. After all, it's only weird if it doesn't work.

Some fans will do whatever it takes to help their team win. After all, it's only weird if it doesn't work.

I love these video ads, and I love Ramsey the best.  Bud Light has struck pure gold in how it speaks to us quirky football fans.  

As a small business or new brand owner, you may not have the budget to undertake a production like this.  But what ideas do you have?  Let me know.  Let's see how we can make it work out within your budget.  E-mail me at DrRonontheInternet@gmail.com.  

  

Getting on Pinterest makes business sense

Reference: Kicking Facebook to the Curb: Why Pinterest is Good for Business.

I've been looking at Pinterest since early last year, more as a side note.  I was already active in the Big Five of social media - Google+, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and I didn't want to extend myself, unless I had a purpose.  A few months ago that purpose came.

I first set up a profile to upload photos of my trips to downtown Chicago.  +Chicago has now evolved into re-pins, videos, and stories.  Still I simply wanted to get the `lay of the land of Pinterest, before setting up project profiles.  The first of these projects - T'ai Chi Empower - is now in full swing after a handful of months.   

I really enjoy Pinterest.  It's easy to upload stuff, there are a lot of cool stuff, and it serves the dominant group in e-commerce: women.

Crediting multiple sources on Google+

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Whichever social media sites you decide to use for your business, brand or organization, be sure you understand enough of its functioning to serve your purpose.  You don't want to get bog down in details, but you need to know enough to optimize your social impact.

Natalie Van Veen shared a post by Alicia Feliz, titled Multiple links: Preserving the social signal on Google+.  I simply bookmarked it, after looking it over and deciding it was an important read for later on.  In brief, it has to do with how Google+ picks up links (i.e., social signals) from posts.  Remember, Google is an enormous ecosystem on the internet, and those who promote their business, brand or organization want their signals picked up.  

I've learned over time that each site has its value or usefulness, and it has cool features and some annoying bugs.  Among the things I like best on Google+, for example, are the easy edit, link to the post, communities and Hangouts.  But as Feliz writes, we have to deploy workarounds for quirks, flaws or limits in functionality.  In her case, it's making sure all links migrate with the post, when it's shared, and all links are credited on Google.  

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The art of web design

The explosion of the internet over the past 20 years has led to the development of one of the newest creative mediums: the website. Web designers have adapted through the technological developments of html, CSS, Flash, and JavaScript, and have mastered the balance between creativity and usability. Now with the advance of mobile, the greatest websites have taken user experience and responsive design to the next level, and continue our evolution from print to a digital world.

Whether you're a designer with a technical bent on websites and blogs, or an owner with a design need for your business website or blog, this video is for you.  Color, font, structure.  HTML, Flash.  There is an array of information in this short video.

The madcap, breathtaking world of viral videos

"Viral Video" is the signature phenomenon of internet media. Something akin to pop songs, these videos with irresistible hooks have saturated video culture online and have now evolved into a multitude of sophisticated forms. Whether rooted in comedy, spectacle, schadenfreude, cuteness, politics, performance, or deep meaning, the idea of viral videos, and the huge audiences they generate, have forever changed the values and potential impact of video online.

An advertiser with a campaign.  An activist on a mission.  A YouTuber in a creative spin.  Whoever they may be, they end up with a viral video on hand.  

Watch this video simply with an open mind.  Let your imagination run, let thoughts come to you, learn lessons that you need to learn.

What ideas do you come up with for your promotion video?  Please feel free to run it by me: DrRonontheInternet@gmail.com, and let's talk it through!

Take stock of your websites across all devices

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Two years ago I worked with a software developer to turn the algorithms I had developed into apps.  I was clear that I wanted everything to work well across devices: from desktop or laptop, to smart phone and tablet.  He explained that the interface for the web-based app he was building for me had to be adapted accordingly.  I sensed, in this conversation, that this was going to be a challenge for him.

I have since learned that what I was looking for was this:

Responsive web design is simply this–a website design that adjusts gracefully to fit on desktop, tablet, and smartphone browsers. Ever pull up a website on your smartphone and it was just a very tiny version of what you would see on your desktop, so you zoomed way in, and then moved the website around and enlarged and shrunk it as needed to read text and click on things? That was not a responsive website. Or if it was, it left out the key point of adjusting “gracefully.” A responsive website looks good no matter whether you’re looking at it on a phone, tablet, or desktop.

Reference: Why Your Business Needs A Responsive Website Before 2014.

First, take stock of all your online presence: websites, blogs and social media.

Second, whether you have a business or brand, a community organization, or a personal blog, clarify for yourself who your target audience is and who your actual visitors, followers, connections et al. are.

Third, find out from what devices they visit, follow, and connect with you.  Mobile devices - smartphones and tablets, in particular - aren't just a growing trend, but they're also a tech presence now.

Fourth, visit all your sites on all devices you own.  Better yet, arrange for a friend, colleague or family to do the same, then get their feedback.

Next may be more challenging: Given your findings from these three steps, decide what you need to do vis-a-vis your online purpose, aims or priorities.

Having a developer reconfigure your website into responsive may be so cost-prohibitive for you right now that it's not even a consideration.  If this is the case, it's not the end of the world, as writer Joshua Steimle would lead you to believe, in the article I referenced.  It's simply reality right now, but again decide what you need to do vis-a-vis your online purpose, aims or priorities.  

Budweiser Black Crown's well-calculated promo

First, the half-veiled teaser.  It's about sexy and luxurious, yet hip and demure.  Just a hint of the new beer.

The loud.  The savvy.  The famous.  The smooth and distinctive Budweiser Black Crown is fit for a Millennial party.  

This is essentially a behind-the-scenes video, without coming across as a behind-the-scenes video.  It's a calculated market research by Budweiser that apparently guided product development.  That is, beer making.

Now, what ideas do you have for your own promo video?

Social media helps trainers and lecturers

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I attended a conference with the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center, and the facilitator encouraged us to Tweet during the talks.  Howard Tullman was one of the speakers, and he ran down his stuff so briskly that it was difficult to track and Tweet at the same time.  But other than that, it was a blast to connect quietly among us attendees, share observations and reactions, and post photos as well.  

1871 is a CEC project and a business center, and in one conference we downloaded and used an app - GoSoapBox - to ask questions of panelists.  You can post them directly, or you can scan posted questions and simply check the ones you also want to ask.  The facilitator picked them up, and relayed them to the panelists via his tablet.  The app was really cool.  

If your business entails training or lecturing a large group of people - that is, in person - social media can definitely add impact to your event.

The survey of over 8,000 faculty found that 41% of college professors use social media as a teaching tool, up from around 34% in 2012.

Jon Marshall, an assistant professor at Northwestern University, says he started using Twitter in one of his lecture classes to connect better with students. 

"Nothing replaces the face-to-face communication, but when you have a class that large I found it was helpful to have yet another tool to get to know them," says Marshall, adding that it also gives shy students another way to participate. 

Students say using social media for academic purposes can be beneficial, as long as it doesn't get too personal. 

"The fact that I am able to communicate so easily with so many people all at once makes the learning experience that much more simple," says Cheri Bailey, a senior at the University of Florida. 

"I think it's very important to mix your professional and your personal life just a bit," she added.

Reference: More professors using social media to teach.

Tumblr goes literary and prompts book deals

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It is a boon for writers to blog about a topic of interest, which happens to stir the interests of a wide readership.  Then they work at carving their blog into a book and striking a deal.  Such was the case with Humans of New York, by photographer Brandon Stanton.

Conversely, writers may have published books on hand, and blog about their babies not just to promote but also to discuss.  Social media serves both functions rather well, but blogs offer a more personal haven without losing community.  Blogs also afford more capabilities in organizing, collating and presenting content. 

In Blogging for book deals - on Tumblr this time, Emily Keeler speaks to these points, plus one more about the migration of those book clubs at the library to an online platform:

In January 2012, Tumblr hired Rachel Fershleiser and tasked her with literary outreach; in addition to her online duties, she has organized readings and meet-ups to bring the online community together IRL.

To date, I have four blogs on Tumblr - such as leaders horizons - and I absolutely love it.  I have a variety of free designs to choose from, quite user-friendly functionality, and little features I really like:  for example, uploading an image via its link and queuing posts easily.

In case, I keep my eyes and options open for a book concept and deal!

Clever promo videos the ESPN way

John Anderson gives up the seat, that he promised to save for Stuart Scott.  I'd give it up, too, if tennis star Maria Sharapova were looking to sit next to me.    

Harvard graduate Jeremy Lin took the NBA by storm early last year, when he played lights-out basketball as a New York Knick.  (He has since been traded to the Houston Rockets.)  Here he lends his smarts to anchor Jay Crawford.   

Olympian Natalie Coughlin has 12 medals to her credit.  Here she catches this little leprechaun red- ... er, green-handed with some of her winnings.

Phil Mickelson, known as Lefty in golf circles, schools Scott Van Pelt on proper body posture and eye sight while anchoring.

These commercial videos require very few, if any, props.  ESPN relies on its set, cubicles and cafeteria as its stage.  The script is simple and clever, and the acting required is minimal.  Of course it helps to bring in well-known athletes and draw on its own anchors as counterpoints.  

So as you conceive your own promo videos, draw on resources, settings and ingenuity you already have.  Persuade select friends or family to be part of it, if need be.  Decide on what appeal to take.  For example, the four videos above have a pretty star, smarty pants, sexy athlete, and zen master.       

Late Roman Republic does social media

Those in late Roman Republic created distributed communities that, according to Tom Standage, were ancient predecessors of social media.  In the particular, the elite wrote each other a lot, copied and shared quotes from one another.  Such exchanges thrived because there was a cheap way to spread them, that is, via slaves (cf. broadband) and also people were literate.

Standage's study under girds my longstanding thesis that Facebook, for example, is not so much a social innovation, as a technology one.  Interacting, conversing and networking are part-and-parcel of the human phenomena, undoubtedly animal life in general, too.  So social has been around for hundreds of thousands of years.  Mark Zuckerberg and his mates simply provided us with the platform to raise and extend social phenomena.

I like this interview with Standage, because it sheds good light on the enduring essence of what we know so well now.

Learning lessons from HealthCare.gov glitches

www.HealthCare.gov

HealthCare.gov is the joint creation of CGI Federal (design) and QSSI (coding), and there are such glitches galore with the site that the blame game is on.

The main contractors who designed the glitch-plagued government health care website argue that the Obama administration shares responsibility for problems with the digital rollout. 

Andy Slavitt, who represents QSSI’s parent company, told the Associated Press the administration made a late decision to require applicants to create accounts before browsing health plans. That process has been just one of a slew of complaints about the system. Blame game aside, Congress has been taking a hard line against the plague of glitches. Democratic Rep. Richard Nolan of Minnesota said the glitches have damaged the health care law and told the AP the president “needs to man up, find out who was responsible, and fire them.”

Reference: Obamacare Website Designers Point Fingers at the Government.

Obamacare is meant to improve healthcare, while managing costs and reforming the system.  There has been such political wrangling over this, that it's no wonder some things fell through the cracks with its website.  If you're a small business owner, there are lessons to be learned vis-a-vis the design of your website:

• You may have partners, investors and other stakeholders, who need, or merely want, to have input in the website.  You must reconcile these potentially conflicting or competing interests, before approaching a designer.  
• It is not the job of the web designer to decipher, debate, or resolve these interests.  So by the time he or she comes into the mix, you and your stakeholders must have a working agreement not just about the purpose and objectives of the website but also about responsibility and accountability for it.  
• It goes without saying that the designer must have the ability and scruples to deliver on your purpose and uphold your expectations.  You probably have a tight budget to work with, so you aren't able to engage major design firms.  No worries: The designer simply has to deliver on what you need.
• Once you and the designer have come to terms on a contract, then be sure you have regular check-ins to monitor progress on the design.  It doesn't have to take a lot of time and effort, but it must be done regularly.  Time and time again, projects go awry because of insufficient monitoring.  
• Agreeing on, and settling, payments is of course part of the project.  It makes sense to set milestones and timelines, even if it's a small project, and tie these with scheduled payments.  Nothing ruptures the working trust between client and designer more than delayed or absent payment.
• Finally, a debrief is in order at the very finish of a project.  But I also suggest agreeing at the outset on what follow-on contacts you'll have with the designer, for example, if questions or problems arise.  These are inevitable, because we're all imperfect people with imperfect tools and systems.  

By the way, Obamacare is the common name for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).  Here is a reference: ObamaCare Facts: Facts on the Affordable Care Act.

Avoiding blunders in your website design

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If you’re involved in online business, chances are you’ve already had a taste of the web design process. But now, more than ever, with so many websites vying for customers’ attention, it’s important to hone your skills and take your projects to the next level. 

The latest web design for business requires an understanding of the changing online world including the evolution of mobile Web access. With more competition, there’s a need for greater consideration about what sets your Web presence apart. And with the growing number of skill sets required, there’s also a need for more collaboration with highly skilled web design teams.

Reference: Blunders That Will Sink Your Web Design Project.

Shawn Hessinger writes a succinct, useful article about what not to do in designing your website (and blog, too).  However, I'd begin with formulating your strategy, especially as it first clarifies your purpose and sets your objectives for your website.  This may mean sketching out or story boarding it, before your fingers tap any code.

Once strategy is clarified, and your audience is targeted and profiled, then you can consider how they are likely to view your website and on what device.  This is less of an issue these days than, say, three or four years ago.  Facebook had an app for BlackBerry, but its functionality was so poor that I deleted it.  I simply decided to open the site via browser.  But navigating it was like scrolling a small window all around the same page.  Plus, it was slow as molasses.  It was still a better alternative than the Facebook app.

I have several sites on Blogger, Google's blogging platform, and because Google knows the criticality of mobile technology and users, my sites look and navigate quite fine on my iPhone.

Forging a good working relationship with your design team is crucial indeed.  I had the misfortune of working with designers who were unprofessional, overpriced and undercompetent, so I ended up aborting all projects they were working on for me.  But I knew early on that it was crucial for us to forge a good working relationship and set clear expectations.  I had to rely on them for changes, and they held the key to my sites.

Last year I learned to develop my own websites and blogs, using more user-friendly tools and platforms that again weren't around three or four years ago.  I am a startup entrepreneur, and I have to work with the means I have and the resources I can muster up.  In time I will engage a design team, of course, but for now I relish having control of my sites.

Creating (short) Vine and Instagram videos

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They are the latest diversions of the digital age – those six-second (Vine) or fifteen-second (Instagram) videos that are the perfect outlet for creative smartphone owners who feel constrained by regular photos. But shooting an interesting and engaging short-form video can be harder than it looks. Whether you want to be funny, serious, or just come up with something unique, there are a few basic rules that you need to follow.

I run down these rules, and add my comments:

Map out a storyline

Clarify your purpose, that is, what you want to say with your video. You can sketch it out à la storyboard, or, because it's so short, visualize the storyline in your mind.

Get the lighting right

Be mindful of how your smartphone camera performs under different lighting conditions, that is, outdoors vs indoors and also at different times of day.  I suggest using natural or ambient lighting, if this serve your storyline.

Use a tripod

A tripod, even a small one, is a crucial piece of equipment, as I've realized from experience.  Amazon has all sorts of tripods for sale at low cost.  Just search for "iPhone tripod," for example.

Frame your subject

Most people make the mistake of taking photos or videos too far from the subject. If you're one of them, remind yourself to come closer.  Watch videos you like, on the sites you want to plan to upload to, and see how the subject is framed.

Make it loopy

In other words, once posted, some of these short form videos will function like a GIF.

Practice makes perfect

Optimize your efforts from the get-go, again, by thinking things through and considering these rules.  You don't need to spend all day, conceiving a 6-second Vine upload.  Spontaneity and 'naturalness' can win the day over high polish productions.

Reference: How to Shoot a Short-Form Video.

Watch out for social media pitfalls

Forbes contributor Dorie Clark reveals four key insights [see screen shots below] from her recent interview with Dave Kerpen, author of Likeable Business, about what your company may be doing wrong on social media - and how you can fix them to get ahead of the competition.

Get genuine engagement going first, before loading the Timeline or News Feed with your stuff 

Keep in mind that ROI in the short term is bound to be negative, but go ahead and keep track of it 

Speak with an authentic voice, and be patient and consistent in establishing it 

Social media may seem huge, but it's just one part of a total marketing plan

Green Hat Gin does their website good

Green Hat Gin

Entrepreneurs Michael Lowe and John Uselton wanted a website that reflected the story behind Green Hat Gin:  Theirs was the first distillery in Washington DC since the Prohibition, and they paid homage to bootlegger George Cassiday's trademarked green fedora.

"We didn't want to create just a click, click, click site...  We wanted something more fluid and smooth, in the same way you would read a newspaper and flip the pages as you scroll. We also knew a lot of users would be on mobile and tablets, so making it natural to navigate on those devices was the way to go." 

The design not only stays true to Green Hat Gin's storied history, it also creates a brand that is visually distinct from its competitors. Incorporating old-fashioned catalog illustrations, fonts reminiscent of newspaper headlines and text, and cocktails playfully distinguished by hat styles, the product achieves a visual voice all its own.

Reference: The Delicate Balance of Good Website Design.

Lowe and Uselton engaged Design Army to create their website, and the creative firm's advice is the following:

• Think of your website as a storefront, not a website.
• Create a website with proper interface for mobile devices.
• Envision your business growing and your website evolving with it.
• Work out your budget accordingly. 

To time or not to time your social media posts

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Deron Wagner just posted this on Google+:

Great infographic that shows the best times of day to post on various social media platforms, along with some helpful tips for each of them. 

Of course, the best time of day to post really depends on your target audience, but this is a good general reference guide based on traffic.

I commented:

I definitely agree that "timing is huge." If your target audience is relatively localized, and there is a rhythm or cycle to their day, then it makes perfect sense to time your posts accordingly. But the US alone has six time zones, including Alaska and Hawaii. If you have targets in Europe and the Middle East, as I do, then timing your posts quickly becomes impractical. So, above all, I work at being reasonable with such timing, and include the rhythm of my own commitments and projects. The main things for me are posting daily and blogging regularly.

For business and-or for personal, you decide how to time your posts, in relation to your purpose, objectives or strategies.

Awesome prank is also a promotional video

What if telekinesis was real? How would you react? Our hidden camera experiment captures the reactions of unsuspecting customers at a New York City coffee shop as they witness a telekinetic event.

This prank is just.so.freaking.awesome.  Well-structured, well-acted, and well-filmed.

So what is it promoting?

The third adaptation of Stephen King's 1974 iconic novel, due out on October 18th 2013.  This trailer was posted on April 4th 2013, and right now has 1,829,582 views. The prank was posted just on October 7th 2013, and has an amazing 22,463,613 views.  Go figure.

We business people dream of our promotional videos going wildly viral like this.

Designlab teaches web design by doing

Harish Venkatesan, Deny Khoung and Daniel Shapiro make up Designlab

Four years ago, when a friend and I wanted to design our own websites, there weren't that many options to do so and the few options we had at our disposal were clunky.  After much conversation and brief attempts, we finally determined to sit together one Saturday and work on it.  Alas we spent 10 hours getting nowhere.

Enter, latest in the mix:  Startup Spotlight: Designlab teaches you web design skills with interactive lessons, in-browser tools.

Would you rather have Gates, Jobs, Zuckerberg or Bezos in your corner: Jobs all the way! We’re here to try to make a dent in the universe.

The biggest mistake we’ve made so far: Booking mentor meetings before 10 a.m.

I like these guys!

How the Osher Clinical Center does a promo video

The Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, a collaboration between Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, is focused on enhancing human health, resilience and quality of life. We believe that by increasing our fundamental scientific understanding of human health, we are moving toward a new model of wellness and healing. 

At the Osher Clinical Center, we believe in treating the whole person. Our integrated treatment model connects gaps in patient care and offers additional healing modalities to complete their primary medical care.

This is a promotional video, but see how the film director framed it as an educational documentary.  Instead of focusing on the Center per se, it focuses on what it does, how it helps, and why it views and remedies ailments in an integrative fashion.  It's nearly 11 minutes long, but I found it captivating.

Business and personal: one or two accounts?

"A home made honey cake is pure happiness," for Maria Sharapova

Alba Fitness asked the following on our Social Media community on Google+:

Got a question for you all!

What's better.. Using a business social media account and a personal one. Or just promote my business from my personal one? 

I find it hard to use both even when I schedule.

What do you all do?

I commented, I keep separate accounts, as I have a different purpose for each one. But I believe many celebrities and athletes use only one account. Tennis star Maria Sharapova, e.g., posts some personal stuff on Facebook and Twitter, because that's how she engages her fans and builds her brand(s). So depending on how you position your business, you may do perfectly fine with just one account and integrate business with personal. 

New (free) Web Designer from Google

As Google notes in today’s announcement [September 30th], Web Designer was developed to allow advertisers to easily create HTML5 ads for mobile and desktop. Until recently, Google argues, advertisers “didn’t have the tools they needed to easily develop content fit for today’s cross-screen experiences” and Web Designer aims to be the tool to create these experiences.

Reference:  Google Launches Web Designer, A Visual Tool For Building Interactive HTML5 Sites And Ads.

Our viewing habits are different from one device to another (e.g., desktop and mobile).  So advertisers faced the challenge of developing content for optimal cross-screen experiences.  As one developer told me, when he was working on an app for me, user interface had to be adapted for particular devices and operating systems, such as Apple iOS and Samsung Android.

Now Google has given the public the capability of doing that.  That is, those of us who aren't programmers or developers per se can learn how to use this new tool.

The tools come with all the usual visual design tools you’re probably familiar with. Some of the more interesting ones Google has developed for Web Designer include a pen tool for free drawing.

It’s worth noting that projects like Adobe Muse, Reflow and others include most of Web Designer’s features, too. But by making Web Designer available for free, Google is putting quite a bit of pressure on the incumbents in this space.

Google decided a few years ago to make its new operating system - Android - open source and free.  To say that this was a disruptive strategy is an understatement, as Android is now the dominant OS across mobile devices from different makers.  

Undoubtedly Web Designer is another disruption in the market.

Takeaways from the Twitter-CBS video ads deal

Twitter used Advertising Week to announce a new ad deal with CBS that means clips and highlights from 42 shows will be promoted across the social network this fall. Both Twitter and CBS will sell the new distribution to advertisers in packages that could also include TV. 

Twitter's Glenn Brown visited Ad Age @ Advertising Week to explain how the joint venture will work.

Reference:  Advertising Week Video: Inside Twitter's Ad Deal With CBS.

If you're a small business owner, this major deal between Twitter and CBS may seem rather complex, out-of-reach, and thus irrelevant for you.  But my takeaway from this deal may jog creative ideas that you can use.

Amplify is Twitter's advertising program, and what it does, using my commonplace parlance, is this:  (a) It repurposes existing content, actually just clips of existing video content, of media companies, like CBS and ESPN; (b) ties it with video content of advertisers, like Ford and AT&T; and (c) actively promotes it on Twitter.

Amplify deploys its algorithms to target select users among the millions and millions on Twitter, based on users' data, such as following, tweets and profile.

A small business owner ought to have some videos that promote their products and services, and the takeaway is to repurpose clips of these videos, say, into another edited video, to promote them actively on social media.  Besides Twitter, you have quite a host of options freely at your disposal, of course:  from Google+, Facebook and LinkedIn, to Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram.  You can easily use tags to help your target audience find your promotional video posts.

Big Dogs speak their voice on social media

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Dustin Stout posted 5 Social Media Tips for Becoming one of the Big Dogs on Google+ recently:

In case you missed it over the weekend, I shared my thoughts on why it doesn't matter how large your social media following is, your voice is important. You should never have to qualify any statement with, _"well I'm not one of the "big dogs" of [social network]..." because your voice and your opinion matters! 

And even if you're still a bit intimidated to throw your voice in, these 5 tips can help steer you in the direction of becoming one of the big dogs of social media yourself.

I shared it, and commented:

How to be a Big Dog on social media: It takes time and effort, but it's quite doable as Dustin W. Stout points out.

My comment: Just to reinforce a point you mention in your note, Dustin: Whatever content you post ought to be something you're truly interested in and speaks your genuine voice. I get the sense that some people are liking, posting or sharing, simply for the sake of liking, posting or sharing. There isn't much of their voice in it.

Thanks to Mike Allton for sharing.

Website essentials to attract leads

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This is quite a useful infographic from Entrepreneur: 7 Website Essentials to Land More Sales.  How well does your website engage visitors, attract leads, and land you more sales?

How we social networked, before social networking

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Scott Torrance posted this image on Google+, and asked How ever did we cope before social media?

I shared it, and quipped: There, you see, some of us have been social networking, even before social networking was in vogue.

Taco Bell jumps in with tweets and video ads

Tressie Lieberman

There's a wonderful, potentially mysterious story on this one.  Trust me, and bear with me.

Tressie Lieberman is Director of Digital and Social Marketing at Taco Bell, and she know very well that nowadays you have to have a pulse on what's hot and trending, socially speaking, and you have to act quickly on your marketing ideas.

Of course, she cannot just do anything her pulse or creativity tells her to do.  I don't imagine she has a limitless budget.  But while some ad campaigns do require time, effort and planning, some must move, move, move without hesitation.

There was no time for rest this past Labor Day for Taco Bell’s social marketing team, busy shooting a YouTube video about a fan who started a drawing club out of the chain’s Pacifica, Calif., location. 

The concept was pitched the previous Thursday, then developed and filmed over the holiday weekend. 

... Lieberman describes her job as a “daily adventure” where each morning begins with a staff meeting in which ideas just like this are hatched.

Whether it's the your iPhone videocam, or a easily portable Toshiba, you have to be ready to shoot and shoot well, and edit quickly, too, of course.  

"Bo, stop trying to make fetch happen"

Apparently Lieberman saw a chance, when The White House tweeted the message and photo above, in reference to the 2004 film "Mean Girls," and Taco Bell jumped right in.  I threw in my two cents, too.

If you saw 2004's "Mean Girls," you know the line. High-schooler Gretchen throws out the word "fetch" as a synonym for "cool," and head Mean Girl Regina blows up at her with "Gretchen, stop trying to make fetch happen! It's not going to happen!"

Reference:  'Mean Girls' fan Bo Obama is making 'fetch' happen.

Someone perpetuated a hoax on the remote town of Bethel, Alaska and convinced them that a Taco Bell was opening soon. Then they found out it was all made up. When the story started making headlines and we caught wind of it, our team decided to do something about it. "Do something" like drop a Taco Bell Truck in town by helicopter and serve the whole town Doritos Locos Tacos. 

In a matter of days, the team went from idea, to production, to live on air and on the web. In social media, we live tweeted #OperationAlaska as it was happening and fans began to follow along to see what came next. 30 second TV spots aired just days after shooting, which drove viewers to see the full story online. At the website, viewers could also explore bonus footage, and react through social media. It became the feel good taco story of the year.

Reference:  Operation Alaska.

Of course, this video took more production planning, time and effort.  But I really love it!  Definitely a feel-good story.

But then I wondered, Who perpetuated that hoax?  Hmm.

How McDonald's does a video ad

Using online video for your business is not about sharing your commercials or recycling something that aired on TV, says Shira Lazar, host of What's Trending on YouTube. Instead, Lazar advises thinking about how to create a new experience for viewers, like a recent McDonald's video [below] that took viewers behind-the-scenes of an ad shoot to answer a customer's question [emphasis, added].

Isabel M from Toronto asked "Why does your food look different in the advertising than what is in the store?"

Our answer? An exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of a McDonald's Canada photo shoot.