The Network Garden - Mark Sigal's Blog

My Article on Web Platforms and Social Media

The Internet is evolving from a web of static text and links to a vibrant online space marked by interactive conversations, rich media and “orchestrated” narratives. 

If this were broadcast media, the analog for this shift would be the evolution from radio to television. But social media is a different animal entirely, encapsulating and stitching together content, communications and community in ways that reflect the consumer’s personal interests, their affinities, affiliations and the contexts within which they create and participate.

In the article, "Web Platforms and Social Media," I make the assertion that the emergence of this wave is driving the need for new types of social media-aware platforms, with Facebook’s F8 platform offering one example, and my companies, vSocial and Me.com offering another. 

Through specific customer use cases, I attempt to shine a light of how companies big and small are embracing this model and what it means for their business.

Here is a link to the full article, and here is an excerpt:

For example, in the new media realm, CBS is attempting to create an audience-centered network model where the audience defines the boundaries of the network, not some arbitrary URL. Such an approach disrupts what it means to be a broadcaster, while at the same time re-enforces the value of really good, conversational content.

In the business-to-business realm, social media platforms are beginning to profoundly shape the ways companies message, market to, fulfill, empower and support their customers.

Consider the segment known as conversational marketing. Conversations, augment, if not replace, the original advertising model of blasting a message as a way of enforcing brand. In the conversational marketing model, a major part of branding is authenticity, and authenticity requires true engagement - so a recurring and effective approach is a word-of-mouth campaign.

I would love your thoughts on whether the customer examples  from the article resonate with you.  Also, let me know if there are other examples that standout for you.

Don’t Subordinate your Brand!

Look at YouTube as the first online video broadcast network and think, “I want some of that Mojo?”  See Facebook as the center of the social network universe and want to plug in?

You should, as there is a lot of goodness in embracing rich media content, building brand-centered communities and launching conversational marketing initiatives.

Just don’t subordinate your brand in the process.

So what can you can DO to Elevate your Brand?

1. DO…Ensure that your video player reflects your branding so that when a user sees a video, they associate it with your corporate identity in terms of look, feel, logos, color schemes and the like.
2. DO…Systematically tie video content to specific underlying articles and the like such that regardless of where a user views the video — onsite or when virally distributed — there are clear, built-in link backs to the underlying content you would like them to embrace.  Think of this as breadcrumbs that lead the consumer back to a designated content destination.   
3. DO…Take advantage of the unique opportunity to serve up “house ads” in and around such content so you can offer up free trials, encourage users to sign up for mailing lists and the like.
4. DO…build a plan for how you can express your brand more actively into your online strategy by integrating user profiles, social networking/community functions, search capabilities, etc.

So what have we learned? Don’t subordinate your brand.  Elevate it!

New Media: Darwinian Logic

A few weeks back, I was in New York with Brad Webb, vSocial’s CTO.  We were there to meet up with clients, partners and peers.  It was a pretty illuminating time.  I really love my industry.  I love New York, too.

One day, we had lunch with Adam Elend, one of the founders of Wallstrip, and the lunch meeting mostly took the form of us querying him to get the benefit of his experience in doing Wallstrip. 

Wallstrip essentially created a new media brand from thin air.  They did it quickly, inexpensively and they were intelligent about how they embraced the medium.

Adam’s a great guy and so is Howard Lindzon, one of the other founders (disclosure: Howard is an investor in vSocial), so I am pre-disposed to thinking these guys “get it.”  So, apparently, did CBS.  They recently bought the company.

In any event, chatting it up over lunch, Adam had a really clarifying point that this medium is all about the brand and character first and then the narrative.

His logic is that figuring out what brand/character resonates with the audience is more important than figuring out the format of the show since if people don’t care about the character, you are dead in the water.

At a base level, this suggests to him that when creating new branded content you essentially can plant a lot of seeds (seeded content like a character oriented video blog) quickly and cheaply and only invest the time and energy in building narrative and programming around the brand/character once you have determined that there is an audience that cares.

Positively sage, the survival of the fittest.

Teams and Membership: Don't be a Grouch-O!

Groucho used to quip that he would never want to be a member of a club that would have him as a member. The joke obviously being that Groucho was such a loathsome character that if the club would take him, its standards must be unacceptably low.

Running with this analogy, from time to time we all find ourselves desperately seeking acceptance at a "club" (read: school, job, fraternity, friends, significant other, etc.) that doesn't return our interest. Sometimes, the answer is to just try harder. Other times, there is no choice but to handle the rejection with aplomb.

But more and more, the general sense that I have come to is that I only want to be a member of a club that is thrilled to have me as a member.

That may sound arrogant at first blush but the basic premise is simple. I know my skills and my experience, and as such, when I find something worthy of my efforts, I believe that I will deliver the goods, be a great partner and a dedicated, passionate member of the team.

When that goodness is valued and recognized on the front end, it is a great fit and you can create wonderful magic.

By contrast, when that currency is not recognized on the front end, the price of entry is (generally) not worth it.

Being 100% intellectually honest, what team or group should be thrilled to have you as a member and why?