Most people know about the digital prowess that the White House has displayed over the past several years, including understanding big data and utilizing social media, digital marketing and mobile in order to organize supporters, fund raise and disseminate information.

Rather than sit by idly while someone else writers their narrative, the White House’s Twitter handle (@whitehouse) has joined in on the action, tweeting and retweeting original content and responses from supporters. This one takes the cake in my opinion:

I believe this is what the kids called “pwned”

But I digress. The issue at hand isn’t about ACA, which party you’re for or even if you believe Barack Obama’s a U.S. citizen. It comes down to three key reasons why they’re able to do this:

1. Preparedness. Like the Boy Scouts motto, being able to respond online and join memes is about being prepared for a situation like this and having an understanding of what’s being said about you.

2. Advocacy. The White House built a following online of supporters and knows how and when to get them involved. Rallying your brand advocates to support you seems like a no-brainer, but too many brands are content with putting their heads in the sand or retracting statements and apologizing. This doesn’t excuse bad behavior, but your customers love you for a reason (or at least they should) — give them another by sticking to you guns (when appropriate).

3. Branding. Ultimately the White House has built a brand for itself and knows when to engage, how to respond/speak and what expectation its followers have. Having a clear vision, voice and process allows their social media team to post responses without the need for reviews. This also means their team understands the brand and can speak as the brand – which in a lot of cases is not the case.

I’m going to watch and see how this unfolds, however I suspect lucky vote number thirty seven isn’t going to be the one that achieves anything — except for the White House, who’s showing the rest of the marketing world the right way to engage.

The post What Brands Can Learn From the Government appeared first on Large Media.

A qualified candidate will have experience using social media platforms and go beyond personal day to day usage to understand how they work – their functionality, user bases for each and how they’re designed to be used for brands/business. This candidate must also be extremely detail oriented and proactive in communication. Professional/business writing skills are a must, as is experience using web-based tools such as Google Docs. Photoshop/graphics, email marketing and front end coding (HTML) experience a plus.

Finally, this candidate must be a self-starter who is comfortable working in a fast paced environment both in-office and offsite. Previous social media management – whether at the university, business or other level – is preferred.

Interested parties should share their resume and applicable portfolio with us at Careers at GetLargeMedia dot com.

The post Yes, Sullivan County, Someone Is Hiring appeared first on Large Media.

Notice what types of jobs Jason lists off when he says that these sorts of jobs require long stretches of time that require attention (not distractions):

• Programmers
• Designers
• Writers
• Thinkers

He pins the problem on two causes: Meetings and Managers.

We couldn’t agree more, Jason. Here’s the full talk for you to watch — most likely during work hours

The post Why Work Doesn’t Happen At Work appeared first on Large Media.

The real question isn’t “How did this happen?”, the question is “Why did this happen?”. As a former “big agency” guy, I’ll tell you exactly how it happened.

1. Social media team is hired.

2. Social media team creates spreadsheet for accounts they manage.

3. Social media team doesn’t want the brand’s Twitter account connected to their work email account, so they set up a Gmail (et al) account.

4. Hackers try to reset the password, discover it’s tied to a third party account.

And then the fun begins.

Unfortunately, not only is that the protocol for most brands and agencies but the basic ritual of changing the social media, web site and “other” email accounts (like service@____.com, social@____.com, etc) doesn’t happen. Speaking from personal experience, I’ve worked for agencies who’ve not changed their passwords for YEARS on their accounts across client accounts, tools they’ve rented and even FTP accounts. This doesn’t even take into account what happens when someone was laid off, fired or moved on to another agency. I can only imagine, given the persuasion to relax IT standards at many companies due to the proliferation of social media sites and tools, how many corporate accounts are tied to third party services like Gmail.

For those who’ve never experienced or seen this — because I’ve seen exchanges on Twitter today where companies are now taking this into consideration — it’s absolutely NOT something new. I.T. has been — for YEARS — trying to convince lockdowns on social media accounts claiming ownership for instances just like this.

Look for that to change in a big way. And that “We HAVE to have free reign on our machines/passwords/etc” excuse? Burger King just killed it for you.

The post Burger King’s Twitter Account Gets Hacked, Kills Lame Excuse for Brands/Agencies appeared first on Large Media.

That said, it goes back to a point we’ve been saying forever: There’s a battle happening on the web between Google and Facebook, and this move by Facebook just planted a flag squarely in Google’s Search space.

And while research shows word of mouth recommendations top any other form of media in trustworthiness, ultimately it comes down to trust and relevance:

Are the results I’m getting from the people I know better than what I can find elsewhere? 

Thus far Facebook has yet to solve for this dilemma. Displaying a brand page that a friend likes is not any more likely to a) remind me that I like the brand, and b) entice me to try it – even with an offer.

Brands can get a quick rundown of tips where Facebook brand Pages can be optimized for search here.

The post Facebook Rabbit Punches Google with “Graph Search” appeared first on Large Media.

One of the trends we’ve seen is that brands are more eager to publish their content than see if what they’re publishing is being engaged with. Listening to clients and non-clients bemoan Facebook because their engagement rates and reach are in the gutter typically leads to a simple question: Can I see your data?

Usually it’s the first time anyone’s taken a really hard look at what they’ve been posting. Doing a simple analysis using Facebook analytics will turn up some of the variables that may be affecting whether or not your posts are being seen. Time of day, type of content/media and frequency all play a factor as to whether or not your donuts are being consumed.

There’s another problem, though, that the analytics won’t reveal, and that is content creativity. Yes, content needs to be more than a standard box of donuts, served fresh 7 days a week. We’re not even going to go into day-old donuts, or content that was created for a different medium. In fact, Scott Monty recently talked about the struggles and difficulty in creating great content on a regular basis and provides some tips on how to do so.

I’ll take it a step further: Every client we work with is, without question, strapped for time and resources — including people and budgets. And the agencies who’ve brought us on board are even worse (sans budgets, of course). Demands on employee’s time has never been higher and yet the expectation that doing something more than checking the box across each social platform is still there. What’s a brand to do?

For starters, look for help. It’s fairly well known that most agencies typically have a drop in production, creativity and ideas after working on an account for a while, but few clients will hold their feet to the fire because the relationship becomes comfortable. “Well, they meet their deadlines and our numbers went up” isn’t uncommon, especially for those brands not measuring their social media efforts properly; meeting deadlines and the ability to create great content aren’t mutually exclusive concepts.

Second, fix the broken cycle. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Admitting that one person – especially someone that doesn’t understand your target audience, their motivations, habits and preferences – can not do it alone is a good first step. Remember — your data doesn’t lie. Neither does your budget, which is why looking for smaller, privately held, virtual and rural agencies can stretch your budget a lot further for two reasons: No or low overhead/shareholders and focus. We don’t have the same demands that big agencies do so the thought, creativity and time spent on your brand is exponentially higher – thus, given the talent is equal, helps to create better content.

Finally, brands that understand how to create platforms can break the cycle by decentralizing the process of creating content. This includes monitoring the web for consumer created content as well as creating platforms that enable co-creation. This doesn’t have to be a big, expensive ad campaign, either. And please don’t think that I mean asking for photos or videos from your Facebook followers. I’m talking about understanding your customer because they aren’t always on Facebook. Understanding where they visit, what they read and how they’re talking about you. This is where having a solid monitoring team in place — and the ability to move quickly on this information — can help.

I can’t reiterate this enough, but given the amount of data, information and talking happening online about most brands means you have the ability to gain insights about your consumer, target audiences, motivations, habits and trends. Understanding your consumers — and creating content they may like — is not difficult. It’s just that big brands and agencies are using a broken model of how to do it.

The post Time To Make The Donuts: Fixing the Social Media Content Creation Model appeared first on Large Media.

The post #SullivanTweetup To Be Held November 16, 2012 appeared first on Large Media.

** DUE TO POWER OUTAGES THE TWEETUP HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED FOR NOVEMBER 1516, 2012 **

GLEN SPEY, NY — October 19, 2012 — Green Door Magazine and Large Media will hold Sullivan County’s first “tweetup” November 1516th from 6-8 PM at the Dancing Cat Distillery in Bethel, NY. The event marks the first gathering of Twitter users in what the two companies hope draws social media users from nearby regions, including Orange County, nearby Pennsylvania and northern New Jersey.

What is a tweet up?

A “Tweet Up” is a social media experience that will bring local users of the microblogging platform Twitter together during a designated period of time.

“A tweet up in Sullivan County is yet another positive sign that things are changing. More young people are getting involved, connecting via social media and using technology to get the word out about the Catskills as well as improving our communities”, says Akira Ohiso, Publisher of Green Door Magazine. “I’ve lived here three years and I believe this may be the first tweet up in Sullivan County.”

“The idea of a tweetup is something I’ve organized and taken part in both on a personal and professional level in the past. It’s an excellent way for us to gauge the social media proficiency of the area but more important bring people together and raise awareness for the Catskills,” explains David Binkowski, Managing Partner at Large Media.

Binkowski moved his marketing agency, Large Media, and family up to the Catskills this past summer after having spent the past five years just outside of New York City in New Jersey. He believes there is a growing movement, much like in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan, of younger couples and families making a commitment to “take back their life”, as he put it, and start up their own business in affordable communities.

“We’re your typical weekender-turned-Catskillian resident story”, he concluded, “and are looking forward to meeting and mingling with Catskills Twitterers.”

Event Details

Interested parties can join Akira and David in-person at the Dancing Cat Distillery on ThursdayFriday, November 1st16th starting at 6 PM. The event is free. You can follow Akira at @akiraohiso, David at @dbinkowski, Green Door Magazine at @greendoormag, Large Media at @largemedia and the Dancing Cat at @TheCatSaloon. You can also follow the evening on Twitter by searching for the hashtag #SullivanTweetup.

About Green Door Magazine

Based in the central Hudson Valley of New York State, Green Door magazine espouses the benefits of country living in a socially conscious society, while retaining an attachment to the realities of urban life. It is ‘a journal of comfortable living,’ as the magazine profiles artists, residences, food, wine, local farms, events and the evolution of transplanted city-dwellers. Visit us online at http://www.greendoormag.com.

About Large Media

Headquartered in Glen Spey, NY, Large Media is Sullivan County’s premier marketing agency, specializing in digital, social media, word of mouth and mobile marketing for national, regional and local clients. Our mission is to help clients understand and maximize the changing marketing landscape. Visit us online at http://www.getlargemedia.com.

The post Green Door Magazine & Large Media To Hold Sullivan County Tweet Up appeared first on Large Media.

So we gave it a try.

Discovery

In August we saw some ads on a third party Twitter “profile checker” site  saying they can send a thousand followers your way for $9. The process is pretty simple: select how many followers you want, select the account you’d like them applied to, pay, and within 48 hours — boom — you’re in business with several thousand new followers.

So it turns out for under $20 you can buy a few thousand followers. And, to the service’s word, the bot-like, systematic approach worked. Our numbers went from a few hundred followers to over 3,500 in 48 hours.

What was interesting to note was that there was no authentication process whatsoever involved. No OAuth. No logins. Nothing. The system we went through was to enter the username we wanted the followers “applied” to, then pay for the followers. That’s it.

Who Are These People?

Upon researching their profiles, we found that most had less than five tweets, profile pictures and were scattered across the globe. Most had bios that appeared to be scraped — but with typos — from legitimate Twitter users. Their profile photos were random, with some female names having male pictures and vice-versa.

We’re still plugging away at blocking each of these people so they don’t show up in our follower count as there aren’t any third party apps to automatically drop them all. This takes time, obviously, but we’ll right our numbers soon enough.

What Was The Value?

What we found is that doing so as an experiment told us what we already knew — buying numbers delivered on the follower count, but that’s about it. These followers don’t account for a single reply, retweet, mention or other form of interaction. Instead, we have a bloated follower count that, when tracked against engagement as a percent of followers, is driving down all of our metrics that matter.

Wait, But Why Did You Do It Again?

You might ask “Why did you do this?”. Is it ethical? How can an agency that claims to advise clients on social media best practices and ethics do something like this?

We did it because if we don’t know how it works we can’t advise our clients about exactly how it works.

I didn’t approve this because I wanted the agency big numbers as we rarely tweet (see: our tweet number) or a big following. We advise our clients that the number isn’t what’s important, it’s what you do with them. Engage them. Learn from them. Excite them and make them remember why they buy your products. But I digress.

If I wanted to sit up all night and day and follow people I could.  I’ve built up over 4,300 followers “the old fashioned way” on my personal account. And I am systematically going through and blocking these new fake followers for the company account. It takes time, but eventually it’ll get evened out and we’ll continue the slow burn of building a following — namely engaging with our community and providing good content.

What Did We Learn

Is it all bad? No, actually it’s not. Ethically, of course, it’s a complete misrepresentation of having humans follow you on Twitter and Like you on Facebook. And yes, there are also fake Facebook accounts you can have follow your brand.  You might want to revisit your Page’s data to see if any unexplained spikes in Likes were obtained. Back to the lesson.

What we did see is that our Twitter account started receiving new and reciprocal followers on Twitter because our follower number appeared to be high. Perception is what matters to some on Twitter, which is why they need to have the appearance of being followed. Because of the onslaught of MLM, life coach and porn spam followers on Twitter, people are more discerning about who they’ll follow back.

Most people will rarely follow the person or company with low numbers; it’s a badge of legitimacy, even if those followers can easily be proven as fake. Is it right? No, but that’s the system in which many “influencers” (including those in the social media field) have built their online empire.

Why Does This Matter for Brands?

The implications of having fake Twitter followers and Facebook Likes for brands is enormous. It goes beyond basic marketing ethics. It implicates your brand — or agency — as one that is unethical. Here are three reasons why this is huge:

1. Your Agency May Have Been Lying

For starters, your agency may have purchased fake followers in order to meet their goals. It would explain sudden bumps/spikes in Likes and Follows (remember you can do this for Facebook too), as well as decreases in engagement. As such, your agency may recommend additional ad buys to reach fans — and then collecting a commission for making the ad buy. Quite a nice ponzi scheme, huh?

2. Your Numbers Undoubtedly Dipped This Summer

In doing some research on a few of the brands that I follow,  I noticed a decrease in fans this Summer/Fall due to Facebook’s announcement of shutting down fake accounts. One friend’s brand recently saw a 7,000 fan drop over the span of a week has now lost over 81,000 fans in the span of 2 months (updated 10/3/12). It’s going to be hard to trace it back to a specific instance unless the agency that purchased the fans did it outside of any specific ad buys or campaigns; 7,000 fans isn’t easily traceable when you may have been running a legitimate campaign/offers to garner new customers/followers. It is worth noting that on Twitter the purchase is much easier to spot:

It’s fairly obvious to spot when this account purchased followers.

3. Don’t Expect So Many Likes/Follows From Paid Endorsers

For brands sponsoring celebrities, there’s a major implication that is worth speaking with your lawyers about. Whenever a brand works with a celebrity – or any personality with large follower/Like counts – those numbers are factored into the negotiations of “gets” for the brand, meaning that along with things like appearances, usage of their image and rights to a song, brands have been also asking for status updates and tweets from the talent. In retrospect, it also explains why a tweet or status update from a mega star with a lot of fake followers/Likes didn’t move the needle for your brand’s Likes/follows as much as you were expecting.

Moving Forward

Fortunately it’s not all “buyer beware” for brands. First, you can protect yourself by checking out StatusPeople’s Fake Follower tool and inspecting the blogger, celebrity, musician – or social media “expert” — you’re thinking about working with to see what percentage of followers are legitimate.  This will help set expectations on reciprocal follows/Likes as well as negotiate a better rate for working with a spokesperson. Taking it a step further, brands can also check out Wildfire’s Monitor tool to pinpoint the exact date in which the suspect purchased their followers/Likes.

In case there were any doubts, the era of social media transparency is beyond being “here”.  And it’s high time those in the image business and brand folks alike took note.

Update:  This post has been very well received —  except by those who’ve tried to game the system. The account denoted in the chart above has figured out a way to game StatusPeople so that their “fake” count is now down to single digits, even after fraudulently purchasing 40k followers and unfollowing 20k. However, Wildfire still shows the massive spike — and now decline — in their numbers.

The post Fake Facebook Likes and Twitter Followers — And the Implications for Brands appeared first on Large Media.

To that point, I came across an excellent example of how brand positioning and equity can help with your pricing. Take a look at the picture below:

Rapala branded gloves on the left, Cat gloves on the right.

I got the Rapala gloves on the left this Summer after having caught a few pickerel and telling my wife that it would be much easier to unhook them if I had gloves. She obliged and gifted them to me for my birthday. And yes, it is easier to remove the slime-emitting fish now.

The second glove was purchased a few weeks ago from a truck stop in Michigan during our annual pilgrimage home from Michigan to New York. We were hauling a row boat home on the roof of our Pilot (cue “Dueling Banjos”) and due of the dimensions of the boat and amount of wind, inevitably pulled over several times to tighten and re-tighten the straps holding the boat down. Unfortunately after driving through some rain, the rope slipped in my hands while attempting to tighten it, leaving burns on my hand (hence the need for gloves).

The gloves, logo aside, are the exact same product — except the one on the left cost 4x as much. How do they get away with it? Branding.

If you were at my talk you already know the story: It’s not necessarily about the product – it’s about the perception of the product. If you, as a blogger, agency, consumer packaged good or anything else, determine that your brand’s place in the market is one of value, it’s awfully difficult to change that perception. If you’re a premium brand, becoming more “accessible” means cheapening your brand.

So, which brand are you: the Cat or the Rapala?

The post The Power of Branding appeared first on Large Media.