Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 254

Let's Stop Mixing Up Digital Advertising With Digital Marketing

I get into this fight all of the time.

When people talk to me about advertising agencies - especially ones that claim to be "fully integrated" - what I (still) hear is: digital advertising. Make no mistake about it, advertising is a juggernaut in the world of marketing, but it's not everything. That's the main gripe I have when people look at advertising agencies with digital capabilities, and try to compare them to a digital marketing agency. Here's my theory on this (and it's not perfect, there are variances and exceptions to every rule): An advertising agency (whether they have digital capabilities or not) are in the hammer and nail business. To an advertising agency (which would be the hammer), everything can be solved with an ad (which would be the nail) - and yes, to a hammer, everything does look like a nail. There is nothing wrong with that. Advertising is an essential component of a strong communications platform, and it is still a very efficient way for a brand to communicate a message to an audience. Brands can complain all they want about the diminishing returns on advertising, but this is a problem that gets exacerbated when lack of compelling creative meets a faltering scarcity model (too many channels and opportunities).

How does a digital marketing agency fit into this?

It depends on who you ask. We've been running Twist Image since 2000 (that's 14 years, for those who do not want to do the math). And, for all of that time, we were never looking to solve a business challenge with an ad. We have always looked at the business challenge and tried to develop a solution that is based in the digital world. So, we're looking to create products and/or services that can help a brand leapfrog both their competitors and the more traditional ways of connecting with consumers. From there, we build a framework for success (and, if you're struggling to understand the difference between a framework and ROI, check out Avinash Kaushik's amazing article titled, See-Think-Do: A Content, Marketing, Measurement Business Framework). Once we have that product or service (and yes, that could be an e-commerce solution, a game, an app, social media initiatives, a website, etc...) and a framework for it, it becomes a question of communications. From the communications standpoint, we're trying to leverage a healthy mix of paid, earned and owned models to help the brand to be successful.

Can you feel the difference?

Advertising is one component of the communications challenge. The reason this confusion is so prevalent in the marketing industry, is because we use media spend as the benchmark for some kind of marketing mix comprehension. Just today, eMarketer published the news item, Digital Ad Spending Worldwide to Hit $137.53 Billion in 2014. I thought it was a typo. From the article: "Spending on ads served to internet-connected devices including desktop and laptop computers, mobile phones and tablets will reach $137.53 billion this year, according to eMarketer's latest estimates of worldwide paid media spending. Digital spend will be up 14.8% over 2013 levels, according to the forecast, and will make up just over one-quarter of all paid media spending worldwide. That's up from about one-fifth of spending in 2012, and it is set to rise to nearly one-third of the total by the end of our forecast period, when advertisers around the world will invest $204.01 billion in digital."

That's a lot of bank.

Actually, that's a misnomer. It's a staggering amount of dollars. And, when marketers are pouring that kind of financial resources behind the paid media spending of brands, it's easy to see how the distinction between advertising and marketing gets foggy. If you don't think it's staggering, just check out this chart: Internet Advertising Revenues Hit $7.3 Billion in Q1 '11 from the IAB. I remember when the paid media spend was well under the one billion dollar level (I remember it so well, because I was selling online media back in 1999). Now, digital advertising spend is rivaling that of TV, and for one good reason: brands put the money where the consumers are. And, where do you think that the consumers are?

It's about more than media.

When was the last time you read something about a brand and said to yourself, "you see... that is smart!" That my reaction when I read the AdWeek article, Why Johnson & Johnson Treasures BabyCenter's Data. Moms and soon-to-be moms tend to like BabyCenter for information. That digital property is owned by Johnson & Johnson. Think about the business solution that J&J solved with this marketing solution. Think about the data capture that is happening on this site. And, ultimately, think about how they can leverage all of this information to better target both the advertising on this site (and even when J&J advertises on other mom-related sites). It's staggering. It also demonstrates the massive chasm between digital advertising (the last mile of communicating the brand to the world) in comparison to the digital marketing work (develop a platform for moms, build a framework around it and push a communications platform to either get the message out or, in this case, even monetize it).

Don't dismiss advertising.

It bears repeating: advertising is big, massive and growing (especially in the digital channels). Just look at those numbers: $137.53 billion in 2014. Still, advertising is but a subset of the communications platform which - in and of itself - is a component of a greater marketing good. Be floored by the media dollars that are being shifted to digital, but without a sound marketing platform that runs horizontally throughout the brand/organization, those messages will - for the most part - fall on deaf ears.

Still, digital continues to look healthy, growing and ever-evolving - even when we confuse the terms.

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Don't Blame Brands (Always) In A Time Of Crisis

The tweet heard around the world.

There was a disaster somewhere in the world. I think it was the tragic Boston Marathon bombings. I was in France at the time speaking at an event. I was crawling into an early evening slumber when the news broke. As we do these days, I hopped over to Twitter. I was immediately taken by someone many would acknowledge as a social media expert who tweeted out something along the lines of "Attention brands: please turn off all of your automated tweets, etc... out of respect for the tragedy in Boston." In the past, we've had many instances when brands (with good or stupid intentions) have firmly placed their proverbial feet in their mouths. It happens. It keeps happening. As bad and tragic as these events are, the world does not stop. I looked down to the pool/terrace area where the reception was continuing on without me (I was on a lower floor). You could see people scrambling to talk to one another and share the news of what was taking place in Boston. You could see groups of people huddled over mobile devices and the bar had changed the television channel over to CNN (or whatever the equivalent is in France). Still, the party raged on. Champagne was consumed, the buffet tables looked busy. Humans beings are a complex bunch. So, in one instance, we're telling brands, don't communicate anything during a national/international crisis, but on the other hand, the corporate parties and events keep raging on.

What is right in a world that has gone so wrong?

"Oh no. Not again." That was the sum of my initial thoughts when I first heard about the Fort Hood shooting. Tragedies everywhere. People struggling with their own demons, and violence becomes their desperate cry for help/attention. Sadly, people (now victims) become collateral damage in these cries for help. As usual, I head online to get perspective, read the discourse and more. Once again, a very senior communications executive sent out a message (this time on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook) about a tweet: "#FortHoodShooting sweet Save 10% plus free shipping on your order at Acme Inc. use coupon code: BUY19." The comment from the senior executive read: "The dark side of Twitter and hashtags. National tragedy unfolding and trending topic attracts marketing." I changed the name of the company and the promo code for a specific reason. This company was now taking a lot of flack for looking very insensitive during these times. As if that weren't enough, it is also (somewhat evident) that it's probably some kind of automated tweet that gets triggered for any trending topic/hashtag.

So, do you HATE that brand? 

It's hard not to be immediately disgusted by them. But, here's the thing: upon closer inspection of this instance, you can easily uncover that the brand (probably) had nothing to do with this tweet. It looked like an affiliate marketer who gets a commission of their sales when someone uses that, specific, promo code. So, this unsophisticated affiliate marketer is doing the equivalent of spamming trending hashtags in the hopes of picking up a few bucks here or there. Still, the brands takes the brunt of the hit, pain and crisis management that ensues.

Having a media brain.

How many people do you think saw that tweet and were simply disgusted by the brand, instead of taking the time to scratch a little beneath the surface to uncover the truth? It's just another example of how brands can take a hit without ever having done anything wrong. Yes, you could easily say that businesses need to be careful about who they do business with, and that all affiliate marketers should be vetted in a more professional manner, but let's get real here: what's stopping anybody from going online, saying something like this about any brand and attempting to make them look bad? It's easier than you think. It happens all of the time. The general mass populous are not trained media professionals. It's not their jobs (nor do they care) to vet these tweets for validity. The brand gets hurts worse than anyone else in this scenario, and it quickly becomes this massive pile-on. Personally, I feel bad for the brand that got caught up in this storm. But, it just goes to show you, that even if you're doing everything right, in terms of using social media to connect in a more real and authentic way with you consumers, that little mishaps like this are sure to happen. And, no matter how much is done in the aftermath to correct-course, there will still be even more people who saw that terrible tweet and now have a terrible brand impression.

Is time to talk about brands and control again?

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The Speed Of Brands And Other Stuff

What do you make of this whole high frequency trading scandal?

Personally, I am not surprised. At every turn, we're seeing more and more businesses using speed (in almost unimaginable ways) to make more money. This past week, 60 Minutes ran a feature interview with Michael Lewis (famed author of Liar's Poker, Moneyball and many more) on his latest book, Flash Boys. The book tells the tale of how technologists and financial analysts have built computer algorithms and hardware to help game the stock market. Without getting into the intricacies of it, these technologies are analyzing the movement of stocks and then jumping the queue to either buy stock at a lesser cost or run the numbers up post-purchase. They do this by optimizing the speed with which a purchase is delivered to the actual stock exchange (they understand the tubes of the Internet and making sure that they get to the stock first). It's nuanced. It's happening within fractions of a second, and these systems don't hold on to the stock to see how the management team performs in Q2. They're simply buying and trading stocks based on a computer system with rapid speeds. The types of purchasing and analysis that humans could never do. Ironically, this could be one of the best, biggest and most profound case studies of big data and business. Currently, the FBI is investigating these firms to figure out if anything illegal is happening.

All is fair in love and war and money and speed.

This isn't about slowing down the pace of change. This isn't about slowing down the speed with which technology changes our society. It is going to continue, and we will continue to be amazed at just how inventive the human mind can be. With that, brands have to understand the implications. Years ago, the concept of high frequency trading was introduced to me and it became quite obvious that this type of technology is already being used on consumers, as we speak. How much does a copy of CTRL ALT Delete (my second business book) cost at Amazon? The truth is that I have no idea. Some days, there is a significant discount, other days it is closer to the full retail price. The sale price of it has fluctuated so much since it came out towards the end of last year, that when people ask me how much the book is, my response is: "Whatever Amazon says it is at this moment." With that, Amazon will also bundle it with other books to lower the price, so it's even more confusing.

How can anyone price products like this?

It's an impressive model that must work much in the same way that high frequency trading technology works. Amazon is probably studying a myriad of disparate data sets from personal usage, to demographics and psychographics to their own behavioral algorithms to see what makes someone click the buy button. The truth is that the average consumer on Amazon probably never knows what the initial price was, and how it has changed over the course of time. This is what digital does that makes the future of retailing so fascinating. In a world where there are no physical shelves, endcaps and stickers, the price of products (and even services) can fluctuate as much as a stock price and consumers will be none the wiser.

The pin that pops showrooming.

What if every product on the shelves at physical retailers had no prices on them, but just a barcode (or a digital price tag)? What would retail look like? You could scan a product and it could suddenly adjust to the right price, because it would know what all of their competitors were charging online at that, specific, time. Smartphones meet smart pricing. No work for the consumer. No feeling like you could have paid less had you gone somewhere else. Competition becomes fierce and suddenly the technology running retail looks more like high frequency trading systems that are customized than anything else. It also means that within a fraction of minutes (or seconds), I could be paying more (or less) than you. Is that fair?

It has to be about more than price.

You could love your investment advisor as much as you want, but if they're not helping to make your money work for you, odds are that you would switch to a computer-based platform, even though it doesn't dress as nice or pick up the lunch tab around holiday season. Beyond that, consumers want to be attached, connected and cared for when it comes to some of their goods and services. While they don't necessarily need to be all the that engaged with their toilet paper company, they may want some kind of connection and loyalty from their supermarket. What we're seeing - in this world of speed and technology - is that the underlying service, value add and help is becoming an ever-increasing unique selling proposition. The truth is, you can get most things for a little (or a lot) cheaper, if you're willing to hunt for it and wait for it (plus there are consumer reviews to help you make a more informed decision). As technology removes the friction from that process (which several companies are working on), we're going to see an entirely new definition of consumers and loyalty come to fruition. While there may not be any immediate need for a brand to react to all of this Flash Boys news, it is something to prepare for. The lesson is clear:

The speed of technology is something we are never prepared for, and most brands find themselves asking what happened instead of planning for the inevitable.

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60 minutes

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CTRL ALT Delete - Weekly Technology And Digital Media Review - CHOM FM #25

Every morning at 7:10 am, I am a guest contributor on CHOM 97.7 FM radio broadcasting out of Montreal (home base). It's not a long segment - about 5 to 10 minutes every week - about everything that is happening in the world of technology and digital media. The good folks at CHOM 97.7 FM are posting these segments weekly to SoundCloud, if you're interested in hearing more of me blathering away. I'm really excited about this opportunity, because this is the radio station that I grew up on listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry and Heather B. morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.

This week we discussed:

Sleep deprivation.

Facebook buys Oculus for two billion dollars.

Kickstarter and the Oculus kickback.

Facebook is looking at the future of computers.

Oculus is for gamers now... but just wait!

We need to think of how technology augments our work experience... and not the automation factor.

Facebook redesign.

The killing of notifications.

Duolingo and the future of learning language.

Online education like University of the People.

Harvard even has a free class in computer programming.

App of the week: FireChat.

Listen here...

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chom fm

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ctrl alt delete with mitch joel

digital media

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facebook redesign

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guest contributor

harvard

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terry dimonte

university of the people

Why Every Brand Should Build An Audience

Episode #403 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

There are few people as passionate as Jeffrey Rohrs when it comes to brands and connecting with consumers. It's gotten so hot and heavy for him, that he wants brands to be like bands. He wants brands to not just have customers and members of a loyalty program. He wants brands to build, nurture and have an audience. Rohrs heads up ExactTarget's Marketing Insights Team (which is now a part of Salesforce.com). He's a specialist on content marketing and social media (so, you know that we're going to get along). Late last year, he published his first book, Audience - Marketing In the Age of Subscribers, Fans & Followers. He's also the co-creator of Subscribers, Fans & Followers Research Series (which is world's first and longest-running examination of consumer relationships with brands through email, mobile, and social channels). He also loves bacon... so what's not to love? Enjoy the conversation...

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast #403.

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audience

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david usher

digital marketing

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jeffrey rohrs

marketing blogger

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salesforce

social media

subscribers fans and followers research series

twitter

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Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #197

Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, Solve For Interesting, the author of Complete Web Monitoring, Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks and Lean Analytics), Hugh McGuire (PressBooks, LibriVox, iambik and co-author of Book: A Futurist's Manifesto) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".

Check out these six links that we're recommending to one another:

I've tracked one year of sex and masturbation between [M]yself and my wi[F]e: activity tags, a look at the role of the menstrual cycle, and other trends - Reddit . "Add this to the list of things I didn't know I'd share with you guys when we started this. Since we're talking health data, well, in for a penny, in for a pound. One of the most common uses of new tech - whether it's the printing press, the VHS, or the Web - is adult content. So, it's no surprise that life-logging enthusiasts are turning their all-seeing eye to data. Here, a husband tracks sex patterns, and draws some interesting conclusions. I'll let you decide whether you want to click or not." (Alistair for Hugh).

The Parable of Google Flu: Traps in Big Data Analysis - Science . "Since you asked about big data on Facebook , here's a nugget. Last year, Google made big news by predicting the outbreak of flu. Or did they? One of the problems with a reliance on data for decision-making is that the data shapes our behavior, which changes the data. It's like a big data version of the observer effect (or, as some have less politely described it, 'algorithms dumping where they eat.') In this case, changes to algorithms and media hype around flu outbreaks caused Google to overstate the number of cases of the flu. 'Big data hubris' is the often implicit assumption that big data are a substitute for, rather than a supplement to, traditional data collection and analysis." (Alistair for Mitch).

When one New Zealand school tossed its playground rules and let students risk injury, the results were surprising - National Post . "I love stories about unintended consequences. For instance, what if bending over backwards to make things (playgrounds, classrooms, etc...) safe for our kids actually raises the incidence of injury? Maybe what our kids need to stay safe is a pile of broken glass, some rusty barbed-wire, and some broken up 2 by 4s." (Hugh for Alistair).

Bitcoin's Future - Hidden Flipside - The Economist . "Here's an old tech innovator's saw: 'If you were to ask a group of smart people to create X with the technology of today, what would it look like? Nothing like the X we all know.' We take many things for granted as facts of the universe, but if you think in depth about some things, they just don't make much sense. Money is one of them. And, while Bitcoin itself might not win the day, Bitcoin as'"platform for financial innovation' is a pretty exciting possibility." (Hugh for Mitch).

Harvard's Free Computer Science Course Teaches You to Code in 12 Weeks - Open Culture . "There was one thing that really stood out in my mind from TED 2014 in Vancouver. Something new and interesting was brought to my attention. It's something called University of the People and its founder, Shai Reshef , explained it. Basically, anyone can apply to get a university degree. It's online. It's tuition-free. It's got real profs. It's accredited. Students pay $100 per exam. That's it. Pretty cool. Pretty mind blowing. I don't have a university degree... so yeah, I'm now considering it. Of course, you can study all kinds of courses online for free (have you checked out iTunes U yet?). How about a free computer science course that will teach you to code in twelve week from Harvard ? Well..." (Mitch for Alistair). 

What are some great mind-blowing books? Why? - Quora . "Sick of lists online about what to read? I'm not only sick of them... I am guilty of creating them. I kind of rolled my eyes when I saw this question posted on Quora . Then, I checked it out (still a sucker for some good linkbait) and it did not disappoint. As much as you read, and as much as you may think that you are well-read, this list will show you otherwise. Some amazing books that I have never read, that I think that I should read. I'm sure you will find a few gems for yourself as well." (Mitch for Hugh).  

Now it's your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.

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alistair croll

big data

bitcoin

bitcurrent

book a futurists manifesto

complete web monitoring

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google flu

harvard university

hugh mcguire

human 20

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itunes u

librivox

link bait

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managing bandwidth

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reddit

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shai reshef

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the economist

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year one labs

Why You Should Pay Attention To Kickstarter And Watch This

Everything has its challenges.

There will be those who love stuff, those who hate things and those who are ambiguous about it. I love Kickstarter. I've expressed my love in many (if not all) of the places that I put out my thoughts. The ability for projects, products and services that used to rely on the mercy of bigger companies (the gatekeepers, as Seth Godin calls them) takes a crazy turn towards the interesting when individuals who are interested in creating something (a book, play, video game, movie or whatever) can now get people to buy into it, and express not just their financial support for a project, but actually get the product, once it gets produced. They have funded over one billion dollars worth of business. They have funded more business launches in the creative space than the National Endowment for the Arts. It's staggering. One of their founder, Yancey Strickler (who has also backed over 600 projects), was recently named CEO and appeared on Charlie Rose to express the company's vision, business model and impact on society. Regardless of how you feel about Kickstarter, this is a fascinating conversation about technology and social tools continue to disrupt and create amazing and interesting new business models with a crowdfunding twist.

Yancey Strickler, co-founder and CEO of Kickstarter on Charlie Rose...

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charlie rose

crowdfunding

gatekeepers

kickstarter

national endowment for the arts

new business models

seth godin

social tools

tecnology

yancey strickler

It's Gut Check Time For Marketing

How do you feel about the marketing dollars that are being spent at your organization?

This is about much more than your marketing mix, and this is much more serious than how creative your advertising is looking these days. Quick question: how much do you rely on data and analytics to build, develop and deploy your marketing? This is not a trick question. It's a very serious one. We live in a world (finally) where the data doesn't lie. In fact, there is so much data (and so much depth to it), that acting without data seems incredulous (and that's using a kind word).

What do you know about your consumers?

What do they like? How do they like it? What are they doing? How are they doing it? How many steps does it take for them to purchase? What is their path to purchase? What is your cost per acquisition? How much of your advertising is being optimized along with these data sets? That's just the tip of the iceberg. Still, when these questions get asked, the rooms always get quiet. Forget all of that. Be real. Get honest. If you could better understand what, exactly, your consumers were doing and were able to test and try different things against that to see if you could improve their path to purchase, would you?

Of course you would!

Here's the thing: none of this stuff is all that expensive to do. In fact, I would be willing to argue that there are some awesome free (or even cheap-ish) tools that can make every marketer that much better. This is nothing new. These tools have been around for a while now and they are fairly sophisticated (Google Analytics, anyone?) and have become quite mature. You also don't need a team of IT professionals to get this stuff up and running. For the most part, the vast majority of these tools are cloud-based and require little more than dumping a simple line of code on to your digital pages. I've seen administrative assistants pull this off as well as an IT director. 

In a world where you can do... why aren't you?

It was a big, massive sigh. The kind of sigh that leaves you shaking your head. This feeling of almost complete defeat. That, with a slight glimpse of glee. Why glee? Because I can help. That was the array of emotions I felt after reading the Marketing Charts news item that was published today and titled, 1 in 2 US Marketers "Trust Their Gut" for Marketing Budget Decisions. Half. Half of all marketing decisions are made with our guts. With all of this data. With all of this big data. With all of this insight. With people like Avinash Kaushik and Bryan Eisenberg telling us this stuff for almost twenty years. We're still just using our guts to decide? From the article: "There seems to be a consensus among marketers that they need to reinvent themselves to succeed, particularly as the vast majority believe that marketing is undergoing a revolution. But few of those who want to reinvent their role know how to go about doing so. Part of embracing a new approach to marketing also involves experimentation, and 54% of respondents believe that the ideal marketer should take more risks. That risk-taking extends to new technologies, but marketers were twice as likely to agree that they are more comfortable adopting new technologies once they become mainstream (65%) they they were to agree that they make use of new technology even before it's proven (31%)." 

Depressed much?

As a digital marketing agency dude, this is mostly good news. It means that our runway at Twist Image continues to be both long and wide as nearly half of the marketers in our business are still acting quite traditionally in this world that has so radically changed. Still, as a Marketing Activist (Media Hacker or whatever you want to call me), it saddens me to read how little has changed. We're still in the era where the CMO would much rather see their brand on a sports arena (mostly a vanity metric) than be working day in and day out to lower the cost of marketing, by being razor focused on the data, optimization and improvements that can be made by integrating technology throughout the entire marketing system. So yes, it's gut check time.

What kind of marketing department do you want to be a part of in the future? Those that are driven by gut feelings or the data?

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avinash kaushik

bryan eisenberg

chief marketing officer

cmo

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google analytics

marketer

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marketing activist

marketing budget

marketing charts

marketing mix

marketing optimization

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media hacker

path to purchase

testing and learning

vanity metrics

web analytics

Where Great Content Comes From

This could get gross. You have been warned.

Last week, I was lucky enough to have attended the TED conference. I've been going to this event since 2009. While most people can't stop talking about how incredible the TED talks are (and yes, they are incredible), I wholly subscribe to the notion that they are but a small part of a much bigger (and more profound) experience. This year, one of the highlights was the return of Sarah Kay (you can watch her first TED talk below). Sarah was a part of the all-star stage, where famed TED speakers from events past got the chance to riff on what they have been up to since cranking million of views on YouTube and beyond. Kay was about to launch her latest book of poetry, No Matter The Wreckage. I know what you're thinking at this point. You're thinking that this is going to be some high brow blog post that you need to read with one pinky sticking out. Not the case. What makes Kay so awesome is her pragmatism. She's all about getting everyone to try poetry. She's about the democratization of poetry and spoken word, and encouraging young people to try it.

I'm a poet and I didn't know it.

I don't know about you, but I don't know anything about poetry. In fact, the only thing that I may know less about than poetry is ballet. So, I'm not that cultured. I choose Metallica over Monet on any given Sunday. Still, I love the work of Sarah Kay. After talking about her new book, recent travels and the fame of being famous because of TED, the host asked her about the construct of poetry, her levels of concentration and the effort it takes to create a poem. As someone who creates content, this line of questioning is fascinating. How does a poet toil over their prose and decide which words should go where? Do you know what Sarah told the audience?...

"Poetry is like pooping. If there's a poem inside of you, it needs to come out." 

There's brilliance in this thinking (and yes, it's pretty hilarious). It's not just about poetry either. That statement is as true for brands who are posting to Facebook or can't figure out what to blog about, as it is to the art of crafting a poem. I did a real life LOL when she said this, because it jettisoned me back to the moment when I knew I had to write my second book, CTRL ALT Delete. I don't work in isolation. Everything that I do, create and publish has a direct relationship with Twist Image. The whole purpose of my work is to help people become better in marketing and business, with the hopes that should they require a digital marketing agency that Twist Image would be top of mind. I don't just decide to write a book. I sit down with my three other business partners and have a conversation about it. I remember telling them how excited I was about the concept and more. We then discussed if the timing was right, considering the growth trajectory of the agency or if the market conditions made sense for a second book. All fair questions, but the book needed to come out. I remember telling them that my water broke, and the baby was coming. Timing and perfect market conditions could not be factors at this point. I was in labor!

Where do babies come from?

I get where Sarah Kay is coming from. Sure, innocuous content like a tweet or Facebook status update doesn't require that type of urge, but even a blog post (or article) should give the content creator that type of feeling. You need to have something to say! All too often, brands (and certain individuals) are just looking to fill up space, to be present, to not waste an impression, to not fall off of their consumer's radar. That's silly. That's content for content's sake, instead of content because there is something important that needs to be shared. As brands struggle to figure out the secret to creating compelling content in a world where everyone is a content producer, and the levels of saturation continue to rise and rise, it would be wise to pay attention to the words of Sarah Kay. We all need to make sure that whatever it is that we're producing needs to come out. That's good poop. Let's try to stay away from the content that's being created just for the sake of creating it.

That's bad poop.

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CTRL ALT Delete - Weekly Technology And Digital Media Review - CHOM FM #24

Every morning at 7:10 am, I am a guest contributor on CHOM 97.7 FM radio broadcasting out of Montreal (home base). It's not a long segment - about 5 to 10 minutes every week - about everything that is happening in the world of technology and digital media. The good folks at CHOM 97.7 FM are posting these segments weekly to SoundCloud, if you're interested in hearing more of me blathering away. I'm really excited about this opportunity, because this is the radio station that I grew up on listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry and Heather B. morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.

This week we discussed:

The TED Conference took place in Vancouver last week. My thoughts on attending it in person.

Edward Snowden wants us to take the Internet back.

Turkey shuts down Twitter.

Great Firewall of China.

University of the People.

Android Wear.

App of the week: Rapportive.

Listen here...

Tags:

android

android wear

chom 977 fm

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ctrl alt delete

ctrl alt delete with mitch joel

digital media

edward snowden

great firewall of china

guest contributor

heather backman

montreal radio

morning show

mornings rock with terry and heather b

nsa

radio segment

radio station

rapportive

social media

soundcloud

technology

ted

ted conference

terry dimonte

trukey

twitter

university of the people