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Are You Winning the Story Wars?

August 28, 2012 By Joe Soto Leave a Comment

I recently had the chance to interview Jonah Sachs, CEO of Free Range Studios and Author of the book Winning the Story Wars: Why those who tell -and live – the best stories will rule the future.

Sachs is best known for his viral videos The Story of Stuff, The Meatrix, and Grocery Store Wars and has since been a student to how stories shape our culture and impact our lives.

In Winning the Story Wars, he revisits the art of storytelling, the impact it has on us, and how brands can embrace storytelling for their business to connect with consumers. According to Sachs,

“Today’s best marketers are creating cause and brand loyalty by telling stories that deliver a pattern of meaning for a society in need of just that. They build communities of purpose and give people an empowering sense of us.”

Storytelling is the newest “buzz” online as more and more marketers are trying to grasp the art of storytelling to get people talking about their brand. In the book, Sachs shares his formula for storytelling success, a proven strategy for crafting your own story. He doesn’t just make the point emphasizing “building stories around shared values,” he actually gives you the strategy to do it.

That’s what makes his book different and such an enjoyable read.

In the Skype interview below, you’ll hear these concepts discussed as he answers questions about what he calls “empowerment marketing,” why myths are so important to storytelling, and why all wars are story wars. We also discuss what he calls “marketing’s five deadly sins” which I found particularly insightful and interesting.

Visit www.WinningTheStoryWars.com for more information or pick up a copy of book on Amazon.

Click to connect with Jonah on Twitter

Click to connect with Joe Soto on Twitter

Joe Soto

Joe Soto is the CEO of One Social Media. A leading expert in social media marketing, Joe has over 16 years of experience in all aspects of sales, marketing, online lead generation, and Internet marketing.

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Filed Under: Branding, Social Media Strategies, Uncategorized Tagged With: branding, free range studios, joe soto, jonah sachs, marketing stories, One social media, social media, social media strategy, the art of storytelling, winning the story wars book review

Can Social Media Be an Artistic Outlet?

April 16, 2012 By Tom Hummer Leave a Comment

In my last blog post, The Language of Social Media, I wrote about how social media is changing the way we write. Our vocabulary, grammar, and punctuation all take a back seat to being casual and brief.

Whether this movement is good or bad is entirely debatable: there’s no objective answer. But regardless of your view on the matter, some people are embracing this change and seeing it as an opportunity instead of an obstacle. Here’s one of them.

Teju Cole is a Nigerian-American writer, who has spent time living in both countries. Cole’s experiences give him a unique perspective on life, death, and the different social issues that America and Nigeria face. Along with being an accomplished author and photographer, Cole uses his Twitter account as an artistic outlet of a different kind.

Cole’s tweets mix social commentary, American history, and Nigerian culture– only he writes them as poetry. This unique blend of content and delivery often come off as morose obituaries or headlines, and they certainly aren’t for the weak-hearted. Still, Cole achieves a goal that most of the Twitterverse has yet to reach: he makes you think. Here are some recent examples of his tweets:

What Cole proves without a doubt is that social media can be used as an artistic outlet. And I don’t mean in the way that bands, artists, and authors use it to promote their newest product– I mean it in the sense that social media is providing the actual basis for creation. Twitter is Cole’s canvas, not just a place where he can post a link for people to view or buy his canvas.

On top of that, Cole hardly ever self-promotes on his Twitter. After going back through a week’s worth of tweets (probably about 100), the only kind of posts I could find besides the ones shown above, are the occasional wordy (albeit macabre) joke, and a lot of interaction with his followers.

Cole is showing how to make a personal brand through social media while keeping his integrity as an artist. So what can we take from his example? A lot of things:

Be unique.
Provide value in a way that nobody else is.
Don’t be overly-promotional.
Write about what you know and care about.
Don’t be afraid to be provocative.
Be persistent.
Don’t complain about or shun change: use it to your advantage
Be consistent.
Turn obstacles and restrictions into opportunities.

Tom Hummer

Tom’s two biggest passions in life are writing and music. In his free time, Tom reads, writes, and works on musical projects.

Friday Clicks [Volume 19] | The Best of the Social Web

March 30, 2012 By Jeremy Anderberg Leave a Comment

Well, it’s judgement week for Facebook pages everywhere, as they automatically get converted to the new Timeline. We’ve written and talked about this plenty (here, here and here), so I won’t do it more here, except to say that I’ve seen a lot of Cover Photos popping up into my News Feed. I was a little surprised at how many big brands waited until they were forced. No harm done, though. Just being prepared, I suppose!

The Links:

Are you a CEO? Do you know a CEO? In our current economic world, people aren’t generally thrilled with their executives, but a new study shows that those who tweet are held in higher regard than those who don’t. Interesting (click here)
Who are the Pinterest-ers? This article shares some generalized demographic info about the folks using the online bulletin board phenomenon. (click here)
Do you love Instagram? We sure do – in fact you can follow OSM if you’d like (OneSocialMedia)! A new service allows you to make photo books with your Instagram stream as well as your Facebook photos. Pretty cool! (click here)

We all saw this coming, but RIM/Blackberry is making some major changes after another awful quarter. Bottom line: They didn’t adopt social or apps like Apple and Google did. (click here)
If you are a fan of the Will Ferrell classic “Anchorman”, you’ll absolutely love the video below.

Did we miss anything? Let us know on Facebook and Twitter!

Jeremy Anderberg

Jeremy is a blog-reading, report-writing project manager. In his spare time he enjoys reading a good thriller, drinking a freshly brewed cup of coffee, and spending time with his wife.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: social media for marketing, social media marketing, social media marketing agencies, social media marketing blog, social media marketing companies, social media marketing consultant, social media marketing consulting, social media marketing firm, social media marketing plan, social media marketing services, social media marketing strategies, social media marketing strategy, social media optimization, what is social media marketing

The Language of Social Media

March 22, 2012 By Tom Hummer 1 Comment

In this video from the TED Education series, Terin Izil talks about the relationship between brevity and clarity in language. “Ten-dollar words are rendered worthless if they’re not understood,” she says. According to her, the secret to great communication is efficiency: get your point across in as few syllables as possible.

All you need to do is read the comments on this video to get an idea of the controversy it’s sparked. Some people think this is a dangerous idea, and that it would mark the death of artful language.

But despite the opposition, society has definitely moved toward simplicity. In National Treasure, there’s a scene where Benjamin Gates (played by Nicholas Cage) reads the following line from the Declaration of Independence:

“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

After he’s done, Gates says “People don’t talk that way anymore. Beautiful, huh?” and his friend, Riley, responds, “No idea what you said.” This conversation sums up the gap between the 18th century and now quite well.

Unsurprisingly, social media has definitely played a large role in this trend. On Twitter, for example, where users only have 140 characters to make their point, brevity is key. And that brevity often comes at the expense of interesting language. Even on Facebook, in text messages, and (shockingly) LinkedIn, punctuation and grammar are commonly thrown to the wind.

Since this new style isn’t going away anytime soon, the real question becomes: Is it good, or bad? Or neither?

As a social media professional with a background in literature, I’ve seen enough “LOL”s and “OMG”s to make Chaucer and Whitman roll in their graves. But surprisingly, the lack of engaging language in social media doesn’t bother me– after all, it’s about context. There’s a place for fancy, artistic language, and everyday communication isn’t that place. Izil makes that point when she talks about knowing your audience. A novelist’s audience expects different things than an online audience, because they serve different purposes.

The language of social media is here to stay. Rather than complain about it dumbing down the way we communicate, we should try to improve its efficiency. Remember– you can still read Shakespeare and Hemingway any time. But when connecting and understanding is the goal, simple is better.

Tom Hummer

Tom’s two biggest passions in life are writing and music. In his free time, Tom reads, writes, and works on musical projects.

What Should I Be Doing On Social Media Now?

March 13, 2012 By Kelsey Jones Leave a Comment

This past month, Jeremy Anderberg and I talked with two different college classes about what we do at a social media agency. We discussed our daily tasks, strategy sessions, long-term goals (for our own company and our clients) and education we continue to receive at One Social Media.

We had multiple compliments (and this blog post) about how we addressed these topics, and especially the business side of social media – actually getting results for our clients and proving our work is encouraging growth and hot leads in their business.

One question that came up with both groups (and was one of the top 3 questions asked) was,

“What should I be doing on social media right now while I’m still in school?”

Here are the top 3 things we told students (and really anyone) to start doing to create a strong online identity and eventually find a job.

1. Create a Personal Website/Blog

Make sure you purchase a domain name (hopefully something close to your own name) and set up a website or blog all about you. Put your resume, writing samples (you better have some good ones!), experiences, and a weekly blog pertaining to whatever industry you’re going into. Make sure all your other social media sites are easily accessible through the website and give yourself a strong brand. Make sure your potential employers can learn the most about you in the fastest amount of time. Hold their attention, show them you’re creative, and market yourself! You’ve put a lot of hard work and investment into your education. You may even want a page on your website highlighting some recent industry news. Showing potential employers that you keep up on the industry news proves to them that you’re going above and beyond to stay in tune with what is happening in the career-world.

2. Experiment with Many Platforms

When you hear about a new social media platform, check it out! It doesn’t hurt to play around on it. Here’s the key: don’t just think how you can use this for yourself, but how would you use this for a future client or business? Even just thinking of those questions helps you to get in the mindset of business social media. How else will this benefit you? Say you’re sitting in an interview and your potential employers wants to know if you’ve ever blogged. Not only can you say you’ve blogged, but you have a blog and have experimented with multiple blogging platforms.

3. Have a Strong LinkedIn Presence

It’s important to not just be fluent in Facebook-ese, but you better be able to speak professional social networking as well. If you don’t have a LinkedIn profile, stop what you’re doing and sign up for one now… I mean it. This is your professional face to the world of professionals. Your experiences, resume, recommendations, professional interests etc. are all showcased on LinkedIn, and you can bet your future employer will look you up there as well. Make sure to participate in industry related LinkedIn groups, take advantage of job search capabilities and don’t be afraid to connect with people. Maybe not just professors and friends, but reach out to other professionals you may have met or know through someone else. Check your LinkedIn as much as you check Facebook. You’ll find a lot more valuable career information there, anyway. A strong LinkedIn presence shows your future employers you can do social media, and be professional at the same time.

Even if you’re not a student, these tips will help you stay relevant in the working world for the day when you may be looking to switch jobs. Even if it’s not social media related, it never hurts to keep an up-to-date personal website, experiment with different social media or online related programs/platforms, and always have a strong LinkedIn presence!

Did we forget anything? Let us know on our Facebook or Twitter page!

Kelsey Jones

Social Media enthusiast who loves reading about and experimenting with the newest forms of communication. I'm a news and political junkie who loves advocacy work, the Green Bay Packers and working in this fast-paced environment.

Friday Clicks [Volume 9] | The Best of the Social Web

January 20, 2012 By Jeremy Anderberg Leave a Comment

The web was aflutter with #SOPA this week. Thankfully, Congress has decided to table the bill (for now) and do some further research about its far-reaching implications. Facebook also made the news this week, as did the continued opinions coming out about Google+ being integrated into search. Oh, and Apple found a way to sneak in as well. Are we really surprised?

Onto the links:

Here’s a nice SOPA article – specifically about how Blackout Wednesday was the Internet’s coming of age to be a voice in politics. (Click here)
Stephen Levy, a renowned tech writer, voices his (mostly negative) opinion about the Google+ search integration. (Click here)
Facebook unleashed around 60 apps to integrate into your Timeline. They range from big names like USA Today and Trip Advisor, to more up-and-comers like Goodreads and SoundClound. (Click here)
Apple found a way to stir up the publishing pot by announcing iBooks Author – an incredibly easy-to-use self-publishing platform. Amazon has a similar service, but it appears that Apple has just raised the bar. (Click here)
One final tidbit: A couple months ago we had an office debate about whether or not baby sloths are cute. Don’t ask how we got there, it just happened. You can’t really argue after watching the video below.

Did we miss anything? Let us know on Facebook and Twitter!

Jeremy Anderberg

Jeremy is a blog-reading, report-writing project manager. In his spare time he enjoys reading a good thriller, drinking a freshly brewed cup of coffee, and spending time with his wife.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: social media marketing, social media marketing agencies, social media marketing blog, social media marketing companies, social media marketing consultant, social media marketing firm, social media marketing plan, social media marketing strategy, what is social media marketing

4.5 Ways To Be More Interesting | Social Media Tips

January 12, 2012 By Mike Bal Leave a Comment

Being successful in social media depends on several things. You need to be relevant to your fans and customers. You should always be available in case they need your immediate attention, or if they feel like they need your immediate attention. You should be engaging so your fans don’t feel like they’re talking to a wall. And you should be interesting.

Being interesting isn’t as easy as it would seem. Successful brands like Skittles can be interesting by posting a question about a unicorn, but that won’t work for the majority of businesses in social media. The brands that haven’t formed a niche or style for their social voice are left teetering between “good content” and “interesting content”. Unfortunately they aren’t always the same thing.

The downside to playing it safe and providing strictly relevant information is that it really doesn’t give people a reason to be loyal to you. They MIGHT start to rely on you as a source or a curator but that doesn’t attach them to your brand. They aren’t hearing your voice they are simply seeing what you’re seeing. This is where being interesting can help. A quick witty comment on the end of a or a picture attached to a valuable status update can make all the difference in the world. Here are a few things that will help you be more interesting and as a result attach more fans to your brand.

1. Find New Sources – It’s great to have a list of places you can rely on for good and relevant information but don’t go to them too often. If you share from the same sources on a regular basis at turns you into a stepping stone instead of an interesting and valuable brand. Try to make it a goal to something NEW to share from a NEW source every day.

2. Give The World A Bit Of Attitude – People have already started to train themselves to ignore regurgitated content. The same headlines are streaming over and over again on all social media channels so it will take a little something extra to grab their attention. I suggest adding your opinion with a bit of attitude. Even if people disagree you will have obtained their attention.

3. Change It Up – You don’t have to attach a link to everything you share. Not every blog post has to be in five paragraph format. We call it social MEDIA for a reason. Find videos, pictures, infographics and quotes that are interesting and relevant to your brand and your customers/fans. All of the social media channels are becoming more media friendly so don’t be shy.

4. Throw A Curve Ball – You can still share something that has nothing to do with your business or brand. Your fans are real people who have personalities outside of their occupations. Share viral content, share feel good moments, share things that make you laugh, share incredible images, Share! Share! Share! Your brand’s personality has a human side too. If it doesn’t, it needs to get one.

4.5. Maintain Conversations – As I mentioned before, your opinions go a long way when it comes to being interesting. Find other brands or people and comment or reply to what they are sharing. Don’t leave a quick “Thanks for sharing” and call it a day. Read what they want you to read and give them some well thought out feedback. This is only half of a tip because SOCIAL media implies that you are being social but we see a lot of people out there who seem to have no interest in the social aspect of it all.

Feel free to shoot me and questions or thoughts on Twitter or post it up on our Facebook page.

Mike Bal

Hi, I studied advertising, I have a passion for creativity and I love working in social media. I try to write about the combination of traditional marketing, branding, and advertising strategies that can apply and work affectively with social media. I also enjoy music, batman and life.

Social Media is for EVERYONE! : Old Spice Proved It

December 8, 2011 By Mike Bal Leave a Comment

We recently started working with Ergo Office Seating, an office chair supplier from San Jose California. Ergo supplies furniture dealers with high-end ergonomic office chairs, they don’t sell directly to the consumer. Keep that in mind. Ergo started their Facebook page and Twitter accounts from scratch. We also built them a blog and optimized their Youtube channel among other things. We made sure that Ergo’s slogan was represented across their designs, in their content and through their voice. In short, we have a well rounded brand rocking social media.

A lot of people would say that a B2B has no business spending this much time on social media. Here’s why those people are wrong.

Old Spice recently launched their 1 Man 7 Billion Gifts campaign where The Old Spice Man will be giving away 7 billion gifts from now till Christmas. Ergo Office Seating was selected to be one of the recipients based on their social media presence, voice and activity. Old Spice Recorded this video of the Old Spice Man sending his Christmas gifts to Ergo.

Simultaneously they had a crew film the delivery of the presents to Ergo’s Offices

Old Spice also posted on Facebook to their 1,778,338 fans and followers.

They also tweeted to Ergo. Once with the video message and then again in response to Ergo’s thanks

The video itself already has over 7,000 views.

The point is: EVERYONE should be on social media. No matter what business you’re in or what you do, you have an opportunity. This kind of exposure would normally cost you a big chunk of your marketing budget but on social media it happens for free AND they got delicious cookie cakes out of the deal!

Mike Bal

It’s Not Just About The Words

October 24, 2011 By Mike Bal 2 Comments

Social media is mostly about the written word. People have been successful in social media by essentially crafting their messages into socially friendly ads that encourage engagement, interaction and action, but that’s not all they have been doing. Think about your favorite blogs or articles. What makes them stick out? At first you might want to say that it was an article that appealed to your interests by an author you know and it was well written. All of that does help, but I bet the photo they used to preview the article helped improve the appeal and grab your attention.

Good, if not great, writing is essential for your social media but it’s just not enough. What you need to keep in mind is that your readers are scanning over constant streams of text in hopes of finding something that catches their eye or grabs their attention, and you can do both. Here are a few different ideas you can use to help you pick out the perfect picture for your blog, article or status update.

1. Humor – Everyone loves a good laugh, even when the content isn’t really that funny. Read through your content for a word that really sticks out, you might find this in the actual topic or just in one of the lines you wrote. Harvey Mackay does a great job of this. Notice the connection between Spock and the word “Prosper”? His readers did too.

2. Emotion – Most writers will target an emotion to bring out in their readers. If you have done this, try to find a photo that matches the feeling. If you can’t find a photo for the feeling you’re going for I suggest image searching Google for that emotion. Here is a screen shot for the top results of “love”.

3. Relevance – Sometimes you will find yourself taking more of a journalistic approach where you have facts to deliver and don’t want to spend much time around opinion. These picture choices may seem obvious but always explore your options. You don’t have to use the same picture everyone else is using. Keep in mind that a picture can set the tone just as well as your word choice, here’s one I might pick if I was writing about the growth of Facebook versus an article solely about Mark Zucherberg.

Mike Bal

Social Media Etiquette: How To Effectively Connect With People Online

October 20, 2011 By Kelsey Jones Leave a Comment

On our weekly show yesterday, Rob and I addressed the always-popular topic of social media etiquette. How do I connect with others on social media? How do I let them know I’m on social media? What are appropriate ways to reach out via social media to people I know or just met?

Here are the highlights of what we talked about when it comes to social media etiquette:

Sharing Your Social Media with Others -

- Put your social media on business cards and marketing materials – If you want people to know you are on social media, put your personal or professional twitter handle (e.g. @KelseybJones) and possibly your LinkedIn address (e.g. linkedin.com/in/kelseybjones) somewhere on your card or marketing materials.

Caution: Facebook profiles are usually seen as very private spaces for personal friends only. You may not want to connect with people using your personal Facebook profile.

Reaching Out on Social Media –

- Where should you connect first – It is always appropriate to connect with someone you met in a business setting on LinkedIn – a space specifically designed for your “online rolodex” of professionals. You can also connect on Twitter, another place designed to be a safe social setting for people who don’t necessarily know one another that well or even at all.

Caution: Facebook profile pages and Foursquare may not be the first places you want to connect with someone you just met. If you decide to try and connect, don’t be offended if your request is not accepted.

If you want more advice on how to approach a social media relationship, watch the entire show posted below. Come back next week (Wednesdays at 3 p.m. central) to get even more social media advice from the OSM team!

We want to hear from you! Let us know in the comments below or on our Facebook page other ways you address social media etiquette for your personal and business accounts.

Kelsey Jones

Filed Under: Social Media Strategies, Social Media Tips, Uncategorized Tagged With: social media marketing, social media marketing agencies, social media marketing blog, social media marketing companies, social media marketing consultant, social media marketing consulting, social media marketing firm, social media marketing plan, social media marketing services, social media marketing strategy, what is social media marketing

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Here are the top 3 things we told students (and really anyone) to start doing to create a strong online identity and eventually find a job.

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