SXSW Report

Gary Vaynerchuk, Author of Crush it! – Cashing in on your passion

Filled with energy, gratitude, and passion Gary Vynerchuk demands attention (and it doesn’t have to do with him dropping the regular f-bomb).  He’s passionate about what he does and is an evangelist for using your passion to promote your love on the web.  He’s all about using social media to connect with individuals, whether its for your personal brand or your business.

He’s passionate about his belief that everyone is, or should be, in the customer service business and technology is only making that more necessary.  He relayed a story about his brother showing up at a restaurant after calling for a reservation.  They told him he’d have to wait, so he pulled out his phone to call to let people know, and as soon as he pulled out his phone, the hostess told him she’d find him a table immediately.  In the age of social media, and review sites like Yelp, companies are starting to realize they have to change the way they do business and start paying attention to customers needs.  “Word of mouth connects us to good shit, or tells us what to avoid, and that’s the new way of the world,” says Vaynerchuk

Vaynerchuk believes in investing in customer relationships, showing you care for them, and eventually it will pay off.  He says, “everyone is trying to be a 19 year-old dude – they’re trying to close too fast.”  Every business needs to be providing their customers/communities with the attention and content they’re looking for.  Content has never been more valuable, and everyone is in the content business.  People told him his book wouldn’t sell (it made the NYT best sellers list) because he “gave too much content away,” but he believes we live in a “thank you economy” where people are appreciative of his knowledge and buy because of the trust and relationship that has been built.  “You have to care and do good first,” he says, “it’s the only way to convert.

Just a quick follow-up to the video clips Koz posted yesterday from Twitter co-founder and CEO Evan Williams’ SXSW Keynote interview:

• There’s been a flood of analysis, opinion, and information on the heels of Williams’ (@ev) announcement of the new Twitter third-party-integration application, “@anywhere.”

• If you’re not currently a Twitter user, the ability @anywhere will provide to seamlessly mesh Twitter with other sites, such as The New York Times, Amazon, and eBay, and let users share links and add “follows” without leaving the sites, may certainly bring more users to Twitter.

• Here’s a good write-up from TechCrunch about the features and third-party partners (so far).

I can easily see how @anywhere will change the way I use Twitter. It may sound silly, but I also get how it aligns with Twitter’s No. 1 company principle: Be a force for good.

As @ev said yesterday, “Access to information … is about reducing the walls between influencers and the influenced. Democratization of information changes the world.”

Do mainstream companies get Twitter? Are executives in non-high tech industries embracing social technologies and the communities that form on top of them, or are they scared to death?

A report from the field was delivered at South by Southwest Interactive today by MIT scientist Andrew McAfee, who coined the phrase “Enterprise 2.0.”

McAfee laid out some good news and some bad news about the corporate mindset on the free-form collaboration that is 2.0, and offered some advice on how to talk to your boss about social tools that are evolving around the user:

• Corporate mindset challenges: We are risk-averse, busy, budget constrained, uninterested in social revolution, hostile to auto-obsolescence, ROI-seeking, and convinced of our own uniqueness.

• Some good news: We can be swayed by theory, evidence, narratives, peers; we’re afraid of being left behind.

• Talking to the boss: Present theories and frameworks, not jargon. Use data, case studies, and narratives. Make it relevant to our business; combat “time-wasting narcissism” perceptions about social tools.

According to McAfee, social software is maturing and we’re beginning to see more evidence of the business benefits of 2.0 (McKinsey Study, CEO case studies). Only time will tell if a tipping point is in the cards.

Panel: Melissa Fallon – Davie Brown Entertainment, Chris Hanada – Retrofit Films, Milo Ventimiglia – DiVide Pictures, Wilson Cleveland – CJP Digital Media, Andrew Hampp – Ad Age

Media is increasingly fragmented and more and more people are turning to the web to get both information and entertainment.  One of the panelists noted that even TV executives mentioned that their kids don’t watch TV anymore, but instead view shows on the web.  Many brands are moving some money over to digital, particularly for online video.  However, the perception is that digital is cheap.  While many are willing to “work with what you’ve got” you can certainly do better work with better budgets.  The challenge with getting those budgets is is that there are few examples out there and many still think in terms of traditional media measurement.

“”Big brands tend to say, ‘give me something that’s never been done before… but I want you to give me examples of how it has successful in other places’,” said Melissa Fallon of Davie Brown Entertainment.

Since paid media is, paid, you are guaranteed eyeballs, but that’s not something that online video can deliver.  The real challenge is distribution and syndication.  Partner with your existing fan networks to let them share your message.  For example, a video series for IKEA was successful by getting the top 10 IKEA fan blogs to post and promote the online episodes (the blog that directed the most traffic got a spot in the season finale).  People aren’t going to seek out your show, you have to go to where they are and put it in the channels where they are.  However, you can also use paid media effectively to cross promote your web videos.

What is most effective is when you can pair a brand with a creative way to tell a story online.  Good content is good content, whether its on the web or on TV – content really is king.  The challenge is really determining what your brand is about and then finding a compelling way to tell that story.  In a way, Chief Marketing Officers need to be like producers and movie studio execs – they’re investing in something that they want to make sure it is successful.  Especially as brands begin building their own content – which is necessary, because no one understands their business or industry better than they do, and they should make sure their brand sentiment is the one that people see.

The challenge for big brands moving forward is that online video and storytelling is now accessible to anyone.  A small brand or unknown player in your industry has the same (if not easier access to) things like YouTube and other social media outlets – and if they’ve got a compelling story, they’ll get the recognition and set the bar in your industry.  For example, “The Temp Life” is a web series created in 2006 for Spherion.  Their challenge was they had trouble building loyalty among their temps.  Therefore, the webisodes highlight that the brand knows the jobs aren’t always great, but we can empathize with you.

Finally, big name talent has started to play in the online video and social media space.  The key is getting them involved and engaged with your story or project.  Right now, it’s not necessarily about the money for them, it’s about collaboration.  They’re doing it because it’s fun, its different, and they feel like they can be part of the creative process.  When a big name brand is attached, the actors also feel more comfortable that it’s not completely going to flop – there’s money and credibility behind it.

Here’s a few quick clips from the Evan Williams Keynote conversation…

Here’s a quick video from the Gary Vaynerchuk presentation going on right now.

Danah Boyd delivered opening remarks today at South by Southwest Interactive. This image is a graphic recording of the event

One of the world’s foremost authorities on social networks, Boyd works at Microsoft Research New England and also serves as a Fellow at the Harvard University Berkman Center for the Internet and Society.

In a very large, very dark ballroom at the Austin Convention Center, I micro-blogged keynote highlights on Twitter. Here’s a link to posts from the event:

South by Southwest Interactive Keynote: Privacy and Publicity with Danah Boyd.

Presenters: @livethelushlife, @bebellanti, @johnwise, @titosvodka, @thrillist

It’s 5 pm on Saturday, so I’m “off the clock.”  That’s why my last SXSW session was this one.  BONUS: This one involved trying booze while I was blogging this (see the picture here).

First, I learned that the first “viral drink” is the “Pickelback” (seen here) which involves taking a shot of Jamison Whisky and then a shot of pickel juice.  The pickel juice completely eliminates the whisky flavor and leaves a little warm spot in your belly.  It became a “viral drink” after it was reported that Pickles were more popular than Canadian rockers Nickelback on Facebook.

Tito’s Vodka has become a “word of mouth” brand here in Austin and has spread.  It started to spread locally, but took off with the introduction of Twitter.  Now they’ve moved to Facebook and try to enable others to “share the Tito’s love.”  They’ve started doing a newsletter and videos on Twitter.   There’s more to it than just vodka, Tito has a real story and according to the presenter, he’s a “love bomb.”  His video outakes are “YouTube gold.”  There is a man behind the brand and their marketing team makes efforts to be personable and show that there are real people behind the brand.

It’s not all fun and drinking.  Bloggers/marketers in this area have to follow liquor laws and regulations and are held to the same marketing measurement standards as any other group.  However, social media is social and it is particularly effective in this industry.

Koz and I were leaving the Austin Convention Center tonight and saw these guys playing four square right outside the doors. We stopped to watch and take a few pictures.

While other up-and-coming brands are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to get their buzz on at South by Southwest Interactive, this simple game (which cost about $5.99 in sidewalk chalk) had people lined up to play.

We’re about a month away from SXSW and the buzz has begun.  Twitter CEO, Evan Williams (@ev) is scheduled to participate in a keynote interview at SXSW on Monday, March 15.  On Tuesday, February23, several technology blogs reported that Twitter was planning to launch an advertising platform at SXSW.  This stemmed from a report in Media Post that Anamitra Banerji, head of product management and monetization at Twitter, apparently made a comment at the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting that Twitter will roll out an offical advertising platform within the next month or so.  Rumors abound about whether or not we’ll see, or even catch a hint at, what the new ad platform entails.  Some have speculated the announcement will not take place at SXSW at all, but instead at “Chirp,” Twitters first ever official developer conference, to be held a month after SXSW.  If there is any sort of announcement or talk about it at SXSW, we’ll be sure to bring it to you.

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