Emerging media. Who uses it? What is it? Where is it? Why use it?

A few years ago a friend of mine was selling me on the idea of a flat screen TV. “Who needs it,” was my response. Shortly thereafter I purchased one. More recently the same friend tried to get me to purchase an iPhone. At the time, I said—who in the heck needs that kind of device anyway. My response to emerging media tools was about the same response law offices used to say about a once trendy new item called a “fax machine.” While I’m certainly no early adopter on the marketing bell curve, I’m certainly a pragmatist. And the reality of the matter at hand is that emerging media is on the rise—and organizations are paying attention.

According to a recent Neilsen study, social media has overtaken email as the most popular consumer activity, according to a recent Nielsen study. Additionally, Forrester Research suggest “interactive marketing is poised to grow at a 17%” for many industries between 2009 and 2014. With the rise in social media, comes a rise in interactive tools and devices, such as the iPhone, FaceBook, blogs, etc.

What is emerging media? First, there are emerging media. Then there are the media of today, which have emerged. Emerging media will always exist, that’s why we call them “emerging.” Emerging media is primarily interactive social media, which capitalizes on personal relationships. The media typically hosts a tool or tools, which makes this capitalization possible. These tools them provide desired “peer-to-peer contact” and a motive to use the tool on a regular basis for various periods of time.

While we will discuss many of these tools down the road, here are a few examples:

• Digital and Online Media
• Online Advertising
• Viral Marketing
• Interactive Marketing
• Mobile Marketing
• Advergaming where Advergames
• Streaming media, including Radio, Television and Film.

Users of social media are extremely engaged with the content because of the “personal experience.” They connect with their friends, relatives, cohorts or other personal associations. In a modern sense, today’s emerging media, social media, offers more an experience. But few things arrive for free—the trade off is personal information. This data is used to bring you goods, services and experiences that meet your specific needs.

Is your viral video really viral or more of a waste?

Let’s face it, some experiences are amazing, and then there are those that are downright dreadful.  Imagine for a moment that your customers are as loyal to your brand as say those of Harley-Davidson. When it comes down to it, the brand experience is personal. Understanding the characteristics of one’s brand inside and out allows one tranform the brand into a viral campaign using video.

A successful viral video needs to tap into the “personal experience” that your brand offers die-hard customers. Watch the following Harley-Davidson video and you will see what I’m talking about.

As I mentioned, some experiences are downright dreadful. There is nothing worse than a n unsuccessful corporate video that fails at viral tactics. Don’t believe me? Check out the following video by World Leisure Holidays.

It’s hard for me to imagine a customer posting the World Leisure Holidays video to a lifestream or social networ, such as Facebook. While the brands presented above two distinct and separate categories, one does far better job because they know how to engage the consumer. To engage the prospective client, Harley engages the fundamentals of  a strong relationship betwen the company and the target audience. Harley taps into customer feelings and emotions that drive the sell–the overall feeling of pride and ownership of a Harley. This being said, all viral media begins withseveral engaging characteristics.

According to Amber Simmons, there are the three things a company needs to engage prospects:

1. An interesting conversation with a single person.
2. Provide the person with what he or she wants.
3. Repeat Steps 1 and 2 with novel information on a regular basis.

These steps may seem simple, but World Leisure Holidays spent time, resources and money on their video, yet fail at accomplishing a solid viral video. World Leisure does not engage, invigorate or inspire. In fact, World Leisure puts forth very trite, boring, bland and long uninteresting video that speaks to a broad audience.

Understanding one’s target is vital to one’s exposure. Understanding the components of a relationship are key to holding your viewer’s attention. The Harley video carries over 6,000 hits. Being a larger organization is not what makes the Harley successful. The Harley video is real and the marketers know how their brand experinece impacts the target audience . Harley knows how to communicate thsi experinece. World Leisure Holidays…not so much.

The Harley versus World Leisure Holiday viewing experience demonstrates that you don’t need a teleprompter, fancy equipment. One needs to deliver an intersting message that incorporates and reassures customer values as opposed to irritating them. Teh efforts of World Leisure’s are wasted becuase they work against their goal of attraction.

A viral video needs a relationship–interesting information that provides the viewer and those like him what he needs.

Designing web video for the Deaf audience

We all offer something different, which makes this a very diverse world. As such, it is never a good idea to merge everyone in a single pile. Quite often companies use captioning to communicate to Deaf target audience. Captioning, however, is the equivalent of text over images or a link. This is information is frequently redundant and unnecessary. What are companies doing about it?

According to the National Association for the Deaf, “the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) sued Target for failing to make its website accessible to customers who are blind. The NFB said that Target is a place of public accommodation because it is a store with multiple physical locations. The NFB argued that, as a result, Target was required to make its services, including its online services, accessible to customers with disabilities. The court ruled that Target may be required to make its website services accessible, if the website provides information and services necessary for the full and equal enjoyment of goods and services offered in Target stores.”

Organizations need to enhance the usability experience for Deaf audiences. Companies, especially those that operate in the public interest, such as utilities, should take this opportunity to lead and influence accessible design practices in the private sector.

The Open and Closed project, launched a website called Captioning Sucks! Essentially, Captioning Sucks! Believes that major overhauls are needed with captioning and subtitling. Captioning is the equivalent to transcribing speech and sound, and subtitles translate dialogue only. Both put forth written language to convey meaning and emotion. Does this elicit a strong emotional response from Deaf audiences?

While captioning and subtitling definitely improve usability for many, including those who are not hearing impaired, companies are missing the mark with the Deaf community. The technology is over 30 years old. Do captioning and subtitling represent best practices for new and emerging media? Think engaging, inspiring or viral media. In order to answer this question, corporate communications must immerse themselves to better understand how the Deaf audience communicates.

Companies thousands if not millions of dollars on testing the spoken word, but toss in captioning because it’s cheap and easy. I’ve got news for you, captioning isn’t how our Deaf friends communicate. Most use the visual-spatial language, which are very different from speech.

Non-verbal cues account for over half the message all cultures including Deaf. For this reason, Deaf audiences rely on facial expression to convey essential meaning and emphasis. The NAD maintains that American Sign Language (ASL) is a language. Just like Spanish, ASL has rules of grammar and syntax. Deaf audience members are not disabled, they are bilingual or multilingual with sign language as the primary language. Companies should identify Deaf audiences as a culture over disabled audience.

What’s the real risk of having your youngster online?

A cohort of mine, Chels Bels, recently published an interesting article on youngsters using Facebook. While I don’t discount the issue of child predators or exposing children to “too much media.” I’m equally concerned how and where culture is going with interpersonal communications. Frankly, you don’t have to understand rocket science to know that new and emerging media are a large part of how people interact.

The biggest concern I have is this. People tend to forget that interpersonal communication accounts for nearly half of our message.

QUESTIONS: Are kids today getting what they need to be successful in the future? Are communication skills at risk because of so much interaction with “social media?”

You’re probably thinking, “Who says non-verbal communication is so important. Daylyn’s just making this stuff up as he’s eating Chee-tos on the couch.”

While I am good at eating Chee-tos on the couch, I’m not good at making up false data.

First, we must credit Albert Mehrabian, Ph.D. for his work on communication studies. Dr. Mehrabian begain developiong his theory on non-verbal and verbal skills in 1971. Second, the Mehrabian theory suggests that words, tone, and physical behavior account differently for our liking for the person who puts forward a message concerning their feelings. Body language alone accounts for 55% for half of what we say, imply or mean to communicate.

Do words and tone account for anything?
The words we use, including the words online–7%. Tone is 38%. Unfortunately, not everyone has a journalistic background.

When my mom was a kid, half the stuff that is on television would have been taboo and outlawed. When I was a kid, only adults had cell phones. Today, youngsters seem to have everything. As I hear older folks say, “those darn kinds with that Internet and those mobile phones.”

How are youngsters learning interpersonal skills if they’re plugged in 24/7? Comments welcome.

Mobile marketing: Don’t violate the cardinal rules

Any iPhone user knows that mobile marketing is moving along strong. Mobile advertising companies, such as AdMob, are getting bigger as the days move on. The mobile phone today has become very important to personal and work life. Consequently, advertisers need to follow a few cardinal rules in order to engage customers and run effective mobile campaigns.

According to the Mobile Marketing Forum service providers sell over one billion mobile devices each year, and the number is growing. Mobile marketing provides target audience access twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week—more access than television and Internet combined.

Along with additional access comes a wide span in media options. Mobile has transformed radically over recent years. Only a few years ago, only a select number of mobile service providers offered Short Message Service (SMS) technology. Today, universal usage is the starting point for mobile.

As most of you know, the mobile phone of today is more like mobile computer than a phone. They have still-image, mobile video, and other features, such as Web and multimedia messaging services (MMS). These services provide proprietary phone- and user- centric applications that enable marketers to contact targets through applications and other means. With the spectacular changes in media, however, marketers need to remember that mobile phones exist as an extremely personal experience.

While the technology is commonplace, using it to run an effective campaign is not. In their book, DigiMarketing, Kent Wertime and Ian Fenwick suggest that mobile technology changes the rules of customer engagement. Here are a few “cardinal rules” that lend to successful mobile marketing tactics:

• PROCEED WITH CAUTION & PERMISSION: It is extremely easy for consumers to block marketers on mobile. Marketers should proceed with caution and proceed with permission.
• KEEP IT PERSONAL, BUT NOT TRITE: Digital devices are addressable. Just because it’s automated does not mean it’s relevant to the user. For example, a birthday message from an unknown advertiser is scarcely relevant or personalized.
• LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION WHEN OUT-OF-HOME: Marketers should coordinate promotions using “QR Codes,” “SMS,” or other relevant technology with out-of-home media. This will likely be far more effective than a comparable tactic on television, radio, or online.
• AVOID SMS SPAM: Mobile carriers are very successful at maintaining a “spam free” environment. As a result, a customer opt-in is a must have. Irrelevant, or low benefit spam SMS lower the effectiveness. Moreover, they squander the trust of a user. This is the hardest thing to regain.
• BE QUICK: Mobile users want information fast. Research shows that pre-rolls and multiple steps on a mobile device annoy users. If you format your website for  mobile technology (e.g. a walled garden), make sure your mobile site keeps tactics, such as pre-rolls or pop-ups, to a minimum.
• SIMPLIFY THE RESPONSE: Avoid using verbose or lengthy response requirements. For example, a prompt, like “Visit us online at www.supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.com” will certainly annoy users. Opt for or use QR Codes or a SMS response instead.