Just because no on has said it’s wrong yet, doesn’t mean it’s right. If you think a program/practice is dicey, it probably is. Proceed carefully.
Monthly Archive for May, 2009
Ah, the good old days.
We might forget about this sometimes in our on-demand, widgetized, app-crazed lives, but it’s true. While micro-interactions are certainly key, it’s important to not lose sight of the big picture. The best micro-interactions not only work well with the user, they work well with the other micro-interactions.
1) Facebook and Twitter are like hammers and screwdrivers. We need less posts/books on how to swing a hammer and more on how to build a house.
2) User Experience Design is both extremely intriguing and intimidating at the same time. While most types of design are concrete and finite, i.e. a the Mona Lisa is always going to look like that, UX is inherently transient and ephemeral. It’s the only type of design that re-invents itself with each experience or user.
3) We need to be careful to not turn social media into celebrity endorsements. I know the point is to “Influence the Influencers”, but when you give those people wild perks/free stuff, it doesn’t do anything for me. So some A-Lister liked their free meal? Where’s the connection? Why not spend that money and give all their readers a $5 coupon?
4) The only way to not be lumped in with spammers/auto-dm’ers/shady practitioners and others that give marketers a “bad name” is to go out of your way to make a good name for yourself. Be known for not only preaching the right thing, but for following through and doing the right thing too. Show people that you’re above all the crap that brings “us” down.
I don’t do this often, mainly because I’m not big on self-promotion, but I think it’s a good to reach out to new readers periodically.
As you might know, I do digital strategy and marketing consulting. Since I’ve been in marketing, I’ve worked with everyone from Fortune 500 companies to sole-proprietorships, seven-figure budgets to non-profits. With projects including social media presence and content creation, branding, blogging, pay per click advertising, and general brand strategy.
The bottom line is I want to help you rock out (mainly marketing-wise, but am open to anything). Whether you have a project ready to go or just want to chat about some ideas, I’d love to talk to you about what you have going on and how I can help you achieve your goals.
Let’s do it. Email me at MattJMcD[at]gmail[dot]com
The amount of events that are being live-tweeted is steadily rising, although it was a fairly common practice with the early adopters/nerds back in the day. Now, you’ll find people live tweeting church, surgeries, births, all kinds of wild stuff. While I completely support everyone’s right to share whats going on, I’m not as much of a fan as I used to be.
First off, it’s really hard to coherently follow someone who is live tweeting a speaker or a series of speakers. Like many of you, I have a lot of action in my feed. If you’re following hundreds/thousands of people, despite being hashtagged, there’s no sense of continuity. It get’s lost in the stream.
Piggybacking on that point is the fact that I don’t think live-tweeting does the event justice. There’s no context, no visuals (which good presos usually incorporate), no completeness. I think there’s so much more to these presentations, and while I’m grateful for the quotable nuggets that people pull out, it doesn’t really illuminate much.
But that’s just me. How do you feel about the whole thing?
My name is Matt J McDonald and I'm a New Marketing Strategist based in Charleston, SC.
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