Maxys Max Media and Entertainment

The A-List (or Aussie J List)

An Aussie online marketers dream list - Australian journalists Twitter list.

Last night a much more updated and comprehensive list of Australian journalists on Twitter appeared on the web - certainly more interesting and valuable then the content of the Governments website censor list.

What is interesting is how the relationship between your PR department (for most small businesses themselves) has now moved even more into cyberspace.

The Good Old Days of the Long Lunch

In the good old days you or your PR company would write a press release and then send it out to journalists you knew or wanted to know.

Better still you go out to lunch (still my much more preferred approach) or have a beer at the pubs around Surry Hills or Park St (if in Sydney).

Your Press Release would have a great header to get attention, the opening paragraph written to quickly summarise the key statement. The content all written in a way that would be easy to quickly cut and paste if your journo had an urgent deadline and needed 100, 200, 800 words to fill.

As you may know Twitter is limited to just 140 characters - not a lot you can say.

In the same breath - we are getting better at quickly shortening and filtering information.

Creating Brands Online

For a long time conventional media has been a long way behind online's speed of communication - there are a number of reasons - production values and media economics.

In digital marketing to create brand you'd focus at identifying early innovators and influencers who spread the word through to early adopters and so on.

Twitter, Facebook and other online social networking applications have been great tools for being able to rapidly communicate to your followers, create discussion and interest.

The idea being your readers then blog and share your product, news, video or article.

Eventually this groundswell of "interest" hopefully touches an investigative journalist from the mainstream media who then produces an article, a radio or television interview and broadcasts your story to the masses.

Remember, TV is still the 800 pound video guerrilla, radio feels more personal and the lines between online and offline newspapers and magazines are rapidly blurring.

So what happens when the mainstream media moves onto Twitter en masse - The Oprah's , a list of Australia's Top 100 journalists (below).

There have been a few lists of Australian journalists on Twitter (see end of post), but this one is a little different, and much larger.M, Australia’s top 100 Journalists and news media people on Twitter, Apr 2009

I suppose the first thing you do is follow them with the aim of the journalist following you back and the beginning of a relationship.

Stepping in the journos shoes I can imagine their email Twitter alerts as this list becomes popular. It'd be like walking into online equivalent of a high speed desperate and dateless dating service or the only "sheila" at a poorly organised B&S Ball.

Fact is - we are all already bombarded with emails and information. What makes you and your Tweet something that will get cut through and be of interest?

As always, its the first 12 seconds of attention that counts.

Entertain to Inform, get Creative, Personalise the Experience.

Design - From the broad to the specific

Like a lump of clay on a spinning wheel the Australia's Most Influential Photo project is beginning to take shape.

With any new idea you need to start with a broad idea in mind, let it spin and take shape. 

What do you want to do?  What is the objective of the exercise?  How will success be measured?

Objectives

• Increase awareness of CLIVE and generate sales.
• Incorporate online social media marketing into the marketing process and use as a case study.
• Incorporate my photography (particularly portraits) interests into customer engagement process (build photography skills and customers).
• Start now

Action

So, what have we done today.

1. Further conceptualisation of the project.
2. Created a website page for the project.
3. Created an Influencer submit form on the CLIVE website (using RSFORMS) for people to submit.
4. Created a Flickr Group
   
5. Created this blog entry - this will automatically feed into Twitter, then into my Facebook; RSS feeds etc.

What to do next?

1. Fire these links off to a few friends and start to get a bit of traction.  Note to self:  This is not a short term project so it is going to take a year or two to really evolve.
2. Short-list my own influencers and contact them (this will enable me to work through the next part of the process).
3. Develop some database reports and marketing ideas

Tsunamis of Change and the Creative Economy 

This is Part 1 in a new creative project I'm working on looking at Australian Digital Media Strategy.

As every business owner knows the economic landscape has been rapidly altered after the stock market crash of last year - it's a bit like looking out the window after the Pearl Harbor attack - most of the destruction done, the full reverberating impact still too early to tell. 

The old supply demand ratio and attitudes (including the much maligned Y-Gens) of the last twenty years has changed, as a result, new thought-models, approaches, attitudes and opportunities will surface and prosper.

In today's market Buyers are now back in full control - cash is scarce and surviving companies must actively compete.  As a supplier you are either a commodity or added higher value - the middle ground will be flattened.

A contracting marketplace offers smart expanding companies the ability to increase market share as their competitors retreat and defend - head in sand, reactive.

From the laggard industrial manufacturing complex through the Information Economy we will move towards an Innovation/ Creative Economy 

One of the biggest impacts will be on the media, advertising and the entertainment/ Internet video space (think how Ipods changed the music industry and how faster broadband wil impact video, film and television).  

There will be an accelerated shift towards online video advertising and marketing away from conventional television, newspapers and magazines.

A great little video from PRBlogger

How PR works online

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This then raises the question of who are Australia's most influential Internet users?

How would you create a list? Some initial thoughts...

• Top 100 Australian Bloggers - how many subscribers?  How many comments? (any list needs to be contextual and relevant)
• Facebook and Linkedin - how many friends/ associates - engagement and influence?
• Google - number of articles and links etc
• Corporations/ Government - The Telstra's, News Ltd's, Seven Sunrise, politicians and celebrities
• Twitter/ Flickr/ Youtube and so on 

Engagement

Once you have your list how do you engage?

In sales, the best customer is through a trusted third party referral.

For example, hey Scott, you're in marketing do you know a good event management company?  Absolutely - Monique at Creative Stars.

Most people begin any new purchase with a search (see How PR works online above).

The question is how do you engage influencers without trying to sell them, ie jamm a message down their throat like historial repeat and interupt advertising?

WIIFM  - What's In It For Me?

1. What is your product or service? (keywords and message)
2. What does it mean to your customers (wants and needs)?

Inspire

In the online world original, quality "content is King".

Find a creative approach, create something new and share. [Goes for swim and walks to coffee shop]

At coffee this morning the idea crystallizes.  I've been looking to incorporate more of my photography interests (particularly portraits) within my work.

Implementation

1. Broad scope campaign -the 6 w's - Who/What, How, When, Where, How much, Why?
2. Research lists and compile
3. Create holding content pages
4. Begin target engagement
5. Market/ Share/ Engage

From a marketing point of view  businesses are increasing looking at the Internet to increase brand awareness, communicate and get closer to their customers and increase service performance whilst lowering overheads.

The Internet marketing mix covers everything from website design, search engine optiminisation (SEO), to blogging, banner advertising, Internet video to online social technologies such as Facebook.

For many businesses at the moment many online social communities feel a bit like small islands or countries seemingly not connected or if they are, the migration (visa rules), are not seamless/ user friendly/ aware.

In the future we will see a move from this individual island perspective ("I'm on Facebook" and "I'm on Twitter" statement) towards a greater seamless integration (interoperability) of adaptive open social technologies - ie single user login and unified messaging portal - many devices > one login > multiple feeds (in and out).

With that will come greater contextual advertising, derivative information and aggregated services, the linking of similar communities and interests and consequently a market rationalisation of base platforms.

Innovation will move up towards higher value services, more effective communication for the time poor and greater creative quality expression.

In the technographics ladder we will see the user type distribution curve move up as users become more technology conversant and literate ie "technacy"

For businesses now it means allocating resources and experimenting with these new communication channels.