Created this blog entry - this will automatically feed into Twitter, then into my Facebook; RSS feeds etc.
What to do next?
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.
Short-list my own influencers and contact them (this will enable me to work through the next part of the process).
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?
What is your product or service? (keywords and message)
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.
A few of the people in the audience may have seen similar video overlay technology on some website in the US but will not of heard of the CLIVEvideo Project; what we are doing here in Oz nor the video functionality and production quality.
Format
Our part is pretty informal - the meet and greet during registration, the coffee breaks and after.
We'll run through the standard opening to get some Attention and Interest - through the features and then show a few customer examples. If you've already seen the maxys home page or CLIVEvideo home page you are already past that point.
Key point is to demonstrate CLIVE and how quick and easy it is for customers to engage- from 30 minutes in the studio and onto their website in a few days AND increased CTR performance and conversion.
From the speakers the key elements I'm interested to explore today are
Disruptive technologies and the "tsunamis of change".
Video and the Customer Engagement Process - from self publishing and user content creation to professional production
Quality rises to the top - what is the cost of quality?
Social sharing of video content eg Twitter/ Facebook and syndication models.
I've embedded this Meebo chatroom for today - come and join us around 4.30PM AEST.
A long time ago, well before the digital revolution, I used to shoot 35mm colour transparencies (slides) - usually Kodachrome 64 because it gave me beautiful colour saturation.
The reality is most of those photos still sit in their sleeves in my photo library folders in the office - only seen by maybe ten - twenty people in over twenty years of photography. The really good ones, maybe a dozen of them blown up and framed. I've never gotten around to scanning them all - maybe one day.
As an enthusiastic amateur photographer I took photos but I never really got into it in a big way - never really properly understood all the technical stuff like depth of field, f-stops, lighting and composition stuff. If I liked the shot I'd shoot it and hope for the best.
When all my camera gear was stolen during the Sydney Olympics in 2000 I found it hard to spend money on stuff that was more self indulgent then practical.
For the next five years I carried around a little $150 snappy.
Anyway, during that time digital photography dramatically improved and a couple of years ago I bought my first digital SLR camera - an Olympus E-330, and then not much after that a Flickr membership. The digital photographic journey had begun.
Today, nearly two years to the day - one of the first photos I took - of my dog Basil the Bull Mastiff sitting sadly in his kennel passed 10,000 views on Internet photo sharing service Fickr.
I remember the shoot - it was the day before my birthday and Kim and I were flying to Bali for a well earned holiday - I was still trying to work out which buttons to push.
In reflection it's amazing how fast technology has moved in those two years; how much my life has changed and how, through moving into the digital photographic world I found a new passion for my photography.
Still as always, so much to learn but more importantly, how your photos and images can make someone smile or think - all good.
