Content-what’s it worth?

Posted on May 1, 2009 by marc meyer

nyt

I got an email from an outfit out of Atlanta that was pitching me on my thoughts of what a combination of advertising, micropayments and regular subscriptions would look like for all of the newspapers that are struggling to redefine themselves.

As luck would have it, I had been thinking about and was going to write about the state of newspapers and how they were going to evolve with the times. More specifically, how were they going to make money and survive.

Here’s the easy answer. They’re not. Some variation of them might. But…

Newspapers as we know or knew them, will not exist in their current state within the next 5 years.

Mark it down.

The proof is there and it continues to rear its ugly head week after week after week. Newspapers are shutting down. Newspapers, some deemed iconic institutions, are shrinking and or closing their doors. Why? The cost to produce the papers are outpacing the consumption. Why? We’re a nation on the move. The people, Gen Y and even Gen X, who are slowly becoming, if not already, the dominant workforce, are content to get their news, information, and content,online. We are moving rapidly to a global, mobile, society where newspapers do not fit into the equation of our daily lives.

As well, the next 5 years will crank out college grads, a workforce, and individuals that have virtually zero affinity with newspapers. They will have zero need for newspapers and they will not clamor for their “Sunday paper”.

So where does this leave the readers of the Sunday New York Times? Look for that venerable paper to go to printing once a week, on Sundays. In fact look for the larger ones to follow suit as well. It’s the only way newspapers as you and I know them, can survive in some fashion of its former self.

So where will the money come from? These organizations will focus on the advertisers as they normally did, but it will evolve into using search as a primary function and money maker- where these online publications tie in some type of Adwords function into their sites. Ad dollars will flow but in different forms.

News organizations and Media outlets that control these papers, cannot rely on subscriptions, simply because there are too many ways for their readers to get the content for free. The realize that. No one and I repeat no one, is willing to pay for content that they can find elsewhere, for free. If I’m forced to say, “OK, maybe some will pay for content”. Riddle me this, who are those people and what are they willing to pay for? If you’re going to say premium content, please tell me what you are calling premium and why is it worth paying for?

I know some of you will fight this notion, but then again if I were to have told you 5 years ago that all of the auto-makers would be on life support right now fighting for their very existence, what would you have said? Impossible!? No way!?

Well there is no clear indicator on the horizon right now that says anything differently about the slow death demise of the newspaper. There is nothing to stop it; and there is no one currently in school or getting ready to go to school who relies as much on newspapers as the older generations did.

It’s as simple as this..

Is content still king then? You betcha. But I got news for ya, content is also free, and that’s whats killing the newspaper business.

The social value of your relationships

Posted on May 1, 2009 by marc meyer

This has been on my mind lately. It was amplified yesterday by a tweet by David Armano who tweeted the following:

Have you ever bought something from someone you felt you had a relationship? That’s the ROI of social business…

At which point I responded back with:

@Armano Value..think about your offline relationships-the ones that mean the most, are the ones that carry substance.-same with buying habits

So here’s the deal. In your offline every day world, what relationships mean the most to you? They are the ones that are not superficial. Right? The relationships that have substance, meaning, and value.

Less chit and more chat

The ROI of social business. the ROI of your relationships, as hollow as that might be, are both the same- The ROI is the value that you have built up in that relationship. Both from a business and personal standpoint. If you have cultivated a relationship, then you place a high value on it and what it might return. The less that you have put into it, or what you have received, should be consistent with your expectations and effort.

The same applies to any “online” social network or offline. Though it may seem shallow at first to only say that you only put stock in the people that bring value to you and what you do-it’s actually the truth. It has nothing to do with the technology, the platform, the hardware or the software.

Whether we care to admit or not. We all look for value, we may not say it, but it’s true. Online and offline, value in the people that we connect with, drives our relationships.

Thoughts?

Don’t Blame Social Media

Posted on April 24, 2009 by marc meyer

I was reading an editorial by Jonah Bloom of Adage titled, “In a crisis, don’t get too distracted by Twitterati” in which he essentially says that social media people are the one’s that fuel the fire when brands screw up.

To which I might say, “What’s wrong with that”?

In the social media sphere, yes the mob mentality does it exist. And when things go awry for brands, bloggers and the Twitterati alike, will flock to the subject and beat it to death- points taken and noted. I get that.

But…

Saying that Brand marketers can’t respond to the Twitterati and or bloggers “because of the incredulity and self importance of their wailing”, couldn’t be further from the point.

The problem is, brands are afraid to engage. They are afraid of putting a face to the brand, and they drag their feet. When in actuality they have the perfect vehicle to be proactive-social media. But instead they are still sitting around deciding whether they want to engage their users/consumers using social media.

What are you waiting on? A crisis?

Don’t blame the promoters and champions of social media for the mistakes that a brand makes. And don’t blame them for the mistakes that a brand continues to make after the fact.

Social media pundits, champions and promoters are just as quick to ask why a brand has not done something, as they are to point out when a brand does something great as well. In fact Peter Kim provides a huge list of companies enagaged in some aspect of social media. A positive.

Beth Harte just did an awesome post on a Dominos franchise that’s getting it right…another positive.

But I suppose that get’s overlooked since it’s an inconvenient truth.

Here we go again, Yankee fans chant,”Pepsi Sucks”.

Posted on April 17, 2009 by marc meyer

pepsico

Oh brand managers, where art thou? Apparently Pepsi didn’t read my earlier post on why brands move so fast on damage control. Maybe they should. Why? Because they need to move pretty damn quick to soothe the Yankee Fans they pissed off with their promotion of giving away free Yankee tickets and Pepsi-Cola products. Call it the anti-promotion.

In an Adage post titled, Pepsi Promotion Ends With Chants of ‘Pepsi Sucks’ Pepsi shows what happens when brand managers and product marketers fail to plan. They can plan to FAIL! can you say #PepsiFail?

Watch how quick this anti-promotion spreads virally on Twitter and the blogosphere. Brand managers, have you learned anything yet?

Why do we move faster for damage control than we do for brand control?

Posted on April 17, 2009 by marc meyer

Can I get an amen? OK maybe it’s too soon in this post to ask for that. But really, I could not help but to think about the shitstorm that has happened over the last 7 days with Dominos and Amazon, and that maybe companies big and small, might want to take the time to better understand how they go about branding themselves either using social media or not.

I know, we’re not talking about a branding issue here. Or are we?

You see, it’s not so much how they brand, but rather, how fast, or the pace and the speed in which they do it. The reason I’m thinking out loud about this, is that I’ve now watched in 3 very high profile cases (Amazon, Motrin and Dominoes) how quickly large brands have moved to incorporate damage control via certain media channels, formats and vehicles- which led me to postulate-

Why don’t they move this fast in branding in general, controlling the brand or creating and shaping the message? What’s holding them back?

I suppose we can sit here and be quick to criticize or answer that question by stating a) If they are moving too fast then they must be trying to shove the message down out throats, and grab market share. And of course we know that’s not cool with their core audience, the blogosphere, social media pundits, marketers and the Twitter mob, etc., etc., etc. Right?

Or… We could criticize them for moving too slow and missing the boat and of course that’s not cool with their core audience, the blogosphere, social media pundits, marketers and the Twitter Mob…Right?

So they can’t win.

But what strikes me is this. Have you ever heard this statement? “You never know how fast someone can run until they’re running for their life.” Which always begs this question: Why don’t they run like that all the time?

We 2.0 is better than Me 2.0

Posted on April 16, 2009 by marc meyer

I was just reading a blog post by Paul Dunay in which he waxes on about Dan Schawbel’s new book Me 2.0 Paul recommends it to anyone who is looking to build a personal brand.

I think that the onset of social media and social networks has allowed people to certainly increase their levels of exposure and their personal brand awareness, but it only works if others care to notice or pay attention to you. In other words-Your personal brand needs other people. That’s not a “me” issue, that’s a “we” issue.

I think my personal brand would grow and does grow more when I give more, share more, and basically act in a selfless manner towards others. I feel better about myself. Again though, even my attitude about my “personal brand” doesn’t fly unless there are others present. Others need to be there. Wherever there might actually be at that moment. Could be Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, my Blog, a Seesmic or You Tube video, doesn’t matter.

Rather than doing things that made me look good and position me better. I feel better about myself when I’m able to give of myself instead of giving to myself.

In fact did you know that Altruistic acts can improve your quality of life in several ways, and are absolutely worth the effort? Here’s another great question for you: What makes Chris Brogan more happy? and what does he do better than anyone else? He gives, he shares and provides for his readers and followers- tips, pointers, guides, e-books, links and resources that can make them better at what they do. He doesn’t sell it. He gives it away, every day!

And why is Chris in the position he is in today? Is it because he took from others, because he was more concerned about his personal brand? Because he’s makin’ bank on others? No. Actually Chris is, where he is, because of what he shares and because of the people that it has affected, and has impacted. Chris will be the first to tell you that without the people that read his blog or follow his tweets or watch his vids, he’s just another hack. Actually he might tell you that anyways.

But my point is this, if you pay it forward. Or if you think of others more than yourself that that can have just as much of an impact on your personal brand as it would be if you solely concentrated on your personal brand.

I like what Dan is doing, don’t get me wrong. He has picked a niche and has cornered the market on personal brands; and right now social media, in all of its wonderous technicolor glory, can do amazing things for you and your personal brand. I’m merely saying that you might also want to think about the why, the how and most importantly, “the We”.

The compassion of Twitter

Posted on April 13, 2009 by marc meyer

My Mom was one of the most social people I knew. Having people over for dinner parties, going out, having brunches, dragging us to an event, a social gathering, a parade, an art opening, or concert, you name it, she was the one, she did it. The consummate hostess, tour guide and cruise director all wrapped into one. What’s more, she was big on documenting those events with lots of photos too. Her attention to detail was astounding. She was in essence, a social creature using social tools before social media was so cool.

It’s funny, but looking back, I didn’t always want to “go” and do this or do that or go here or go there, but once I was there I usually ended up having a pretty good time. She was truly back in the day, a key influencer. We talk about how important those “types” of people are today and my Mom was one before it even had a name.

I’d like to think that I have some of those social qualities that my Mom possessed and I think to a large part I do and I utilize them every day in the social media sphere that we all are swimming in right now, and that’s pretty cool.

Granted, she also had her fair share of things that we choose not to talk about or share, our demons if you will, but at the end of the day we all have them and we’re all like that. There is the personal, the really personal and the social and the really social.

This past Friday April 10th, 2009, I chose to share the really personal in a really social setting with my friends on Twitter. I know some might have wondered or questioned why I did, but though the way we communicate has changed, the choice to communicate with friends has not, at least for me.

And thus I told whoever was listening Friday that my Mom had passed away on that day.

It hurt tremendously to say, but for me the response from Twitter helped me in more ways than I have yet to understand. It humanized Twitter even more for me. It validated it for me. Why? Because when I tweeted it, no one was home and I needed to talk and I couldn’t do it on the phone without unraveling.

As of today, the warm wishes and condolences are still coming in and that means a lot. Though these people are not immediate friends and family- the impact on me has not been lost. And I know somewhere Nikki Meyer is smiling at just how social I was on her behalf… even in the end.