Every Company Is A Media Company

Design Thinking for Developing Innovative Communication Strategies

By Don Bulmer

 

I have drawn great inspiration from concepts of design thinking over the last four years as a basis to create and implement innovative communication and influence programs. 

After a recent conversation with a member of my team at SAP - Carly Cooper - I am further inspired to delve more deeply into the realm of design thinking as I feel that it represents one of the best frameworks for marketing and communication professionals to understand as they adjust to the current socioeconomic trends transforming business - as a result of social media.

The unstated ideas and principles of design thinking have been in practice for centuries and have served as the basis for many technology and business model innovations.

Companies like Apple, Dell, Proctor & Gamble and recent upstarts like Better Place and Salesforce.com have famously validated these principles to create significant game changing business models and innovations that in many ways have redefined the landscape of their respective industries.

The team at IDEO have formalized these concepts over the last decade with frameworks that have been refined, debated and discussed among an impressive group of thought leaders, practitioners and innovators.

Hasso Plattner a co-founder of SAP has become a patron of design thinking through his great efforts to sponsor the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University and the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam, Germany.

What is Design Thinking?

Wikipedia defines design thinking as:

Edelman hires FT journalist, preaches media publishing to big clients

By Tom Foremski

Thanks to everyone for pointing me to this article at The Independent, the UK newspaper:

PR stunt or the new journalism?: The titans of public relations are going direct to viewers and readers - Press, Media - The Independent

...Sambrook is convinced that Edelman's clients must take their message directly to the consumer. "The mantra is that every company has to be a media company in their own right, telling their own stories not just through websites but through branded entertainment, video, iPad and mobile applications," he says.

The rise of page view journalism means companies must generate their own media

By Tom Foremski

Sam Whitmore is the best media watcher around, he regularly talks to the press as part of his research for the excellent Sam Whitmore's Media Survey, which is heavily used by all the large PR agencies.

I was at a recent panel moderated by Sam Whitmore that discussed pageviews and the effect on journalism. Although nothing much emerged from that event, it is an important issue, and Sam has been collecting more information on this topic.

Making lemondade from a $1.6m lemon

By Tom Foremski

Zappos.com is famous for excellent use of its own media (blogs, Twitter, etc), and the media, to boost its brand. Here is another excellent example: (Hat tip Jeff Jarvis.)

It seems that Zappos' sister site 6pm.com ran into a problem Sunday morning. For 6 hours it priced everything at $49.95 or under. That means a pair of say, Jean Paul Gaultier boots that sell for $530 online (retail: $1,135) could be bought for $49.95.

Aaron Magness, director of brand marketing at Zappos, wrote that the mistake cost the company $1.6 million but that all sales would be honored:

While we're sure this was a great deal for customers, it was inadvertent, and we took a big loss (over $1.6 million - ouch) selling so many items so far under cost. However, it was our mistake. We will be honoring all purchases that took place on 6pm.com during our mess up.

Great move. Yes, $1.6 million is a lot of money but the publicity will probably more than make up for it. Zappos could have stayed quiet but instead made a savvy marketing move using its own media and trusting that social media would distribute a great story.

I didn't know about 6pm.com but now I do, and who knows, I might pop in Sunday mornings to see if another mistake in pricing has occurred (and I can get those boots :).

(The converse to this however, is that they might have mistaken the price on something I had bought in the past and it should have been cheaper.)

Corporate Social Media is not Social - it's Sales Media...

By Tom Foremski

When it comes to corporate use of social media I have problems with the use of the word "social" because it's not accurate. It's not social.

When most people use Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace, they use it for its social qualities. Yet when corporations, and many professionals use social media, they are using it for commercial purposes, they are using it for sales.

This is an important distinction because it affects how businesses should use social media.

The embedded journalist...

By Tom Foremski

As more companies recognize that they are becoming media companies,  part of that process is acquiring the skills of media professionals. The quickest way to do that is by hiring experienced journalists.

Recently, Salesforce.com acquired Steve Gillmor, a veteran tech journalist. [Steve Gillmor goes to the dark side: you should care | ZDNet]

Using Pearltrees for Multi-Media Press Kits

By Tom Foremski

My regular readers know about my rants on the subject of press releases. My rants are not about the content of press releases but that they do not use the media technologies that we have today.
{Please see: Die! Press release! Die! Die! Die! - SVW and 4 Years Since 'Die! Press Release Die!...' And STILL No Hyperlinks - SVW]

Few press releases have more than one link, or have links pointing to useful information such as:

- a link to photographs
- embeddable videos
- background information
- customer quotes
- analyst quotes
- related news stories
- related news releases

Such links make my job easier -- instead of Googling around for that information I can find it more quickly. I might also copy those links into my article as a service to my readers looking for additional information.

Yet despite having many people agree with me, the PR industry still has trouble understanding these very simple things. Some have told me that people don't know how to create links. (I will be hosting a $1,000-a-head workshop on this very topic, send me an email if you'd like to sign up foremski at gmail.com.)

Another way to produce an interactive press release is to use Pearltrees. I've been working with Pearltrees the past few months and developing some new use cases.

Pearltrees is a visual way of creating a collection of web sites. Let me show you an example below. It represents Intel's recent launch of a new Atom processor family. To the main news release, I've attached pearls that represent web pages where you can download photos, video, find background information, etc.

(This is a live window in that you can move around within it and browse the content of each pearl. You can also grab it and add it to your Pearltree collection.)

After the event you can use Pearltrees to look at the media coverage, here is an example.

The wonderful thing about Pearltrees is that others can grab your specific Pearltree and attach it to their own Pearltree collection. This also means that if I make any change in my Pearltree, the changes are reflected in every version of my Pearltree that others have chosen.

Corporate communications departments could quickly share resources and reuse Pearltrees in a modular way. For example, if there are any changes in a "background" Pearltree, those changes are replicated across every version, in everyone's Pearltree collection. This is especially valuable when dealing with changes in legal wording, or legal approval for company information -- once approved, a Pearl or a Pearltree, can be reused time and again, and future changes are automatically propagated across all Pearltrees.

Try it out, I'd love to hear your feedback.

Interview: Ekaterina Walter - Social Media Strategist at Intel

By Tom Foremski
I recently interviewed Ekaterina Walter, social media strategist at Intel. Ms. Walter works in Portland and is part of a small team of social media specialists working closely with Intel's corporate marketing group to provide a set of best practices and strategies.

Ms. Walter has been specializing in Facebook strategies. You can hear one of her BrightTalk webcasts here: "Faceless to FANtastic - Effectively Engaging Your Facebook Fans"

Here are some notes from our conversation:

A Podcast on Every Company is a Media Company....

By Tom Foremski

I recently spoke with Bob Walsh from 47 Hats, and Patrick Foley from Microsoft, about Silicon Valley Watcher and Every Company is a Media Company - EC=MC - the transformative equation for business. It is part of the Startup Success Podcast series.

Bob and Pat interview Tom Foremski, one of the foremost journalists covering Silicon Valley, the world of startups and the shifting sands under the feet of traditional media. Tom was one of the first top rank journalists to go solo and leave the sinking mainstream media ship. You’ll find his analysis of the coming media tsunami and why every company – including your startup – is now a media company nourishing food for thought.

Download Show #66 here: Show #66 Or if you prefer, Subscribe to the podcast in Apple iTunes.

You May Not Be My Friend Online- But You Influence Me

by Vanessa DiMauro

I am growing weary of all this social media silly talk about trust and friendship as it applies to professional collaboration online. I have online “friends” in my knitting community and my travel community, for example, but my professional networks do not yield friendships in the real, down-and- dirty, share a beer or drive me to the airport at 5am kind of way.

What my social media peer group (SMPG) offers is a fruitful and productive idea exchange. I share experiences and thoughts with my SMPG about my work life and the situations I encounter on a professional basis. I also have a cadre of thought leaders I go to for new ideas and subject matter expertise in areas I don’t know about. This useful give-and-take helps me avoid missteps and brings new ideas to the table.Given the global nature of the internet, social media peer groups can be very far-reaching, with knowledgeable people around the world influencing each other about professional decisions.The opportunity is there for individuals and organizations to participate -- in the right ways.