furthermore

McKenzie Pass Opening 2011

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Mike and I enjoyed a Summer Solstice surprise biking up the McKenzie Pass. We were there to witness the snow clearing of McKenzie Pass (cyclists only for now).

As Mike put it, timing is everything.

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But wait there's more! After being warned by the snow plow team to be cautious, Mike and I set out on the remaining sheet of ice to crest the summit. Yes, I knew it was dangerous but I couldn't resist riding on the surface between high snow walls. 

In the end, the ice won. I realized it was getting a little too dicey, unclipped from my pedals, set my feet down and fell on my face, hard. 

The moral of this story? Timing is important. So too is balance.

 

 

David Brooks @ TED

http://www.ted.com/talks/david_brooks_the_social_animal.html

Our view of human nature is deepening. In fact, Brooks posits that we're developing a revolution in human consciousness informed by neuroscience, cognitive science, behavioral economics, psychology and sociology. Instead of a materialistic view of human nature we're recognizing a new humanism. Brooks shares three key insights revealed by the synthesis of this research.

1) While conscious mind writes the autobiography of our species, our subconscious mind does most of the work.

2) Emotions are at the center of our thinking.

3) We're social animals not rational animals.

He then explains some of the essential skills of living a meaningful life including mindsight, equipose, streetsmarts, sympathy, blending concepts and drive.

Brooks' latest book The Social Animal was already in my reading queue after his compelling interview with Charlie Rose.Though Brooks occasionally overreaches with some of his humor, this is one of the best TED talks in recent memory. Anyone up for a social reading of this book?

What we do with facebook

Facebook

Everyone loves Facebook, it's now even the darling of Wall Street.

With its 600 million users and a 70% penetration of the US population, it's a media giant.

However, in terms of the sophistication in which brands are using Facebook, we are at an embryonic level.

As Callum Sunders points out in his five social marketing trends for 2011. 

"So you’ve accumulated 10,000 fans on Facebook.  And?  While 2010 became the year in which we raced to build up communities for visible brand advocacy, 2011 is the year in which marketers have to start making effective use of these groups."

The challenge moving forward is to try and engage the "likers". This isn't a volume game, it's all about the quality of interaction. So, instead of just buying these "likers" with ads and promotions, brands are going to need to do more to make better use of the folks they've acquired.

This means more structured and disciplined thinking about integrating Facebook more astutely into the conversational calendar and better understanding what types of things are going to increase engagement and participation. It has to be more than promos and discounts, a marketer at a leading brand recently told me that he thought the ROI on their Facebook programs were terrible, because all they were doing was giving discounts to existing customers.

So moving forward, there has to be more thought put into this and this is likely to come in the form of more specific and dedicated content. These type of things will increase the level of engagement, but more can be done to reward the "likers" for their social interaction. Instead of just of giving discounts away, perhaps brands needs to think about what the "likers" have to do to earn them.

2011 is going to be an amazing year for Facebook, the revenue numbers and the profit margins, that have been leaking over the last couple of days, are impressive. However, if the company can use its considerable skill to "sell" brand platforms, applications and ideas to brands, rather than just eyeballs, it could push way ahead of Google.


Posted by Ed Cotton