The Morrison Agency. Atlanta Advertising + Digital Agency

I read an interesting article on Mashable today, which stated that recent reports claimed one in five tweets, are unsolicited brand advertisements by loyal consumers. In other words: your consumers are busy talking about you, and odds are, you have no idea.

I’ve mentioned it before, and I’ll mention it again: social media gives us a way to communicate and share, that has never been possible previously. Now more than ever, technology has enabled us to quickly and easily share our thoughts with the world, and instantly have that conversation with a limitless number of people. And it makes sense for it to happen this way. All day ever day, we’re faced with advertising, we use products, and we ask questions. The social sphere has just given us a way to make the conversation happen in real time, with people we know (or don’t know) rather than requiring we turn to Google for the answers.

What does this mean to you? Like it or not, social media isn’t going anywhere. And if you happen to be one of those that fears the potential repercussions of “the conversation”, it’s important to know that whether you’re part of the conversation or not, it’s still being had. If that’s not enough to convince you, perhaps this except from the aforementioned article will:

Although the brand mentions were a mix of positive and negative, associate professor at PSU Jim Jansen said that, surprisingly, “a lot of the brand comments were positive.” He went on to measure the influence of micro-blogging as compared to other media channels: “It may be right up there with e-mail in terms of its communication impact.”

I’ve been seeing some interesting articles and videos on the subject of neuro-research and the brain’s physiological responses to potential ads and imagery. A number of these studies use medical technologies such as fMRIs (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging), EEGs (Electroencephalogram), or galvanic skin response (tracking electrical conductivity/resistance in the skin) to track the actual physical responses that occur in the brain and body as people view advertising.

Advertisers and their agencies have long wondered whether current research methodologies, that focus on asking respondents questions about commercials or advertisements, force overly-logical, or critical responses, while neglecting emotional or sub-conscious responses.

Martin Lindstrum, author of “Buy-ology” and others, have attempted to look beyond the conscious brain into the actual electro-chemical activity within the brain/body to determine what really motivates human behavior. I’ve attached links to Lindstrum’s YouTube video and those of three other companies below. If you are interested in the role of emotion and the sub-conscious in advertising and brand decision-making, I think you’ll enjoy them.

Buy.ology by Martin Lindstrom

Michael Brammer, consultor in Neuromarketing

Coke “Heist” Commercial Analysis

We’ve been reading all kinds of articles about the Microsoft / Yahoo! partnership and what it will mean to marketers. To date, a keyword search recommendation to a client has been pretty straightforward. With almost 78% of all searches taking place on Google, we can pretty much cover our bases and get bang for our budgets by concentrating on Google.

However, with Bing and Yahoo! partnering up, the paid search landscape is changing. I, for one, am a fan of competition and the leverage it gives to the customer. Witness my customer service experience with XM/Sirius this week. I’ve been an XM subscriber for a number of years and needed an issue resolved. If I wasn’t going to get satisfaction, I was going to switch to Siri . . . wait a minute, what am I going to do if I don’t get my issue resolved? Return to terrestrial radio and morning DJs? I think not. And now I have no leverage. Nice.

Anyway, my point (and yes, I do have one) is that the impact of the Bing+Yahoo! partnership is going to mean some changes for the “Googlopoloy,” and how we plan our paid search programs. But, the partnership is reported to be pretty complicated and, thus, still a ways off.

Now, I wouldn’t say that it has ever felt like Google throws its weight around in the paid search area. But, a little competition has to be a good thing. Right?

Read more about the Microsoft / Yahoo! partnership by clicking here.

I was doing some light reading this morning, and stumbled across a great read over at DigitalBeat titled “Five Rules of Thumb for Social Media Advertising”.

In his article, Carnet refers to the following five rules:

1. Appeal to what people love the most – themselves
2. Measurement is very important, but don’t lose the forest for the trees
3. Plan for success, but know you won’t always hit homeruns
4. What they are saying is true; Social media is about conversations
5. Know thy customer

Now, on the surface I imagine these five points probably seem obvious, however the part that really got me was this:

Learn how to foster deeper and more balanced and committed relationships. Stop trying to bribe and manipulate people to get them to do what you want. This is transactional behavior. Be open to new forms of value. Properly engaged customers buy from a company not just because they like the product or service, but because they genuinely want the business to be successful.

Think on that for just a second. Thanks to the power given to us – and to consumers – via the birth of social media, we can no longer rely on gimmicky give-aways to encourage consumer behavior. These methods are old and tired. In large part, this is due to expectations being different than they used to be. Consumers expect to be able to reach out to brands and people easily and quickly via Facebook, or MySpace, or Twitter, or any other handful of socially-focused online communities. And once connected, they expect to be engaged, and valued as a “follower”.

We can do this in any number of ways, though I’d point to some rather excellent cases by Burger King, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Target. These brands gave followers the ability to interact with them, and the chance to get something in return, while reaping the benefits of creeping into that individuals social network, and leveraging the power that is word of mouth.

Today, it’s about empowering consumers by giving them tools that allow them to beat your drum for you. Consumers are looking for ways to engage and interact with brands they value, and it is up to those brands to provide those individuals with the proper tools to do just that. Of course, this comes at a cost: brands that refuse to get involved in the conversation directly, run the risk of being lost in the noise, or even worse, allowing others to manage their conversation for them.

We have two options: sit idly by and be passed over by the masses, or dive in head first and lead the conversation. Where do you sit?