Violet Mae Lim

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that there are real people being Facebook pages. It’s easy to read posts, click like, share them, or even ignore them all together but every once in a while, something happens that makes us remember that there is someone (or a team of someones) sitting behind the page, carefully selecting what will appears in a Facebook stream. Sometimes that “something” is a quirky little mistake…

Yesterday, I noticed a post from the NPR Facebook page that looked a little different. Instead of the usual link to a story that they normally post, there was a block of text:

It turns out, people didn’t mind. And a quick scan of the Facebook page shows that this post is pretty active and engaging compared to some of their other posts.

This post stood out to me because it is personal, friendly and conversational… much like a note that a friend would send. Additionally, it’s pretty transparent. Somebody made a light, honest error and they fixed it. Fortunately for the producer, the picture wasn’t anything racy, pornographic or inappropriate! (If that were the case, it would be a different story!)

The moral of this story is that it’s ok to be “off-brand” and show a little personality every now and then. I wouldn’t recommend posting off-brand messages often but every once in a while, it helps people remember that there are people behind the pages.

Today, the darling of socia media, Twitter, announced it would be adding a geo-location feature to tweets.  Currently, all the early adopters are fawning over Foursquare, before that it was BrightKite but Google Lattitude never really got on the map (no pun intended). There are also lots of other location based social networks and apps.

Geo-location based social networks are on the rise. Is this the next wave in social networking? Venture capitalist, Fred Wilson, sees a lot of value in location based social networking. Personally, I love using location based social networking apps for three reasons:

1. I like discovering new places in whichever city I’m in.

2. Location based social networks  let me see which places my friends are going. I could meet up with them if I’m in the neighborhood or going back to #1, discover new places I probably wouldn’t have discovered otherwise.

3. Location based social networks help me meet like minded people, say at a web conference or tech event.

However, everyone I know who isn’t an early adopter is not so in love with this idea. The mainstream think it’s scary, creepy, mundane or don’t see the value in it. Case in point: when I was in Austin for SXSW Interactive in 2008, I used Brightkite.  My phone had never gone off so many times in my entire life. Brightkite was sending me notifications of other people in the tech industry were checking in to all the bars, hotels, cafes etc. I haven’t received a Brightkite notification since then.

It’s not to say that the mainstream won’t embrace location based social networks one day. I’m sure they will. Remember the days when it was unheard of to put your picture on the internet? And now it’s shifted to where it’s normal (almost expected) to use a real picture of yourself as an avatar, as well as post pictures of yourself and your friends. As social networking sites have lifespans, attitudes towards the web and web activity shift. From a marketing perspective, because the mainstream hasn’t embraced location based social networking means businesses should quickly jump at the opportunity to be on these networks. Why? It’s these early adopters who already on these networks that are more likely to talk about you, share tips about your business and pass the word along to their friends.

Today, allfacebook.com announced Facebook’s new “digital signature” for Facebook pages. In order to create a public profile page, the user must be “an official representative”. A user proves this by checking a box stating so and submitting an “electronic signature.” Facebook may be doing this to help protect brands from brand “hijacking” (a situation where someone poses as a representative from the brand leading to either misrepresentation of the brand or even giving false information). A perfect example: Exxon Mobile.

On one hand, this makes perfect sense. As a brand you may not want to have someone who is unauthorized using your name. Who knows what these dopplegangers could do! Slander! Libel! False information! Words that tarnish your brand reputation! Surely, these are a brand’s worst nightmare. On the other hand, Facebook’s move may also limit brands. This move limits a brand’s fans and/or community evangelists. Though as brand you may be able to start your own Facebook Page, you may not know where and how to find your audience and be left with a fan page populated by the internal members of your marketing team.

Sometimes, a consumer may love, admire, adore, enjoy or like your brand so much, they take it upon themselves to create a web presence (in this case a fan page) for you. Most of the time people do this because they want to meet other fans or spread all the good things they have to say about your brand. These people are a brand’s dream come true– they say good things about your brand, tell other people about your brand and find others who are apt to the same. Your very own brand evangelists! The smart thing to do is embrace these people and the communities they’ve started around your brand. Join the community, listen to what they are saying about you, learn about your brand through the eyes of the consumer, have a presence and be active. Because really, that’s all you can do.

There’s so much buzz around the term “social media” lately. People seem to be obsessed with social media, Facebook fans, Twitter followers and the “killing” of traditional media. People and brands have become obsessed with adopting social media as their sole marketing strategy. Unfortunately, people presume social media = solely the newest social network (ie: Twitter). What they sometimes don’t always know is that there is so much more to social media.

Social media is an essential part of marketing, but social media has many parts. Social networks are a small part of social media. As a brand, you ought to be learning and adopting social media into your marketing/communications/community outreach plan. Keep up with all the evolving web strategies but weave them into your traditional marketing/PR strategies when appropriate. Know how you can tie your social web presence together to effectively communicate with your online community. Make you sure you understand how social media also ties into customer service, SEM, SEO, content creation and even basic web development (amongst many other things). Simply starting a blog on WordPress.com will not be effective if the bigger picture isn’t considered. Starting a Twitter account and following everyone you think might be interested in your new product and calling that your “new media campaign” won’t cut it either.

Having an understanding of social media really is will enable you to set your goals and achieve results. Social media is a multi-faceted approach to B2C communications. If you know this and understand how your customers prefer to communicate with you, you’ll do great on the social web. Lastly, if you don’t have someone who is knowledgeable in social media or digital strategy, please hire someone. And by someone, I don’t mean a summer intern to tweet on your behalf or upload videos to your YouTube account.

According to an Emarketer.com article, 78.1% of US internet users use social networking sites to keep in touch with friends, 50.5% for reconnecting with old friends, 29.9% to meet new people and 10.9% for career networking.

When I read these stats, I was astonished. These results have me wondering how the survey was worded and also whether or not people understand the power of social networking. Keeping in touch with friends, reconnecting, meeting new people and career networking are NOT mutually exclusive. Granted, the survey was published in November 2008 so they might have changed as we sink deeper into a recession and more people are being laid off from their jobs.

While you’re on any social network or open forum, be it Myspace, Facebook, meetup.org, Linked-In or Twitter, you are networking whether your know it or not. If you actively brand yourself as an expert in your field or as someone who is eager to learn a new subject or field or work, people take notice of this. It should also be noted that you can’t run from a Google search, so you might as well actively take charge of it. If you are actively seeking work, let people in your social network know. They are the key to your next job, career or side project. You may be surprised at how many people WANT to help; especially in rough economic times.

Social media can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, social media allows us and everyone to share what we like, what we don’t like and consume content easily and at a faster rate within our communities. On the other hand, just because you have content doesn’t mean you should share it everywhere you see a social bookmarklet. One of the keys in social media is the community which consumes your content. Without this community, your content is forgotten and lost. Perhaps we should ask ourselves, “if content is never consumed, does it exist?” (That’s the best “if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it..” analogy that I could come up with… har har).

Let me give you an example. If you have a social media release that you think is pretty rad or an interesting blog post you whipped up, I’m sure you want to let everyone know about it. As you should! However, does a social media release about the newest Baby Einstein series belong on Digg? No. Does your very cool, very informative blog post on how to wallpaper your home belong on Reddit? No.

My point is, you have to know where your community is on the social web. You also have to know where they are and how they prefer to consume their content. Furthermore, you ought to have an understanding of how each popular social discovery, social bookmarking and social networking sites work. What’s the digital culture of each site? Their norms? Accepted practices? This takes a fair amount of observing, listening and participating on the social web. Don’t put your content up on social discovery sites for the sake of having it up there. You are better off sharing your content with a few targeted individuals (or small community) than blindly posting your content or sharing for the sake of sharing.

Learn about your community before you start sharing, posting and getting buck on the wild, wild web. Use social media to your advantage. Oh and please don’t let me see your press release under the “Upcoming Stories” section of Digg. Your one digg isn’t doing you any favors. You’re better off not submitting it.

If you haven’t already heard of Hayden-Harnett (other than now), you will soon. Hayden-Harnett is a mid-end accessory and apparel brand based in Brooklyn, NYC. The handbags range anywhere from $200-$700 and $200-$500 for apparel. Hayden-Harnett has been featured in many women’s magazines including Marie Claire, Lucky, Elle, InStyle, O, Bust and a wide range of international magazines. They have a standard e-commerce website where consumers can shop online, locate local stores to buy products,read the press they’ve been featured in and join the mailing list. What’s the big deal? As a mid-end fashion brand they are rapidly building an online presence.

Hidden in the “about us” section is a link to their blog (mind you, active since September 2005, a steady pattern of blogging since March 2006). Toni and Ben, founders of Hayden-Harnett blog about the newest Hayden-Harnett products and engage their fans by having contests. Furthermore, Hayden-Harnett has a MySpace profile, Facebook page and many adorable sets of outfits on Polyvore.com. As soon as I got word that Hayden-Harnett had joined Twitter, I quickly followed the brand. I was thrilled. Not because I am a fan of this particular brand (this may change) but rather because I fancy brands who humanize themselves on the social web and engage with their communities. It is refreshing to see a non-technology based brand, actively interacting with their fans- especially since I wouldn’t call Twitter mainstream just yet (yes, I am fully aware that the Britney Spears team is on Twitter). Not only is Hayden-Harnett on Twitter but the brand is utilizing Twitter properly (2-way communication stream with a fair mix of chatter and self-promotion and a great follower/following ratio, among other things). Hayden-Harnett also recently had sample pre-sale for  specifically for Twitter followers. Bravo!

Hayden-Harnett is definitely on the right track, however I do have some strategies on how the brand can further utilize social media:

Humanize Thyself:

• For starters, I would suggest Hayden-Harnett further humanize themselves on Twitter by either using a real picture or a real name. In reality, people don’t talk to brands, people talk to people. Even though I follow Hayden-Harnett on Twitter, I can’t figure out who is behind the Twitter stream. Is it Toni? Ben? Their assistant? Hayden-Harnett? Based on what I can tell, Hayden-Harnett is the name of the brand and Toni and Ben are the people behind it, If I can’t tell, others surely won’t be able to. Transparency is key here. A real name and picture on the Twitter would fix this problem.

If you have a blog, promote it:

• The Hayden-Harnett blog should be featured on the front of their website. I had to dig through their site to find their blog. Keep in mind, I was specifically looking for a blog. Most people aren’t going to dig around with the intent of finding a blog. What good is a blog if no one knows it exists?

Tag and Share:

• Last but not least, I notice there is a delicious.com bookmarklet button on the website for people to bookmark the blog. Having this is dandy, but just “having it” isn’t doing much. I’d like to see a link to the Hayden-Harnett delicious.com account.

Anyhow, I’ve got plenty more where that came from, but I won’t bore you any longer. Prior to this, I don’t think I’ve browsed the Hayden-Harnett site for more than 2 minutes at a time, nor was I interested in any of their products. Now that I see they are actively engaging in the fashion community and expanding their online presence on the web, I have Hayden-Harnett in the back of my mind. The next time I realize I need a new purse or coat, I just may turn to Hayden-Harnett.

From an outsider’s perspective, I can understand why social media is a difficult concept for brands and corporations to grasp. I can also understand why it can be overwhelming and confuse people. Brands hear about “this new thing called Twitter”, become intrigued with “the power of communities” or even see a competitor on a social network and want to jump on the social media band wagon. I’ve heard some clients say that traditional media is no longer as effective as it once was and now they need “something else”. They never quite know what they need, but they know they need to try new methods of marketing or advertising.

This is almost a paradox. They understand they need something new, they hear about social media and then shy away from it. Why? Ultimately, the answer is, “I don’t have the time”. They say they want to understand social media, but when push comes to shove, they don’t have time to blog or regularly engage with their online community. They want the interactive marketing agencies or the social media consultants they hire to write for them, post on the forums for them, tweet for them and ultimately, BE THEM. It can be frustrating when clients do not understand this and do not engage with their community as they should. At the end of the day, the agency or consultant is at fault because afterall, “they are the marketing people, aren’t they?”

I can understand why they feel this way. Let’s be frank- social media, engaging and interacting with communities and writing meaningful content that is relevant to the brand and their space, takes time. Social media is nothing like traditional banner ads, media buys or advertising. Making one video and praying it goes “viral” also isn’t social media. Signing up for a twitter account and pushing news headlines or self-promoting links isn’t social media. The interactions and relationships that are built from social media take time. Simply put, social media isn’t for the lazy. I always advocate social media consultants and agencies to teach and inspire their clients- show them the ropes, hold their hand and then wave from afar like a mother does to her child on the first day of kindergarten.

Since social media is very complex and still growing (that’s what makes it exciting), I’m sure I will be coming across more and more people who want to use social media without completely understanding all the implications and time commitment that comes along with it. That’s ok with me, I’m a patient person.

As a student of anthropology, and someone who is attempting to shed light on the methodologies of ethnography in social media, it pains me to see the term “anthropology” being thrown around carelessly or with little thought. In this blog post, I would like to clearly define the study of anthropology and “digital anthropology”.

There are four fields which make up anthropology: archaeology, biological (or physical) anthropology, linguistic anthropology and cultural anthropology. Combined, these four fields are what define anthropology. Additionally, it is within cultural anthropology which cultural anthropologists conduct ethnographies to participate and write about the cultures which they are studying. Ethnography is the bedrock of anthropology.

All of the “digital anthropologists” or studies of “digital anthropology” I have come across are extremely insightful and interesting; however, I believe, they fall under the category of cultural anthropology.

Examples:

• I disagree with the American Anthropological Association’s sub-discipline of “cyborg anthropology”. I would argue that what is defined as “the study of the symbiotic relationships between man and computers” is really the study of how technology shifts and/or growth and how it has affected, affects and will continue to affect humans. Furthermore, not all humans have become “cyborgs”. The extremity of humans “morphing” into cyborgs and the affects of technology range from culture to culture.
• Someone who studies where and how technology and cultures/societies intersect, is not a “digital anthropologist” but rather a cultural anthropologist with an interest in technology paradigm shifts through cultures- once again assuming there are components of ethnography within the study.
• Someone who photographs people or cultures is not a digital anthropologist, but rather a photographer with an interest in people or cultures- as there are no aspects of ethnographic research in photography (unless they are studying the learned culture of photographers in general).

Cultural anthropologists conduct ethnographies by observing then participating in communities. With such radical technology shifts, ethnographies of online communities can be and are successfully accomplished. These ethnographies are “digital”, hence one who is studying and participating in an online community can conduct and write digital ethnographies but is not a “digital anthropologist”.

My post is not to discredit those who study the effects of technology on man, the relationship between computers and humans or those who study online communities (I do this myself), but rather to make the point that “digital anthropology” does not exist. As of now, we cannot study the archaeological artifacts of computers, the bone morphology of technology or the grammar and semantics of pictures. Furthermore, digital anthropology (by definition) means anthropological resources available through machines such as computers.

My goal is to help others understand exactly what anthropology is. Afterall, I still meet people who think anthropologists study dinosaurs. If you have any insights on this topic, I would like to hear them. I can be persuaded into believing almost anything if there is compelling evidence (or after 2 martinis).

As more brands begin to humanize themselves on the social web, I find myself not only expecting brands to engage with their customers, consumers and communities but also appreciating the brands that do. One brand that has crossed my mind multiple times is Rebecca Minkoff. Rebecca Minkoff purses range anywhere from $300-$700 and can be seen on celebrities from Lindsay Lohan to Lauren Conrad and everyone in between. Rebecca Minkoff is a New York based purse designer who is using the social web to her advantage.

Rebecca is ahead of other purse designers as she has an online presence on the social web. She has accounts on mainstream social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook and niche forums that cater to women obsessed with handbags and fashion. I am an active member of these niche communities and I’ve “seen” Rebecca leverage the power of these communities. In one instance, members of a forum begged and pleaded for her to hold a sample sale in Los Angeles. She said if X amount of people were interested, she would have one and she kept her word. I attended the sample sale and it was crazy as crazy gets: women lined up 4-5 hours before the event, eagerly awaiting their turn to purchase a new purse (let it be known, that there were some women who bought 3-4 purses at the sample sale).

Rebecca is personally on these forums and I have communicated with her regarding new products and sample sales. She also has a handful of customer service reps on these forums answering customer service questions and engaging with the entire purse-fanatic community. These forums are a way for her to monitor conversations about her brand, understand her target audience, understand the customer demographics, collect market research, humanize herself and a method of CRM. She has created a groundswell around her brand just by joining the conversation that was already happening online.

I first read about Rebecca Minkoff online and instantly fell in love with her purses. The first time I bought one of her purses was online, through a fashion community. I own two Rebecca Minkoff purses, one of which she helped me pick out. Yes, SHE helped me pick it out. I’ve also met her in person at a sample sale she held in Los Angeles and she is a doll. She is digitally-savvy and understands the power of the social web… I can’t say the same about many other mid-end/high-end purse designers. Although I have many other ideas on how she could further increase her presence and leverage her community, I think she is off to a great start. There is something very different about actually being able to engage and meet with the designer of the purse you are carrying versus buying a purse from a department store and never speaking with the designer.