Team Rubber BlogTeam Rubber talks on the Internet in a blog

I’d like to highlight some useful Henry Jenkins research (via whatconsumesme). Rather than tackling tedious definitions of ‘viral’, Henry explains the various motives behind why people spread media:

- They are doing so because the brand expresses something about themselves or their community.

- They are doing so because the brand message serves some valued social function.

- They are doing so because the entertainment content gives expressive form to some deeply held perception or feeling about the world.

- They are doing so because individual responses to such content helps them determine who does or does not belong in their community.

On this it’s also worth talking about emotional currency. We spread media in seconds via Twitter or email and we mustn’t forget that we often do so for the selfish reason of how something makes us immediately feel. Dosh Dosh wrote an interesting article back in July which in some depth discussed the emotional reasons behind spreading media, be it joy, sadness, anger, fear and disgust. The truth is the ‘key’ to spreadable media falls in murky depths, somewhere between combining emotional engagement, an individual’s perceptual/communal reasoning for spreading media and brand messaging. The further we move away from the idea that spreadable media is “dancing kittens on boobies” the better. It comes from a lot of people falsely believing spreadable media cannot operate in niches. It’s growing out of teenage bedrooms and the potential advertising has to be a positive force in the world in enabling worthwhile conversations is being realised.

Another problematic myth is a held perception that meme is integral to viral, so where does it fall into all of this? Debunking the idea that content should be internet memetic, Jenkins adds:

“Talking about memes and viral media places an emphasis on the replication of the original idea, which fails to consider the everyday reality of communication — that ideas get transformed, repurposed, or distorted as they pass from hand to hand, a process which has been accelerated as we move into network culture.”

A very useful addition to existing remix culture discussions.

Jenkins also talks about the “human agency” in cultures, inherently describing them as something we collectively create. Letting people mess with your content builds brand culture, giving people a stake in its spread and ensures its sustainable awesomeness. Ad-vacate to advocate.

I wanted to pick out some thoughts from one panel at SXSW concerning ROI in social media campaigns, otherwise seen pinging around the blogosphere:

“My Boss Doesn’t Get It: Championing Social Media To The Man

We all know that social media is the best thing since sliced bread, right? Then why is it so hard to explain the value of social media to people who don’t get it? Join our panelists, who have successfully championed social media initiatives, for a discussion of what works and what doesn’t when it comes to selling social media to your boss or clients. This panel is sponsored by Small World Lab.”

Panelists:

Miles Sims VP of Product Mgmt,   Small World Labs

Peter Kim Sr Partner,   Dachis Corporation

Michael Wilson Founder/CEO,   Small World Labs

Rebecca Caroe Sales & Business Dev Expert,   CreativeAgencySecrets.com

Christian Caldwell Web Interaction and Usability Specialist,   Small World Labs/American Heart Association

(info taken from the SXSW site)

It was interesting to hear Christian Caldwell note that reach is the most important metric whilst stressing there are no standard measurements of ROI in social media – they must be formulated around your individual company. I must admit that I did come out a little dissapointed as I was perhaps wrongly looking for more examples in practice of how the panelists succesfully negotiated the ROI issue for a particular social media channel. Yet esteemed ex-Forrester analyst Peter Kim is right when he notes that ROI is based on too many assumptions and from the marketer’s point of view it remains a formulaic science.

It comes down to the continuing fragmentation of social media driving too much complexity. The number of media channels available to marketers, agencies and consumers keep on growing and then the platforms you may have established some measurement for evolve (one example might be Facebook – conversations have now shifted to status updates). Proliferation of choice offers marketers new opportunities, such as social networks, mobile, and branded entertainment, yet each of these has its own success metrics and dynamics, making comparison and the calculation of ROI near impossible.

However, the panel did offer tips for a succesful social media campaign:

- Plan

- Measure and report results to ensure acknowledgement

- Build culture and seed it

- Articulate the metrics to set expectation

- Define what you plan to achieve up front

Some more SXSW reflections from blogs afar:

- Peter Kim, Reflections on SXSW ‘09

- Nathan McDonald, SXSW Interactive Highlights
- Jackie Huba, 18 cool things at SXSW
- Rachel Happe, SXSW ‘09 retrospective
- Alora Chistiakoff, Highlights from SXSW 2009
- Mack Collier, SXSW Recap – The Sessions
- Jeff Beckham, SXSW Scorecard
- Aaron Strout, Overheard: I Survived SXSW ‘09 and Lived To Talk About It
- Marc Berry, 2,584 words on SXSW Interactive 2009
- Mike Stopford, SXSW Interactive 2009 – Reflections