LOL,

Indeed, I am laughing out loud at my own cleverness for title selection. And now that I’ve lured you here, I should probably tell you what this equation is all about..

It’s like this: DiggDigg the online community/news publishing site, which has proven to be succesful and very useful for those with great content and little resources for spreading said content online, has announced that in collaboration with The Wall Street Journal, (elite meets underground..in case you missed it) they have created an interview for Secretary of Treasury of the United States, Mr. Timothy Geithner.

See, I told you it would add up.

Although Digg has parterned up with The Wall Street Journal on this, they’ve kept true to their roots of social communication and have allotted users to suggest questions, of which users can “digg” or vote upon, those questions that are “dugg” the most will go on the questionnaire for the interview adding a 2.0 spin to a mainly mainstream and usually elitist journalistic endeavor.

So why has the Wall Street journal undertaken in this shift all of a sudden?  ”The Journal is partnering with Digg as part of the Web site’s Digg Dialogg series.” These initiatives by Digg, who according to Compete is 40 million unique users strong, are focused upon putting the power back in people’s hands as to what they deem as important and relevant. Essentially giving decisive power to the masses. So, perhaps The Journal is making steps to create a community of the sorts and thinks Digg is a great place to start. We can’t be sure of their intentions, all we know is that this is an intelligent move for both parties involved.

If the success of this joint venture can be traced then I have a feeling this will be a model that most major newscasters and print medias are going to adopt in the future.

So, watch your mic’s press, the people are coming to take over. Atleast for one interview.

Sheila

Social Media Communications Specialist @ The Re Agency

Social Media is no longer a term, it’s a reality. One that’s happening now, and that’s driving people all around the globe into sharing their lives on the digital World.

Avoiding the faltering communication methods used by Traditional Advertising Agencies, which have and continue to ignore a changing demographic, and persist on the use of traditional media as a way of connecting their clients to their target consumers. We believe its time for companies to have a two-way communication with people, establishing a human connection, and delivering brand messages in a softer, more emotional approach.

Modern consumers are smart. On a daily basis they are exposed to around 3000 messages from which they tend to ignore all. Companies desperately try to sell them products while what they should be doing is engaging them. They know and appreciate quality, they respect great customer service and they value brands truly caring for them.

As the world advances, when it comes to technological improvements, social media has been in the past years a way through which people shared their lives with others. From pictures and videos to events in their personal lives, they’ve found ways to express themselves and connect with friends and people all around the World. From mobile devices to micro-blogging sites and networking rooms; they all attract them to experience a new universe in communicative capabilities.

Our main goal is to connect brands with people, humanizing the relationship between them and taking these relationships into a more emotional level of interactivity. Through the diverse tools that new media is offering, we intend to act as brand ambassadors to our client by linking them to their consumers intimately around the World.

One on one and word of mouth have always been the best mediums to connect with a demanding crowd of consumers. Making use of all the social media tools and resources available, we’ll redesign the world of marketing and advertising through a forward looking vision that will always allow us to stay ahead of trends and anticipate the places of communication between brands and consumers.

We’re here to innovate, to update the old traditional ways of communication and to change the rules of the games. We’re here to give and shape a personality to brands, to align their advertising messages into the one on one communicational world and give them a human identity to the faces of their consumers.

Sincerely,

Sheila

Social Media Communications Specialist @ The RE Agency

Re - Social Media Agency Presentation

SimplicitySimplicity reviews.

I am all about simplicity.

Clear and concise, no jargon, just straight up English.

Which is why I absolutely love Common Craft’s Plain English explanation videos.

They create 3 minute semi- animated videos breaking down difficult lessons in a light and witty manner.

They use a video style that is especially appealing: “… They’re short and simple. They use paper cut-outs. They cover subjects “in Plain English.” But lurking under the simple surface are lessons that have been crafted with great care. Despite our fun and lighthearted style, we take explanation seriously.”

All their creations are custom made.

Below is my favorite to date, Social Media In Plain English:

Sheila

Social Media Communications Specialist @ The RE Agency

It feels like just yesterday we where watching our kids Facebooking to their teenage friends about TwilightTwilight reviews, or observing in horror as our college students posted rambunctious pictures of long inebriated nights.

And although there’s still a staggering amount of this tween and young adult activity that fueled the start of facebook, a new trend is rising.

Suddenly of seemingly no where, the 55+ group has got a fever for facebookFacebook..

That’s right Facebook is more than just a teenagers clique site and there’s proof.

This data may come to a surprise to some, but it seems more like common sense to the experts @The RE Agency. Regardless the information is extremely useful for anyone trying to tap into social media. An analytics’ company named iStrategylabs has recently released the demographics stats from Facebooks’ Social Ads platform and what they’re showing us is a rising trend in the ages accessing the popular social network site.

As seen in the chart below, the growth percentage for ages 35-54  has grown 109% while 18-24 grew only 4.8% between January and July 4th.  And which age group showed the most increasing interest in Facebook?  Not tweens or even Facebooks’ jump off point: high school and college students, but rather their their older counterparts. The 55+ group grew a staggering 513.7%, from 954.680 to 5.8 million in 6 short months.

Facebook Demographics Statistics 2009

It’s especially important to note that the largest percentage of users are in the  35-54 demo which leads me to believe that if iStrategyLabs results are accurate Facebook might have just graduated… with an MBA.

Congratulations Facebook!

Seriously though, what these results really go to show us is the immense capability Facebook has a communication tool that appeals to an extremely varied demographic. Young or Old it’s a great resource for research, promotion, and general branding with any age group.

It’s the power of 200,000,000 + users…

Are you there yet?

Sheila

Social Media Communications Specialist @ The RE Agency

To those of us well versed in social media, it doesn’t take much to see how small changes can lead to big innovation.

The success stories are lined up everywhere we look.

All the while the Top Exec’s watch idly by, not really grasping the scope of what’s going on,  simply because there are  “far more important things to do than worry about some website.”

I sympathize with this majority of “too busy to care exec’s”, I really do.

It leaves all the profit for the type of entrepreneur that see’s beyond “Grandpop’s Marketing” and manages to turn a $4 million business, into a $45 million business by creating an online Video Diary called WinelibraryTV and introducing the company into various social networks.

I’m speaking about Gary Vaynerchuk Director of Operations from Winelibrary. Gary realized early on that not only paying close attention to social media, but becoming a sort of web-star in the presence of the new media uprising could prove to be quite fruitful. His ingenious strategy of starting an online program that see’s beyond the stereotypical “industry–conceited sommeliers, snobby shopkeepers unwilling (or unable) to educate their consumers” and all other “mystical conventions all combine to make wine seem intimidating to the uninitiated” opened his market up to unimaginable proportions. Using video as a medium and social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, Gary started a viral phenomenon.

The show now boasts about 100,000 views a day and propelled his business into one of the top Wine Sellers in the world. More importantly thousands of loyal shoppers are all part of an enourmous online community built by WineLibrary.  Along with various spots all over mainstream media which you can see here at the bottom of the page.

How’s that for PR?

I found out about Winelibrary amidst trying to decide the appropriate wine to take to a formal dinner. Seeing as the only schooling I’ve had in wine involves free trials at Whole Foods, I had to do some research. Gary’s choice of branding as “WineLibrary” exudes the personality of a company whose well-versed compendium of wine knowledge is comparable to that of an actual library. By optimizing his search and having several friends lead me to the twitter account @garyvee he made it possible to for me to stumble upon his site almost too quickly.

There lay the masterpiece of his social media collection, 700 videos to date all informing, entertaining, and drawing me into a world of wine expertise. About 2 hours later, I pulled myself out knowing the value of each and every different grape and process.

WineLibrary gave me exactly what I was looking for when I was looking for it. Earning a follower, and a brand new connoisseur of fine wines.

Interactive visuals are undoubtedly an excellent source to get your brand across the vast universe of social networking. They provide a human face to a brand and bring the consumer that much closer to becoming enthralled with who your company is and what you can offer him. It’s a known fact that today’s consumer suffers an audio visual assault to his senses everywhere he turns, advertisements yelling ” SHOP HERE“, “BUY NOW“, “SALE SALE SALE“, enough to make any consumer to crawl into a cave and hibernate his wallet.

Seriously.

See, we’ve been going about it the wrong way, instead of interrupting and thereby irritating your prospective clientele. Why not inform him, and make things available when he needs them and he wants them.

This is the thesis of social media, the ease of getting exactly your requesting from the company you should be getting it from. It’s all about the solutions to the conundrums consumers have, and the creative ways you pose those solutions. Guaranteeing a consumer-company bond unbreakable by your competitors.

So, don’t force your consumers into hibernation with the droning tone of one way communication, but rather awaken their senses once again with social media’s alluring ways instead.

Sheila

Social Media Communications Specialist @ The RE Agency