I am pretty darn proud to announce that I’ve been picked as a member on the jury of the first international social media award show for communication and marketing professionals. The award show called The Bees Award will be held in San Francisco on November 9 later this year and it’s open for submissions as of today.
The Bees Award have gathered some of the leading social media experts from around the world to judge this award and I’m honored to be included in that list. Apart from the honor it’s also a great opportunity for me to scan some of the best case studies in the world when it comes to social media. I’m sure once the 9th of november has passed I’ll be packed with inspiration to share with you guys.
This new buzzing contest will award winners in the following categories:
Best 140 Characters (SMS, Tweet)
Best Use of a Micro-Blogging Platform
Best Use of a Social Media Platform
Best Use of mobile
Best Relationship With Bloggers
Best Conversation with Customers
Best Use of Alternative Tool(s)
Best Use of Media Press Room
Best Writing
Best Art Direction
Best Social CRM
Best Student Work
Best Innovation
Best Campaign
Agency of the Year
Client of the Year
And besides me, here’s the jury and their twitter accounts and blogs:
There are no secret formulas, no secret recipes or magic potions when it comes to social media marketing. All you’ve gotta do is take in one single fact: People have moved lots of their behaviors online and you’ve gotta follow.
To succeed in moving your business, communication and advertising into the digital world, ask yourselves the following questions:
If people search for things related to my business via Google - how can I make sure they find me?
We’ve used to organize events in the real world -where can we organize events in the digital world?
When people started to use phones you gave your sales people phones - why are you not giving them Skype, MSN, Twitter, Facebook and live streaming accounts?
You would never automate a personal relation that could lead to sales - why are you automatic every single sales process online?
People don’t listen to brands, they listen to other people -how can we make sure other people say good things about us?
Since people tend to spend their time alone behind the screen -how can we continue to build human digital relations using video, photos and copy?
In the real world you do PR towards paid media – how can you shift your PR activities to be picked up by earned media online?
Traditionally you’ve spent lots of money on media -how can you shift focus to spending lots of money on value that leads to eyeballs online?
In the offline world you would value how people navigate in your store -how much do you value how people navigate in your online world?
Building a great house requires an well paid architect – why then are you hiring the cheapest architect when building a great online presence?
In the old world comparing products was hard - does your products stand the future transparency were everything can be compared?
Back then you could create a 3 year marketing plan – what can you do to turn it into a 3 month marketing plan?
Focus groups used to lead you right -is your organization prepared to listen to real time data instead?
Building brands took years and years -how can you build your brand in months?
Competitors introduced themselves at the next fair - are you prepared for the ones who wont introduce themselves at all and don’t care about the old way of doing business, only your old customers?
You used to write business plans - how can you get moving and learn on the way.
If you’ve got 15 right answers then you’re fine. If not – start running!
Apple, Nike, adidas, Google and so on. It’s always easy to point the wow pointer to these huge brands that have massive amounts of brand fans world wide. But sometimes you’ve just gotta remind people about why these brands often are leading the pack.
I have just gotten of stage in Tallin, Estonia after speaking on the future communication landscape. Right now I’m in a sofa listening to James Matthewson who seconds ago quoted Simon Pestridge from Nike and I just have to share that quote cause it’s what it’s all about:
Nike’s point of view on advertising: “We don’t do advertising any more. We just do cool stuff…It sounds a bit wanky, but that’s just the way it is. Advertising is all about achieving awareness, and we no longer need awareness. We need to become part of people’s lives and digital allows us to do that”
Simon Pestridge – Nike UK
And boy do they deliver on that promise. Here’s just one of thousands of projects they do every year to make people join their brand.
Do great stuff and people will follow you. That goes for products, services, support, communication and advertising. It’s a simple as that!
Last summer I got on a train leaving Stockholm for Gothenburg. Together with freelancing project manager, planner and colleague Caroline Karlström I had a meeting set up with diving brand Poseidon. This was the start of a project where I truly had the opportunity to work with all aspects of branding and creative communication.
A dream project.
Ingvar Elfström, the founder of Poseidon back in 1958.
The Background
Back in 1958 this brand was founded by a young Swedish diver, Ingvar Elfström. Since then the brand has become famous for unique, different and great products. However over the last couple of years they’ve lost speed when it comes to innovation and marketing initiatives.
But then something happened. The company was bought by a small group of investors three years back. Headed by visionaire Kurt Sjöblom they set out on a journey – to develop the first ever automated rebreather for recreational divers.
This was why we were there. About a year from launch Kurt and his team felt they needed to do something about the brand. And after a successful meeting that actually started with me diving [click to continue…]
Right now I’m trying to find the time to finalize a couple of posts hidden among my drafts. However I’ve got a quite tight schedule right now with 4 exiting speaking appearances (and another 4 closed ones) where I’ll be speaking about future communication, social media, branding and creativity the coming 2 weeks.
So, if you wanna tap into my brain before Easter you’re probably better off meeting me in:
Think social media and conversational marketing might be the next train to heaven for your brand but don’t know where to board? Well, here’s three social media marketing models that will make sure you’ll find your station.
If you wanna get moving into the social country of love where conversation rules you’ve gotta get one thing straight. Valuable content is king. Buying a loudspeaker and start tweeting wont get you anywhere. Swedish brands like Comhem and Boxer have effectively proven that just twittering the 140 sign language doesn’t earn you any followers. Every social network will provide you with it’s own possibilities and traps. A well executed strategy is a must or you’ll end up in a minefield.
Here are 3 models by Johan Ronnestam that will guide your brand towards a successful social media strategy.
3 Models That Will Guide You Into The Social Media Landscape
The Social Staircase
The Social Staircase is a model that focus on the overall process. It’s the stuff that pays for your ticket to love.
The Social Tool Matrix
Now you know what kind of presence your business needs. Now it’s time to map the tools to make sure you know what to keep your mouth shut, when to speak and when to listen.
The Social Viral Spiral
This is about speed. Spread that love I’m talking about below. But make sure you do it with finesse and timing. Create a couple of Social Viral Spirals and you’re ready to make out!
I’ve always wanted to write a book. This is NOT it!
So far this year my blog have had more than 115 000 unique visitors and just over 240 000 visits. I’ve written more than 500 blog posts covering everything from design, gadgets, trends, technology, advertising, innovations, personal things, branding and more.
About 28% of the visitors during this last year have ended up reading a post that was tagged with branding. That’s probably not a coincidence since besides trends and creativity I’d say branding is the subject that is the most dearest to me.
When I’ve been looking deeper down into the stats I’ve seen that many of you visitors haven’t really explored my blog beyond the posts on the first page or the actual post you came to read. This is why I thought it made sense to gather them all like this – ‘Top 10 Blog Posts on Future Branding and Communication From Ronnestam.com’- My first book.
A Book, MashUp, PDF or Whatever You Wanna Call It By Johan Ronnestam
Even though this isn’t actually what I would call a book it’s been the perfect opportunity for me to experiment with the production process of a book. I’ve put a big block in my calendar covering January, February and March and if everything goes right I will present my ‘real’book sometime in April or May next year. It will be a book on how to integrate future communication with product and service development. One things for sure – I’m doing it on my own. But for now you have to do with this first book, mashup, pdf or whatever you wanna call it.
4 Ways to get your hands on Top 10 Blog Posts on Future Branding and Communication From Ronnestam.com With Love
1. Buy a signed copy of the printed book – 39€ including shipping world wide.
I’ve printed 150 books in Denmark at Norhaven. Out of those 150 I’m giving 50 signed copies away to the first 50 Twitter retweets of this post (if you live outside Sweden you have to pay for the shipping). If you wanna get your hand on one of the other 100 signed ones you either hope to get one at one of my speaking occasions during 2010 or you contact me to buy one for €39 including shipping costs.
2. Download the PDF for free (pay by linking or tweeting this blog post)
The Mobile Revolution. Have you heard that one before. Well, just when it’s about to happen thanks to the iPhone and the Android OS I’d like to launch a thought about the next revolution – ‘The Revolution of the Screens’.
A couple of month back I got my Amazon Kindle. I blogged about the Microsoft Courier interface earlier this year. Others and me keep buzzing about what the Apple Tablet will be like, if there will ever be one (of course it will). Google launched their Chrome OS just over a week ago. Last week I read that the new Barnes & Noble Nook has sold out for the Holidays this year. And a couple of days ago I blogged about the New York Times Skimmer interface.
The Nook – Barnes & Nobles answer to Amazon Kindle
People and companies keep talking about how we all will move our behavior and communication onto the mobile when in fact my firm belief is that in 2010 we’ll see [click to continue…]
Last week I was contacted by Superbrands. The company that releases a book with the same name. I was asked to write a post on their blog about Branding. I know I’ve got some followers interested in that subject so I’ve decided to post the same article here too. Back in 2000 a flash based [...]
This post is probably most stupid post one can write since CEO’s and board members seems to have decided to stay behind with the dinosaurs while the rest of us look for new ground where we can thrive and prosper. Basically on average they read three local newspapers of their own choice, Wall Street Journal, [...]
We’re fed up with boring old school advertising. We don’t want your information and rational explanations. We wanna dance, laugh, feel and love. We do not want be treated like idiots! James Dean knew how to seduce people while looking pretty darn boring. But face it. He’s dead and would be pretty out of date [...]
The other day I spotted this video showcasing i-TAG augmented reality toys. It’s the result of a cooperation between toy manufacturer Mattel and James Cameron in order to support the launch of the motion picture Avatar coming in fall 2009. These next generation trading cards comes with a 3-D Web tag, called an i-TAG, a [...]
ronnestam.com was voted Sweden’s first blog on Innovation, future trends and digital communication. It’s written by Johan Ronnestam. He's widely regarded as one of Sweden’s leading speakers and authorities in the field of modern creative and conceptual thinking and skill of innovating brands and their communication.
