As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Image courtesy Images By Tracey – OFF & ON Flickr

I recently listened to Matrix Group CEO Joana Pineda’s webinar “Integrating Social Networking Into Your Traditional Marketing Campaigns,” which covered some of the major social media tools and how they can be used to complement and extend traditional marketing activities.

There is a place for traditional marketing such as advertising, direct mail, email, newsletters, and press releases. However, social media tools such as Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube offer an inexpensive way to exponentially extend your reach by leveraging the social networks of your staff, members, and friends. As Pineda shared with us, the top 10 social networks are reaching close to 50% of all active web users according to Nielsen/Net Ratings—so not being active in those spaces is certainly a missed opportunity!

One of the examples given involved marketing a conference, which is traditionally done with direct marketing, emails, press releases, and a website. A social media strategy that includes a conference blog, tweets during the sessions, pre- and/or post-conference discussions by speakers on your Facebook fan page, and photos and video from the event on your Flickr account and YouTube channel can easily and inexpensively extend awareness of your conference far beyond your organization’s mailing list. If you ask your leadership, staff, and conference speakers to post information about the conference on their Facebook pages, LinkedIn profiles and groups, blogs, and other tools, you extend your reach that much further.

Upcoming webinars in the series include Tips & Techniques for Managing Your Social Networking So It’s Not a Time Suck (Nov. 11), Understanding the Art of Tweeting (Dec. 2), and Measuring the Return on Investment of Social Media for Business (Dec. 16). See the Matrix Group International, Inc. website for details.

Photo courtesy jam343

The problem with communication … is the illusion that it has been accomplished.

George Bernard Shaw

Image courtesy stevesanterre

The cell phone has changed the way we communicate and in doing so has become an indispensible part of our lives. We rely on it for most of our communication needs: email, text messages, scheduling, family photos, Twitter and Facebook updates and of course, phone calls. We naturally want to keep such an important tool close at hand as the thought of not being in constant communication is unfathomable. So many of us attach our cell phone to our belt and keep it right on our hip. Despite its obvious miscue as a fashion statement, it’s convenient and secure. It shows the world you are technologically savvy. However, like all good things, it must be done in moderation.

An October 26, 2009 U.S. News & World Report article, “Cell Phone May Reduce Bone Density in Hips,” reports that excessive wearing of the cell phone on your hip may have consequences.  Based on research from Turkey, the bone density of the pelvis was reduced due to excessive exposure to the electromagnetic field emitted by the cell phone. The research was conducted on young men who constantly wore their cell phone on their belt for an average of six years. Keep in mind, the subjects had older generation cell phones which operated on a lower frequency. With the introduction of 3G and 4G networks, today’s higher frequency phones emit even more energy.  The industry will no doubt address this issue with design improvements or safer carrying cases to reduce exposure.

At Mind & Media, we use communication to affect change but sometimes it is necessary to affect change in the way we use the communication tools. Who knows, a lead-lined fanny pack may come into vogue. But until then keep your cell phone away from your body as much as possible. Or alternate the position of your belt clip frequently.

Image courtesy Amarand Agasi

While the entertainment corporations flop around trying to make money from social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and blogs, I’m pleased that some governments and educational institutions are using social media platforms for that mundane but important purpose of informing. Bethesda, MD schools are replacing notes that go home in student’s backpacks with tweets and blog posts about a variety of school functions. Updates on expansion plans and reminders about important events get disseminated to parents and community members. What I love about this use of social media is that it pushes necessary information to people who need it—who can review it on their own timetable. Subscribe to a Twitter feed or RSS feed and you can get and review the information you need on your time. Also, as the parent of a two-year old, I like the idea of its permanence. The research I will be doing on a school or a school system will be much more thorough if it includes tweet and blog posts.  The more information schools and governments provide, the better prepared the public can be.

Image courtesy Sean McColgan

Over the 8+ years I’ve been with Mind & Media, we’ve been webcasting and putting video online for nonprofits with much greater frequency than we ever have for the Federal Government even though we do much more work for the latter. But the tide has indeed turned. Recently five different federal agencies have contracted with us to produce videos for different uses.

My November issue of Streaming Media Magazine features an article, “The Government Video Boom”. So it’s not just us seeing that explosion, eh? In the story author Bill Greenwood tries to explain why the boom is happening now, but I don’t think you have to look any further than the new administration. When the White House is both promoting videos front and center on whitehouse.gov and also maintaining a YouTube channel the rest of the Federal Government won’t be far behind. Roll tape! But on what? And for what?

Our four new projects include:

• Using video to promote, and train staff on, new software
• Incorporating video into emotional presentations that are replacing static print documents
• Producing a recruiting video to be distributed via conference give-away
• Producing several videos, specifically for the public Internet (with a goal to get a video featured on whitehouse.gov).

They’re all excellent projects, and not necessarily because they employ video. It’s because they’re employing video in ways that take advantage of that specific medium and what it offers over others.

Many advances in technology, combined with plunging costs, have certainly made video an attractive option for many communications campaigns. But is it always the best way to go? Other mediums have gotten better and cheaper, too. If you need to get a message out, you have at your disposal avenues like: podcasting, screencasting, tweeting, slide sharing, and even email (how archaic!). All of those can be more cheaply and quickly produced compared to video. So why use video? Here are three reasons.

1. Authority: Use video so I can see the Secretary of agency X deliver news so it has credibility. That’s easy.
2. Demonstration: They are moving pictures after all, right? Video is a great choice to show how to do something. Or how something changes.
3. Story: This one is the biggie. With sound, image, pace and movement, video is great for capturing emotion, personality, and humanity—all of those elements that come in handy when you need to persuade or change perception. To change things.

That’s why we get hired. Not to make a video, but instead to educate, recruit, persuade, support, and ultimately to affect positive change.