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The Hub in Education

June 14, 2010 by Rob Waldeck · View Comments 

The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) has published the New England Journal of Higher Education (NEJHE) for more than 25 years – and we have had the pleasure of being their design and production partner for over a decade and a half. For reasons both strategic and economic, it was time for NEBHE to elevate their online offering and bring the robust content of their well-regarded Journal to the digital space. For the past few months we’ve worked closely with them on this endeavor and we’re delighted to celebrate the launching of their new site, NEBHE.org.

We are particularly proud of this effort because NEBHE hasn’t just redesigned their website ­– they’ve created a Content Hub. They’ve embraced the notion that it is not enough to simply create content on their website for others to find; they’ve made the strategic decision to elevate the new NEBHE site as a center for the distribution and discussion of the most relevant and compelling commentary, analysis, news, data, and conversation about higher education in New England.

In the past we’ve posted lots on how to build a Content Hub, including “Ten Steps to Build a Basic Content Hub” and “The Plumbing of Social Marketing.” But beyond the technical, what does a Content Hub mean for NEBHE?

The good news is that NEBHE is a content-creating machine. After all, they’ve produced dozens of pages of content each quarter for more than 25 years. But creating a Content Hub isn’t as simple as posting the Journal content to the site. Here are the biggest of the challenges we faced:

1) Articulating a content strategy. The magazine delivered a certain kind of content each quarter that was appropriate for that medium and frequency. In the new medium we needed to determine what of that we would keep, what needed to go away, and what new could be added. Ultimately we needed to identify what NEBHE’s target audience wants to read about, what content NEBHE is qualified to deliver, and what content best serves NEBHE’s mission.

2) Elevating the content. NEBHE is an active non-profit with a number of substantial initiatives and hundreds of existing web pages. Bringing the Journal to the web led to two questions: one, how best to integrate the Journal content and weight it with/against the existing site content, and two, how to logically structure and present the various content types within the Journal.

3) Enabling participation. Producing a quarterly print publication requires one set of processes. Redirecting those efforts to continue to produce long-form content, while adding responsibility for curating the most relevant content of others, offering daily perspective on breaking news and events, and reaching out to contribute to the conversation in the online space requires substantial realignment, new processes, and a little training.

We worked through these challenges and a few others too. And we are proud of what NEBHE has accomplished. So visit the NEBHE site. Or grab their feed. Or follow them on twitter.  We hope you’ll take a look and let us know what you think.

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The Tweetwashing Agency Dilemma

May 26, 2010 by Mike Troiano · View Comments 

“Greenwashing” is how cynics try to capitalize on the public’s growing predisposition to conservation and renewable energy. It’s a bit of flim-flam to make a product seem environmentally responsible, when it really isn’t.

It’s a lose, lose, lose proposition. First, some people are inevitably duped into believing that BP loves animals / trash bags can be biodegradable / coal can be “clean” – all to the benefit of charlatans and scoundrels. Second, the environment suffers despite the best efforts of downstream buyers to express their will in supporting it. Third, opportunity costs build up on two fronts: Buyers become cynical and indifferent, and sellers fail to invest in technology that would render their products more sustainable versus the competition.

The same thing is starting to happen in social marketing. Prospective clients are asking about whether they can “outsource Twitter and Facebook” to us, meaning will we put some underpaid 22-year-old on TweetDeck and ask her to “@” anyone with the poor judgment to tweet that his girlfriend dumped him while coolly sipping a cold can of BrandX.

Why do they want this? Certainly not because it’s effective in building relationships, in driving incremental sales. They want it because access to such a resource would enable them to plaster Twitter and Facebook chicklets all over their web site (which almost never allows comments because “the legal folks won’t let us”).

Call it “Tweetwashing.” A shallow and gimmicky handle for a shallow and gimmicky practice.

Is that the promise of social media? Will it become just another channel for back-slapping bullshit?

For me, the dilemma is this: I don’t believe social media can be an effective branding or promotional medium if it’s not embraced – authentically – by real people from inside brands that want to engage with the truth. I just don’t believe it can be applied as some kind of glossy outer coating by an agency partner, or any third party, and be truly effective over the long haul.

But that seems to be what clients want. They aren’t focused on the opportunities presented by social media. They seem to want to make the social media problem go away, as cost effectively as possible.

So what should we do? What do you do?

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Filed under Driving Engagement, Getting to Imperative · Tagged with , , , , , , ,

The Real-Time Web Is So 5 Minutes Ago

May 25, 2010 by Mike Troiano · View Comments 

Twitter’s mind-bending growth pretty much made 2009 the year of the “real-time web.” ReadWriteWeb seems to have launched the meme in May. BusinessWeek was on board by August, and by December Pete Cashmore was calling it a trend to watch on CNN.

So what is it? According to Wikipedia:

The real-time web is a set of technologies and practices which enable users to receive information as soon as it is published by its authors, rather than requiring that they or their software check a source periodically for updates.

It’s pretty much the stuff on the web that reflects what’s happening right now. Think conversation vs. voicemail. IM vs. e-mail. SNL vs. 30Rock.

The fascination with all things now is a renaissance more than a discovery. It used to be that all we had was “real-time” (or, as it was known back then, “time”). The invention of media gave us the ability to time-shift certain experiences: to capture moments in words, then pictures, then audio, on film, and now in wholly immersive 3-D experiences.

When the Web was born we thought about it as a means to access the world’s knowledge – like a great oaken library packed with information and dusty owls. Today it often feels more like a bustling student union: a cacophony of content, conversation, and commerce where each participant clamors for more attention than they’re willing to provide themselves.

While I’m glad to have the real-time web today, I’m equally glad the frenzy to celebrate it appears to have reached its apex. In most cases there’s just more value in reflection than there is in instantaneous response. While it’s sometimes interesting to know where your friend from high school had lunch, it’s often more useful to stumble across a really thoughtful restaurant review, or even a great recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble.

In a way the real-time web marks the integration point of the Internet with our real lives. Now that we’re there, I hope we can all just get on with the business of trying to contribute something of value to one another.

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How To Get Started On Twitter

May 14, 2010 by Mike Troiano · View Comments 

Had lunch with a marketing exec today. Senior guy, lots of questions about Twitter, but hadn’t had a chance to get into it yet. I put together a “Ten Step” type note for him, and thought I’d share it in hopes of helping other senior marketing folks get started.

Anyhoo…

  1. Get into the right frame of mind. Read this. I wrote it a while ago, but it was (and is) my best attempt to explain to people why Twitter is worth the effort. I’d also recommend you take a look at this, and this, from the people who taught me about Twitter. Ready? Good.
  2. Create An Account. Go here. Enter your real info, and pick a username people can both remember and spell easily. You can skip the “suggestions,” but definitely look for your “friends.” If you use Outlook I’d strongly suggest exporting your contacts to a GMail account so you can check for them in the system, but if that freaks you out just skip it. If there are specific people you’d like to add you can do so in the “anyone” screen, but you can always do that later as well.
  3. Confirm your account. Check your e-mail for a note from Twitter, and click the link to confirm your e-mail.
  4. Personalize your account. You wouldn’t go to a cocktail party with a bag on your head, would you? For God’s sake… Click “settings” in the upper right, then “profile.” Upload a picture of yourself. Nothing too formal, but a head shot you can live with. Add your location, your site or blog, and a 2- or 3-line bio. If you’d like to spruce your page up a bit, click here, then click the “login to twitter” button, and “Allow” when the Auth confirmation screen appears next.
  5. Follow some smart people and news sources. I created a Twitter List of good accounts to start with. Just go here, and follow it.
  6. Find and follow some other stuff you’re interested in. You a Patriot fan? Have a favorite celebrity chef? NASCAR driver? Politician? Celebrity? Go here, and find some folks to follow. Odds are they’re already here, and getting a little closer to them can be cool.
  7. Get Tweetdeck. Twitter on the web is for dorks. Seriously, dude. Download and install Tweetdeck. It’s awesome. It will help you use Twitter as a tool, you can even feed your LinkedIn and Facebook feeds into it if you have accounts there.
  8. Add a few search columns in Tweetdeck, to track whatever you’re interested in. Follow the people you like, unfollow the people you don’t.
  9. Reply to a few people, or just retweet them. Figure out how to reply to a tweet you like (just roll over an icon in Tweetdeck, and click the back arrow. That will create a tweet with that person’s name preceded by an “@” sign. That tweet will appear in their replies list, and they’re likely to see it.) Huzzah. Retweeting is similar… just use the forward arrow. This sends the tweet through your account, a way of amplifying stuff you like, so it’s easy for more people to find. It’s a good thing for the community, kind of a service we do for each other. Welcome.
  10. Start tweeting yourself. Now you’re ready. What do you have to say? What’s the most interesting thing you came across today? What were you thinking about in the car just now? Just react to the world around you. Be sincere, be genuine. Contribute.

That’s it. Give it a whirl. Let me know how it goes.

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A New Notch in the Beer Market

April 23, 2010 by Mike Troiano · View Comments 

Chris Lohring is, in the local parlance, “a wicked cool kid.” A longtime consumer brand guy and FOH-M, Chris was also a co-founder of Tremont Brewery, and is a beer snob like many of us at the agency.

A few months back he and Chris Colbert were having a conversation about a category Chris L. felt was about to take off in America, the category of session beers.

Session beers are so named because they’re built for a session at the local pub. Low alcohol but full flavored, they’re the one beer to have when you’re having more than two. Quoting Martyn Cornell’s great Zythophile blog:

“I love session beers. I love the way they make a good evening down the pub with friends even better. What makes a good session beer is a combination of restraint, satisfaction and ‘moreishness.’ Like the ideal companions around a pub table, a great session beer will not dominate the occasion and demand attention; at the same time its contribution, while never obtrusive, will be welcome, satisfying and pleasurable; and yet, though each glass satisfies, like each story in the night’s long craic, the best session beers will still leave you wishing for one more pint, to carry on the pleasure.”

Brewing a good session beer is tricky, because getting just the right balance of alcohol and flavor requires some vigilance over the brewing process, and a practiced hand at the barrel. Chris Lohring – having two such hands – came to us with his vision for the first great American session ale, and the product of his labors in a pair of re-used but properly chilled dark quart bottles. He asked our help in building the brand around “the liquid.” We signed up on the spot.

After assembling a message model in record time, including a One Simple Thing™ that was pretty straightforward (“Session”), we kicked around some brand names before finding one that said everything we needed to say: “Notch.” From there we worked up some creative treatments for the mark, then labels, then a web front-end, etc., all culminating in the brand identity you see at right.

Meanwhile, Chris focused on perfecting the recipe and timing for Notch, and on securing the right production and distribution partners. He worked the content marketing channels on his blog, Twitter, and Facebook, telling the stories of both session beer and the birth of Notch. Together we chose Boston’s SlowFest as the perfect venue to bring our creation to the public, and tonight is the big night.

Every client is special, and every project has something in it that you can bring a little bit of yourself to. But, speaking for the whole agency, Notch feels like our baby almost as much as it’s our good friend Chris Lohring’s. Bringing his vision to life and to the world has been a real privilege and a lot of fun for all of us, and we wish him and this brilliantly crafted tipple the win they so richly deserve.

Please join us to celebrate tonight with an ice cold Notch at the SlowFest VIP event…

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Scalable Intimacy in Politics

March 31, 2010 by Mike Troiano · View Comments 

I live in Sudbury, a dreamy little hamlet about 20 miles west of Boston. It’s very nice; we like it a lot.

Sudbury has the highest concentration of households with school-aged children of any town in Massachusetts, which makes for a very family-oriented town, and also puts a lot of focus on the quality of our schools. Each year the town sets a budget and struggles to live within it – like most towns, families, and people I know. When it can’t, the Town Fathers propose an “override,” meaning a right to raise taxes to cover expenses of the town over and above those that were budgeted.

Each year the proponents of this tax use the same slogan for this override: “Support Sudbury!” Each year they say that to maintain our first-class schools, fire, and police, we need to reach into our pockets and give a little more for the team.

Since 1999 the good people of Sudbury have “Supported Sudbury,” and this well-intended philanthropy has led to a series of challenges for the town well documented in this video highlighting some rather daunting facts and figures.

Anyhoo… I’ve had just about enough of this. And I met a like-minded denizen of the town, Bob Haarde, who’d decided to run for Selectman, and do something about it.

I met Bob for dinner at the local hangout, and we talked about how I might be able to help his campaign through the addition of a social marketing program. I offered to help, but told Bob that in the end, the program would succeed or fail not based on my talents, but based on his willingness to contribute substantive content to the channel, and to engage with the people drawn to that content. I agreed to get him started, and he agreed to create and post three pieces of original content to the system in the next 72 hours. This was important since time was short… the election was a week and a half away.

That night at my kitchen table I created and customized accounts for him on Posterous and Twitter, connecting them to each other and to a Facebook Fan Page I created from within Bob’s own Facebook account.  I took the Posterous e-mail and sent it to him, with instructions to publish whatever he wanted to share with voters, described in a casual and personal way, along with whatever anecdotes he cared to share about the journey of a regular guy into his first elective office.

He began to do so, and after he’d added three or four posts I began following our fellow Sudbury-ites on Twitter, and sharing the page with my own local friends on Facebook. By the election this week – 10 days after they launched – we’d amassed 25 Twitter followers and 60 Facebook fans, collectively connected to hundreds more. The Posterous entries were being published to both channels, and being viewed natively between 50 and 100 times.

Bob Haarde is now Sudbury’s newest Selectman. He has the seeds of a coalition to deliver on his campaign promise (“Cut waste, not teachers.”), and a direct and ready channel to the network of local voters that got him elected.

And he won by 36 votes.

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