Do you constantly have topics you need to teach your employees? How do you do it? With Powerpoint presentations, long printouts, or activities? Or do you send them to classes or conferences to let others teach them?

Do you know what type of learning styles they prefer? Sensory, visual, active, sequential, intuitive, verbal, reflective, or global?

To keep people’s attention—you have to be interesting and innovative!

Teens and adults can only concentrate on one thing for 20 minutes. Thinking outside the box can really make a difference when you are trying to teach.

What can you do about it?

Try different ways of teaching and even offer prizes:

• Set up teams to get a little competition going
• Create activities that allow everyone to participate and have fun
• Offer gifts to those who score high on a knowledge quiz at the end

Quizzes at the end of sessions will ensure that they are hearing and learning what you are saying.

What am I going to try next?

For my next QA and QC lesson, I’m going to:

1. Teach about the topic for 20 minutes
2. Make a team activity for 20 minutes with something like legos or k’nex where teams can compete
3. Wrap up: Quiz with a surprise gift

What works for you?

Engaging work, fun teammates, unique benefits, nap-time pods, free child care, free lunch, or fooze ball and Xboxes for playtime?

From Google to smaller companies like Flightpath it is extremely important to make employees want to stay. Companies need to be creative and unique with programs and benefits—stand out! Losing a valuable employee can be very damaging to a company.  

Google has done an amazing job at standing out against the crowd! It offers free food, nap time, employee fun rooms, gyms, and more!

But…….most companies aren’t Google…so what can you do if you are a small company?

Ideas for standing out against the crowd!

Do you create other interesting programs to participate in? We have our very own book club! Every so often we purchase books for employees who want to participate, we read it separately and then gather to voice our opinions and share it. It helps keep your employees minds active on something positive and lets you see how creative they are.

Do you have regular presentations from different employees or experts on relevant topics to the company? It’ll help show you what your employees are thinking about and learning or help inspire them to learn about new content and the latest trends.

Do you have employee of the month programs? Or rewards for those who go above and beyond on a regular basis?

Do your employees participate in a small non-profit? Can you offer up the conference room after hours for them to meet? Can you support them occasionally? You’ll be giving back and creating employee loyalty.

What’s most important though?

What do your employees really care about? Money? or Spouses, children, and pets!?  According to me, people care about their loved ones whether it’s their wife/husband, children, or furkids. Benefits catering to family and pets can be truly rewarding and make you stand out.

Consider offering maternity/paternity leave for your employees. Make insurance policies affordable for spouses. Try something unique like offering pet insurance.

A few other unique ideas could be creating a benefit that allows a few days off when purchasing a home or buying  plane tickets in the event of true family emergencies.

Consider the alternative, would you rather keep an employee long term or spend the same funds into knowledge transfers, training new people, and calming angry clients.

 

 

“It’s all about the economy, stupid.  No, it’s all about a people-driven economy, stupid.”  This statement is incredibly powerful and was the opening and closing statement of Eric Qualman’s book, Socialnomics.  In it, Qualman explores how we, the consumers, are finally given the power we deserve to expose the best companies from the worst.  No longer can these corporate giants hide behind closed doors as we have to put up with bad service, products, and experiences.  Our voice is heard through the crowd, and they know it, as we are now influencers, brand ambassadors and ultimately their bread and butter.  Companies now have the responsibility to share ownership of their brands with their consumers, or be left with bad reputations that will ultimately close their business. 

Socialnomics is a walkthrough of the last 10 years or so, which is respectively the entire social media age.  If Gary Vaynerchuk’s book, Crush It is the intro to social, then Socialnomics is the text book for the advanced social guru.  There are so many examples from the copyright infringement episode of the music industry to the adoption of widespread internet TV.  Traditional advertising will be phased out into incentives on social channels.   I have experienced this phasing with the news as I no longer look for it, it comes to me.  Many of the concepts explained in this book I have been stressing since the start of my own journey through this ever changing, dynamic social environment.

I highly recommend reading this book as it has been an eye-opener into the complexities of the Social Media space.  It will give you a clearer understanding of how and why we should be embracing the social space and what’s to come.  In chapter 5, Qualman talks about how the social influence of your friends directly impacts the decisions you make as a consumer.  This illustrates that you are more influenced by friends through social mediums than by how Google ranks brands and products in search results.  Word of mouth grows to World of Mouth and creates a collective intelligence that will benefit mankind—and marketers—for years to come.  

The New York Times published an article this week detailing the new social media marketing partnership developed between General Mills, and the immensely popular Facebook game, FarmVille, created by the Zynga Game Network.

The agreement between Zynga Game Network and Cascadian Farm, a General Mills subsidiary, allows users to plant an actual Cascadian Farms product – organic blueberries. The aim of the in-game crop branding is to increase awareness, as well as educate consumers about the benefits of switching to organic produce.

Cascadian Farm’s integration into FarmVille represents a unique step forward in both social media marketing and in-game advertising. The majority of social games have incorporated ads that takeover the entire game, or are custom games designed for the brand itself. In this situation, Cascadian Farm is opting for a more subtle approach, and is simply sponsoring a single crop within FarmVille. By becoming part of the game, rather than take over the game, they avoid harassing players with excessive advertising. They give the user the choice to “opt-in” on their own, and choose to plant their branded crops.

Users who choose to plant the Cascadian Farm Organic Blueberries will be rewarded with shorter harvest times and larger cash returns. By adding extra value to the crop, players have an extra incentive to plant the blueberries. This is a savvy marketing move on behalf of FarmVille. Adding the extra value to the crop increases the likelihood of a user planting it, this, in turn, increases Cascadian Farm brand name awareness.

Will the FarmVille product placement generate brand awareness for Cascadian Farm? I think so, but only because there is an extra incentive for users to choose to plant the Organic Blueberries. Can Cascadian Farm educate users about the benefits of choosing organic products? Potentially, but I don’t have high hopes for this effort. Users don’t want to be directed to another website while playing FarmVille; they want to focus on their crops, not leave and go elsewhere.

The partnership between Zynga and General Mills is reminiscent of deals negotiated in the mid 2000’s, when the virtual world of Second Life was at the height of its popularity.  Many real-world corporations couldn’t establish an in-game presence fast enough. Second Life, like FarmVille, allows users to play for free, but encourages citizens to purchase the in-world currency to enhance their ‘second lives’ by purchasing in-game items.

However, while brands like Adidas, Coca-Cola, and AOL were clamoring to be first to open a store or sell products to Second Life residents, the citizens of the virtual world weren’t all that enthusiastic about being treated as ATM machines.  They were less than enthused by the new corporate invaders. Pay a visit to many of the real world corporate presences in Second Life today and you’ll more than likely find an entirely new and unrelated building, or more commonly, vacant land.  Ruins of a failed brand experiment deleted long ago.

Perhaps the most important question in the Zynga and General Mills scenario is whether or not the brand awareness generated through this in-game advertising will translate to actual revenue for Cascadian Farm? While I do approve of the method, I don’t envision much success at the cash registers. FarmVille users are logging in for an escape; to tend their crops and have fun online. They’re not coming to learn about organic produce and green living. Besides, who’s to say that the grocery shoppers in the household are even logging on to FarmVille in the first place?

Because of the added incentives offered to the user for choosing Cascadian Farm’s Organic Blueberries, I think that Cascadian Farm’s foray into branded content within FarmVille has the potential to succeed at increasing brand awareness.  However, I don’t think that this integration will generate increased real-world sales and revenue.  There’s simply not enough to motivate the user to actually purchase the product in the stores. 

I read an insightful New York Times article by Stephanie Clifford titled "High Fashion Relents to Web’s Pull" offering commentary on the sudden influx of luxury brands launching ecommerce stores.  She notes the dominant reason for the increase being, as most would expect, due to failures in the economy; people just aren't buying  $1,600 t-shirts in bulk anymore. And when brands like Balmain make them, they are often criticized for it.

So what happens to that $1,600 t-shirt after months on the market and only a few have moved? They get heavily discounted and put up for sale on department store websites, like Saks.com and NeimanMarcus.com. Or they get sold to independent online luxury retailers like net-a-porter.com and discounted some more.

Well, based on trends, it looks as though luxury brands have had enough. As per Clifford's article, designers are moving rapidly in the direction of launching their own web storefronts where they can:

• Take back control of their image, and more importantly –  take back control of pricing
• Repair (or attempt to repair) any damage to their image that may have accrued over the years by the association of "discount" in connection to their names
• Tailor the online experience to reflect more directly with the brand’s aesthetic

What took so long? Luxury titans like Marc Jacobs are just now in the process of launching online stores, with Jacobs' ecommerce site scheduled for release in September. And more importantly, how does this affect what I call their "designer websites", which display their artistry and typically has:

• All flash everything (which usually mimics and supports the designer's overall vision)
• Zero consideration for non-broadband visitors (probably because if you don’t have broadband, you probably can’t afford their product anyway)
• In-your-face HD videos of the most recent fashion shows
• Unnecessarily complicated, but really cool navigation
• Some form of annoying background audio

See the current marcjacobs.com, versace.com and the stunning johngalliano.com if you want proof.

So what’s going to happen to these designer websites if their purpose is to expand from just being a continuation of the brand to offering a user friendly checkout experience?  Opening a skinned HTML/CSS ecommerce store in a new window isn’t what I’d call "designer." And, at least for now, an entirely flash retail site isn’t going to do very much in Search Engine Optimizing your storefront either. It also makes it difficult to update frequently and quickly like the recently launched online accessory retail catalog for Balenciaga (based in flash).

I'm looking to the near future for that luxury brand with:

1. A sexy site
2. User friendly ecommerce
3. Product pages optimized for search

 If you know of any, comment and let me know.  Not that I'll buy anything.

For the last year or two, we’ve had an interesting book club at Flightpath.  Every couple of months, we choose a book, order copies for whoever’s interested in reading it, then get together over lunch for a spirited discussion.

This time out (on my recommendation) we read Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion by Social Media personality Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee).  While one staffer said the writing was at a fourth grade level and Gary could come off as a tool, the general consensus was that it worthwhile reading.

Even though I’ve kicking around digital marketing since the mid-nineties, I found Gary’s straightforward ideas around choosing platforms – from Wordpress to Facebook to UStream – to be thoughtful, to-the-point and informative.  I also agreed with the premise that social media success requires commitment and hustle and took to heart the concept that real triumph is predicated upon truly engaging with a broad community of bloggers, tweeters, etc.

Much of the Flightpath team discussion revolved around the concepts of passion and authenticity (agreeing with Gary’s thesis that if you’re passionate about what you’re talking about, authenticity will shine through).  We added a third attribute to the pyramid – knowledge – arguing that together, these three traits make for a compelling online (and real-life) presence.

Recommended for anyone interested in growing the influence of a blog, video blogging or social media in general.   A quick, quality read.  If you have future book club recommendations, feel free to leave them in the comments.

I attended the OMMA Social Conference yesterday and got educated by of one of the biggest and most influential brands in the world, PepsiCo.  PepsiCo’s presentation by Bonin Bough, Director of Social Media and Digital, was the best, in my opinion.  I love the entire premise of what the “Refresh” campaign stands for: the chance to make the right choice.  This re-education of how businesses must act and react to customers is revolutionary.  A people-driven economy with an open social graph enables real engagement for the brands we have an affinity for. For instance I love SONY, Sprint, Burton, Pepsi, Ben Sherman and Zoo York and would welcome the opportunity to get closer to them to get better deals, give my feedback, and feel like I’m a part of their world.

There was also a ton of conversations around Paid vs. Earned Media.  I don’t have much experience around paid media, but I love the idea that I can create my own earned media.  Earned media, or free media, is favorable publicity gained through promotional efforts other than advertising.   We all have the tools to make an amazing brand, as Gary Vaynerchuk shows us in Crush It. Traditional marketing like billboards and magazine ads don’t cut in a conversational social world, they just broadcast their message instead of engaging us in it.  Consumers are so accustomed to their old school marketing techniques they have adapted and learned to ignore it.  This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” - Albert Einstein.  As we are continually presented with new technologies, new ways of thinking, and new ways, socially, to do business we must embrace it in order to move forward. 

Lastly, I wanted to highlight the “Whuffie Factor,” or internet currency.  There are many new ways in which incentives are being used for Social Advertising.  Users should be able to decide who they want advertising to them. For example, users will be able to get more “seeds” for Farmville by watching a video advertisement of their choosing.  This example, in essence, is targeted marketing with social in its DNA. Whuffie will present more socially driven opportunities for advertisers in the future - if they put both their users and their user’s ability to choose first in the equation. 

Overall, it was a great conference and I would attend more like it to keep on learning. 

 

 

Yesterday was the latest installment of our ongoing NYSMRT (New York Social Media Round Table) events held at The Center in Chelsea. The topic was Social Media & Pets, and we gathered a group of panelists and asked them to share their knowledge and secrets for success using social media. Panelists included:

Kimberly Miller VP, Consumer Marketing People Pets @PEOPLEPets	Kristyn Pomranz Editor I Can Has Cheezburger @ICHCheezburger
Jason Scott The Most Famous Cat Owner on Twitter @SOCKINGTON @textfiles	Jane Harrell Associate Producer, Petfinder.com Discovery Digital Media @petfinder

The event kicked off when moderator Cliff Medney asked the panelists about the rewards of putting all this time and energy into social media. The consensus was not that social media becomes the biggest revenue driver, but rather, that social media has enabled our panelists and their organizations to help animals on a large scale. Finding adoptable pets caring and loving homes is at the top of the list of priorities for all of our panelists and their respective and interconnected communities. And using social media helps achieve that goal at a much faster rate—evidenced by Petfinder’s amazing to-date adoption rate of over 15 million pets. That is, universally among the pet-based social media community, something to tweet about. At Flightpath, we’re also passionate about pet adoptions and took a cue from Petfinder’s 10 Simple Ways to Use Social Media to Help Homeless Pets. Watch our version of #7—take a video of your adopted pet and post it to YouTube with a shout out to the rescue where you found him.

The discussion moved forward onto the ever-intimidating topic of content. Panelists shared their strategies and experiences in developing content that really resonates with an audience of pet people. One question on everyone’s mind seemed to be how a seemingly silly website like, I Can Has Cheezburger, catapults its way to an extreme level of internet popularity. Kristyn Pomranz addressed this question with a simple and pithy response about the nature of life and times on the web. “The internet is a dark place where people say angry things, but bringing pets into it helps cheer things up.” She went on to discuss content that inspires joy and happiness and how easily and naturally that spreads from person to person and, in turn, grows a strong community.

Jane Harrell of Petfinder addressed the power of community contribution and attributed a large part of their site’s popularity to user-generated content. She said that original stories submitted by pet owners, hard-luck tales about pets, and wonder-dog makeovers are some of the most popular and engaging kinds of content. At the end of the panel, she also revealed the importance of timing. Last year at Easter, a charming story about a disabled bunny appeared on Petfinder and went viral faster than you could say, “hop.” So there are some tricks to the trade after all.

Jason Scott divulged his theories on the popularity of @Sockington on Twitter and explained why he’s more of an outlier than the status quo. He appeared on Twitter in the early days of 2007 and, since then, has been growing his large base of followers. The growth has really been exponential, and Jason explained how he first became aware of this after the @Sockington Twitter feed made an unplanned appearance at a conference Jason was speaking at. Then, he only had 25 followers, but one mention in a crowded room quickly grew that base to over 300 followers. The effect has been continual, and now, Sockington has over 1.5 million followers. Finding your company, business, or brand the right “crowded room” just might be the beginning of the growth you seek.

Kim Miller also addressed using and appropriating Twitter and brought to the panel a perspective of maintaining an established brand’s standards and identity in the medium. People Pets has over a million followers but only follows around 1,100 others. For them, following someone has to be worth it, and she told the audience that tweets have to provide some kind of value to be of true interest to People Pets. Creating engaging, content-rich tweets is difficult in just 140 characters, but that is the best way for anyone—large brand, small business, individual—to build up a base of followers and be successful on Twitter.

The event had a lively Twitter conversation going at the #NYSMRT hashtag and a live Ustream video broadcast direct from the event. You can watch the archived Ustream video here, http://su.pr/1D91X2. Thanks again to our panelists and audience members for making this such a positive event. See you next time!