Testing 1, 2, 3....

THIS IS A TEST OF THE EMERGENCY BROADCAST SYSTEM

Growing up, we heard that droning message while watching TV at various times of the day on every channel. On Saturday mornings, the Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) gave us enough time to get a fresh bowl of cereal half-way through Scooby Doo, a staple of our Saturdays until they introduced Scrappy, he ruined everything.

Although the EBS was an American initiative, we were exposed to it because we watched their TV stations, drank their Kool Aid and marveled at all the neat products that weren't available on this side of the border. As Canadians, we were a casual bystander with enough of a socialist mentality to empathize with the Russians and a strong enough capitalist desire to consider ourselves as best buddies with our friends to the south. But, the sporadic EBS tests reminded us that we weren't entirely safe sitting on the sidelines, we were far from it.

The one minute monotone message could interrupt us at any time and warn us of impending doom which heightened the experience of growing up during the cold war. Scaring the hell out of children, showing kids how to cowl under their desks and general fear mongering was the order of the day. This was emphasized in the neighborhoods with giant air raid sirens casting cold shadows across the school yards.

Looking back, it all seems so silly - after the wall came down in the late 80's and Gorbachev turned out to be an idealistic hippy, the threat quickly dissolved. But the EBS didn't. The EBS soldiered on until 1997 when it was replaced by the Emergency Alert System (EAS). Prior to the EBS there was the CONELRAD system, which Bob Dylan sings the blues about, or rather talks about in one of his songs about world war III.

The EBS expanded to include satellite radio and network news stations. The focus went from a war alert to more of an alert of national interests like natural disasters and terror threats, which has yet to happen. Events like 9/11, the Oklahoma bombing and hurricane Katrina were ignored by the EBS because network news stations scooped the story. And, with the interweb consuming all souls through social media outlets the need for a national alert system comes into question. Everyone in the world knew that Michael Jackson died within 20 minutes of him popping the last pill, with jokes circulating just as quickly... all without any help from the EAS.

Many years ago, you could reach the masses through radio which is why the CONELRAD system was employed, it was later replaced to include TV stations with the EBS for greater reach and then again later with little more reach by the EAS. These days however, internet access is rampant and TV and radio are reaching fewer and fewer numbers. With social media entrenched in amongst the masses, news of world events like the Haiti earthquake spread quickly and with surprising results - people can actually respond and offer aid. Now isn't that a better way to handle crisis than to spew out warnings to a useless and powerless audience?

I guess what I'm saying is that social media is good for more than marketing, which is where most of the emphasis is placed it seems. It's not surprising, it's no different than any other medium when it first arrives on the scene. The invention of any great new media always gets greeted with 'how can we monetize this?' Slapping ads on things is the most creative form of making money for people that don't work in creative.

Getting messages out to the masses is easier than ever, ...if it's big news.

To market something these days, it had better be big news if you want to break through the clutter.

Think about this the next time you are putting a campaign together, ask yourself - would I share this with others? Or, will it just be another innocuous droning message with nothing much to say?

What a Bunch of Tools

In the 20+ years that I've spent in the advertising and marketing field, I have come across a lot of tools.

When I was a buyer, I met with more unprepared sales people than anyone should ever have to. Good sales people are hard to find - if you found one, keep him (or her). A good salesperson knows their tools and how to use them. Arguably, the best tool a salesperson wields is their ears. The ability to listen, and I mean really listen, is the key to making a sale or progress of any kind with a client. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm no sales genius, but I did learn that tip from one of the best - I worked under him (or her) long enough to see the real difference between someone who knows and understands his tools and someone who doesn't. Salespeople that can use this tool effectively are the ones that succeed.

And, like the hoards of unprepared sales people not knowing how to sell, the internet is fraught with tools that don't know how to use the tools. Or, maybe it's just that there is this really great tool and everyone can afford it. But, nobody knows how to properly use it. Actually, let's assume that is the case.

The tool is social media, and it's just that; a tool.

So many people believe that social media is the answer to their marketing problems, that it's the end all and be all of their marketing efforts. To me, I see it as the latest gold rush online - it's free to use, so anyone can do it. It's super easy and people are making millions! MILLIONS!!! If they can make millions just by using this free tool, why can't I use it to sell my crappy brand?

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It's your turn to cash in! Here's a surefire way to social marketing success online, and this is FREE advice folks, so be sure to gobble it up:

Just sign up for a Twitter account, make a Facebook page, post some crappy Youtube videos and tell everyone all about it on your blog. So, here's how you do it:

Twitter: simply follow a bunch, like thousands! - remember it's free - of people on Twitter, and most of them will follow you back. Wasn't that easy. Now you have a bunch of people following you. Now, you type your 140 words about your product and the legions of followers will soon be instantly mesmerized by your brand's offering. Told ya, it's simple.

Facebook: go into your Facebook account and click, Create Page. Answer all the fields, upload your logo and you're set. Now just sit back and watch the millions of people on Facebook become fans of your page. You know how easy that is? They are all tuned into your brand's offering now. All it takes is one person to tell another person and the rest is money in the bank - that's how social media works.

Youtube: put a tripod in the chair across from your desk, or if you don't have a tripod, use a stack of hard cover books. Mount a consumer grade camera ontop of the tripod or novels and start rambling about your brand. When you are done, post it onto Youtube, do you know how many people are on there? There's millions, and your crappy one take, poorly lit, barely audible, unprepared ramble about what nobody is interested in will surely make the Featured Videos list.

Blog: you can't go through all that effort the past 30 minutes in setting up your social marketing campain without telling people about it... why not the 3 people who read your blog each week? Posting your weak efforts onto other social marketing spaces so people will check out your other social marketing efforts is retarded. As you type Pubish Post, remember, what you are doing is filling the internet up with more useful information about your brand - you are helping millions (potentially).

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Wasn't that easy? Everyone should be doing this... oh, right: They are.

I've met so many 'social media marketing experts' in the last 6 months, that I cringe when I hear that phrase now. It's rediculous. Now, I'm sure there are some real experts in the field - in fact, I know one quite well and believe me, the years of marketing behind her make her the expert - not the tool.

Social media is just a tool, the same way a hammer is a tool. Thing is, I own a hammer, but I don't profess to be an expert framer. Brands have got to remember, social media is nothing more than a marketing tool. And, some tools are just best left for the trades to use.

What most brands don't get, is that you need to have a marketing plan, a strategy, the playbook for where you want to end up at the end of the game. I may have broken the analogy record here, but a quarterback doesn't keep going to the running play (unless it's NFL) over and over again - a number of tools must be used to tell your brand story and to communicate your offering.

Social media is not the end all and be all... it's just a tool.