Social Media Trends for 2011

As we approach 2011, we will see new trends for taking advantage of social media to connect, brand and influence. Enormous growth of third party applications have taken advantage of the new commerce infrastructure and community built by facebook.

Companies with simple ideas such as Zynga (games) and Groupon (coupons) have grown up so quickly they have become billion dollar enterprises almost overnight. They help to magnify the value of central place in which facebook has become in our lives. What does that mean for you personally and for your busines venture.

My belief it is a time to pause, think, reevaluate if you currently are in business. If you are in a startup mode, the word which we might "borrow" from wall street is "leverage". How can you leverage the multi-billion dollar facebook infrastructure and new emerging ones which Bill Gates alway s worried may be created in someone's garage.

Let's distill some of the value of Facebook, social networks and communications in 2011to some areas which will be valuable for you to consider.

1) Micro-targeting - Utilizing advertising on Facebook to target very select groups of audience based upon their interests, hometown, college, company, industry, and even who their friends are and what their interests are.

2) Event driven marketing - Events are a great way to continue to build your brand or you company by drivng people to a specific event at a specific time. By running events over time you drive new traffic to your store or business.

3) Mobile marketing - One of the emerging trends is that the mobile devices are now as powerful as laptops were just a few years ago. You will see this continue to the point where the primary device for intial contact is on the "phone/pda" versus the computer.

4) Video content - There is an incredible opportunity to be innovative in this area. Video content can be as simple as talking into your computer and recording your though and ideas to creating a film or television show to bring your ideas across. The trend of digital technology has allowed individuals to create and distribute full length feature films for under $10,000.

5) Personal Branding - The trend continues in which our personal and business lives are blending into a brand. What was once the domain of hollywood stars and trend setting ceo's such as Richard Branson and Donald Trump are the hottest area to distinguish yourself. My personal examples are creating personal/business brands such as MediaMensch and The Accidental Actor.

6) Gaming - On-line gaming is becoming one of the fastest growing areas of where people are spending their time. Games are not just a leisure activity, but a way to connect with the world. Whether it is playing online poker, building a virtual community or scrabble you can meet interesting people from around the world where fromthe start you share a common interest. Whether it is for personal interest or business interest, you can look at ways to reach the gaming community with advertising, product placement including on mobile technology..

7) Videoconferencing/Video Chat - A subtle evolution in video chat (Skype, Googletalk) has taken hold over the past few years and this continues to accelerate. Where the phone was just audio it is now becoming prevalent to have one to one or small group video chats where you can integrate not only audio, but text. One benefit of using these services is that you can do a few things you can not do on a regular call..record the conversation, text and share links while you talk, send a file and archive for future reference. In most cases this technology is free.

8) Privacy - If there is ever a collision course with the evolution of social media it is the concerns over privacy and trust. What was much the domain of your best friends and relatives is now on servers at companies such as Facebook and Google. In fact, it can be argued that the trail of information you have left on these services are so personal that even your closest friends or business associates may not know as much or remember as these services know about you. Such things that seem to be innocent or subtle such as linking your best friends or relatives can now be used by marketers and others to see who you associate with and influence.

9) Net Neutrality - This is a term again which is evolving. The internet which basically has evolved a "free" (and we mean that in many ways) platform is now under fire from corporations and media companies who want to be paid for the bandwidth and infrastructure they support. Driving this trend is that areas such as film and television are using exponentially more bandwidth than e-mails or clickthroughs to websites. This can be looked at again as a threat or opportunity depending on where you sit. As we move into 2011 and toward the 2012 election cycle in the US, areas such as government and corporate control of the internet will become a cenral debate with large lobbying fro all sides.

10) Geo-locating - New forms of products and services are evolving which allow us to be tracked or personally reportin on ehre we are in the world. With either sophisticated GPS based devices or services such as FourSquate where you can tell people what restaurant or hotel you have checked into. This is both a great way to meet up with friends or business associates on a spontaneous basis or to let people know of new places to check out. From a business perspective this is a new and subtle form of word of mouth marketing. Friends can see what venues their friends are frequeting whether it is a new cool restaurant or a resort hotel and places in between.

While all these trends emerge, one thing is a constant and that is "change". My thoughts for you my friends for 2011 are for you to find your passion and prosperity and "unplug" once in a while to see the world in simpler healthier terms. If you want to find ways to move forward, please feel free to contact "The Mensch" for coaching or advising your in your personal branding or business endeavors.


www.mediamensch.com
www.imdb.com/andrewkaplan
Skype: ewarrior
www.facebook.com\mediamensch
www.facebook.com\accidentalactor

MediaMensch Client - EVPowersystems Video

MediaMensch Client EVPowersystems has create an electric hybrid plugin for trucks. If you are curious about this, watch this segment. This company will create jobs and convert existing trucks into hybrid vehicles with their innovative plugin.

In April, 2008 EvPowersystems received the Charlotte Business Journals "2008 Green Idea of the Year"
In November 2008 EvPowersystems received $200,000 in funding from the State of South Carolina.
Founder John Dabels was featured in the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?"


http://www.cn2.com/video.php?media_id=001082

www.evpowerystems.com

MediaMensch helped EVPowersystems client with marketing, pr and startup strategies including:
1. TV/Print/Film Media Strategy
2 .Social Media Strategy
3. Political/Governmental Strategy

My journey for the election season

This campaign season was a fun ride as a political blogger. Here are some articles from my mediamensch blog. The first article about the primary very accurately makes some predictions about the candidates, their strategies and tactics and choice of Vice President. This journey took me from a chance personal encounter with John McCain in January to being recognized on the cover page of Salon Magazines, OpenSalon.com website on election day.

"Editor's Pick" of my articles on Salon Magazine's Opensalon.com


Blog post from May 8, 2008

Andrew Kaplan Viewpoint - Presidential Primary and Social Media - Who is Engaging Best Wins!!

Here is a post about my encounter with Howard Dean and my discussion about a lack of a facebook strategy..Less than one hundred people turned out for this rally and only a about 10 were under the age of 30.
Blog Post from July 2008

Politics - Howard Dean "Register for Change"

Blog Post from January 19, 2008 (two days before the SC primary). This is my story of a personal encounter with John McCain and how I ended up asking him a question about technology and competitiveness among the members of the "crowd of supporters" at a town hall meeting.

Politics, John McCain and Me

March 28, 2008 On the trail listening to Bill Clinton campaign for Hillary, early in the NC primary. At that point NC was heating up as a battleground state for the democratic nomination. This was also the first time I actually was in the "press" area as a blogger. There is also a reference to George Clooney in this piece. I had worked on his film Leatherheads as a featured extra and was able to be part of his press conference prior to the movie release. It was my first time as a blogger being in an official press conference.

My first Press Coverage Bill Clinton Campaigning in NC

Tony Stewart Subway Commercial Shoot

In the pursuit of learning about media, marketing and NASCAR, I was invited by an agent, Marty Siu, whom I recently met working on the fil "Blood Done Sign My Name" to be an extra in a Subway Sandwich television commercial.

The commercial will be with Tony Stewart. We filmed two different scenes, one in a "press box" and corporate suite and one at the "Fence" by the track. We filmed the first scenes in the press box with about 30 men, women and children. That took about 90 minutes to film. We had to sit in seats and cheer pretending Tony won the race.

The next scene which was filmed was with Tony at the finish line. They brought the actual NASCAR #20 Yellow Subway Sandwich car. Along with this they selected some extras to be in a pit crew. I was chosen to be an extra who would be at the "fence" when Tony climbed. (I am on the far left in blue t-shirt and sunglasses in picture above) . I ended up right in the middle of the "shot" with good camera time. We had a good time cheering Tony and then pretending to snap photos of him.

I met some friends from Leatherheads on the set, a Production assistant from Blood Done Sign My Name also was working that day, and a few agents, and friends.

At the end of the day, we had a major storm come through (we had tornado warnings for the last two hours of shooting) and we had torrential rain, hail, and high winds...our day ended up in the safest shelter at the track which was the rest rooms. So it was a very eventful day.

MediaMensch - Leatherheads - George Clooney - Blogtalk Radio

On blogtalk radio today, we will be featuring stories from behind the scenes of Leatherheads, plus the Leatherheads press conference held at the Salisbury Train museum with George Clooney and Renee Zellweger.

Andrew Kaplan, Host of MediaMensch, was fortunate to have been an extra on the film and what he thought would be 1 day on the set turned into 10 days, 5 different roles, 3 different cities and 3 different costumes. He blogged about the experiences almost a year ago on MediaMensch.

The first half of the show will be the press conference, followed by live interviews with actors who were extras on the film.

You can listen to the show by clicking here

or you can paste the following into your browser
www.blogtalkradio.com/mediamensch

a direct link to the show will be
http://tinyurl.com/2c9xtb

MediaMensch Radio - Author and Executive Howard Behar of Starbucks

We are excited that our MediaMensch radio show is off to a great start. We are featuring stories in media of people, authors and musicians who might be new to you.

Our next show will feature, Howard Behar, the former President of Starbucks International and long time board member who has published a book entitled "It's Not About the Coffee". Howard will be appearing as a guest on the new live MediaMensch radio show on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 from 12 to 1 pm. We will be discussing his views on Starbucks culture and successful leadership practices and observations such as "The Walls Talk" and "The Person that Sweeps should pick the Broom". We also will discuss the changes taking place at Starbucks since Howard Schultz returned as CEO.

You can listen to this show at www.blogtalkradio.com/mediamensch

This show can be listened to live from your computer. You can also call in a special phone # as well. This show and future shows will be archived and available via this link and on iTunes.

We also have a sister show for the Facebook Economy called "Facebook Enthusiast", one of MediaMensch Networks new brands. You can listen to this show at www.blogtalkradio.com/facebookenthusiast We have an interview with the incredible young and prolific Anastasia Salter, a college professor and reader of over 5,000 books at age 23. She is one of the top reviewers for the facebook applications, Visual Bookshelf.

Integrating Media into Social Networks

The shift has been happening for a few years with MySpace leading the pack with the integration of media within social networks. Facebook is now gaining momentum with applications which allow members to list magazines, books, and music which they prefer on their profiles.

The music applications iLike even integrates into iTunes and YouTube where members can share music they like and recommend and their friends can listen to it and purchase the music from iTunes.

This is an important trend further adding to the viral natural of the internet and the way music becomes distributed. The question will be how do musicians and music publishng companies continue to keep up with these trends.

Will this trend mean that international music tastes will become more prevalent or will music become more like McDonalds, with heavier influences from larger global music publishing companies.

Does this trend mean that a listener will also personalize their music and music tastes so they receive only that music which matches up with their tastes.

What role with traditional media critics have in influencing recommendations.

If you are an publisher in media, how will you embrace these changes? What roles will you take reach your audience?

We live in interesting times.

Media Evolved - How Millions of CD's and DVD's are made

I had the opportunity to visit Bill Walker, CEO and founder of Media Evolved last week. His offices are in a converted "big box" where a Target store once existed. I parked in the parking lot with a chain link fence surrounding the cars.

Here was a non-descript white building. I walked in the door and read some articles on how MediaEvolved found this space.

Bill had met me via LinkedIn and also just joined my new social network called www.linktocharlotte.com. Bill's background had been in media and music so I looked forward to learning more about his business.

I thought I was going to find some machines that could mass copy cd's and dvd's. Instead when Bill gave me the tour of his factory, I actually watched machines make CD's and DVD's from scratch, piecing together the layers of a CD, digitizing with bits and bytes within a thin layer, then copying these. Media Evolved runs 7 by 24 and produces CD's and DVD's for movie companies, corporations, and record companies.
Some clients included Microsoft and Bank of America.

Not only does he make the cd's and dvd's but he has a warehouse of all the marketing materials and covers need to surround the DVD so it can be shipped directly to stores or to distributors.

I was amazed to watch this football field size facility create so much product simultaneously. At the time I visited he was expanding the space to include two new state of the art DVD machines at over $1 million each. I now have an appreciation to the amount of technology it takes to create millions of digital media.

MTV Redux - New Networks

In 1981 a few of us ventured into the land of MTV, The Movie Channel, Nickelodeon as part of a company called Warner Amex Satellite Entertainment Company. Over the past year many of those executives who spent the last 25 years building that company and lauching shows such as Spongebob SquarePants, Rugrats and networks such as NickJr, NickatNite have recently left to form a new company called New Networks. The plan is to have 101 internet channels of special interest. Herb Scannell, former, President of Nickelodeon and Fred Seibert, former head of Hanna Barbera and CEO of Frederator.com have teamed up.

Herb Scannell and I worked closely together at the Movie Channel including teaming up on the Star Wars "Robot Giveaway". Fred was learning his way around creative areas of on air promotions. This New Network is going to an interesting laborator to watch.