Subtitle: Laitnos in social media kicking butt in LatAm.
Latinos from both sides of the American hemisphere are devouring social media. Check out the latest bullish graphs and read on…
Mas: You can find them on Twitter by following #latism #latam #latino #hispanic
Popularity: 43% [?]
Subtitle: Tech Challenges
I’ve had some tech challenges recently:
While these are not catastrophic, they are annoying and are causing an inconvenience to posting and updating. Don’t you love technology?
Popularity: 37% [?]
Subtitle: Social Media is not about you.
Many people, especially those in business pretentiously consider only what they do in social media as the sole criteria to deem what others do as worthwhile or successful. Marketers consider only marketing, advertisers consider only advertising, public relations consider only public relations…thus the list goes on…as the only respectful endeavor within social media – everything else is an afterthought.
Jeff Pulver’s 140 Characters Conference, is a reminder of the vast diversity of topics that social media can apply to with his dizzying display of guests from a wide variety of fields in the 2-day event. To sit there through the detailed and yet impulsive speeches one gets a sense of intrigue and success from all corners of social media.
Business people especially, should meditate on social media and its proliferation by the everyday user. It is rich, varied and almost boundless with new uses and benefits found all the time. If one considers social media as a Swiss Army knife, then the error of measuring it against one’s area of discipline will not occur and one will remain receptive to the multi-content which social media provides.
Popularity: 48% [?]
Subtitle: How will Coke Respond to Pepsi Yo Sumo?
Have you seen what Pepsi Yo Sumo is doing?
Pepsi Yo Sumo isn’t a new viral-video craze combining a soft drink and a large, scantily clad Japanese man. Rather, it’s an effort by Pepsi and Latin Internet company Terra to encourage Hispanics in the United States to participate in Census 2010.The viral campaign is aimed at second- and third-generation U.S. Hispanics, encouraging them to share stories and photos on the Web site, which will then be fed to Terra, which claims 3.5 million users in the country. A Pepsi Yo Sumo widget is being featured on Terra’s site.
Terra will also host user polls on the census, which Pepsi will sponsor via banner ads, and users can add the widget, built by New York-based Second Thought, to their social-networking pages.
Terra USA vice president of sales Jim McCabe said:
When it comes to 2010 Census participation, the Pepsi Yo Sumo campaign has the message and Terra has the audience. By bringing the two together, second- and third-generation U.S. Hispanics will show the world how many they are and how they’re changing the landscape of this country.
What do you think?
Popularity: 31% [?]
Subtitle RE-RE-RE-RE-RE-Tweet
Social media can get monotonous when everyone is doing the same thing. There are certain principles and techniques that do work, and caution to the brave? soul who dares to diverge. What I’m not talking about is quite different – be original, be yourself because there will never be another person like yourself. EVER!
I wrote this on Facebook earlier, which turned into a funny thread thanks to the public.
Here are some tips that I found which are suiting:
Celebrities are not more interesting than you. They’re not smarter. They have skills. In social media, they have mad skills. Mad, crazy, enviable marketing skills. You can have respect for individuals and their game – and don’t get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for the Scott Montys and Chris Brogans of the world. They are succeeding and deserve props.
But it doesn’t mean you have to follow what they say, or emulate their game or even read them. That makes you an observer. An observer that sits in a wagon pulled around by “the influencers.” What chance do you have if you’re not even thinking on your own two feet?
Here’s how to escape the social media wagon:
1) Unsubscribe from one of the talking heads. How do you expect to be original and innovative when you read what everyone else reads? Lightning will not strike down upon you, I promise.
2) Subscribe to one of the thousands of other bloggers out there that are putting out real and original content. Content about politics, design & art, relationships, news, fashion, careers and issues. Content about things that matter. (Yes, fashion matters too).
3) Write about something else besides social media.
4) Repeat.
Good advice.
The end here is the “pearl before swine:” things that matter. Social media is not a means in of itself, but a set of tools which deliver content. It is the content that is king.
Popularity: 25% [?]
(Please note: this piece is an observation with no judgements made, and only serves as an observation and not a criticism.)
Generally, social media is understood as a conversation between people on the web…as opposed to old media, which is a conversation of a few to the many.
That being said, there are people who use social media as if it were old media, meaning they are using it as a one way announcement platform and not mingling with the public that they serve. For example, you can have a blog and not have comments enabled. Yes, you are using new media, but are not utilizing the social aspect.
Let’s look at an popular entertainment personality who it using social media, but lacks what I call the social element – Jorge Ramos.
For those above reasons is why I say Jorge Ramos, is using social media but he is not being social. Because of who he is he has an impressive following compared to who he follows. I feel however, that if he added a more social element and actually got more involved with the community he serves his Twitter account may in fact triple in followers, and thus influence.
Note: I friend requested him on Facebook out of curiosity if the same trend is found; some of us are busy and may not have the time to be ‘everywhere’ we’d like to be.
Popularity: 24% [?]
Subtitle: It is not the people that should look to businesses, businesses should look to the people.
Our visions of where influence derives is skewed. Professionals do not make influential changes, but only identify, define, and market them.
Trends
In his book “The Tipping Point,” Gladwell talks about Hush Puppies shoes and how they went from almost being discontinued to a hugely successful brand. Hush Puppies became a fad in lower Manhattan not on purpose, not because of a campaign, not because of any professional efforts, but because a few “kids” decided they were cool and the shoes became trendy and hip with their peers.
Let’s look at social media for a minute. The true value of social media is not the communication platform, but what that communication brings to the table. Social media enables a company to gain vital insight to where markets are going by talking with the public.
Companies and Social Media
Companies need to talk to their customers to see what they are thinking. Companies are usually ‘out-of-the-loop’ when it comes to what is being said on the ’streets;’ social media provides insight and establishes a public ‘advisory board’ that leads executives and marketing professionals to decide what to bring to the market – or discontinue.
The Public
Unbeknownst to the average person, it is they that are the true content providers and definers. With the help of social media, this is slowly being realized – more people are providing top-notch content and participating in global dialogues.
Profitability is where professionals come in. Once the public figures out how to crack this threshold, it is at that moment that that industry becomes open to change and revolution.
Here’s a modified statement from a popular quote for the movie “V for Vendetta” – It is not the people that should look to businesses, businesses should look to the people. Oh, so true.
Popularity: 33% [?]
Despite conventional advice that one should be authentic and helpful regarding social media, truth is that those traits alone – even talent! – will not be enough to make you stand apart from the pack and blaze your own trail.
You’ll need an objective and a good sound strategy to get you where you want to go, granted you have a clear direction of where you want to go in social media.
Desire alone won’t cut it.You must be able to incorporate the dynamics that are specific to your group, niche, market or circle of influence.
For instance, let’s say you want to be a on the football team, but lack the necessary talent to be competitive. Guess what? The only way you may participate on the team is by being a waterboy. If you were smart you would have trained a few seasons ahead of this desire and then went for tryouts.
Let’s say you’re a talented artist. You want to be recognized for your work, yet you have not met any gallery owners, museum directors, contacted art magazines, etc. Without making inroads into the creative industry your work will never become known.
What’s your goal?
Where do you want to take your content? Do you want a lot of followers? Be known as an authority in your field? Network? Make more friends?
Whatever it may be – make a goal. Then figure out the steps on how to get there.
Popularity: 27% [?]
With the announcement of Google Buzz, I’ve been thinking a lot about the Comments feature in blogs. I don’t want to say that Buzz is necessarily bad for blogs, but it can de-augment a very powerful pillar of blogging – the Comments section.
Let me back up a little.
In October, I talked about the importance of publishing your content on a blog that you own versus a social media site like Facebook or Twitter. I subtitled the post as “Centralized Me,” to build on the concept of concentrating your content to one main platform.
The Comment’s section of a blog is the site’s social component, for without it a blog is only a new media site with a one way conversation void of reader interaction.
Google Buzz, in essence does to your blog’s comments what other social media sites does to your content – spreads it far and wide. If readers use Buzz the exposure of your blog will be multiplied, which is every blogger’s dream. But I have to ask, will those who use Buzz also comment on your blog?
Latino Rebranded integrates a button called TweetMeme and if you look, more people Tweet posts than actually comment. On Facebook, my followers comment or “like” my blog posts, as well as Networked Blogs – a Facebook application that delivers new posts to people’s inbox and utilizes an RSS feed as well. Now Buzz, can be added to the list. (I just had the thought that an opportunity exists for a program to pool together all these outside conversations and dump them into one spot – the Comment section. Maybe it already exists?)
Taking all of the above into consideration, the ‘push-button’ interaction that they all offer will subtly deter comments because in the mind of the reader they already have commented – in the form a tweet, a buzz or a ‘like’.
I’m not saying to not use any of these services, because they are great tools that leverage your blog’s exposure – and that’s what you want! But, with the awareness of conversations happening outside your Comment section you can start thinking of ways to harness them for the benefit of your blog.
Popularity: 100% [?]
While social media is undeniably hot, without evidence of burning out, many established organizations and businesses have been exceedingly slow in accepting social media as the new engagement platform. In the face of prudence, speculation and convention, enthusiasts – evangelists – have pressed forward with a new and unpredictable, yet powerful and stable form of communication that has haulted an entire industry and forced it look over its shoulders.
In many ways, social media has just begun – 2010, will be its pivot. Pre-2010 will be looked back as social media being considered only an addition to already established marketing tools, but post-2010 social media will be viewed as a major factor, even replacing traditional media.
Hispanic organizations will be on the far end of the tail, as Hispanics are mostly a conservative population. To the older generation, social media represents…is, change. However, the younger generation is embracing new media in droves. Somewhere in the near future – post 2011? – there will be a huge explosion of Hispanic based industries and organizations in social media.
These are my observations, not my judgments. I think social media will continue to influence its way into every business sector and will be the fast track to Hispanic related communications. The fact that Hispanics are the quickest and most abundant adopters of new technologies and media, should move every decision-maker toward the promised land of social media. Will you be joining me?
Popularity: 40% [?]
Louis Pagan Tweets