Flowtown This post was written by Jenny Urbano, our Social Media Manager. Here at Demandforce, we love seeing and celebrating your ideas! And more than that, we love to hear from YOU. We want to bridge the gap between us and you, so that’s why we’re offering a once in a lifetime opportunity to win a trip to San Francisco, sightsee in this amazing city, visit Demandforce headquarters and share your ideas with us! 6 winners, and a guest of their choice will be flown out to San Francisco, California on March 12-14th, 2014, where they will stay in Union Square, spend a day at Demandforce, have dinner with the team, and explore the lovely City by the Bay! For contest rules, and how to enter, please visit our post in the Generation Demandforce Community here. Good luck!
Social Media ROI By Olivier Blanchard Brand Resources :: Guidelines :: International Because DePaul is involved in a number of joint ventures and partnerships outside of the United States and offers some degree programs abroad, our international presence presents unique challenges to maintaining a consistent identity. The following broad recommendations will help to ensure a consistent DePaul image is represented in partnership and joint venture agreements abroad. If your materials are published in a language other than English, do not translate the word "university" in DePaul's signature or in formal references. Always write or say DePaul University. Be sensitive to cultural norms and practices, which can be significant even in countries that embrace American influences. Language: Have a local contact review your copy or translation to ensure that your message is conveyed as intended.
BrandSavant - Gaining Insight From Social Media Data Social Media ROI: It’s Gray Matter When we consult with clients for the first time, many of them ask, “What’s going to be my ROI with social media?” Let’s start with a big disclaimer. Social media is not magic. It’s not a silver bullet, a cure for the broken business, another advertising channel, a membership to an exclusive club and it’s certainly not a one-way ticket to immediate profits. Social media is a form of communication; a platform for building relationships. And, like most relationships, it takes time, effort, and energy. Social media shouldn’t receive a separate distinction or category in any business marketing strategy. In a recent conversion I had with a colleague, we discussed the two different marketing mindsets. The business offers value by giving its audience solutions to challenges and problems. Until social media evolved, the latter was likely done via networking, referrals, and WOM. So, where are businesses going wrong? What do you think?
Amanda Palmer on Creativity as Connecting Dots and the Terrifying Joy of Sharing Your Art Online by Maria Popova “We can only connect the dots that we collect.” “How are we so brave to take step after step? Day after day? In her wonderful keynote at the 2013 Grub Muse literary conference on creativity and the marketplace, my friend Amanda Palmer — she of great wisdom on the art of asking without shame — considers why creativity is the product of connecting dots and addresses the quintessential question of how to put yourself and your work out there, in the Wild West of the internet, fully knowing how messy it can get and yet how wonderful, how open to cold criticism it can leave you and yet how capable of warming others. Some thoughts, highlights, and dot-connecting below: She recounts reactions to her recent experience of the Boston bombings: To erase the possibility of empathy is to erase the act of making art. She notes with equal parts eloquence and poignancy the duality of the internet’s promise and the tsunami of trolls that can come with each wave of attention: ↬ Open Culture
Defining Your Social Media Avatar - Brand Development Avatar is defined as manifestation, appearance, or incarnation. In terms of social media in today’s world, your Avatar is your identity. You choose to make your Avatar whatever you want it to be. It is what you project to others. There are many people who have a different image online than in person. They allow other members of their social media communities to see them as an enhanced version of themselves. A sense of security Many people who communicate online feel that they have a free rein to communicate in any way that they choose. Personal details When it comes to your social media profiles, It is extremely important to exercise discretion regarding personal details as well as the photo that you have attached to your profile. Credibility Today’s marketplace is extraordinarily competitive and often it is vicious. So, when you give some thought to what you want your social media Avatar to be, there are several approaches that you might be able to take. Conclusion
Where Are the Professionals? Reflections on the #sxsmroi Panel Debacle. I was scheduled to participate in a panel on Social Media and ROI at the #sxswi conference this week. My schedule being what it is, I couldn’t be in two places at once and had to make the painful decision last week of cancelling my trip to Austin altogether. As much as I was looking forward to finally making it to Sx and being on this panel, priorities are priorities. Muchas gracias to the panel’s organizers for having invited me to participate. In spite of what I am about to say here, I am very grateful to them. Anyway. I guess not. Let me give you a taste of some of the brilliant “insights” retweeted from this unfortunate session: What’s the ROI of NOT engaging in SM? Asking if there is ROI for Social Media is like asking if there is an ROI of the telephone or a pencil. If social is done well it builds trust. if done really well, it is true trust. then 2-way convo: speed and reach. There is an answer for CFO – if social has done well, it builds trust. So… 2008 goes by. 2009 goes by. No?
The 5 Pillars of New Media Strategy: There is no box! inShare335 I often share my thoughts to help global brands and enterprise organizations. But with this article, I would like to talk to the broader group of business professionals without reference to the size and shape of your company. Here and in many other media outlets, networks, and blogs around the web, social media is one of the most prevalent subjects in business today. While advice is everywhere, advice is becoming a commodity. Let’s take this time together to share with you my thoughts on some of the most often asked questions and how your role in finding the right answers and putting them into action is more important than you may think. While you may read success story after success story, we cannot make any great assumptions in how they’ll impact your work. There is a great myth that a winning formula exists for success in social media; that if you deconstruct the most popular case studies, you’ll find a winning recipe for your social media strategy. 1. 3. 4. 5.
5 Branding Basics Every Logo Designer Should Know While many articles try to dissect the process of designing a logo itself, I will attempt to share tips from my experiences with branding-focused logo design for the real world. Photo by lpwines With the surge of "stock" logos, the quality of branding for new companies is literally going downhill. Many new designers fail to see that a logo, unlike any other design element, is literally the face of a company, and hence attached to a much larger beast. You can’t peel it off from a book and slap it onto things like a sticker. A logo versus a brand Let’s begin with the fine difference between a logo and a brand: Logo "The logo (ideogram), is the image embodying an organization. [...] - Logo as defined by Wikipedia Brand and identity "[A] burning scar [with] bankable value" - From BusinessWeek 1. Research is everything. Research is the most important part of designing a logo, and branding as a whole. 2. Photo by Stuart Chalmers Giving an identity a name and then giving the name a face. 3. 4. So… 5.
Conversation Agent - by Valeria Maltoni, Brand Strategist History of Logos Just as a nation's flag expresses the distinct identity of a country, so, too, a logo, helps to establish the name and define the character of a corporation. Effective logos become synonymous with the organizations they portray. They are instantly recognized by millions of people, and help to identify their companies and convey a message about the brands for which they stand. I have always been interested in the meaning of the design behind some of the corporate logos. This section may also list other logos that I find to be interesting and well-designed.