Sneak peak at the new RAP logo

Recently, I have been doing a lot of work as part of the Riverside Avondale Preservation marketing task force. We have been assessing every nook and cranny. Planning for the future and digging into the past which is only fitting seeing as how RAP's started out as a historic preservation organization. Since 1974 it has helped the residents navigate the city's historic preservation code. It started the popular Luminaria, Tour of Homes and recently launched the wildly successful Riverside Arts Market. But I digress… one of the things we realized is that we wanted a fresh, new look… something that would catch the spirit of the district… We still have a lot of work to do… many miles to go before we sleep.

The Nature of Social Media

There’s an interesting post over at Marketing Profs commenting on a whitepaper from 360i Digital Connections. The whitepaper, Twitter & the Consumer-Marketer Dynamic
is loaded with information on who uses Twitter and how it is used. You’ll have to put aside the fact that they only studied 1,800 tweets over a six month period when, by Twitter’s own numbers “Twitter has more than 100 million registered users that log a collective 65 million tweets each day.”

The interesting story that both the whitepaper and the commentary at Marketing Profs tell is that Twitter is used “primarily for people, not corporations. More than 90% of tweets come from consumers… and only 12% of consumer tweets mention a brand.”
Further, the study informs us that “…94% of tweets are personal (vs. professional/self-promotional), 92% of users keep their tweets public, and 85% of tweets reflect original content (non-RTs).” To me these numbers tell a pretty obvious story, but the whitepaper goes on to tell us that “the opportunity for marketers to become part of the conversation remains vast.”

Twitter, like all social networking sites is opt-in. That means, people are only there because they want to be there. Over at Facebook, the story is a little different. For now, you can “Like” a business or organization’s page and you will receive updates to your wall but you can still opt out if the story is not intriguing or delivering a payoff for listening to their message.

I believe that social networking has exploded in recent years because people are so inundated with advertising and marketing that they need a break and can now take it. If marketers jump in with their old models, they will soon find that their words are falling on deaf ears. Mad Men-style advertising, while fun to watch, is dead. The old agencies are sucking air and still blowing smoke but a new day is dawning. Listening is now the key and the consumer is taking back control.

The YouTube video was found while reading a post on Marketing Profs by Ann Hadley titled "Content Rules: One Key Element That Can Set Your Content Apart."

Ads

The Super Bowl was fun this year. No blow out. The ads were a little disappointing. There were some goods ones early on but it seemed, they slowly moved on. One we didn't see… no not the so-called "banned" one… was an ad from across the pond. It is worth taking a look…

Dragon

Dragons are mythical creatures that populate almost every culture on earth so I find it hard to believe that they have always been creatures of man's imagination. I do believe that there was once a creature that inspired all the stories and know that I would not like to meet it in the wilderness.

This is a logo that I created for a youth soccer team. Below the logo is a crest that the team used on their jerseys. For those of you who didn't know today is Appreciate a Dragon Day so it is only fitting that this logo finally makes an appearance. Is that my geekiness showing again? Can't help that.

I AM Still Alive…

I've been a little stuck recently. Work has kept me busy, as has the home remodel and family life in general. AND most recently, my wife and I spent a little time in Dublin, Ireland. It was a wonderful and much-needed trip. I think the holidays will be doing me in a bit for the next few weeks, but I will start the New Year’s Resolutions early, so hopefully, I will be posting more. I will definitely be writing more AND illustrating more as I now have three (possibly four) books to illustrate! Speaking of writing more, the image above is from the finished story I participated in via Twitter a while back. I am one of the Twitterverse as I contributed to the story at least four times. I'm not sure if I can now be categorized as a “published” author… but it was fun never-the-less. You can download the story at the BBC Audio America site.