In case you’ve missed the SmallBox manifesto that we’ve recently been shouting about, hopefully I can shed some light on our commitment to promoting culture in Indianapolis. One of the most exciting, perhaps even… dare I say… buck-wild, events SmallBox commits long days and nights to is the Broad Ripple Music Fest.
Now in its fifth year, BRMF was originally spearheaded by Jeb Banner, PJ Christie, Jack Shepler and a whole slew of music community members as an event that would be created by the people and for the people. In 2009, I took over festival director responsibilities in order to help the event grow. It still maintains the community aspect, but most of the marketing, sponsorships and general management is done in-house at SmallBox.
Why do we do this? Because supporting the arts, culture and musical heritage of Indiana is a passion and value of ours. While this event doesn’t necessarily generate business leads, it does give us an outlet to let our creative juices flow and promote what we love: local music.
Beyond just our involvement, why is Broad Ripple Music Fest necessary? It gives local artists the spotlight for a full weekend and gives passive fans a chance to get out and see the best of what Indy has to offer in a single trip. BRMF also gives local promoters, sponsors and venues the chance to connect and collaborate in a celebratory atmosphere.
What else do I need to know? Oh… you want details. Well, the main event takes place on Saturday, October 15th throughout about 13 clubs in and around Broad Ripple. Indie Rock, Jambands, EDM, Hip Hop, Soul, you name it, you can find it in Broad Ripple. We’re also starting things proper with two huge shows on Friday, October 14th at the Vogue and Connor’s Pub (Mega Tent). All access wristbands can be purchased here for $15. Tickets to the kickoff party at the Vogue can be purchased here for $10. Also, it could be the biggest party of the year. That’s all.
“It is a mistake to look into the mirror and try to break the mirror. Whatever the problem was [that caused the riots in the U.K.] the Internet is a reflection of that problem. If you have a problem, use the Internet to understand what that problem is.”
-Eric Schmidt
“For everything that is hidden will eventually be brought into the open and every secret will be brought to light.” - Mark 4:22
Facebook launched a upgraded platform last week. Google passed through the gauntlet of its congressional hearings with flying colors, according to a CBS poll. Netflix split with its DVD delivery service, according to the speculations of many, so that it could triple its streaming inventory by merging with Amazon or so that it could open itself up to be sharable and measurable on Facebook or (what is most likely) both.
How are these simultaneous phenomena related? How do we connect the dots?
They all mean one thing: the Revolution will not be televised.
It will be shared on Facebook. Because that is where future generations will be streaming content from Netflix. The difference between television and social media is that it is a dialogue between the consumer and producer, not a monologue where the producer broadcasts advertisements at ‘targeted demographics.’ In the lingua franca of marketing, the word ‘targeting’ has been replaced by the word, ‘engaging.’ The voices of consumers will now be heard and will have a weight that they didn’t have before.
For these reasons, it’s been a very tough couple of years for large organizations and governments who’d like to keep their dirty laundry secret. For dictators and dysfunctional corporations, there no longer seems to be enough storage space to keep their skeletons hidden. As small businesses move the contents of their external hard drives into online file storage systems, and large corporations move their apps onto the cloud, individual consumers are airing their opinions about both politics and products on social clouds: Facebook, Twitter, Google + etc. Both flaws and favorite features get a spotlight shined on them in a new way. Seth Godin’s prophecies about Permission Marketing are coming true, his manifesto about marketing moving out of the Television Marketing Industrial Complex and into a ‘tribe based’ system is now, for all intents and purposes, fully manifested in a beta phase. Your customers are now advertising your product to each other. For folks with remarkable products, this is a dream come true. For folks who’ve released merchandise into the market place before working out flaws, the new social landscape can become a worst nightmare.
An interesting article about this massive cultural and economic shift came out in last week’s issue of Forbes Magazine: “Social Power and the Coming Corporate Revolution.” In the article, Marc Benioff, CEO of SalesForce, recounts his own epiphany about the humility and transparency required of real business leaders in the age of Social Media:
“In 2005 we had reliability problems with one of our servers. We weren’t talking about it, and customers were upset. It turned into a PR problem. And my marketing leader Bruce Francis came in and said, ‘Marc you need to expose everything. You need to have a website that is directly connected to the computers. If they are running, the website should be green, and when they’re not it should be red.’ I had to open up.” Such a system has been in place ever since. [And it is worth noting, Salesforce has continued its explosive growth--probably not a coincidence.] Says Benioff, “Social success is really based on trust… If you don’t have transparency you will be eliminated by the system around you.”
What are five things that businesses can do to make sure the social chatter surrounding their brand is positive? How can you lead your audience to discover the positive things about your products through research, rather than discovering the negative things about our products through scrutiny?
1. If you’re having problems, admit it. Your customers may forgive if you tell them up front about system issues, where they may not forgive you if you hide out until catastrophe strikes.
2. Amplify positive feedback. If a customer gives you a great review, put it on your website! If a customer has negative feedback: respond.
3. Respond to negative feedback. You can turn a negative situation into a positive one by showing off how quickly you take care of errors.
4. Communicate clearly. Gone are the days when you could sell everything with a slogan. Provide honest and encompassing information about your product to avoid dissatisfaction and negative reviews.
5. Leverage your locality. Customers are the people you live in community with. For many years, under the Television regime, the big, national brands had a major advantage over you even on your own block. Under the new regime of social media, that advantage is quickly eroding.
We’ve had some time to rest up and recover from the all-night frenzy of planning, designing and coding known as the 24 Hour Web Project. In its third year, SmallBox designs and develops a site literally overnight for one Indianapolis nonprofit, all for free.
This year, we doubled the challenge and took on two websites — one for Earth House and one for INDYCOG. Keep in mind, we don’t do templated sites. Each nonprofit received custom web solutions, built from scratch just for them. Yes, we lost a little sleep, but we had a blast and we certainly learned a thing or two along the way.
Stronger Collaboration
Working at the rapid-fire pace and in such proximity, all in the Earth House Café, the team gained a better understanding of each person’s role. We had more face-to-face interaction, less emailing and IMing to solve problems. Post-project, I hope we continue to get up from our desks more often to talk through our work together.
Content Doesn’t Have to Be So Painful
Managing the content population process for a new website can be a bit of a pain point. Taking on two websites meant there was really no room for error. During the project, we tested out a new product built by our own Joe Downey — a content population tool — and we all felt this tool was key to our success. There were no surprises about unfinished content. The team could see where we stood at a glance at all times. We can’t wait to use it on regular client projects.
And a reaffirmation…
We Heart Indy
We also confirmed something we already knew. Indianapolis is a great place to do business. Earth House and INDYCOG are both amazing organizations, adding cool events and promoting healthy living in our city. Many of our friends and partners stopped by the Earth House to cheer us on. And some awesome folks supported a side aspect of the project — a mini-donation drive for the recipients.
Our Broad Ripple neighbor, Just Pop In matched the first $500 in donations — a goal which was met, then exceeded. We were thrilled so many people stepped up to support Earth House and INDYCOG. We’re not sure if it was our sweet moves (see our dancing and acrobatics in our donor recognition videos throughout the blog) or the fact that these two nonprofits are adding so much vibrancy to our city, but at the end of the day, each walked away with more than 500 bucks in addition to their new websites. We can’t thank Just Pop In and all of the amazing donors enough!
Have an idea for us?
Though it seems this year will be tough to top, we’re plotting ways to make the 24 Hour Web Project even bigger and better in the future. Please let us know if you have any ideas to share in the comments!
p.s. Want to see the Before and After?
Go here for Earth House
and here for INDYCOG.
We’re in the thick of our third annual 24 Hour Web Project (going on through noon on September 15). Our team is excited about the challenge and the creative loopiness that comes with pulling an all-nighter. (And we’ll certainly get revved up by the infinite amounts of coffee and Diet Coke on hand!)
This year, were creating TWO sites: one for Earth House and one for INDYCOG. We received many great entries this year, and as we tried to narrow our choice to just one, we realized we had an absolute tie on our hands. Because our team has expanded, we decided it was time to tackle two for the first time.
Earth House is graciously hosting all of us, and being in this space means that we can invite all of you to come on down and see how things are going! Come serenade us at the Open Mic! We’d love to see you.
If you can’t make it to Earth House, you can watch us live blog the event at 24hourwebproject.com. At that site, we’ll also be live streaming video of the event as well as dancing and high-fiving for donations for Earth House and INDYCOG. Just Pop In, our awesome Broad Ripple neighbor, will match the first $500 in donations.
Hope to see you at Earth House or on the Internets!
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the “natural” or un-paid (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results.
-Wikipedia
Here’s some of our collective thoughts on the future of SEO. We run analytics for over 150 clients of all stripes and can see trends over time. But this isn’t based on complied data like Slingshot’s awesome Click Through Rate study. These are theories, thoughts and hunches. Some are informed by research and experience and some are just gut feelings. Let us know what you think.
The future of SEO is Content
This is also the present and past but is increasingly important. There was a time when you could have crap content and still win searches since you had the right keywords on your website and enough off-site links. Google’s Panda updates have started closing that window. Now you actually have to (gasp!) create great, consistent, diverse and keyword relevant content – blogs, landing pages, videos, infographics, etc. There is no shortcut for great content, so make the investment because you’re going to need it for this next one…
The future of SEO is PR
In 2-3 years it will be hard to tell a PR company from an SEO company because they will be doing the same thing. Thanks to recent changes by Google that make “tricking” their algorithmn trickier, we are looking at a “new” era of SEO. New in the sense that dirty or “black hat” SEO’s will have to get on board with clean “white hat” SEO techniques and actually create real, quality content and have it picked up by real, quality websites (often blogs). Building relationships with influential bloggers so you can post on their website, or so they will review/feature your product/service is the key. That is why the future of SEO is PR.
The future of SEO is Usability
When you think about it Google and Bing are just trying to think like users. Search is Artificial Intelligence. So what do these humble users want? An easy to use to website. Don’t make me think – right? And I want the websites I visit to load quickly and be mobile friendly. Oh yeah, make sure you show me results based on my previous browsing history and current location- which is already happening most of the time.
The future of SEO is Social
Legitimate social signals are where it’s going. This is about trusted, known users creating content that references or links to your website or content. In the future look for signals like Klout scores to weigh heavily in how links from Social accounts are weighted.
The future of SEO is the Brand Digital Ecosystem
What’s that? It’s all of this stuff and more put together. It’s the sum of all digital activities that can be measured around your brand. If there is a signal that relates to your brand then chances are it’s being measured and weighted against other signals. How signals are weighted is Google’s secret sauce but we feel you should worry more about creating a healthy ecosystem and less about manipulating specific signals.
SEO has historically been a cat and mouse game with Google’s algorithm. But let’s face facts. Google’s computing power is growing exponentially and our window to influence search results solely with keywords and external links is closing. Yes these still and will matter but we predict they will continue to decrease in importance. If you want to lay the ground work for winning search in the future I suggest you do it right. Create and sustain a vibrant Brand Digital Ecosystem and your search engine traffic will start to take care of itself.
