What are “top stories” exactly?  Where’s the old picture viewer?  Why did they put that black box around my photos?  It seems like every other week Facebook is launching some goofy change or moving things around or adding some strange interface that no one was asking for but everyone now must figure out. Why do they do this instead of just keeping things the way they are?  Here are 5 possible explanations – Facebook may not be as guilty as you think.

1.  Facebook doesn’t want you to forget who’s in charge.

They’re in charge.  You’re using their free service in exchange for them feeding you ads and mining your data.  That’s how Facebook pays their bills so you don’t have to. They need to keep you on your toes every now and then and make you mad just for the heck of it… why?  Same reason parents need to ground their kids sometimes or dish out overly harsh punishments that don’t fit the transgressions. The kids need to be reminded who’s in charge.  Don’t get greedy.  Mom and Dad rule.

2.  They need you to talk about them even if it’s negative.

It’s been said that tolerance is far worse than persecution because at least persecution is a sign of interest.  If Facebook gets negative feedback or press from it’s users it’s still ok as long as its not too frequent. Why?  So you’ll say the word “Facebook.”  It needs to stay a household name.  If you’re mad at it that’s still ok.  There’s a fairly precise formula you can use to find the sweet spot of how often someone should get mad at you for maximum yield. Facebook knows it and they want you to be mad at them every once in a while. Your anger is the Ying to their Yang.  I’m guessing that Facebook wants you to be ticked off at it about 4 times per year.

3.  They’re messing with you to see how big of a deal certain types of changes are.

Facebook probably already knows which major changes they’re going to keep or not but they still launch them all anyway because they want to watch the dialogue unfold amongst Facebook users. This is smart. This is like if you own a Taco Bell franchise, dress in plain clothes and then instruct your cooks to purposefully make orders wrong so you can overhear customers talk about it.  This will help you know if other changes you’re planning are going to be worth it or not or how much manpower to invest in quality control.  It’s worth a lot more to make people mad in a controlled environment where you can eavesdrop on them than out on the range where you’re not in a power position over them.

4.  Facebook jumbles things up just for the heck of it.

Ever get bored with how your living room is laid out?  Ever re-arrange your office for no particular reason even though it was fine the way it was?  Moving stuff around for no reason is a perfectly suitable reason in and of itself. Why?  Because it’s better to have friction than to be dormant. It’s better to have things in motion than at rest.  This is the law of the information age; The new darwinism is merely constant self-reinvention so that you out-survive your competitors (those that never change).  It doesn’t matter if your change is for the better or not, it just matters that you change.  Irrelevance is the ultimate suicide for technology companies.  Your chances of survival go up by 500% if you make negative changes rather than no changes at all. It’s the law of the digital jungle.  Being the school bully still makes you more popular than all the nice kids who’s names you forgot from middle school.

5.  The internet needs to constantly feel new.

This goes along with the last point.  You always need to feel romanced and captivated by your online experience.  Fresh, funky, shiny, new.  If you’re not getting that from one social network then you’ll go find it somewhere else. So Facebook and others need to continue making their experience feel new to you. They’ll try new features, moving stuff to new locations, new partnerships, technology platform crossovers, mobile experiences, partnering with Hollywood, etc… whatever it takes. But the point is if they aren’t constantly manufacturing something “new” they die off.

So if you don’t like Facebook’s new changes then relax- They’ll change it all to something else in a couple months.  But don’t get too comfortable if you like those changes because they’ll just change them again. Why?  It’s the self-replicating trap of the information age- Only the new shall survive.

- Jon Barnes

Thoughts?  Post a comment.

We developed a logo and branding scheme featuring specific medical/first aid visual cues that would create an immediate entry point for health care professionals, organizations and companies interested in CPR training. Once the fresh branding scheme was complete we re-launched the website with a similar look and feel with a full build out of features such as: home page slideshow, blog, social media components and video. Parallel to the site we researched, launched, branded and SEO’d a standard social media channel launch. We tied the pieces together and pulled everything back to the website. We also equipped CCSI to take over their content development by using a Flip camera and shooting client testimonials for YouTube. They’re off and running now and even have a special CPR video demonstration by the Philly Phanatic.  Here are a few words from CCSI President, Jim Spaulding:

“When we began working with The Munich Group we had virtually no web presence and very little branding. In a very short time they designed a great looking logo that we’ve been using for multiple marketing campaigns with great success. They also designed a very professional website that I am extremely pleased with. In addition to the website they initiated all of my social media so I can communicate more efficiently and market direct to new prospects. I would highly recommend The Munich Group.”

Take a look at their website, logo and social media build out HERE.

Production by Munich Group and Strange Red Films, Soundtrack by Chris Iwaskiw.

The biggest mistake people make when it comes to social media is thinking, “If I build it they will come.” If you build it they will not come. Launching the tools is not enough. You have to have a strategy for developing and promoting new content; content that you are an expert in. No new content = no real results.

The biggest myth about social media is that it is an advertising medium. It’s not. It’s less like a billboard and more like your office phone system. You can’t measure it’s value in the same way. The ROI is secondary. Social media is a second-level medium which supports the communications, advertising and marketing efforts that you already have in place.

The most common way to fail in social media is by trying to rush the process. Social media users think that big online hits like the Old Spice Commercials and the Elf Yourself e-card happened within a few days just because they were talked about on social media. They weren’t. These success stories took years to grow to fruition because they were based on a solid critical mass, brand recognition and timing.

VIDEO: PART 1

VIDEO:  PART 2

SLIDESHOW PRESENTATION [Click to View]

Whether you’re a small business, large company, sole proprietor or other business owner chances are you’re familiar with the world of email newsletters or at least receive some in your own inbox.  Many business leaders have mixed feelings about email newsletters and often struggle to cobble up content let alone feel confident that their efforts are really worth it.  Whether your company has been utilizing email newsletters since the dawn of time or is just getting started make sure you are taking advantage of this powerful medium and making every newsletter count.  Below is a list of some secrets, tips and tricks to maximize the impact of your organization’s email newsletter service.

• Start with a real-life story or engaging piece of content that will captivate your reader’s attention immediately.  You have less than fifteen seconds to capture your reader’s eye and what’s in the viewable top third of your newsletter is of prime value.

• Include several images of faces and close-up images of people’s eyes.  Readers engage with content more often when there is a human component and establish a deeper emotional connection through eye contact.

• Make it personal! Share stories, testimonials, examples and real content from your actual clients, employees and friends.

• Insert links and things to click everywhere. Remember, every click is trackable so you can see what your readers are really interested in.  You might be surprised to learn what parts of your newsletter people actually care about.

• Communicate a deliberate and clear next step for the reader.  What do you want them to do after reading?  What’s the action item required from them?  Know what you want your audience to do before you ever start assembling your newsletter.

• Make sure your contact information is easy to find within the newsletter; phone, email, mailing address and social media links.

• Make sure you have branded your newsletter with a good design keeping it fresh, uncluttered and with just the right amount of images.  Also be sure to use the logo, colors and design cues of your business.

• Insert links to your social networking sites and use the logos and icons of Facebook, Twitter, etc…

• Find the sweet spot of quantity.  Make sure you don’t have too much or too little content.  Imagine yourself in the shoes of your average reader.  Where are they?  What time of day is it?   What kind of mood are they in?  Write for your readers as if you are one of them.

• Create clear and rewarding incentives for your readers to forward your newsletter on to friends.  Get your readers in the habit of forwarding your newsletter to others.

• Make every reader feel like they are part of an elite inner circle.  Each reader should feel special, unique and exclusive.  Create a “VIP” culture within your newsletter.

• Invent deals and incentives that expire.  Create a positive sense of pressure to motivate your readers to action.  Have an amazing deal but only for the first ten people.  Have a great discount but only for three weeks.  Get creative!

• Write immediately useful content. Provide information that a reader can apply right away; not necessarily related to your business but just helpful information that’s fun and easy to understand.

• Create a positive sense of stress; the type of exciting pressure you feel when there is an amazing sale at your favorite department store but only for one day or “while supplies last.”

• Use simple and catchy headlines like:

“The Biggest Secret of…”

“The Top Five Reasons You Should…”

“Three Things You Can Do Right Now to…”

• Get in the habit of creating limited incentive deals like:

Free X for the first 50 people

Buy two X’s and get Y for free

Bring 3 friends and you’ll get X for half off

Refer a friend and you both get X

Get X for 50% off for 24 hours only

Get X for 50% this Saturday only 9am – 9pm

• Send your newsletter out on a Tuesday or Wednesday morning.  Statistics show that this is the best time of the week to send your newsletter.

Remember that most email newsletter services allow you to track metrics after you send your newsletters so that you can quickly see what your subscribers are reading, clicking or ignoring.  Take advantage of this feature and over time you’ll know what kind of content to create for your audience to connect, engage and motivate your readers to action.

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Read the whole article online HERE!

Let’s take a quick look at one of the biggest shifts in how businesses and organizations relate to their clients and customers.  First is the old way, the chart on the left.  The old way consisted of top-down information flow, transmission.  Imagine a radio antennae shooting out waves into the air.  It didn’t matter if anyone was tuned in or not, the tower was broadcasting and it was up to you to catch the signal.  In old-school communication this is how it was, a one-way medium.

Now let’s look a the chart on the right… The New Way.  Communication in the new model consists of parallel streams of communication going back and forth between the customer and the business.  There’s no longer just a broadcasting tower, there’s now multiple broadcasting towers, each equipped with a receiver.  So everyone is now broadcasting and receiving and businesses are now not just transmitting but receiving as well.  This is CO-mmunication, dialogue and interchanging of information.  It’s a 2-way street where traffic is going both directions.

Both models have strengths and weaknesses.  In the old model it’s easier to know what to do.  You gather your content and shoot it out and hope people have their ears open to it.  But the drawback is that there is no cultural ownership in what your business is doing, nor do you have a good sense as to how people are responding to your product, what they like and don’t like about it or what else they’d like to see from your company.

The new model contains extraordinary power for capturing more data than ever in terms of customer’s interests, beliefs, values and opinions surrounding your product and brand.  The conversations are clear and honest and one has only to open the channel to peer into the customer’s world.  The possibilities for precise targeting of customer interests and for overall product success (for business owners and customers) is unparalleled.  But the drawback is that it takes time and patience to get there.  You have to be willing to listen. A business owner has to be ready to hear the negative, be shocked at some horror stories and cultivate the time necessary to sort through it all.  The payoff however is far greater than the work it takes to get there.

Now let’s get honest.  A lot of organizational leaders do not come to the New Model naturally.  It’s just not something that sounds exciting or easy.  The idea of collaborating on product development with a swath of unprofessional and capricious customers does not sound like a great way to invest precious leadership capital.  You can sense it in the air; a scraping resistance to new models and methods because of an over-arching fear that it opens the door to unconstructive blabber.

So what do we do?  The key for modern business leaders is to realize that this paradigm shift is happening with or without them.  This isn’t a prediction about where things are headed, this is a real-time portrait about how things are right now.  Companies that don’t shift will suffer.  The question is how to jump in wisely yet with boldness.  It’s a mindset change but it is something you can ease into.  Take it one step at a time.  Gather your resources, ask people that know, check out some case studies.  Remember, your business is the best when it’s doing what it’s supposed to do the best.  That never changes.  But your methods and models are temporary, there’s nothing sacred about them.  Be flexible and open the door a little wider.  It’s time.