23

Nov

going viral

Viral marketing is a very carefully designed and crafted process that needs time and patience to work. It consists of viral messages that tend to appeal to a specific category of individuals with high social networking potential, who communicate and spread these messages quickly. When viral marketing works, the results are immense; a brand’s image can change overnight, a freshly launched product can become an immediate success.

The growth of social media has largely contributed to the effectiveness of viral marketing. Lately, though, the term ‘viral’ is used mostly to describe humorous (sometimes) celebrity (most of the times) videos that become immensely popular globally in such a short period of time through internet sharing, via email, social media and sharing websites.

I am sure that most of you have already watched this video of Jean-Claude Van Damme and his incredible (and 100% real!) stunt for Volvo Trucks, with Enya’s iconic “Only Time” on the background. The “Epic Split” is such a huge success that many created parodies within days to steal some of its gold dust of viral fame.

First was this; a parody of the original video made by Artjail, a NYC visual effects studio, ‘starring’ Rob Ford, the disgraced Toronto Mayor, which had over a million views within a day. This is a great example of how a huge viral success story can be utilised to promote other people’s work.

And then, I came across an even crazier parody; infamous Hollywood actor Channing Tatum embraced the craze and performed his “Epic Split” while on set for his new movie “22 Jump Street”, showing how a very successful advert can help you promote your own work, even if it’s totally irrelevant. And if you haven’t watched this already, check it out!

But then, there are videos like this. An effort to create something fun and simple, an attempt to work on a new project using tools I am not yet familiar with, help my peers to get to know me, and probably give my friends a reason to laugh at me! All I am trying to say is that I’m not hoping that this video will go viral, and I just pray that it will not turn into a parody, too.

What do you think? Have you attempted to do something similar to promote your own work? Please leave your comments below.

Thanks for sharing!

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16

Nov

distributing knowledge

And as expected, Squared Online started with a BANG on Bonfire night, with Chris Perks, Aiden Carroll and Nick Watt greeting everyone. The first – unofficial – day was more about getting to know our tutors and start communicating with our fellow Squares, understand what the programme is all about and get acquainted with the tools we’ll be using for the duration of the process.

Source: mashable.com

So “welcome to the [r]evolution”! Squared Online is a strategic and not a tactical course, which will provide a deeper understanding of how an all-around digital strategy is formulated. It’s clear what to expect from the course and what is expected from us in return. And, therefore, the quote “empowering today’s and tomorrow’s leaders to drive the industry [r]evolution” must have stuck in everyone’s mind! “With great power comes great responsibility” and everyone seems ready to take up this challenge!

Apart from some mind blowing data, Sarah Tate, Programme Lead, provided some great examples of the previous alumni or her personal work within Google, explaining why it’s so important to clearly communicate our skills. She suggested that we should always be ready to fail! Failure is OK and a great opportunity to learn. Since I’m not sure whether or not I could use her amazing example, I’m quoting this:

“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”

– Albert Einstein

Are you a T-shaped professional? Have you got the skills needed? The importance of the concept, which depicts the combination of deep knowledge in a specific subject and the ability to work with experts in different fields, was thoroughly discussed. A person’s ability to network and communicate is vital; present-day and future professionals have to possess these skills to drive themselves, their colleagues and their businesses/government bodies/research establishments forward.

Source: mashable.com

Aiden Carroll wanted us to evaluate the impact of digital media and think about what defines our digital lives, how digitally oriented we are in what we do. Digital thinking is all about interacting in a way that incorporates all those changes on our lives by our experience of today’s networked society. But how do we react on those constant changes in social practices online? The Squared Online video of Neil Perkin, founder of Only Dead Fish, provided us with examples of how quickly social engagement and behaviour has changed, and how easy it is to stay behind if you’re not ready to keep on top of those changes. However, the thing that struck me the most was the interaction amongst Squares after watching this 60 minute video! Thoughts are being shared freely in our small community, and it’s more than interesting to examine the same topic from so many different angles. Interaction and direct communication between Squared peers is a common thing during live classes as well; everyone has something truly useful to propose and share, from an interesting social media article or a tutorial video to a handful of neat tips and tricks for our projects.

And for me, that is what this course is all about; communication, cooperation and interaction. Stay tuned!

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12

Nov

digital landscape

“We have technology, finally, that for the first time in human history allows people to really maintain rich connections with much larger numbers of people.”

– Pierre Omidyar, Founder of eBay

Source – vimeo.com | Flux Design Labs

 Over the past decade, the evolution of digital has completely changed the way people communicate, learn and buy. Digital is a such a fast paced world that even its most experienced professionals struggle to keep up with all those constant changes among its numerous disciplines.

And you know something? So am I! Even though I’m still a newbie to all these exciting new things and, frankly, quite scared sometimes, I am very excited about what lies ahead.

I chose Squared Online because of its holistic view of digital marketing; I am confident that it will give us a clear understanding of what a business’ objectives are, supply us with the fundamentals of digital marketing and also provide the know-how to run truly effective marketing campaigns.

And what about my fellow Squares? An amazingly varied group of people! As you have probably guessed, digital marketing students tend to come from all sorts of academic and professional backgrounds: advertising and architecture, engineering and design, publishing and entrepreneurship. People who aspire to apply all the digital marketing skills from the course to their current or future roles. All I can say is that I hope I’ll get to know and work with as  many people as I can during the process.

I’m already sure by now that the course will not only help me build and optimise new skills, but it will also provide chances to put them to use in a commercial environment from day one!

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