Infographics

Infographics have become an important marketing vehicle on the web. Most everyone is familiar with the concept, it goes back to the old print publication technique found frequently in Time and Newsweek and even local newspapers. In short, an infographic boils down all the essential elements of a story or message into an eye-catching graphic that has few words and is contained usually on one page.

In this internet-age, they are very much the same in how they look, the difference is more in how they are delivered. Infographics are often designed with a very broad/open copyright position (see creative commons). By opening the infographic to the public domain the creators hope the bloggers, web content authors, tweet-ers, news-aggregators and such will use the infographic in their content and the message will be pushed out organically to their audience, sometimes called, "going viral".

Take a look at a few infographics...  juststand cause campaign from Ergotron (the company I work for); infonewt an infographic marketing group and a money blogger.

Monetizing Twitter?

The 2009 FTC regulation change that was directed at bloggers and product endorsements seems like it could offer some insight into Twitter relationships/endorsements as well. Read a more complete review of this FTC action in this NYT article.

Sometimes we forget that the new media, such as Twitter, is an effective and aggressive tool of capitalism. Slowly more people are becoming aware that famous twitter personalities, are getting $ to gently endorse products. Adding to these planned/tainted motives are bots cranking out the tweets every 5 minutes vying for your precious attention and buying power. BTW, can anybody really keep up with and follow more than 60 twitter persons? Doesn't following 2000+ tweets seem excessive, especially when some are tweeting around 5X a day?

It appears the pure stream of real people and their opinions is beginning to suffocate in the crowded and frenetic pool of strategic commerce.

Twitter is a great way to briefly communicate with a bunch of people. But just like our parents said, "don't believe everything you read or hear".

Photo is of a classic Minnesota fishing boat tied to the dock and ready for an adventure.

Hot video topic: Using new SLRs for HD video

I've had the pleasure of working with two very skilled director/cinematographers/producers from LA over the last 3 years. Teaming-up with our marketing team at Ergotron, and a local Twin city actor, we have produced some very fun product commercials (see left side of TesterGuy videos).

In our last film the guys from LA recommended they shoot the whole commercial on a new Canon 7D SLR. As many of you know, the new SLRs now have HD video capability and the Canon 1080p! The canon SLR's extremely sensitive capture system combined with some sophisticated lens action makes for some cinema-like footage. Check out our new Ergotron LX LCD Arm commercial which is completely shot on the Canon 7D SLR.

SLR videos are the rage, and for good reason (capability and affordability compared to high-end video camera), check out these great SLR video blogs/articles.
http://vimeo.com/6759220
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0909/09090105canoneos7d.asp
http://photofocus.com/2009/10/19/learn-5d-mark-ii-canon-cinematography-with-philip-bloom-mini-review/ (mostly addresses Canon 5D MK II, but relevant for 7D)

Creative ramblings on Social Media

Photo at left is of Blackhills bison in S. Dakota. I enjoyed the trip as much as our kids!

As consumers, we still need to ask a question of social-media... is the content organic/authentic/accurate/what I need? Subtle yet persuasive distortions are difficult to detect in what is heralded as "your pure stream of truth". Many bloggers ran out of fresh meaningful content and also were influenced by monetize options. Tweets, although tiny and brief, sometimes lack integrity.

I've also noticed, people who have FB sites/groups and tweet now are web content creators and this neophyte audience is getting targeted by savvy marketing machines. The marketing snake oil says to the new web content makers "You can reach more customers if you do/use this" and the B to B or B to C.... or even niche or mass market categories often go unaddressed and misapplied.

Perhaps the prospect-pie isn't growing for some... but rather, the pie is shifting in how it finds information.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog on Social Media, the challenge is to not get bogged down while making use of the benefits.

A couple positives in this new trend: Many marketing groups that have embraced twitter, blogs and are active out in web-communities are reaching their audiences at a fraction of the cost of years past. The $8,000 4C ad for a 1 page ad, for one month, in a decent trade magazine is looking like yesterday's excesses. Inexpensive home-made youtube videos are becoming as influential as the big-coin professional video content.