A Designer's Perspective: Social Media Muscle

Last week, I was fortunate enough to hear Dr. Sean Carton, principle of IDfive (www.idfive.com) present Social Media, Memes and the Joy of Creating Social Content, in which he discussed the importance of social media as it pertains to the ever-changing landscape of advertising. One of the reason's I feel so fortunate is because social media is such a big part of my new position at the Fuel Fund of Maryland. One of my biggest responsibilities involves increasing awareness of the Fuel Fund through media services such as Facebook and Twitter.

The second reason that I feel as fortunate as I do involves my own shameless self-promotion. It's no big secret that my ultimate career goal is to be able to support myself working full-time in the comic industry. Aside from being one of the more difficult industries to break into (anything in the entertainment industry is, for that matter), there are more and more talented creators developing their own projects and marketing is the key to their success. With a flood of work hitting the internet everyday, being able to stand out in the crowd in essential. That being said, social media offers two-way communication between creator and consumer to help the creator put out the best possible product and help the consumer get the most out the money they are spending. The information I gleaned from Dr. Carton's presentation is only going to help me propel my own career through new media outlets.

Some of the most important information Dr. Carton mentioned during his presentation was the seven trends that are changing everything when it comes to marketing. They are:

1. The consumer is in control.
2. The move from atoms to bits (tangible information to digital information).
3. The move from "real time" to "my time."
4. The end of centralization.
5. The future is always on.
6. The end of the desktop.
7. The global conversation.

These concepts are what is shaping the "brave new world" in which we are living and have lent to the birth of mobile, gorilla and viral marketing, among others. In addition, Dr. Carton shared with us insights into the creation of memes, which are units of cultural information, evolution or diffusion. He presented two very different theories on there creation. The first was by Malcolm Gladwell called the "Tipping Point" theory, which relies on the concept that a few influential, 'hubs" in network can accelerate transmission and acceptance of an idea.

The second by Duncan Watts, called the "One-to-One" theory, that operates on the assumption that:

• Memes take hold because culture is ready to receive them,
• Six degrees of separation is true, but the connectors are not important,
• People influence those around them, and
• Anybody is just as likely to influence a trend.

I think that both of these theories are accurate and in use within different context. Influence can and does come in many forms.

Finally, I really found Dr. Carton's four "laws" to be very insightful. They were:

Carton's Law #1 - What works best online is what works ONLY online.
Carton's Law #2 - Technology changes quickly, people change slowly.
Carton's Law #3 - Brands are collaborations.
Carton's Law #4 - People don't interact with technology, they interact with other people.

Marshal McLuhan said that "the medium is the message" and never before has that statement held more true. Social media is the technology that facilitates conversation and conversation is key when is comes to marketing. If your product can't speak to a consumer, it might as well be SPAM.