The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday: White & Black Hats

I am blessed for one million reasons, one of them is for the growing professional and personal affiliation that I have with Pam & Josh Moore. They are at 110% the real deal when it comes to social & integrated media brilliance and professional decorum. That being said Pam's most recent article regarding "fake fans" and black hat tactics brought me to my own revelation.

1% of My Followers Are Fake • How Many Fake Followers do You Have? • http://sttsp.pl/swy7 @StatusPeople #FollowerSpam

I am extremely pleased with the metric you see. It’s important to me because I take great strides to right my ship out here on the turbulent sea of personal branding. But I won’t the first one to throw stones at people who have used gray- and black-hat tactics. Because I have been one of them.

I have … 

… bought followers.

… tried #followback tactics.

… used Tweet-adding software.

… automated cross-fertilization against social channels.

… designed and choreographed fictitious accounts.

… deployed topical redirect content.

… created rogue microsite content.

Am I a social-sinner? Yes.

Do I do it anymore? No.

I repented and turned my back on such directives. Now I’m trying to stay on a more righteous professional path. And who better to counsel sinners than one who has already lived in the darkness?

Now before you respond hastily with your twitchy finger on the “unfollow key,” let me tell you a little more about my youthful tactics.

Strength in experience; regarless of its shape

I would rather endlessly train to be the social-media equivalent of a Navy Seal than trust a room full of eager kids with new gadgets and untested abilities. That may sound like an old dog talking. But to be fair, I’m just as eager as any one of them to learn and understand absolutely every possible strategic and tactical scenario that I can. Most of you know that #FOMO is my middle name and all I want to do is learn.

One of the many things you have to do in a fledgling industry such as social media is kick the tires on just about everything. Nevertheless, as our industry has now shaped itself into a mature discipline, there is a need to work in concert with traditional inbound and outbound processes. Cheating the market and buying likes doesn't do you any good except with the uneducated viewer who perceives that higher numbers equal a better brand.

Status & Perception are the new deadly sins

It's this type of user that fueled these tactics over the past few years. "Perception versus reality" is something all integrated marketers have understood and crafted around to ideally tell an authentic story about their client’s product services or education. This uncontrollable desire for said perception is also the equivalent of the Devils contract.

To be clear, I've never used any of these tactics on a paying client. Nor have I ever knowingly destroyed a competitor's credibility with social media but I know how it's done. More utilizing my own personal brand is an experimental, or incubation test lab for these tactics. And just like bad grades in high school it has taken me 100 times more work to get back to a clean slate than to have muddied up with a quick fix.

Construct your vision

But of course there are some simple rules I would implement with any new client. One of which is simply make sure that you have ample content in your blog and social channels prior to letting the world know who you are. This is what I would refer to as a perception strategy and has the best intentions for both the product and the audience.

And let's talk about the audience. The social media strategist needs to understand that beyond a shadow of a doubt, their audience is learning faster and digesting more than every before and is unwilling to align with anything less than what they perceive is 100 percent authentic. Social media experts talk about "crisis management. But what they really need to think about on a day-to-day basis is likability, consistency, and being naturally infectious.

Create disciples not numbers

One of the most important things I’ve learned from the brilliant mind of Seth Godin (while I don't believe in everything that he says unconditionally) is that it is better to have 1,000 passionate individuals following you loyally than it is to have a million people see you as an acquaintance. This even stands true in my personal life. As a young man in my 20s you would have found me out on the town seven nights a week. This was not only fueled by my insatiable need for social interaction with my friends and growing networks, but also the narcissistic and insecure belief that I would be rendered irrelevant without constant presentation.

Who are you recuriting to your platoon?

This is when you need to take an honest look at your social brand and ask, "Who is following me? Why are they following me? And what do I need to provide them to create indefinite lifetime value?"

The audience should perceive your brand almost as an individual – a living, breathing person. Your brand should have the sense, persona, tone and manner of a best friend, mentor or subject matter expert.

Many within my collective will ask me if I would ever use these tactics again in the future? It's easy for me to say no, but I'd be lying if I said I don't want to know how they're implemented, what to look for, and how they could affect the future of my clients and their growth. Think of it like this: It's better to know how to shoot a gun and never use it.

Socially Born Again?

It's pretty much what you would expect the "Good Guy Manual to Social Media" to contain: 

• Confront weakness with evolution
• Create interesting and engaging content
• Be fearless. But more importantly, be humble
• Fall on your sword when you make mistakes
• Continue to challenge yourself, and then challenge your audience
• Be thankful for the numbers you have, because in your mind that "number" must = a "real person"

ROI: Return On Influence, Intelligence and Infectiousness

The bigger picture here is what you as a client want out of your integrated marketing firm/social agency. ROI still seems to revolve around increasing the number of followers, likes and subscriptions. What you don’t always see as a defined ROI marker is the bond you are forming with the clients you already have or are earning. This "earned media" is the staple of your social media power.

While it is important to grow your following, it's tenfold more important to nurture existing relationships.  So the next time that you sit down to discuss goals and objectives, scrap the fatigue of pressuring your marketing to generate a specific behavior — and focus on something more attuned to a "family behavior."

Check your head

Want to know how many fake followers you have? Just enter your Twitter handle in the handy-dandy little “Fake Follower Check” tool from Status People. I would love to hear your numbers, your thoughts on them, and about whether or not you are happy with your current tactics. Trust me, no stones will be thrown here ;)

It Was More Than Buildings ...

I was a much younger man then. Fill with energy and rage for that day. Days would follow and we would fall further into blame. The flags went up and so did the fists. Status quo. Today, I take my little girl to school. I look into the eyes of the future, my future, possibly your future. All I see there is love, laughter, dreams and discovery. We must now teach undying fearlessness with dogged practicality.

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"Occupying" My Thoughts

I'm torn. One side of me really understands why disenfranchised Americans coalesced under the banner of the Occupy movement. I’m proud of them for asking questions and exploiting the media to take advantage of the platform. I really am. The other shoe drops for me when I see nothing but the loudest, least eloquent protesters at center stage. Not to mention that the "movement" appears to be intolerant of discussion or even agreeing on its key desires. Where's the puritanical manifesto? - This intolerance of so many issues creates confusion, and doesn’t do the Occupy movement any favors.

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Why News, UGC & Social Media Will Be To Blame For All Future Wars

I was hit with sound clarity in a discussion over the weekend that came to a crystal-clear resolution for me is that the United States of America is going to be in an never-ending conflict with factors beyond our control due to the advancement of social media, it's citizen journalism and the emotional weaknesses of its people. If you have a cell phone you have the power to enact great emotional upheaval. And dependent upon your view of chaos math, that content could even go as far as starting a war. And this does not come on a soapbox claiming innocence of this stance, I will outline thoroughly that I'm as/if not more guilty than you all.

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Advertising Or Prison?

Don't look at anyone in the eyes. Especially account reps or the traffic coordinator, they can smell fear and will feed upon your lack of knowledge in the process and folder structure on the file server.

Don't be a snitch. If someone yells at you in a concept meeting you need to take it to them one-on-one not on email. Email clicks grow fast and before you know it they'll have a list serve setup to talk about how much of a puss you are.

Do your own time. Everyone chose advertising for a reason. Don't talk about your dreams of being a Creative Director one day, no one cares. This talk will get you fired or worse you'll get a cube located across from the overweight Christian woman that has a parakeet name "Mr. Rojo" because he is red.

Don't make friends. Everyone that you talk to about the agency that you where at previously will hate you, and the Gold Pencil you got might be 'tea-bagged' before sun up, I'd advise not bringing it in for show and tell.

Don't ever be indebted to anyone. If someone offers you some extra time on a banner bar just refuse and tell them to cut down the frames. If someone tells you that they'll do a photo search for you, tell them you'll "work late" and take care if it yourself. If you become the guy that owe favors, get ready to be making trips with Sam Flax for presentation board because someone owns your ass now.

Don't ever get caught: stealing food, taking pens or becoming too close with a client. To be a client's bitch is to "be the client"; no one will trust you or tell you anything about the client's work because they think you'll rat them out. Later when the client drops you and you'll get laid off because of it.  There will be a guy adding your photo to a stack of Polaroids of people that were stupid, made it out alive, or simply could fill out the FedEx slips right.

Don't choose a clique without doing your research. If you get in a clique too soon...like with the developers in interactive, you'll have to learn first person shooters (like Call Of Duty) quickly so you can keep up with where you project sits during a headshot from "Mr. Giggles" or "HEXICON" to make sure your shit's not going to be late.

Stay in shape. Fatty's are just known to take to the freebies in the breakroom first. If you keep your head level and don't break down every time a vendor brings in Krispy Kremes and you can snake through the cigarette cloud that billows out from the Account Receivable picnic table, you might just start getting respect.

Don't get caught masturbating. This is just sound advice regardless of whether it's outlined in the employee manual or not.

Fight for your respect. You can count on someone "getting into" your concepts in the first few days. If some art director makes comments regarding your font usage or that you used a stock photo that he's seen a million times you have a choice to make. Become his bitch and be victimized or take matters into your own hands. Tell him that while papyrus is a lame 80's font that is only used in new age books and greek menus, if he had read the creative brief he would know it's in the brand standards manual and not to get into your grill again or he'll be looking for new space heater.

Know your escape routes. If you're in the break-room, position yourself close to the door that opens to the largest hallway. If your break-room only has one entrance or exit and one of the managing partners enters and gives you a look like, you better have a job bag in your hand or it will be your head...immediately open the fridge door and complain that you have been "throwing up at both ends" and that "everything in here smells like bad pork" then make a pukie face a walk out – fast.

Keep a clean record. Never take credit for any work that goes up. Claim it as a group effort that "a ton of great thinking going into it" and how proud you are to be a part of it. Then if it goes to shit in the pitch, you can say that you "live and die as a team" and go back to the drawing board with your dignity partially intact. If the second round fails, tell them that you haven't felt well since you ate some of Terry's birthday cake that was in the fridge that smelled like pork rinds.

Never trust anyone above the director level. If they have VP, Executive (even worse "Senior Executive" -- that's just an old guy that no one wants to make a partner but you can't fire because he knows where all the preverbal bodies are buried) or the dreaded "Partner" make no sudden movements or speak directly to them. This Demi-God class of employees are the tried and true battle warriors of the agency. They wield PowerPoint remotes with the precision of the Katana; given that they have to explain a line items in an RFP called "percentage based fee" can do so with the Devil's tongue leaving client so happy they wish they had their own cash to invest in the project.

Keep your mind and your spirit. Don't let anyone tell you that your work is less than clip art or tell you that you should have stayed an intern so you wouldn't take up a phone extension. Do your time, do great work and one day all your dreams will come true.  You'll soon get your own shop and swoop up the AOR for Nike and Coca-Cola in the same day.

Your Music & Waterboarding

What were you in high school, a band geek, a stoner, a jock, and metal-head-art-fag (here's me) or where you simply part of the fabric? Unseen, unheard and begging to get on with your life. I'm not going to go on elongated tirade about about how much I think music sucks these days, as I find myself hearing the band I grew up with on the "classic" stations but I'll say this – it's nice to get kicked in the stomach from time-to-time.

What does that mean? Well most of the new music these days 'takes some listening to.' What the hell does that even mean? "Well, you'll liked it after a I listen to the CD two or three times." Oh my god. Is this what we've become? Dan Zarrella calls them "sheeple" and I have to concur. When did we bow down and become fed from a tube? Why must we torture ourselves to conform in parties? Are we only listening to what we think is safe or has the most views on YouTube? Where's the angst? Where's the anti-establishment? Where's the shakeup? Where's the band that kicks you in the teeth the moment you hear it and you say "hell yeah!"

I give you:
The Bronx – "Inveigh"

Yes, I know the song's three years old, and that I'm old, get over it. Send me some new music! Send me some new links. Show me the music that made you wake up. Keep me young and angry and thinking! I don't want to be in the box. Give me your band to promote and I promise I will spike your traffic by four or five people. Talk to your hosting service to insure that I will not bring down their infrastructure with this wave. Best ~

Addendum:

My friend Sean "8-bit" Smith just brought some points in the comments below that make me think. I guess it's never been about anger in the sense of hatred or malice, though that music exists too, as a father and humanist I don't agree with that sensibility. It is about "change" pure and simple.