Firstly this is not going to be one of those lists that get into New Media Age or Campaign.
In fact I am not sure if they still even do lists. Do they? Hope so.
It mostly just some thoughts around my work last year really plus I have spent an afternoon baby sitting and I am close to tears.
1. People say ‘I don’t know’ a lot more – Its funny that saying ‘I dont know’ should be quite an easy thing to say considering the state of media, advertising & technology. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to know what works without actually doing something to see whether it actually works. I guess this is about data. Track things properly and act accordingly. You will soon know.
2. More Speed & Less Meetings – I really hope that companies and agencies (I guess, I dont know) start acting a l0t more quickly to ideas, data & competitors. This is what social media really is about – speed and relevance. How quickly can you react to something converting badly on your site? Do you have lots of meetings to decide something? Really? Thats boring for everyone and inefficient – just do stuff and track it.
3. Develop One strategy – and Lots of Tactics – A social media strategy doesn’t really exist. It should be an extension of your businesses strategy. If I hear ‘whats your social media strategy?’ one more time I am likely to punch everyone. Think about it. Can you really develop a strategy for Facebook? REALLY? A strategy? REALLY? I worked online back in the 90′s. People used to have strategies for AOL. That worked out well.
4. TEll ME WHAT Gamification MEANS - In 2011, I was aksed to write a piece around Gamification for a respected online media publication. I sat at my desk and thought; I really had no idea what it meant – I mean there are some amazing examples around work on the AIDS virus , for example, but how could this help say a toothpaste brand? It couldn’t. So I wrote a very tongue in cheek article which congratulated the word Gamification as it felt fun to say in the shower – it didn’t get published. Actually I could publish it on here. Let me know if you want me to do that. Its brilliant….ahem.
That will do for now. I mean I could talk about other things like..
1. People buying sambuca and my ability to say no.
2. My addiction to crisps.
3. My urge to leave Twitter which is an on going battle
Happy New Year!