How appropriate that I was made aware of a book about moving into the “digital era of awesomeness” through a link and recommendation on Facebook, one of my favorite digital media sites. Authors Leif Abraham and Christian Behrendt — under the company Innovative Thunder — recently released Oh My God What Happened and What Should I Do? online. The book is available for free download. The only payment they request is a tweet through www.paywithatweet.com, another site created by Innovative Thunder. I wanted to read the book for free, so, when prompted, I tweeted a link to the download. Easy enough.
The ideas in the book are simple and straightforward; they are ideas that all marketers will need to embrace sooner rather than later. For instance, the upcoming Millennial generation (aka Generation Y) is one that can’t imagine a world that isn’t digital. They were born at a time when not only are they a part of neighborhoods and communities, but they are also critical participants in social online networks — networks that have redefined the way the world communicates. Their older siblings, parents and even grandparents are all Internet users. There is at least a 1 in 8 chance that they will meet their significant others through digital media.
Oh My God What Happened and What Should I Do? isa quick read. I suggest you go now and download your own copy of awesomeness. If you still need more convincing, here are some of the highlights.
Live the [new] media. The best way to discover all of the possibilities new media have to offer is to live them. In short: Don’t just read about it — do it.
Interactive doesn’t mean it’s digital. Interactive doesn’t automatically mean it must be “online.” We should be striving to make all of our ideas and campaigns interactive. How can you integrate people in such a way that they become part of the campaign? As marketers, we need to give consumers every opportunity to interact with our brands.
Integrate. Don’t Interrupt. A brand should insert itself meaningfully into people’s lives by enabling and enriching their existing behaviors, not by requiring new ones.
It doesn’t cost anything to listen. The reason many are still slow to adapt new media is the fear of criticism. Yet, in most cases, it doesn’t cost anything to just listen and maybe learn something important about your brand.
So, are you on the digital media train? Are you chasing it? Have you fallen so far behind that you’ve given up trying to catch it?LikeAbraham and Behrendt point out: This is only the beginning.
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