I joined Facebook 11 years ago today (July 13, 2008).

I have connected to people I would never have been able to create any kind of relationship with otherwise. I have reconnected to the people I missed. I have discovered the true colors of others.

I have gotten distracted by political arguments, memes of the day, those dang Goalcast videos that are like inspircrack (inspiration + crack), and stalking the pages of people I haven’t seen in the newsfeed in a while. Like every picture in your albums. Sigh.

I have learned so, so much. I have connected to people who have taught me more about marketing than any college education ever could have. I have learned more about nutrition and even helped a few people ditch some bad habits because of what I shared (THIS is one of my favorite things about social media).

I’m reading a book about morning routines, and this guy devotes almost an entire chapter to the dangers (to your success and society in general) of digital distraction. I could not agree more.

While I have seen social media make small business owners millionaires, literally hundreds of thousands of businesses and families supported via the audience they were able to reach on the platforms, I have seen the damage it has done as well (as we all have).

I post when I feel like I have something meaningful to say. Maybe something that I hope will make you laugh (most likely because it made me laugh), will inspire you or will cause you to think. I run my business pages the same way, and I run client pages this way as well.

Here’s what I’ve discovered is the key to “healthy” social media:

I put a time limit on it and try to remain very strict about it. That’s why if you comment, I may not respond for 24 hours, but I am always grateful to read what you have to say. Even if you are disagreeing with me. 😜👌🏼

I very carefully curate my feed. I unfollow a LOT of people. I search out people who are positive and inspirational. I never follow news channels. Ever.

I make it a point to look at my “most recent” feed to see new things and curate my feed more.

I actively take note of when I’m reaching for the phone out of boredom or because I want the distraction from work that just got hard… 😬

In the end, I still can’t help but wonder how many total hours of my life so far I’ve “wasted” on social media. The time that truly had no point other than scrolling. The times I got caught up in trying to make points with people who just can’t see past their own immediate life vision. The ones who don’t understand that we are all connected.

With all the media uproar of late around the social platforms and breaking them up (I am still undecided on my stance on this one), I still say it’s been a good thing. What’s been not so good is the way bad people have used social media to their own benefit and to manipulate the masses.

BTW – manipulation is not possible where education is in place. In other words, the more people are educated (not by the news) on any given topic, the less they will be manipulated around the opinions of others on that topic.

My suggestion: limit your time and commit to the limit. It’s still a great way to connect, create helpful communities (I’m in private groups for marketing that are literally BEYOND helpful. Help I could never even pay for and from thousands of people who want to help), and grow a business.

In other words, use it for good. Which I see most of you do. 😘👏🏼

The idea formulated at a creative brainstorming meeting at Bandolier Media in Austin, Texas. They ran with it. Then it hit Twitter (@barbzlovescarbs). Then a popular Instagram meme influencer (@middleclassfancy) got in the game. And that’s when the tide turned for @justaconstructionguy.

The story:
Some chick going by @barbzlovescarbs on Twitter posts that “her dad” asked her what an “influencer” was. She explained the concept, and he says, “I can do that.” So, he creates an Instagram account to prove it. A few influencer tags and re-posts later and bam, he’s got over 500,000 followers in less than 2 weeks.

He’s just a simple, coffee loving construction guy working on the East Side in Austin, Texas posting his crazy-good photos of designer coffee in a thermos. Hhhmmm…

The REAL story:
Mike McKim, the owner of Cuvee Coffee in Austin, Texas, wanted to pump up the marketing for his local coffee shops a bit. He felt like the typical influencers were passé and wanted to “create” an influencer more akin to the customers Cuvee actually had, specifically in their East Side shop.

The East Side of Austin has been under massive amounts of construction for the last 10 years or more. It’s a perfect example of gentrification at its best (or worst). When Jeff and I lived in Austin, we spent most of our time on the East Side and even looked for a house there right before we moved to Palm Springs. But I digress. The point is, the customers Cuvee saw most often were, of course, the construction guys on the neighborhood projects.

Someone at Bandolier Media knew a construction worker. Omar Madani was their guy. They approached him, and he agreed to be the face, err the Influencer, running the Instagram account @justaconsructionguy. The catch? Omar wasn’t really running it. Bandolier was. Omar was paid for the photo shoots, and Bandolier handled the rest.

After @barbzlovescarbs posted her Tweet about “her dad” and the influencer convo, the account literally blew up. But not one person knows or will claim who Barb is and why she did it. Mike McKimm says he has no idea who she is.

By the time the account got to about 400,000, the jig was up. The internet had been spoofed—Omar was a marketing ploy to “influence” people to drink Cuvee coffee.

The thing is, it worked for Omar, not for Cuvee. Once the cover was ripped off the story, Omar took over the account. He’s partnering with other brands to promote their products (this happened in 2 weeks, I kid you not). Omar got to go wave the flag at the big NASCAR race in Iowa over Father’s Day weekend.

This will literally change Omar’s life (has already). But what about Cuvee?

They are left to explain why Barb lied (Omar is NOT her dad), deal with the backlash of people angry to have been tricked, and slink away tail tucked. Some people think it’s funny and “so 2019” that they were so easily duped and some are straight-up mad.

The Challenge.
Bandolier Media did too good of a job. It looked staged, just like every picture on the Cuvee account does. There’s no way Just A Construction Guy could take photos like that on his own. The social media savvy picked up on it in a big fat hurry. Now the discussion is, is it right to use influencers? Is it inauthentic? Is it really brand influencing if you pay that person to use your products or services?

Hollywood has been using product placement to raise capital for movie production since the beginning of time. Sleight-of-hand advertising. Instagram just offers a different stage, right?

If an ad campaign, stunt, spoof—whatever you want to call this—leaves most or even any of your customers, potential or current, seriously questioning your integrity (the comments are all there on both Cuvee’s and Omar’s accounts) is any publicity good publicity?

My take: nope. Most of the comments are along the lines of disappointment in Cuvee for dishonesty or what a genius marketing stunt it was by Bandolier Media. Either way, it did nothing to sell Cuvee Coffee. It just made them look bad. Omar goes on with his 540,000+ followers, and Cuvee stays behind with their 16,000 and a bad rep.

You reap what you sow in marketing…and in life.

Always behind you 1,000%-
Julia

This is the foundation of Apple’s incredible success.

Whether you love them or hate them, there’s no denying the success of Apple. With other personal computers coming on the market at the exact same time that Apple launched the Apple I in 1977, what set them apart?

Employee #3.
To take the Apple I into production, they needed a mass infusion of cash. $250,000, to be exact. No bank was going to loan a barefoot, smelly hippie that kind of money—especially not to produce a product they couldn’t even understand.

A prominent Silicon Valley investor introduced Jobs to Mike Markkula, a 33-year-old retired multi-millionaire who was an expert in marketing and selling technology parts (his fortune came from Intel). After helping Jobs write a business plan, he offered to invest the $250,000 in return for one-third ownership of the company.

At this point, the fledgling Apple was still operating out of the garage in Jobs’s family home.

On January 3, 1977, Apple Computer Co. was formally incorporated. That day Markkula sat down and wrote a one-page paper titled “The Apple Marketing Philosophy.” It set the tone for everything Apple has done since with just three simple points:

1. Empathy – an intimate connection with the customer’s feelings. “We will truly understand their needs better than any other company.”

2. Focus – “In order to do a good job of those things that we decide to do, we must eliminate all of the unimportant opportunities.”

3. Impute – “People DO judge a book by its cover. We may have the best product, the highest quality, the most useful software etc.; if we represent them in a slipshod manner, they will be perceived as slipshod; if we present them in a creative, professional manner, we will impute the desired qualities. “

Perception is everything, my friend. People will form an opinion based on what you convey about yourself and your product or services.

Markkula’s philosophies were in alignment with Jobs’s. The year before Jobs had been quoted in a magazine saying “If we can rap about their needs, feelings, and motivations, we can respond appropriately by giving them what they want.” “Them” referring to the customer, of course.

Next step.
To “impute” the proper perception of their company, Jobs set about courting LA’s top PR and ad executive, Regis McKenna. McKenna had produced an ad campaign for Intel that set them apart in the technology industry, and Jobs wanted that same treatment for Apple. In his usual, determined way he set about making that happen. McKenna finally agreed to meet with Jobs (still a barefoot, smelly hippie) and took Apple on as a client. McKenna did two things that set the foundation for the trajectory of the company:

1. His art department created the rainbow-colored Apple logo (with the bite taken out).
2. He gave their marketing materials a tag line that read: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

That maxim became the defining tenet of Job’s design philosophy.

This is the sum total of what should be taught in any marketing 101 courses. If you operate your business based on these principles, there’s almost no way you can fail.

Always behind you 1,000%-
Julia

Jay-Z buys Tidal.

In 2015 Jay-Z invested $56 million in a holding company that owned the streaming music service known as Tidal. Partly in a move to beat Apple to the punch—their music streaming service was just getting ready to launch.

At a press conference in New York City in March of 2015, along with the core group of artist/owners of Tidal including Drake, Alicia Keys, and Madonna, the reveal was made. Tidal would be a home for high-fidelity audio and exclusive content where artists could get paid what they were rightly owed. They intended to change the course of music history forever.

“The challenge is to get everyone to respect music again, to recognize its value,” said Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter. “Water is free. Music is $6, but no one wants to pay for music. You should drink free water from the tap — it’s a beautiful thing. And if you want to hear the most beautiful song, then support the artist.” –New York Times, March 30, 2015

The Twitter vs. Tidal takedown

Aside from being a sentence that doesn’t make much sense, it was marketing suicide for Tidal. Twitter eviscerated Jay-Z for this statement. First of all, they pointed out, water is not free from the tap (he was directed to talk to the people who pay his bills), and secondly—he was on stage surrounded by multi-millionaire musicians who were asking to be paid…more. Those are not the musicians who need the help of an artist-owned streaming service like Tidal.

But most importantly, the question never answered that day, was how does all this benefit the subscriber?

The wrong hero.

Jay-Z made himself and the artists the hero of the story, and the subscriber was just along for the ride. And, apparently to support them in a venture that finally treated “these people that really care about the music with the utmost respect.”

Marketing success stories are based on the customer as the hero and the brand as the guide. Your marketing should always be positioned to answer your target market’s biggest question: How does this help me?

Jay-Z made himself and his “artist-owners” the heroes. He never once mentioned what the benefit was to his potential customer. What sets Tidal apart other than more money for artists who are already making big bucks?

As it turns out, nothing. Tidal is a sinking ship, and the captain himself is ready to jump. Just today, users discovered most of Jay-Z’s previously restricted catalog of music is back on Apple’s streaming service.

When you stop losing sleep over the success of your business and start losing sleep over how to help your customer succeed, your business will grow by leaps and bounds.

You are Yoda. Your customer is Luke Skywalker.

Always behind you 1,000%,
Julia