IanSchafer.com

iMedia Connection on Me on Deep Focus on Social Media.

Take a moment to read an interview I did with iMedia Connection on Deep Focus, social media, innovation, and killer creative.

Here's a brief excerpt:

Harris: Building a community of fans is an important step for these entertainment campaigns, and is gaining ground in other business sectors. It's a natural fit to leverage existing communities that support a particular brand, but what suggestions do you have for starting from scratch?

Schafer: When building a community from scratch, perhaps the most important thing you can do involves asking "why." For example, you should be able to answer the basic question of "why are you building this community in the first place?" You should have a clear understanding of the goals you aim to achieve by connecting to your consumers -- and connecting them to each other. These could very well be different than your typical business goals. Rather, they may be goals that don't result directly in attributable sales but, rather, in the alignment of a brand with, and focus of a community on, a particular cause or lifestyle inherent to the brand.

The other "why" question that should be asked is "why would I join this community?" What does the consumer stand to gain by being an active (or even a passive) member of this community? What appropriate incentives exist for participants? You can prepare for this question by doing the appropriate market research before embarking on a social media "hunch."

From a technology and strategy perspective, it is also important to embark upon a discovery process to identify your development and distribution partners, who may very well be one in the same. Should you roll-your-own social network? Should you build on a modular platform? Should you build a community within an already existing social networking property? An understanding of your goals, your consumers and their behaviors and of your brand's personality will make finding the answers to these questions an easier task.

Read the whole shabang by clicking here.

Vote For the Three Most Exciting Panels at SXSW 2009!

Apologies for the lack of posts lately...it's been busy, and I have a day job.

But here's your chance to hear more from me.

I'm currently up for vote for 3 speaking sessions at 2009's SXSW in Austin, TX.

Please take a moment to register and vote at the links below. It will only take a minute, and you'll be provided with hours of enjoyment. What a payoff.

Baseball Stats: The Key To Measuring Online Engagement

Statistics have always played an important role in summarizing baseball performance and evaluating players in the sport. Deep Focus founder and CEO Ian Schafer borrows this line of thinking in addressing what's been the top question this year - how to measure online engagement beyond the click? Ian will unveil a proprietary solution that borrows some thinking from the sport of baseball. Intrigued? You should be!

EA Dead Space - A Transmedia Marketing Case Study

This in-depth case-study reveals the method and the madness behind Electronic Arts use of cross platform marketing to communicate separate, self-contained elements of the much anticipated release of their first survival horror game, Dead Space. For this release, EA packaged a comic book, a prequel DVD, and an online experience in order to build, create, and cultivate an audience around the Dead Space brand prior to the official “street date” launch.

Your Brand is Not My Friend

Featuring Alan Wolk, Brian Morrissey, Michael Lebowitz, Noah Brier, Christina Kerley, and me, Ian Schafer

People generally don’t want to hear from brands on Facebook and MySpace. The whole appeal of social media sites is their independence from corporate advertisers. People like the fact that they can say whatever they want to other people without any interference from anyone or anything that seems "official."

CNN ’ s Sanchez Twitters.

As seen on CNN, Rick Sanchez twitters. You go, Rick.

Is Twitter meeting mass media? Is it on its way to becoming a household word? Am I blogging too much about Twitter? Do these pants make my...aw, whatever.

Follow Rick here!

UPDATE: Even with an on-air callout, only 140 followers so far. Will the viewers bring the noise?

Ask Not If Twitter Is Right For Your Brand, But If Your Brand Is Right For Twitter.

How do companies use Twitter you ask?

Well, they use it in a variety of ways. To deliver news, to have a conversation with its customers, to mine conversations others are having.

Or, to just remind folks that are interested, that it's got a personality -- and a good one.

Marvel Comics, creators of X-Men, Iron Man, Spiderman, and Thor, currently tweets at http://www.twitter.com/marvel. For those that follow them, they might hear things like:

You might notice the tweet that references me, @ischafer.

All I did to warrant that was tweet this:

And straight from Marvel's mouth, they love and celebrate their fans. Even ones that talk about them passing.

How can you not love a brand like that.

And social tools like Twitter allow brands that are capable of being like that to realize their potential.

Does your brand have the potential to make someone want to follow your every move? You should ask that of yourself every morning. And if the answer is 'no', spend more time fixing it, and less pretending that it's something it isn't.

BTW, the correct stance is that your brand should be right for Twitter. Will you be the one that makes that happen?