In reading “The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How To Use Social Media, Blogs, News Releases, Online Video, and Viral Marketing To Reach Buyer Directly”, the author David Meerman Scott, made severely valid points ranging from the importance of media to the necessity of monitoring the web and blogosphere for viral eruptions. From the beginning of the book, he clarified that mainstream media is still an important component in the world today. I agree with this argument because no matter how media is displayed, translated, and communicated, without the media itself, the methods of communication would be useless. Scott also discussed the difference between an “online” and “offline” world. Before the Internet, we all lived in an offline world, bits of news came out daily not every second via Twitter and marketing and PR departments were separate. It would take weeks for a video to become the then use of the word viral. This is certainly no longer the case and I have ample evidence to prove it. When people ask me what I do for the Texas Rangers, I enjoy giving them a detailed explanation. The fact is that my work is spread out over a couple of different departments – two of which are marketing and PR. For example, if I attend an event with players or alumni, I’ll usually shoot video, photos, and record interviews on location. Then, I’ll go back to the office to write a story for the website. I’ll also put up video clips and photos online for access by media members across the country that weren’t in attendance. Usually the footage I shoot is then re-purposed later that night or in a future game broadcast. So, based on my experiences, I completely agree with Scott’s assessment.
He also delves into the definition of social media. Most people think of social media as Facebook and Twitter, but they don’t realize that those applications fall under the smaller umbrella of social networking. As far as social media is concerned, social networking, blogs, video and photo sharing, chat rooms and message boards, listservs, wikis and social bookmarking sites all fall under social media. The main draw to social media is that it acts as a method for individuals to share ideas, reviews of products, common interests, etc. The difference from mainstream media is that I can hop onto a computer and recommend a product to a friend or share a video of my girlfriend’s puppet, Bleeckie, where my local ABC affiliate may not run the video or have the product on their website.
Viral media can be loosely defined as content that spreads through the Internet quickly. Musicians such as OK Go have become famous through their viral videos posted to video giant YouTube. Scott mentions that bands can easily create a profile on MySpace or a podcast on iTunes and reach a worldwide audience whereas in the past if the band wasn’t signed to a major record label, it was near impossible to have a large scale album release and success. In the world of viral videos, there is potential for a video – even yours – to hit virally out of nowhere –just ask “Friday” singer Rebecca Black. (more on this later in the semester)
Scott discusses that since there is the possibility, it is smart to monitor the blogosphere for viral eruptions. I couldn’t agree more, and therefore, I use Google Alerts to monitor such potential. Every time my sports and entertainment multimedia site, Hands on Dallas, is mentioned on Google, I get an e-mail. This is important to see how far your digital footprint reaches as well as checking to see who is watching your videos.
Overall, Scott raises and addresses several valid points in his book on the new rules of marketing and public relations. I think that the points he makes are very much on tap with my viewpoints and the masses. I’d recommend this book if you are looking to learn more about the digital world that we live in.
Sidenote: Other words that can be used in place of the word ‘viral’ are ‘buzz’, and ‘word-of-mouse’ marketing
Alan, you do a nice job of summarizing Scott’s book. However, I’d like to challenge your (or Scott’s?) assertion that “Other words that can be used in place of the word ‘viral’ are ‘buzz’, and ‘word-of-mouse’ marketing.” What does each term signify that is unique? This might also be a good time to ask you to think through “viral” vs. “popular.”
Well, the word viral in my opinion is something that means “easily spreadable”. This definition has been formed due to my reading of the essay Jenkins wrote on spreadable media. Buzz seems to be a flashy word to get someone’s attention not necessary to share it. I think it goes both ways with viral where buzz is one way. Viral is watch and share, while buzz is watch. Word of mouth marketing is spreading the content by word-of-mouth which can take place digitally but can’t be interchanged with the word viral. They are two different things. It’d be like comparing baseballs and basketballs – both are sports balls but that’s about it.