More than Numbers

The Phone

Just finished watching the premier episode of "The Phone" on MTV. The show is the American version of a Dutch reality tv show that basically drops its contestants in the middle of situations reminiscent of an action movie. This version was prouced by Justin Timberlake. Although that's not the reason I watched it, I will admit that I'm sure this will become a guilty pleasure of mine.

I have to give them props for their interactive campaign on facebook. By becoming a fan of "the phone," members are entered in weekly contests. What makes this cooler is that you are asked trivia questions through your cell phone, which makes fans really feel like they are part of the show. The show premiered but a few hours ago and the community is already up to 19,000 members. It's always great to see marketing through social media used in the right way.

Try to keep it simple

In today's world of social media, it is really easy to go overboard with accounts to various web services. I don't think I could even list all of the websites I have accounts with right now. But I could name the handful that I frequently use.

Thinking about this, I wonder if people / brands that try to go overboard by being on every "web 2.0" service out there actually end up shooting themselves in the foot. Does quantity trump quality? i think the opposite to be the case. Quality content on fewer social services is definitely better than mediocre or forgotten content on every social service. If quantity is more important, then I'd argue you're straddling the line of SPAM.

If your content is actual quality, your friends or audience will consume it. Don't be paranoid and feel like you need to broadcast duplicate content everywhere. That is what RSS is for, after all.

I can't admit that I haven't been guilty of this in the past as well. It's easy to get carried away.