Photo Credit: Anton Diaz

Hi Social Media ReInvention Community. Sorry for not publishing and keeping in touch over the last few months. Some personal hiccups derailed and distracted me. Writing about these share-worthy links and sharing my take on why you’ll find them valuable is part of the process to get myself on track. 

Thanks for your patience and support. Enjoy these links during your Sunday Brunch:

1. The New York Times: Farhad Manjoo’s Apple Watch Reviews: Apple Watch Review — Bliss, but Only after a Steep Learning Curve and Dear Diary: My Week Wearing an Apple Watch: It’s no surprise Apple asked Farhad Manjoo asked to test drive the Apple Watch as part of its product launch strategy. Farhad and his New York Times articles are HUGE influencers in the technology community. 96,500 Twitter followers can’t be wrong. 

Read both articles. His Apple Watch Review serves as the Executive Summary. The “Dear Diary” Account delivers his comprehensive report. If you’re a tech geek (like me), read Farhad’s seven-day recollections. Pure Gold.

And, I’m not saying this because there’s a $17,000 Apple Watch available for purchase.

He shares his Day 1 – Day 3 frustrations to learn and slog through the Apple Watch’s complexity (rather un-Apple-like) to the Day 5 Eureka Moment. He also touches upon the new Apple technologies: Force Touch, Taptic, and Glances are also explained. All of the above break new ground for this category.

My favorite parts of Farhad’s review focus on his thoughts around why the Apple Watch may achieve what Google Glass could not: social acceptability. Some of these key phrases from Farhad’s review explain why the Apple Watch’s design for subtlety may not experience the Google Glass Stigma or Glass-Hole Backlash:

“handsomely elegant without being flashy”

“you’ll forget its there until you notice it”

“only a handful of people asked what it was”

This understated elegance without the conspicuous consumption guilt contains the luxury goods marketing fingerprints and influence of Angela Ahrendts’ from her time as Burberry CEO.

After re-reading these articles, I believe the Apple Watch represents a major bet by the company to convince both Apple believers and non-believers on the long term benefits inherent in The Apple’s Ecosystem. Why?

• The Apple Watch must be paired with an Apple iPhone
• Your iPhone tethers your Apple Watch to The Internet
• The consumer programs all significant Apple Watch functionality via his/her iPhone

2. recode.net: The Social Media Megaphone Every Brand Forgets. Cory Edwards (Adobe’s Head of Adobe’s Social Business Center of Excellence) wrote this article about brand management’s lost opportunity: Employee Advocacy. Brands and companies frequently overlook and underrate this marketing tactic. Cory quotes statistics from an Altimeter Group study stating only 41% of brands have an employee advocacy strategy.

He describes how employee advocates can amplify a brand’s reach via employees’ participation in personal, social media channels. Employee advocacy scales marketing for companies of all sizes (from early stage startup to Fortune 500).

Check out Cory’s article (with its many helpful links):

• Driving Employee Engagement and Advocacy: See Altimeter’s research defining Employee Engagement and Advocacy

• Powering Content Curation, Publishing, and Personal Brands (in a Corporate Setting): See this description of LinkedIn’s Elevate Program

• Delivering Effective Social Media Training and Participation (also in a Corporate Setting):Learn about Adobe’s Employee Social Shift Training

3. The Wall Street Journal: Google Gives Boost to Mobile Friendly Sites and recode.net: After Prepping Publishers, ‘Mobilegeddon’ Search Tweak. I love how Rolfe Winkler (WSJ) and Mark Bergen (recode) simply explain the business implications and drivers behind Google’s latest search algorithm update:

• Mobile optimization of your website matters now more than ever (websites just aren’t for desktops anymore). Consumers spend more time with their smartphones than their desktops.

• Facebook and Facebook Atlas sprinted ahead of Google in understanding the “customer journey.” Consumers research and arrive at a purchasing decision using multiple computing platforms (e.g., smartphone, tablet, desktop). Atlas is Facebook’s advertising solution so brands can understand and measure that virtual buying process.

Your Turn

Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear from you. I’m here to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE.

Comments are open. So let’er rip!

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