Earlier this year, we announced that we would issue a monthly cS Award to honor quality work by designers and writers in the crowdSPRING community.
December cS Award
This month we want to celebrate the newcomers to crowdSPRING and will give a special cS award to a creative who joined our community in 2011!
So get your computer warmed up and submit your very best work this month; the award will go to the Creative who joined the site in 2011, and receives the highest average buyer score for the month. To be eligible, you must compete in at least 5 projects and submit at least 10 entries for the month.
Good luck everyone - we’re looking forward to seeing your entries!
A few years ago, Erik Qualman, the author of Socialnomics, produced a popular video highlighting the impressive facts and figures about the growing popularity of social media.
Erik updated that video in 2010 and has just released a third update (below) which shows the impressive dominance of social media across the world.
Some examples mentioned in the video:
Over 50% of the world’s population is under 30 years old
Facebook would be the third largest country in the world (by population)
eReaders have surpassed traditional book sales
Social gamers will buy $6 billion of virtual goods by 2013
If Wikipedia were made into a book, it would be 2.25 million pages long.
Here’s the video with many more fascinating facts and figures:
Since my announcement yesterday, we’ve gotten a flood of resumes, emails, and tweets about the crowdSPRING Community Manager position.
Several people have come to me and asked about the job description, saying “But Angeline, a snazzy resume and a witty email alone probably won’t get me this job? You want to see how well I can present myself and make you love me from afar? What does it all mean?” So, our brilliant Pete suggested that I help you all out, because isn’t that what a community is truly about? Learning, sharing, and growing with each other? So, to all of you crowdSPRING Community Manager hopefuls, here is the tale of one fair maiden and seven strapping lads. Sit around the campfire, ’cause it’s story time, and this one might actually help you out.
The 5 Crucial Components to Becoming Part of the crowdSPRING Crew:
1. Tone – One of the biggest talking points around crowdSPRING is the tone of the copy throughout the site + our brand. We’re fun! Warm and fuzzy! Sorta cheeky! And seriously awesome! The Community Manager is in charge of interacting with people on and off-site, writing blog posts, and sometimes crafting copy to help out with PR / Marketing efforts. There are many people with good grammar and writing skills. However, it is crucial that you are able to be a great professional writer who can also nail the tone of our company. There is a super fine line between cheeky and annoying. If you can walk the right side of the line, then crowdSPRING wants you.
2. Personality – I can tell you right now that these guys did not hire me for my extensive qualifications in community management or social media. Before working here, I never looked at Mashable or Tech Crunch. I never went to a Tweetup. But I had developed and executed a viral marketing campaign for a band which landed them some serious exposure, managed street teams, worked at a ticketing startup, and dealt well with being in confined spaces with only males (try a tour bus with 12 of them, to be precise). The crew isn’t just looking for the typical social media marketer. They are looking for someone with that spark and passion for crowdSPRING – someone who understands the company and who they are as an organization and as individuals. We eat lunch together and will talk for hours over foreign policy, the Wall Street bailout, Wes Anderson films, and whether or not The Beatles were so famous because of their music or their marketing. We went to Lollapalooza together. We Photoshop each others’ heads on celebrities. You better be ready to bring some serious pasting + blending skills!
3. Motivation – Self-starters need apply. If you like practically being your own boss, coming up with your own duties, and developing great ideas and implementing them, then this job is for you. A huge part of this position is defining what your daily tasks include and shaping the direction of our Community section and social media strategy. From day one, the only directions I’ve been given are to let as many people know about crowdSPRING as possible and to share, connect, and learn from others in the creative and tech fields. It’s up to you to make the most out of the freedom given to you. Sometimes there are long hours. We stayed past 11pm to test crowdSPRING Pro. Sometimes, customer service is a Saturday morning duty while making breakfast. But that’s okay, because we all believe in what we do.
4. Creativity – I know this should be obvious as crowdSPRING is the creative marketplace, but I cannot urge how important creativity is here. Whether it’s coming up with new word of mouth marketing ideas, functional elements for the site, or features for the blog, creativity is the key element that makes crowdSPRING exist. Sure, we are a startup, which automatically places us in the tech field. We love our iPhones, MacBooks, gizmos, and gadgets. But more than that, we love and appreciate innovation and thinking outside of the box. We applaud the “crazy ones” that come up with ideas that make our world better.
5. Proof – You really want this job? Go the extra mile to show your enthusiasm. What would you be doing as Community Manager? Do some form of it already, and show the crew! After applying for this position, I researched the company and social media in general. I visited the site daily, read the blogs, checked up on projects, and wondered what I could do that would set me apart from the inevitable throngs of resumes and cover letters that they would receive. Finally, it came in the form of a featured project with the band Phantom Planet on the front page. My current roommate was on tour with them at the time, and as luck would have it, they were playing in Los Angeles (where I lived) the next day. Determined to be crowdSPRING’s Community Manager, I grabbed my little handheld camera and asked Alex to give me a recommendation. We love being amused and impressed. So please, do it!
Click here to apply for the Community Manager position.
Ants are fascinating insects. E.O. Wilson and Bert Hölldobler, in their 1991 Pulitzer Winning book The Ants, described an ant colony as a superogranism – a vast social network. The ants in the colony communicate with each other by following chemical trails left by other ants.
What do ants have to do with social networks on the Web?
Every day, hundreds of new articles are written about ways that businesses and individuals can leverage Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, and other social networks. There’s a common theme to most of these articles – follow “best practices”, do what the other successful companies are doing – and you’ll succeed too.
Facebook is only one of many social networks, as the “Conversation Prism” graphic shows (below).
“The Conversation Prism” – a social media snapshot by Brian Solis
Here’s what puzzles me: many marketers assume that one-size-fits-all when marketing on social networks. The default strategy for Facebook: build widgets, start brand pages and fan groups. The strategy for Twitter: customer service. And of course, let’s not forget viral videos on YouTube – the holy grail for inexpensive viral marketing.
From one perspective, the strategy for success on social networks is not vastly different from the chemical trails that ants leave to guide other ants. In the online world, companies can leave invisible “trails” by connecting users with each other and by engaging users in a dialogue. But this perspective fundamentally ignores the fact that people aren’t “programmed” to follow such “chemical trails” in the same way that ants follow the chemical trail left by other ants.
I’m starting to question the one-size-fits-all mentality. Top ten lists of all types – top 10 ways to leverage Twitter, top 10 suggestions for Facebook fan pages, etc. – dominate the conversation these days. But for every individual or company that has successfully marketed on social networks, countless others fall flat on their faces – even when supported by vast marketing budgets and expensive consultants. Why?
Consider that outside of social networks, companies strive to develop unique identities. When companies compete in the same space – they work very hard to differentiate their offerings from their competitors. So why do these same companies behave like ants when it comes to social networks? Why do they assume that the formula for success on social networks is:
Widgets on MySpace + Fan and Product Pages on Facebook + viral videos on YouTube
There are vast opportunities on social networks. They don’t all revolve around widgets, fan pages and viral videos. If you’re developing strategies to market on social networks, consider how you can differentiate yourself from others, not just in form, but in substance. Bring something new to the conversation. Find a different way to engage your customers. Develop a unique voice. Challenge yourself and your consultants to build new “chemical trails” and not to merely recycle those left by others. Most importantly, don’t feel compelled to do something merely because others are doing it.
“The Conversation Prism” – a social media snapshot by Brian Solis
Last week, crowdSPRING’s Director of Marketing Pete Burgeson spoke at a forum sponsored by the Chicago Community Trust regarding how arts organizations can use new media to help promote awareness of their initiatives. The panel also included social media expert Brian Solis, Social Media Strategist for Tribune Interactive Dan Honigman, Metromix.com CEO Kara Walsh, & more.
About 300 people were in attendance, and it was nice to see the Chicago arts community so eager to embrace social media tactics. However, after digesting 4 hours of information, many attendees left wondering, “What do I do next?”
Social media is particularly beneficial for arts organizations, non-profits, and small businesses because it costs relatively little money, if anything. Combined with word of mouth marketing efforts and a solid product or service, these efforts have a lasting impact and help strengthen your organization’s brand and reputation. When executed correctly, the return on investment for time spent building relationships, creating a community, and connecting with like-minded individuals can be huge. Social media can absolutely increase interest in your organization or lead to growth in sales.
Take a look at Brian Solis’ conversation prism, and it’s easy to see how someone new to social media strategies may feel overwhelmed, even when armed with great tools and tactics. Starting your effort is half the battle, but where to begin is the true question. But don’t be discouraged – there’s nothing new or groundbreaking about social media, only the channels we are given to see what our customers / users think and to share resources with others.
I’ve narrowed down the scope of social media significantly in order to create a starting point for organizations beginning their first venture into social media. I’ve created this guide with the arts in mind, but it can definitely be applied to any organization looking to enter the realm of social media.
So, if you’re sitting there looking at Twitter and wondering what use the service could possibly have besides letting everyone know what you ate for breakfast, then read on! If you have Tweetdeck running while you’re checking Mashable and updating your Friendfeed status, then just admire the pretty colors in the Conversation Prism, move along + come back for the next post…(Don’t worry, I still love you!)
crowdSPRING is the world's #1 marketplace for entrepreneurs, small businesses, nonprofits and agencies who need custom logo design, web design, a new company name or other writing and design services. Over 110,000 designers and writers work on crowdSPRING. We are trusted by more than 27,000 happy clients around the world.
