I’ll give you a hint… it’s NOISE.

Wanna cut through the clutter? Find out how in the video…or skip ahead and sign up for my FREE Coffee & Convo calls that begin this Monday morning. Yes, start your week off right and wrap your head around your social plan for the week.

So, will you join me?

Filed under: Advice, blog, blogging, brand, Coaching, Facebook, foursquare, marketing, social media, Social Networks, Twitter, youtube

I’m even more proud of the fact that Social Deviants, while participating in some marketing and social media “best practices,” never set out to honor them. Social Deviants was founded on the idea of being deviant with social media. And, it was founded for the deviants out there who don’t really get or play by the so-called social media and marketing “rules.” It was founded for people, not businesses, who want to reach others, and who want to do it with unbridled passion. It’s for people who know that their products or services can help others, and they make no apologies for wanting to increase their lives and the lives of others by selling, acting and thinking forward.

Social Deviants (SD) didn’t have a Facebook page until very recently. GASP! It’s true. SD didn’t want to be anywhere it couldn’t be. Make sense? While I grabbed a SD Twitter profile, I still tweet from my personal account because that’s where I am the most. The blog was the center of the Social Deviants universe for more than a year, and it still is really, because it was the right thing for the brand at the time.

However, SD is branching out now. I even added a Tumblr blog called Deviant Behavior to our mix of offerings. I offer something different/deviant over there. I profile people (real and imagined) who lead or had lead deviant lives — Mark Zuckerburg, Pamela Slim, Wonder Woman, Elizabeth Taylor, John Lennon, Princess Diana, Rosie the Riveter, Dorothy Parker, Betty Page and more. I try to make the connection between what made these figures important to what you can do in your life and business to leave your mark, as well.

My point is that in the online space, sometimes thinking differently isn’t enough. You have to think deviantly. Take your time. Be smart. Think of different ways to bring your brand to life on various networks. Make sure there’s an audience there for you to tap otherwise you’re just spinning your wheels; but definitely think of unique ways you can manifest your brand and connect with people in different locations without regurgitating the same information.

Filed under: Advice, blog, brand, Facebook, marketing, social media, Social Networks, Twitter

from Trendwatching.com

I had worked in marketing for almost a decade before I worked at a company with a vision and passion so compelling, so insightful, that it changed the way I saw marketing and communications forever. I worked for London-based Michaelides & Bednash, the first company to be named ‘Media Agency of the Year’ by both Campaign and Media Week in the same year; and built a track record of award-winning, innovative communications ideas for a wide range of clients from Channel4 to Unilever. Today, the work they pioneered in fusing strategy with ideas is a given.

One of the areas that had a great impact on how I perceive communications was in the area of trend hunting and harvesting. We, all the strategists, were sent out to hunt, experience, buy, observe and report on current and future trends. We subscribed to magazines, visited museums, watched films, listened to music, observed fashion, talked, shared, argued and imbibed drinks, food, knowledge and culture until learning from all of it became second nature as we experienced our everyday lives. Then we studied it. Why was something a trend? What was the behavior, the emotion that caused it to be so?

Knowing which trends will transcend the popular to become phenomenons, not only in fashion, music and entertainment, but in thought, economy and enterprise, among many others, is what will set you and your business apart from the pack. Tapping into a trend, and knowing WHY that trend is important to your audience means that you will not be a blink on the periphery of pop culture’s eye, but will beat at the heart of culture, becoming a part of it.

Alongside the outgrowth of trend spotting companies, there are also sites that don’t say they are trend hunters, but uncover the cool happening all around us every day. It’s these sites that soon reveal patterns to the trend hunting networks out there. Here are a few of my favorites that you should add to your arsenal:

Faith Popcorn’s Brain Reserve — Faith Popcorn is a person. Her Brain Reserve has been predicting trends for a loooooooong time.

Trendwatching.com — “One of the world’s leading trend firms, trendwatching.com scans the globe for emerging consumer trends.”

Springwise — Sister brand of Trendwatching.com. “Helped by a network of 8,000 spotters, Springwise editors scan the globe for smart new business ideas, delivering instant inspiration to entrepreneurial minds.”

Coolhunting — A global team of editors and contributors sift through innovations in design, technology, art and culture to create an inspirational and award-winning publication

TrendHunter Magazine — They claim to have “the most updated, largest collection of cutting edge ideas.”

mental_floss — “Where knowledge junkies get their fix”

Flavorpill — Currently in seven cities worldwide (mine is set to my former hometown, Brooklyn), it’s a culture guide for events and news.

Flavorwire — From the Flavorpill team comes “Cultural News and Critique” covering art, books, film and more.

Daily Candy — “a handpicked selection of all that’s fun, fashionable, food related, and culturally stimulating in the city you’re fixated on (and all over the Web).”

Thrillist — the manly version of Daily Candy. it “finds the best of what’s new in your ‘hood and on the web.”

Urban Daddy — another manly daily email devoted to “keeping you in the know.”

Urban Baby — With a focus on New York or San Francisco, it’s a great way for urban parents to stay connected to each other and local happenings in those cities. Reveals trends in clothing, entertainment, parenting and more.

Experience it. Get inspired. Create something useful. Share that with your audience.

Filed under: Advertising, brand, marketing

This could have just as easily been a little girl twirling around and around in her living room trying to turn into Wonder Woman. What kid from Gen X on down hasn’t tried to use the force – not just pretend, but really be the superhero or villain with super powers?

In the very first Social Deviants post I wrote about Volkswagen’s Fun Theory project, back when we were on Blogger. How VW has always been able to tell me what the commercial is about without selling me anything has always impressed me. Car ads are brutal. It’s tough to do something different. You see a car taking rough terrain, carrying heavy loads, slow-motion sliding through deserts or secured roadways while a narrator or celeb tries to seduce you by regurgitating jargon. Boooooo. We’ve seen that…thousands of times.

However, take the new VW ad “Black Beetle” and you see a black beetle with white racing stripes taking curves around a centipede and taking jumps off of logs. While I don’t think it’s as good as “The Force,” it’s clever, different.

But back to “The Force.” This ad taps into something that started as pop culture, but is now iconic, and lets you know that the new Passat can work a little magic of its own. So the challenge to you is to find ways that you can not only tap pop culture, but get beneath it to find out why something becomes iconic. What’s the emotional connection it makes? What does it mean for your audience? Then you, too, can work a little magic. Light saber not included.

Filed under: Advertising, Advice, brand, marketing, social media