What do you want from the web?

I'm preparing training material for a client: "How your Web Presence Can Help You Build a Stronger Profile".
The point of view I am taking is what it really means when your audience can do everything your organization can do online. Think about it: individuals possess the power of the printing press without the cost of printing and distribution. All they need to figure out is how to create content and attract audiences. That of course, is the hard part.


And yet, much of what goes online leaves me with a back to the future sort of feeling.

• Facebook: Social (Connecting and sharing with your friends)
• Youtube: TV (Broadcast yourself)
• Flickr: Photo journalism (The eyes of the world)
• Twitter: News (What’s happening?)
• Podcasting: Radio (video) by everyone

That's why the training program will focus on providing an understandable thought framework, and then demystify some of the voodoo - like SEO, UXD (yes, that means user experience design) - to empower my client to think smart and make good decisions as they strengthen their web presence, purposefully and without running off in all directions.

My basic message is that online marketing is about connecting with the right people where they are in ways that are meaningful to them. The enabling aspects are tried and true concepts:

Online channels are about dialogue and conversation; they work because of relevance to the audience and timeliness; and, most difficult of all in this engineered world they demand authenticity.

Who is the audience?

My friend Richard recently posted this on his Facebook page with a link to the You Tube video of a Snickers commercial: I'm a twix man myself, but full marks to the creative team behind this one. However, watching it again, I'm not entirely sure who the target demographic is. Is it college aged men (who likely have no idea who Aretha and Liza are), or is it boomers (who know who the Divas are and are nolstalgic for their carefree road trip undergraduate years note that the car is a late '80s era Volvo)... or is it Gen Xers like me who fall in between, repost the ad, ponder its significance online and... oh shit the bastards nailed me again!!! Just when I thought I was impervious to even their best efforts, those sneaky marketers co-opt me again and make me an accomplice.

So, who exactly is the audience? And, is it the pinnacle of marketing when people tweet, retweet, blog and otherwise post about your commercial or product? Not if the reason people are talking about it because they have no idea who it is for. If the intention of the marketers was to throw in so many different cultural references that people talk about it because they are confused, the exercise has failed. Do we relate to the references? Does the commercial inspire us to buy the product or interact with the brand?

I'm one of those people who "isn't myself when I'm hungry" - I get it. But the next time I'm bordering on a diva moment because of hunger, am I going to reach for a Snickers? Not likely.