This is the week that was: A social data explosion

As Olympic fever grips the nation, here at Earnest towers we have put down our Team GB flags to bring you a medley of content from across the web, with a breadth of variety that would make Danny Boyle proud.

It’s the B2B community at it’s best. This is the week that was.

Marketing wake up call of the week

We hear much talked about the empowered customer these days. The ease with which we can canvas the opinions of others online, compare vendors and access a veritable feast of information certainly means, as buyers, we have more power than ever. Doc Searls, as insightful as ever, tackled the subject in a new post for the Wall Street Journal. It’s a wake up call to marketers the world over – that consumers can no longer be herded like cattle, but need to be treated as individuals as the power is shifting. He heralds a new era of ‘Vendor Relationship Management’ where control will eventually be well and truly in the hands of the consumer. What’s more, Doc challenges the very language marketers use to talk about customers, as ‘targets’ that can be ‘acquired’, ‘controlled’ and ‘managed’.  Food for thought and well worth a read. Take a look here.

Social dominance of the week

We had the pleasure of stumbling across a fine Forrester paper this week entitled: Building Brands For The Connected World. The report builds on a survey of marketing leaders and seeks to evaluate how effectively organisations are creating ‘connected brands’ – essentially, brands that engage with people when they want, how they want and where they want. It maps out six steps for marketers to take to incorporate social marketing into their brand building strategies. Peppered with some useful statistics (such as the fact 76% of VP and C-level marketing professionals surveyed believe that social media is important to brand building), the report is a recommended read.

Data set of the week

Big data is all the rage these days. One key data set that businesses look at is social data – with nearly 90% of CMOs saying that social data has impacted at least some of their strategic decisions. Bazaarvoice this week released a report into social data, and how it is changing the way businesses talk and market to their customers. With a few infographics chucked in there for good measure. Take a look.

On which note – ‘I know what you did 5 minutes ago’ is a great video that shows off the power of social data. Pretty scary stuff!

Creative enjoyment of the week

We read a lot of blogs here at Earnest but one of our favourites is ffffound - a blog that brings y0u all the quirkiest pieces of creative from around the world in one place. Some absolutely beautiful images to browse at your leisure with a nice cup of coffee. As random as the Olympic Opening Ceremony, but very interesting if you’re that way inclined.

And potential disaster of the week

Think big brand. Think creative. Think innovative. Most people would think Apple. Its iconic designs have changed the face of the technology market, made its execs rich beyond their wildest dreams and made the brand an international powerhouse. This week, however, The Atlantic spotted a bit of a slip up from Apple – and in particular, its latest ads to come out of the US. Check them out. Our view? More of a C+ than a fail – could do better. Maybe they were too busy thinking about the iPhone 5….

Video of the week

Presenting facts and stats as part of a story, in a clear and concise way, is one of the best ways to get a brand message across. One topic that isn’t short of some eye popping stats is mobile marketing. This week our chosen video comes from InMobi, a leading mobile advertising network that really knows its stuff about what is going on out there in the world of mobile (And OK, yes, we did put it together for them!).

Infographic of the week

Content, budgets and leads are all important for B2B marketers. The B2B barometer was released recently and this infographic shows off some of the best stats from the report.

These are just some of the things we wanted to share with you this week, but as always we would love to hear your own favourites. Direct message us @earnestagency

That was the week that was. We hope that you had a good one.