We're Drowning in Data Overload

We are bombarded with messaging at every turn of the head. Commercials, billboards, bus signs, advertising, direct mail, inbox spam, social media spam, sponsor messages, packaging inserts, store displays...we can't get away from it. Most of it is hit and miss advertising -- meaningless and wasteful spending or effort to reach the masses instead of narrowing the message to the specific target demographic.

Given that there are more platforms available for the marketing assault, it is time to stop and figure out why you are really sending that tweet, posting that Pinterest board, or adding a corporate page on Facebook.

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

Murray Izenwasser is a respected social media strategist who says digital media isn't just a collection of venues to post and sell your stuff. It's a shift in how we relate to one another. For example, many businesses operate from home offices and will book client meetings at a coffee shop or rent a room that hosts audio-visual tools. At this meeting, the business person can access a document on his laptop, while his client can view it at the same time on his tablet, and several parties in other cities can also access the same document at the same time -- from a smartphone in their car. The setup of this meeting may have come from an email invite, Facebook event post or direct message, a tweet-up, or Google Chat. The participants in the other cities could be connected via Skype or Google Hangout or any other web conferencing platform.

These tools have brought the world right into our fingertips.

It's easy to get caught up in throwing up content and finding creative ways to attract followers, but Murray suggests we take a step back and know WHAT we want to achieve. In business, the end goal is revenue, which can be in the form of email capture or some other goal that ultimately ends up in a quest for dollars.

He says it is about three ingredients. Period.

1. Activity
2. Engagement
3. Conversion

No activity brings you any engagement thus no conversion.

I encourage you to watch this Spreecast and learn more from Murray. He'll teach you what to do and what not to do. Sound advice if you're just starting out, and great nuggets for those who have been active for years.

Presentation Helps, But Connections Are Everything

I did something I don't normally do on a Sunday morning, I attended a real church service at the Victory Outreach in West Phoenix.

Most of the time, and perhaps it's negative influence of religion in politics and media, and that most services I've attended in Alberta, Canada--whether it was a Sunday service, funeral or wedding, I was not inspired by a sermon. 

You could call me Christian, but I really don't have a denomination. My thought is that God lives inside of our hearts, not a building.

Today, I saw a building -- not a traditional stand-alone church -- but a corner of an industrial building that housed the most uplifting service I had ever experienced. Don't let the outside fool you. The inside was staged professionally with all the trimmings technology can provide. 

The gospel choir was culled from audience members, not robed singers in the background.

Latinos and African Americans made up 95% of the congregation, mixed in ages.

The messages connected because many doing the preaching had lived the same life as some of their audience. For some reason, for me, that made the sermon carry more weight.  

"God did not design you to fit in, He designed you to stand out. You were not an accident. You were created for a purpose." "Do you ever feel like no one understands you?"

Preaching is an art form. It is about presentation, but it is more than that. The preacher interprets a passage in the Bible and finds a real-life example to hone the message. How that is presented is the difference between the audience "getting it" or falling asleep in the pews.

Try and sleep to this guy. He's pretty inspiring.