MC Hammer and his 4 rules of social media

I didn’t go to the Sydney Social Media Club function last night where MC Hammer was talking about social media. I can’t say whether it was insightful enough so I recruited Di Chua, an amazing up and coming Social Media Strategist at DDB Radar to write a guest post for me. Helps she’s also a huuuuge Hammertime Fan. Take it away Di….

Di Chua and Clare Anderson with MC Hammer at Sydney Social Media Club

It was a packed house at UTS for the Social Media Club lecture where MC Hammer spoke about his social media experiences. He’s the 14^th most influential Twitterer (according to WeFollow) with more than 1.5 million followers. I love MC Hammer and know all his dance steps… So while there were “intellectuals” in the room, I was just dying to scream “I LOVE YOUUuuu!”

Amazingly, he’s more than just a rap star, he actually knows his sh*t.  I have much respect for this guy because he’s in the fireline. I’m in the trenches myself (listening, planning conversational campaigns and managing communities) and it’s really not as easy as it seems. So BOO to all you Hammer haters out there… Do it first, and then judge!

 MC Hammer’s 4 rules for Brands in Social Media:

1)      “Never let someone else tell your story”

- Ties in with authenticity and transparency

- connecting with people humanises your brand

2)      “Be at the center of the flow of information”

- be a “super geek”- you have to touch it, feel it, experience it. He has loads of  smart phones and screens

 - listen and monitor conversations (he even has a screen in his bathroom!)

3) “Perception is more valuable than reality”

- So make sure you manage it

- stay ahead of the story through Rule #2

 4) “If you’re not connected, what are you hiding from as a brand? “

- Don’t run, Engage!

- again transparency is key, people will be suspicious if you’re not open

And finally, he said one must establish a culture in your community. So if someone is being negative and not adding value to your experience then block them. “If you negative, I block you!

The question of the night-

Warlach: Dear MC Hammer, can you give me any advice as to what I can and can’t touch?

Mc Hammer:  “What you can’t you touch? The concept of Hammertime!”

Some interesting learnings here from MC Hammer, although they have to be couched by the fact that often with celebrities they have ‘follow factor’ built in to their handles by virtue of who they are. So applying the same principals to a brand trying to leverage social media needs to be taken with a grain of salt somewhat in my view.

The Social Media Revolution

This is a well put together video by the guys at Socialnomics basically showing the explosion of social media usage. One stat that blew me away was that if Facebook was a country, it would be the world’s 4th largest in terms of population…scary. I’m still in Gareth kay’s (from Goodby’s) corner, as i believe the way brands can leverage this new form of particpative consumer behaviour is by creating ’social ideas’ youth want to be part.  This video ends with some good tips around companies needing to act like ‘party planners’ ‘aggregators’ and ‘content providers’ in order to engage people in this space. It all comes down to the era of PARTICIPATION.

Iranian youth uprising via social media… GREEN REVOLUTION

Brands can learn alot from about sparking movements from political uprisings. One is going on right now in Iran post the dodgy elections over there as hundreds of thousands of Iranian youth hit the streets in protest, powered by the interconnectivity of Facebook and Twitter. Irans draconian internet filtering is no match for the 33% of Iranians between the ages of 15 and 29 who are interconnected and politicised by virtual social networks. It’s been nicknamed the ‘Green Revolution’ as Hussein Mousavi’s ( opposition leader) supporters have adopted the colour green for their movement ( a strong Islamic colour).

The mobilising power of Facebook and Twitter, combined with the face to face solidarity of the gatherings and protests is creating a frenzy of conversations and actions in Iran seeking a recount of the votes. In the wake of the contested election the Iranian state has harnessed every last iota of its coercive power to disrupt communications and prevent organised protests. Iran has more blogs per capita than any other country so it will be interesting to see what happens when the Iranian government ‘turns off’ the internet and shuts down the mobile phone towers. Apparently Moussavi is now encouraging youth to ‘connect’ via landlines, one public utility the government won’t shut down. It is yet to be seen if this youth uprising will  work in achieving their goal.

The key things brands can learn

Iranian youth using twitter and Facebook to mobilise...the 'Green Revolution'

 for this type of uprising led by digital media, is that youth mobilise around the promise of CHANGE, just like American youth mobilised in huge numbers around Obama in 2008. Show how you can  change the status quo and people will follow you.

Melbourne ‘Shuffle’ infiltrating Sydney youth culture

I’m a Sydney boy but I have to say that every time I visit Melbourne I see new and interesting reference points for youth culture. The Melbourne Shuffle is a style of street dancing been around since the 80s in underground subcultures, but has picked up in the past 2-3 years. This youtube click has almost 8million views, pretty cool for a style of dance that 90% of Aussies have never heard of. Co-incidentally a digital strategist Mark Pollard twittered about seeing ’shufflers’ in Sydney and I ended up seeing the same crew on Sunday afternoon down near Darling Harbour. I’m surprised no streetwear brand has aligned itself with the ’shuffle’ dance style, could be a good opportunity for real youth traction.