Have you ever found yourself in a meeting wishing some of the people would take their ideas and go back to their desks? I run a digital creative and social media agency, and I like to think that I take an all-inclusive approach to many of the marketing, creative and business decisions we make within our own company. That’s going to end today.

Social media has taught us that everyone has a voice and many brands, businesses and startups are encouraged to empower their employees to share in the company’s grand vision, participate in defining the voice of the company, create content and even act as the companies’ ambassadors.

Here are 5 reasons you don’t want to invite everyone to the party:

1. CREATIVE CHEMISTRY CAN KILL

The wrong mix in a creative meeting can kill that meeting. In a situation where ideas are flying, an errant look of disapproval or a quick interruption can shoot a fledgling idea right out of the air, and I’ve seen it happen.

Look out for the naysayers as well! They believe they’re just pointing out potential flaws in new ideas, but what they’re really doing is casting themselves as the arbiters of good and bad before it’s really time for anyone to be making these kinds of judgements. Lock that guy in a room until the meeting’s over then show him what you have when the ideas are ready for scrutiny.

2. YOU SPEND VALUABLE ENERGY BEATING BACK THE BAD IDEAS

If you’re like me, you think there’s a place at the table for everyone’s ideas. I’m doing a 180 on that. Explaining to the group why this or that idea doesn’t fit takes energy and reduces focus. Regardless of the group you’ve assembled, there will always be some of this, but being selective about who you invite can limit the energy and focus spent on thinking through, debating and ultimately rejecting certain misguided ideas.

Plus, some people just have really sucky ideas.

3. YOU WASTE TIME IN MEETINGS

Listening to everyone takes time and attention away from the collective goal which should always be to solve a problem. I don’t mean a problem as in something bad, necessarily. I mean like a math problem, an equation that needs to be solved, like how do we reach new customers and make them care about this product or service?

4. THERE ARE DIFFERENT KINDS OF CREATIVITY

OK, there are different kinds of creativity. There’s business creativity and there’s strategic creativity and then there’s the people who can think up funny ideas, paint paintings, make music and invent stuff. Perhaps the most dangerous people  in the room are the ones who think they’re creative but really aren’t. These can often be the most vocal in the group and need to be uninvited fast.

5. EVERYONE HAS DIFFERENT AGENDAS

Your VP of Sales may not have the same immediate interests as your Social Media Manager. You may even have existing animosities between different team members. Some may have political reasons for shooting down others’ ideas. Some people may love speaking up with their ideas to show how active and committed they are to the success of the company regardless of whether their ideas are productive, constructive or even on topic. Others may not be very vocal and hang back, deferring to others.

The solution

Everyone on your team is smart in different ways. There’s a reason people gravitate to different jobs and different industries. There’s a reason why people like different foods and do different things. So be selective about who you invite to which meeting and stay focused on which problems you’re solving and who’s best suited to solving them.

I work with lots of startups and brands in the areas of creative digital marketing, PR and social media, and the biggest challenge for any startup is rising above the noise and grabbing that initial customer attention. Whether you’ve recently launched, are about to launch…

How do you go from zero to sixty? 

How do you use digital marketing and PR to interact with your consumer base when you don’t have a consumer base yet? 

How do you compete with other startups and brands that already have the jump on you in your space? 

How do you explain a brand new product or service and make people not only notice, but care and get involved?

Unless you’ve created something so unique, so earth shatteringly original and so needed by everyone that word spreads like magic, or your investment partners are so famous that their story carries yours, you’ll have to fight it out with everyone else. Many startups turn to social media marketing because of the seemingly low barrier to entry and low cost. While launching headstrong into social media can indeed be cheap, doing it effectively and producing results isn’t always so.

BIG BRANDS VS YOUR STARTUP

The most apparent difference between brands and startups is that brands already have lots of customers, many of whom are also fans. You don’t… yet. Brands also have name recognition, which plays a big part in both social media and PR as they fight for attention. You don’t. Nobody knows who you are… yet.

THE BIG SECRET

Social media is like a stream that leads to a river that leads to an ocean. Your startup, products and services, are still at the top of the stream. Some of your potential customers are in the river, and most of them are in the ocean. You need to get from the stream to the river as fast as you can before one of three things happens:

1. Your money dries up
2. Your competition passes you by
3. Your product or service becomes dated or irrelevant
4. You burn out and quit

The big secret is that you’re going to have to: 

The perfect branded video series combines elements of entertainment and the same addictive qualities that keep people coming back to watch their favorite TV series. The trick is to plan out how you’ll build a fan base, appeal to your audience, get your message across without unleashing a series of ads, let people find and share, and be consistent. You want to get consumers hooked, telling their friends and coming back for more. That’s where you begin to tap into the key metrics of reach and frequency and where the brand message begins to emerge.

1. Plan a viral marketing strategy
Long gone are the days when simply posting a video to YouTube was enough. Your viral marketing strategy should include a combination of paid and earned views.

Paid views are derived from:
• banner ads
• YouTube promoted videos
• Facebook ads
• in-game views
• paid blog posts that appear as content rather than ads

Earned views come from:
• social media sharing across Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn
• blog and publication outreach
• fans who voluntarily share the paid views

Each person that shares a paid view brings down the cost of that view by 50%. For example, if you pay for one million views and another million people share organically, you’ve cut your paid cost in half. So what are the things that will make them do that?

Social media is a powerful way to increase awareness of and interest in your app. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr and tactics like contests, giveaways and blog and publication outreach help you get your app out to people who otherwise wouldn’t know you exist. The key to social media marketing your app is determining who you’re trying to reach, what you want them to do for you, evaluating what’s working or not working and adjusting your approach. Get their attention, and make it super easy for them to download your app and share their thoughts with friends.

1. Use Twitter to Reach New Audiences

Twitter is an important platform for reaching new audiences. One quick tip is to look at your competition and see who’s following them. Safe bet they’re the people you want following you. Follow them, retweet them and interact. Get their attention. Make sure your Twitter bio has the info necessary for them to go download your app if they’re interested. Don’t make them work too hard trying to figure it out. Using social media tools like Social Oomph and HootSuite allows you to view analytics to measure your progress and adjust course. Analyze the metrics and see what’s causing spikes and dips. Do more of the things that are working and less of those that aren’t.

Consider quick giveaways as rewards for people who retweet or use certain hashtags that refer to your app. For example, offer a chance at winning an iPad Mini to everyone who retweets a certain message using the hashtag #MyApp.

2. Build Your App Community on Facebook

Facebook is a great social media platform for sharing content like videos, photos and links as well as keeping your fans up to speed on the latest and greatest improvements to your app. Go beyond just collecting “likes” and challenge app users to give you feedback and suggest improvements. Make them a part of your community and be a part of their communities. Address issues and share other types of information they may find useful or entertaining. Facebook is also ideal for contests, but since their terms of service require contests be run on third party apps, be sure you’re following the rules or your account could get suspended. More on contests below.

I recently talked with Jason DeLuca, Managing Director at Allscope Media, an independent mid-size ad agency that delivers fully integrated communication strategies, about the important relationship between creative and media buying. How do creative choices affect media buying decisions and conversely, how do media buying decision influence the creative process? We sat down for a quick Q&A.

From the big idea to campaign integration, to media  strategy, it’s all about developing the best creative concepts and making the best media choices to reach the right audiences with the right messages and calls to action. So, does amazing creative succeed without the right media strategy? Can great media save bad creative? Or working together, can they make any product or service successful?

David Murdico: Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Jason DeLuca: I always thought that the chicken came first, but after much contemplation I came to the same conclusion as Aristotle once did, that both the chicken and the egg have always existed together at the same time in harmony; much like the relationship between creative and media.

DM: What’s your background and what brought you to Allscope Media?

JD: I’ve spent the last 15+ years working closely with some of the worlds most iconic brands, helping them manage every aspect of their online media research, strategy, planning, buying, content integration, targeting, tracking, reporting, analysis, optimization and reconciliation needs.

What brought me to Allscope was the opportunity to marry my digital media expertise with a successful group of traditional media professionals to create a truly integrated media services offering.  Since traditional media accounts for such a big majority of all marketing dollars spent, it’s critical that we, the digital media mavericks, find creative ways of integrating with traditional media touch points.

Lots of people try to convince me that social media marketing isn’t about sales. It’s about building a community, interacting with people, showing the fun side of the brand, you know… being social and stuff. I really want to slap them in the forehead and ask why they’re even doing it then. Pull the plug. Stop wasting your resources on it.

Marketing is supposed to influence consumer behavior, but what happens when marketing becomes a two way conversation and the people who are in direct contact with consumers are not thinking like salespeople? The conversation keeps going and nobody buys anything. That’s really fun, but it won’t keep the business in business, which is an important part of business.

There are a million things we do every day that make us feel like we’ve worked hard and accomplished something. Social media is one of them. Today your social media team connected with lots of people, and you drove conversation and awareness. People commented and you commented back and all this activity can be measured, even.

What about those sales? Did anything get sold? That’s when the excuses start to fly.

1. BUT… SOCIAL MEDIA IS ONLY ABOUT RAISING AWARENESS, YOU KNOW… LIKE BILLBOARDS

The difference between a billboard and social media marketing is that if you talk to a billboard it can’t talk back. Billboards can’t have conversations, answer questions or talk you into doing stuff. They can make you aware of something, but then you have to go somewhere else to learn more… like a website, call a number, or Google it if its one of those movie billboards that’s supposed to make you make you curious about what it is when all you see is a date.

2. BUT… THE PRODUCT IS CRAP

So what? Lots are. Even turds get swarmed by flies. Your job is to sexy up that turd and gather up some flies. If it’s really that bad you shouldn’t have taken the job. Find the right audience and connect with them. Do your job

One of our Supercool Blog readers left the following comment on a recent post.

“I have been contacted by or contacted social media companies for 3 years. I have been a customer of 5 or 6 companies to help me with social media. I have yet to work with a social media marketing company who provides me with the results I am seeking. What questions should I ask of a social media company? The barriers to entry are easy to say, I am a social media company. How is a person to know the skill, knowledge, and competency of a social media company?”

So instead of a quick reply, here’s a full article to address his  comments and questions. You’re welcome.

Yes, there are a lot of flakes and posers out there but at the same time, social media encompasses a million different things. Not every social media company is good at, or has experience in, everything.

• Most social media companies, and really most marketing companies in general, will tell you they can do anything, regardless of whether or not they have experience doing the specific things you need. The simple reason for this is that just like you, they’re in business to make money and it kills them to turn you away. To your comment…

“I have yet to work with a social media marketing company who provides me with the results I am seeking”

First, are you being super clear about the results you’re seeking? The best way to do this is to start with your goals. What are you trying to achieve with social media? Don’t say “more likes and followers” or I will slap you right through the internet. I mean, how will social media contribute to your overall marketing and sales?

Next, specifically what do you need a social media company to do to help you reach reach those goals? What are the tactics and measurable actions that will help you get there?

• Do you have clearly defined goals and objectives and need a social media company to develop the strategy, plan, tactics, measurable actions and manage the execution?
• Do you need help defining your your goals and objectives and laying out what social media can do to get you there?
• If you already have a strategy, do you need the company to do specific tasks like set up and manage your social media channels, make videos, blog, share content, run contests, reach out to blogs, publications and influencers?

Once you’ve got that figured out, match up

No, not the dog… the kind that wears gloves and punches people in the face. My agency / production company Supercool Creative has cranked out comedy viral videos for some of the biggest brands and coolest startups around, and in the process I’ve observed the fickle relationship between videos and their fans.

I was trying to come up with what the ideal comedy video would be if it were a person, fighting its way up the YouTube charts, dodging fan comments, thumbs up, thumbs down and appropriately enough, it’s a boxer. Boxers aren’t typically associated with comedy, but what they do know is how to earn respect, keep moving, use the jab, play the rope a dope and deliver that unexpected, knockout punch.

1. COMEDY VIRAL VIDEOS HAVE TO EARN THE VIEWER’S RESPECT This all starts with the original concept, the script, the actors and finally the production. Above all, no matter how wacky , zany, over the top or understated the direction is, the brand has to own it. If the brand is insecure about what they’ve produced, the viewers will smell fear and as every boxing fan knows, fear leads to defeat.

Most viewers want to be entertained. They’d rather laugh than find fault. So give them something real, without a lot of marketing mixed in. Just make it really funny and then get behind it 100%.

2. COMEDY HAS TO KEEP MOVING Slow down and your viewers will click out. A couple of ways to do this is to keep the performance energy high and edit out anything that doesn’t either add information to the  story or make people laugh. Ideally, you’ll have taken this step during the writing process, but in post you’ll have another chance.

We’ve been seeing a steady trend towards increased public safety laws for some time now, including seat belts, motorcycle helmets, bicycle helmets and now… office helmets? State lawmakers are calling for a law that would require all employees who work in offices to wear helmets at all times to protect their heads against office accidents.

“The head is the most important part when it comes to office work,” asserted Representative Irene Camden in an interview with The Coolaid earlier this week. “Construction workers have to wear helmets all the time, and they don’t even need their heads,” she added.

Detractors, including most HR executives who see more paperwork heading their way, believe that a person’s skull is more than sufficient to protect their brains from even the most daunting office injuries, but following the credo of “better safe than sorry,” Camden says she’s pressing forward.

As you select which digital marketing approaches and tactics you’ll be including in your 2013 video game marketing campaigns, keep in mind that it’s not always which tactics you fit into your budget or the budget you spend, but how smart you are about how those budgets and tactics are used. A huge part of this relies on how you manage the social media strategy. Social media is what holds together and drives digital campaigns, and your attention here will determine how effective your campaigns are, and ultimately how many games you sell, which is what this is all  about in the first place, right?

1. MAKE YOUR FANS INTO ROCKSTARS
This is so important! As you grow your fan base leading up to the release of the game, create and look for opportunities to promote your fans. You expect them to share and promote you, so return the favor. Encourage fan-created content like fan art, videos, graphics, tweets and comments, then post them everywhere, giving liberal credit and accolades. Promote individual contest entrees so others will notice. This not only paints you as a game that gives back and gets very involved with their fans, but also invites other fans to be more involved.

Too many campaigns get launched and set on autopilot. Dig in there on a personal level and engage your fans, ask questions, give answers. This isn’t advertising. It’s a two-way street.

2. MATCH SOCIAL MEDIA VOICE TO GAME PERSONALITY
When fans find your game on social media channels, they expect to encounter the game, not a corporate representative. With that in mind, establish what the game would be like if it were a person and then wrap everything you do across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, G+, forums and other social media channels in that voice. Establish a strong social media voice for each game and for the brand itself, or you risk coming off as insincere, which doesn’t play well with social media.