Competitive innovation rests on the ability of an organization to actually accelerate internal learning, and in many cases, to extend this learning to the client. By necessity, an agency may need to make a surgical assessment of one’s own and the competition’s technical, tactical and creative advantages  in order to “right size” one’s ambitions — not to maintain strategic equilibrium.

By engaging in competitive innovation as a primary strategy, the agency can leverage its unique competitive resources in an aspirational manner with the goal of broadening its porfolio of offerings — especially in the new media environment.

The public is saturated with social media and the phenomena itself will reach some sort of critical mass in the next five years with all the niche apps and news and digestible information streams available to the consumer. This has already started. Love economics? Get the Economist widget on your Iphone. Political junkie? Check out Newsvine or Politico.com.  Not very serious? Sign up for The Onion’s twitter feed. However you want your news and views, you can get it.

We are also now more than familiar with the usual barrage of client concerns that include: new, uncharted and seemingly contradictory consumer behaviours, crowd-sourcing, media fragmentation, the ever-looming end of broadcast, and the complete domination of the market of  apps and device-specific functionality.

During the next 5-10 year, agencies will tend to fall into two distinct categories. They  will be either data-focused with a zeal for quantitative measurement (and often because of this completely unimaginative), or they will be creative power-houses.  Either way, two-thirds of the equation is missing.  Clients insist the primary motivation for strengthening their digital arsenal is to procure better methods for measurement, and yet only 16 per cent of clients even use metrics.  Remember agencies have three, not two, distinct and primary challenges.

1. Thought leadership in New Media. Which, mind you, means tolerating and cultivating individuals that don’t necessarily fit into your “culture” but who can bring new life and ideas to it. The invigoration is good for everyone.

2. Intellectual property development (apps). This is absolutely key.

3. Radical design innovation-which means hiring creatives who have strategic and design sensibilities.

Overall, the agencies that master the next five to 10 years will be lean, mean, and ultimately dominated by strategic mastery, technological prowess and radical design ethos.

Social media is communication 2.0. Leverage your consumer base so that customers become your personal sales team — nothing sells more or increases customer loyalty and engagement better than the voice of other customers. Social media takes word of mouth marketing  into the digital sphere as customers peruse the Internet for twitpics of the best pulled pork sandwich or the latest blog post about an Italian restaurant from a favourite foodie.

If you’re thinking of taking that dive into the social media deep end, here are some reasons you should incorporate social media into your small business strategy.

Customers can be your friends
For years consumers have been fighting a battle against advertisers – we were sick of being sold to from a faceless corporation and want to be treated like humans. Social media allows businesses to do that. Like the corner store your grandpa visited as a little boy or the butcher who knows you by first name, social media allows businesses to invoke a sense of community. Engage your customers in a conversation. Let them see the human side of the business. Leverage the community to gauge interest about new products, keep them up-to-date about events and let them know about specials before the regular public. Talk with, not at.

It’s cheap
Forget about buying that ad space in the newspaper or sending your intern out on the street with a sandwich board. Social media allows businesses to gain exposure for little or no money at all. Create a Facebook page, sign up for a Twitter account, establish a WordPress blog – all free. The only real investment is time. Interacting with your customers on these platforms can put them to work for you. They can spread the word about your great product or service by engaging their own social networks through yours. Ultimately, they help you expand your reach far beyond what you could have done with traditional advertising.

Responsiveness
Take off those rose-coloured glasses. Not everything that your customers say will be positive. It’s up to you as the business owner to respond to everything, even the bad stuff. Be ready to deal constructively with any negative exposure. The key to this is to be participating in and guiding a two-way conversation. Hootsuite is a great way to easily monitor several accounts, as well as understand perceptions and sentiments about your organization or service. Customers appreciate accessibility, transparency, and openness.

Stake out the competition
Staying competitive is the key to success in any industry. Social media can help you improve your knowledge base about your industry and interact with other movers and shakers in your industry. Network with those on the cutting edge and stay ahead of trends by tracking all the buzz within the industry. Stalk Twitter feeds, blogs and Facebook pages. Compile a list of important Twitter users and bloggers in your industry or come up with a list of keywords to track in Google alerts and bring the info to you.

Expound your unique product
While some of us may employ an army of clones, not everyone has the time  to  speak to each and every individual customer that walks in through the door. If you have a unique product that you are passionate about, social media allows you to extend your voice across time and space. Share pictures, videos or behind-the-scene looks that regular consumers would not be able to access anywhere else. Allow your social media platforms to be that unique place to share exclusive content and encourage others to share their own.

Here’s some to consider:

What: Interlink Conference
Where: Vancouver
When: June 2-4, 2011
Why: Any conference that ties in a dodgeball ice-breaker event and movie night is good in my books. The Interlink Conference is a small and carefully crafted three day web event for all web professionals. This international web design conference has put together a stellar list of industry veteran speakers and workshops ranging from topics about tapping into your on-demand creative inspiration to more hands-on work dealing with the latest and greatest from CSS, as well as the history of font usage online.
Follow the Interlink Conference on Twitter @interlinkconf

What: Internet Week
Where: New York
When: June 6-13, 2011
Why: Go big or go home. That is NYC’s motto. One conference wasn’t good enough. No. They had to do an entire week. Internet Week is a festival celebrating NYC’s thriving Internet industry and community. The festival incorporates various events held in different locations across the city. The result is a critical mass of web-focused events that raises the profile of NYC’s proliferating internet and digital media community. Some of these events include Story Worldwide’s Digital Archaeology, Interactive Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) The Future of Display, and Flavorpill’s Culture Hunt (think: scavenger hunt 2.0).
Follow Internet Week on Twitter @internetweek and don’t forget to hashtag #iwny

What: Conversational Marketing Summit
Where: New York
When: June 7-8, 2011
Why: Groupon? Twitter? Facebook? Foursquare? Where do you begin? Digital platforms present massive opportunities, but one significant challenge: finding the signal in an increasingly noisy ecosystem of sites, apps, and services. All this data is extremely overwhelming, especially for consumers. Consider Conversational Marketing Summit to be the philosophical compass in the burgeoning digital environment. The conference is two days of case studies and insightful conversations that will help marketers push aside the clutter for consumers. Federated Media, the organizer of the conference, caught our attention by bringing together Adam Bain, president of Global Revenue for Twitter, with Food Network personality Rachael Ray and music producer will.i.am in one event. You’ll have to see it to believe it.
Follow Federated Media on Twitter @federated_media

What: The Art of Marketing
Where: Vancouver
When: June 9, 2011
Why:  If you ever needed a crystal ball to answer all your marketing questions, The Art of Marketing would be it. Building on the success of the sold out 2010 Canadian national tour, the one day conference brings together five internationally renowned bestselling authors and leaders who will offer up their experience and knowledge on the most critical marketing issues we face today. Some of the speakers in this stellar lineup include Guy Kawasaki, who will be heading up a talk on creativity and innovation, and Mitch Joel, who will be discussing digital marketing and social media.
Follow The Art Of on Twitter @theartof and don’t forget to hashtag #TAOM

What: ReadWriteWeb 2WAY Summit
Where: Columbia University, New York
When: June 13-14, 2011
Why: One-way communication. One-way roads. Who ever liked those? Everything is better if it’s 2WAY. ReadWriteWeb is a summit gathering of the best tech, people and ideas the Web has to offer in two (not one) unique and fun ways. Day one features talks from some of the smartest folks in technology and media. The speakers include Baratunde Thurston from The Onion and Danah Boyd of Microsoft Research. Topics range from the creative exploitation of social media to teen sexting and its impact on tech companies. The highlight of day one is The Gentleman’s Throwdown between Jason Calacanis of Mahalo and Nick Denton of Gawker. Day two is all about learning and interaction through a variety of breakout talks. The topics covered include social gaming, community building, NFC (near field communication) technology, and a great debate over web apps vs. native apps. The highlight of day two is Speed Geeking!: think high-energy, short presentations from start-ups and established tech companies.
Follow ReadWriteWeb on Twitter @rww and don’t forget to hashtag #rww2way

What: The 140 Characters Conference
Where: New York
When: June 15-16, 2011
Why: Experiencing the state of now. Wise words to live by and the theme of this year’s 140 Characters Conference. This event from Jeff Pulver is expected to be the largest worldwide gathering of people interested in the effects of the real-time Internet on both business and “we” the people. This conference exposes the power the Internet has to disrupt businesses, change lives and create serendipity. The schedule is unique and fast paced with the intention of providing a platform for as many people as possible to share thoughts and engage in conversation with the delegates. The themes are global in scope and include topics such as the Use of Social Media to Overturn Entrenched Political Powers Around the World, Medicine and Social Media, and Online Philanthropy and Large Scale Social Change.
They don’t have a Twitter handle, but be sure to hashtag #140conf

Invoke is excited to announce a new memelabs photo contest: Single and Liking It

To promote their latest show Single Ladies premiering May 30, VH1, in partnership with Yelp and Bluefly, has created the Single and Liking It Photo Contest on Facebook.

Using Invoke Media’s memelabs contest platform, you can submit a photo of yourself out on the town with your BFFs. Then, get all your Facebook friends to Like it. Your glam shot has to get the most Likes to win. What does the package include?

• A trip for you and three friends to NYC.
• A professional photo shoot with the VH1 team.
• A $10,000 shopping spree and styling session for you and three (3) friends, courtesy of Bluefly.com.
• Billboards featuring you and your friends in NYC’s Times Square and LA.

The contest ends June 22, 2011 so you have plenty of time to round up your friends and get them to Like your photo! Check out the contest details here: Single and Liking It

Spread the word on Facebook, share your unique link with your Twitter followers, blog it, or do it old school and send out an e-mail.

The hardest part? Figuring out which of your friends to bring to NYC.

Here are some of our latest entries:

Single Ladies is a new VH1 series produced by Queen Latifah that follows four single ladies dealing with their tumultuous lives in Atlanta. Tune in on Mondays at 9/8c starting May 30 on VH1.

Check out the trailer here: VH1′s “Single and Liking it” photo contest

We considered all these elements while picking our favourite five videos from the first quarter of 2011.

Skittles Touch The Rainbow — Cat video

Skittles produced a series of five ingenious interactive videos. Viewers are prompted to place a finger onto their computer screens and are asked to keep it in place for the entire length of the video. The well known ‘taste the rainbow’ slogan starts off each video and the voiceover consistent with the brand leads you through the videos. One video starts out with a cat licking your strategically placed finger. The cat is then replaced by a peculiar looking man dressed as a cat — who then also licks your finger. Funny and yet mildly disturbing, this video went viral despite the incomprehensible outcome.

Desperados, The Desperados experience. (Tequila flavoured beer)

This video is a great example of stepping out of the box and using interactive cues. The start of the video shows a pulsating door moving to the muffled beat of a party behind the door. To access the party, enter your date of birth, location and whether you’re interested in partying with men or women. (Alas, the video is the same regardless of what information you enter). You head to a kitchen and a pretty girl approaches you and the video pauses to prompt you to connect with your Facbook account. Smart. As the video continues the interaction ramps up:  the pretty girl turns down the volume by reaching her hand over and out of the screen. The viewer also gets to help break down a wall to a better party. Yes, this will make sense when you see it.  The video ends with more prompts for posting to Facebook, inviting Facebook friends or for tweeting. The mystery, intrigue and interactive aspect of the video make it worth sharing and actually fun to participate in.

Altoids, The Altoids Curiously Strong Awards.

Altoids recently launched a brilliant Facebook campaign, complete with a Facebook specific catchy music video. The video describes Facebook stereotypes and gives them humorous names such as the Food-o-grapher, the Like-a-Lot, the Oversharer, the Past Blaster and the Lyric Lover etc. We all know someone that fits the bill. Altoids has really tapped into something and as the company says: ”These distinguished friends can be unusual to say the least; but we love them because they make Facebook wonderful. Their excessive liking and ridiculous wall posts have become our escape from the monotony of the real world. Without these friends, Facebook would just be the local news.” So very true.

‘Pale kid raps fast’

George Watsky can rap and thanks to YouTube, his mad skills spread like wildfire. Watsky has been on YouTube for about three years now but his recent video, ‘Pale kid raps fast’, finally pushed him into viral territory. Uploaded in late January, his video got more than 443,000 views in one night and is now at 8,559,785 views. His video debuted on Billboards Social 50 chart and also resulted in appearances on the Ellen Show and Carson Daly. Don’t forget to press five when you watch the YouTube video for a surprise.

Japan earthquake: CCTV video of tsunami.

The Japan earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 were devastating natural disasters and live footage was all over the Internet. The day following the multiple disasters, YouTube was inundated with homemade videos of the tsunami, topping all of the most viewed charts. The Russia Today YouTube channel posted videos, collectively totalling more than one hundred million plus views. This particular video now has 18,085,0554 views.