Vladimir Stanković (ilustracija: Hugo Nemet)

Što se druželjubivosti i društvenosti uopšte tiče, za mene nema razlike. Mislim da su DedaUp-ovi dokaz da moj stav prema ljudima i životu privlači veliki broj meni sličnih.

Kada pre pomislite na njega: kada se pomene Deda ili kada se kaže “sve nešto lepo…” ? U oba znate svi vrlo dobro o kome je reč. Vladimir Stanković aka Deda koji je prošle godine, takođe bio predavač na BO i ove se pojavljuje kao keynote speaker. Čovek koji je u svet blogova uneo dobro raspoloženje, jedan od onih koji se trude da se na internet nebu upišu kao osobe prepoznatljive po blogovima na koje odete da se razveselite,čak i kada je napolju tmurno i kiša pada, kod njega možete pronaći barem po neki zrak sunca. Piše na  http://www.dedabor.com/ i http://www.lepiprimeri.com/.Deka nam je, u svom maniru, rekao još po nešto.

BO: Ti si jedan od najpopularnijih blogera danas.Postoji li recept za popularnost na Internetu, i da li se društvenost na mrežama razlikuje od druželjubivosti u realnom života.

Vladimir: Recept za popularnost je iskreno blogovanje, poštovanje i uvažavanje tuđeg mišljenja, traženje lepog i u nečem manje lepom. Ljudi to poštuju. Što se druželjubivosti i društvenosti uopšte tiče, za mene nema razlike. Mislim da su DedaUp-ovi dokaz da moj stav prema ljudima i životu privlači veliki broj meni sličnih. Fenomen je DedaUp Beograd na kome je bilo oko 120 ljudi. Definitivno, ljudi vole i žele da se druže, internet je samo sredstvo za upoznavanje,  zbližavanje i komunikaciju

BO: Krilatica “… i sve nešto lepo”, podseća na naivnost dečije mudrosti iz “Olovka piše srcem”.  Odakle je ona ispala? Šta misliš, kako se dogodilo da je postala opšteprihvaćena fraza kojom se karakterišu dobre stvari na Mreži?

Vladimir: Kad su mi prvi put na Internetu zatraženi podaci koji me ukratko opisuju, nastala je “ljubav, muzika i sve nešto lepo.” Vremenom su ljudi počeli po njoj da me prepoznaju, a onda i da je koriste za njima drage i posebne trenutke. Mene to rad

BO: Blogovanje je, očigledno, obogatilo tvoj lični život. Da li je nekada uticalo na tvoj profesionalni, posebno imajući u vidu da se baviš prosvetom, što mnogi razumeju kao osetljivo polje delatnosti.

Vladimir:  Blog mi je doneo mnogo novih prijatelja i time me načinio beskrajno bogatim čovekom. Otvorio mi je mnoga vrata i učinio me poznatim u nekim krugovima. Profesionalno, nikada nije zasmetao, jer teme kojima se bavim nemaju dodirnih tačaka sa prosvetom.

BO: Da li te čitaju učenici? Roditelji đaka?

Vladimir: Čitaju i jedni i drugi. I vozači đačkog autobusa.   J

BO:  Poznat si kao čovek koji pleni optimizmom. Da li se optimizam može iscrpeti?

Vladimir:  Naravno. U tim trenucima se povučem, nekoliko dana ništa ne objavljujem, čekam da prođe i bude bolje. A uvek bude, jer moja je priroda optimistična i trenutni padovi me nikad ne obeshrabre. Trudim se da idem dalje i iz najgoreg izvučem nešto pozitivno, vodeći se onom narodnom “ko zna zašto je to dobro.

BO: Ponovo si predavač na BlogOpenu. Šta se promenilo za ovih godinu dana u blogosferi?

Vladimir: Povećao se broj ljudi koji svakodnevno koriste Internet, nastali su novi blogovi, iz kvantiteta se može izvući više kvaliteta. Ja konkretno imam i neke nove čitaoce, što mi daje elana da i dalje blogujem. Pojedine kompanije počele su da prepoznaju upornost, dugotrajnost i dobre vibracije kao mogućnost ulaganja u sopstvenu reklamu, na obostrano zadovoljstvo.

Promene su definitivno pozitivne.

Čast mi je što sam i ove godine pozvan kao predavač i to me svakako obavezuje da nekim mladim ljudima koji tek ulaze u ovu priču, probam da prenesem svoja iskustva i, nadam se, budem dobar primer.

Matt Gierhard, Ogilvy Action

Consumers identify with brands that help add to the story of their life. So there is the expression of who you are.

As Head of Social for OgilvyAction, the global brand activation network of The Ogilvy Group, Matt Gierhart‘s main task is exploring what impact social media has on purchase behavior. Matt explores how social media fits within customer activation. He believes that customer-lead understanding of brands and products results in smarter socially-driven marketing campaigns structured for activation.

Above all, Matt is a gifted speaker so we can expect to hear superb masterclass presentation during  the BlogOpen conference.

BO: Do customers act differently comparing online and offline shopping?

Matt: Customers do behave in very different ways for online vs offline shopping. When a consumer is shopping online they expect reviews, experiences, suggested alternatives to come to them all at once. In the offline world the science of shopper marketing meets their expectations. Where it get’s interesting is that those consumers who do online and offline shopping for the same product or brand typically have twice the basket size per month. So the sweet spot is understanding how offline and online inform each other. We must remember, consumers don’t think offline or online, they just think about the decision they are about to make.

BO: I came across one conference footage where you talked about how one should not insist on confronting competition, but hear the pulse of customers’ behavior. How does one listen to the pulse?

Matt: We do a form of online listening and augment that with traditional research. This isn’t new to take a look at what people are saying online. What I do think is important that a lot of brands leave out of their online or social listening is understanding consumer behaviour in that category of products. Most brands want to know their reputation, what people are saying about them, but I think it’s much more valuable to know the behaviours that exist around buying a car than just what someone thinks of Ford.

BO: Can somebody’s profile be defined by his shopping habits? Tell me what or how you buy, I`ll tell you who you are?

Matt: There are two sides to this answer. One, we express who we are by the brands we buy. If you walk up to me with a Dior hand bag versus a GAP handbag I have a different perception of you. The same when I open your refrigerator and see organic orange juice versus the cheapest store brand. Consumers identify with brands that help add to the story of their life. So there is the expression of who you are.

The other side is algorithms. Ecommerce platforms are getting very smart at recommendations. Suggested products are moving from the space of competitor to complimentary and that is having a very powerful result on conversion rates.

BO: What kind of buyer are you? When you see an advertisement, do you pay attention as a buyer or as professional marketer?

Matt: I’m heavily influenced by packaging. I always have been. I love clean design and I often find myself mistrusting a brand when their packaging looks cheap. I also love stories. When I hear a story of a product or a brand, something that is worth repeating I’m much more likely to buy it. As for advertising, I’m a bit boring. Sometimes I chuckle but I find more like entertainment than having anything to do with which product I buy. That said, I do think I buy on emotions, not rational. I don’t do a lot of research, some but not a lot, before purchases

BO:Besides your professional orientation for marketing, you are very much involved in other fields as education or economical development. How much does education and economic growth   effect buyers?

Matt: Well my time spent on both those subjects was from a social structural point of view. From that point of view, they are directly linked. There are times when education and economic growth or depression does affect consumer behavior. We work with quite a few value brands that play into that market. I also had a conversation with one of our employees in Greece about the need to build economic sensitivity into everything. The one trend that seems to be radically different over the past 5 years is that consumers are empowered, no matter which economic class. Alternative and cheaper products are always out there. My job is to make the consumer know their empowerment and make sure the brand is respecting it.

BO: In transitional country are buyers or sellers more needed?

Matt: Well, I think sellers. What the Internet has brought to transitional countries is the democratization of choice. Even if they don’t buy foreign brands (particularly Western) they are still competing with them. There is a great case study of a chocolate in Romania (ROM) that was seen as cheap and not as good as some from Western countries. They changed the packaging to an American flag. Romanians protested and when they changed it back (it was all planned) Romanians bought it and fell in love with it again. The chocolate needed to give itself a story to compete with these huge brands of the west. Sellers in transitional countries need to have their story.

BO: To whom would you recommend your lecture on BlogOpen?

Matt: Two main audiences, those attending who run marketing campaigns in regional markets (particularly in transitional or emerging markets) and global brands who have activities trickle down to local markets. I hope to offer a look at some of the trends that are unique to emerging markets in the social technology space. This should give regional offices a chance address the quirks and nuances of the social behaviour in their own culture.

Ivan Brezak Brkan

Zvezde društvenih mreža – radi se o virtualnoj bajci u kojima čitatelji vole izrađene likove, poput pravednika, stručnjaka, naivaca i hejtera. Kako se gase? Tako što izgube svoj glas i “prodaju se”.

Ivan Brezak Brkan, poznat i kao bloger bez bloga, čovek koji zna na koji način izgraditi korporativni blog i stvoriti pozitivan stav prema određenoj kompaniji. U regionu veoma cenjen i priznat, na BlogOpenu ove godine će govoriti o tome kako iskoristiti “oružje” zvano blog.

Bloguje na Netokraciji i na koju ste ako ne namerno, a onda slučajno bar jednom zalutali i od tada nastavili da je pratite, ali i dalje nema lični blog. Ivan se potrudio da zadovolji našu radoznalost i objasni nam koji je njegov pogled na online poslovanje.

BO : Poznat si kao bloger bez bloga. Da li se hvališ ili se žališ? :-)

Ivan : Nekada sam se žalio, danas se valjda hvalim :) Prije tek nekoliko godina blogao sam isključivo za tuđe blogove poput Freelance Switcha i Techcruncha gdje sam naučio praksu bloganja i danas mi je zaista neobično razmišljati o vremenu kada nisam imao blog, mjesto na kojemu ću moći i htjeti pisati svakodnevno. Bloger bez bloga u neku ruku je i danas točna sintagma s obzirom da nemam osobnog bloga, ali mi je itekako drago što je je Netokracija u međuvremenu postala mjesto s nebrojenim brojem kvalitetnih blogera.

BO : Kako se gradi ime i reputacija koje danas danas imaš u regionu i međunarodnim razmerama? Da li ste to radi u slobodno vreme ili je to full time job?

Ivan: U mom slučaju radilo se o prirodnom interesu za poslovanjem na Internetu o kojemu sam prvo čitato godinama, potom prakticirao i konačno o tome pisao. Iako se nije radilo o planiranom putu, mislim da je upornost na polju internetskog marketinga i poslovanja dovela do stvaranja određene reputacije. Na Netokraciji primjerice neće proći nikad, ali nikad dan bez posta. Sad je nešto lakše s obzirom da kolege redovito pišu, ali kad sam i sam pisao, nije smjelo proći nekoliko dana bez članka, i to dobrog. S druge strane, mnogi iskusniji kolege u tradicionalnom marketingu smatrali su me klincem i vjerojatno bi na tome ostalo da nisam radio s brojnim kvalitetnim klijentima čime sam dokazao da je dobro napisana teorija ipak utemeljena na praksi. Najveći izazov u razvoju određenog identita bit će vam pokriće i način na koji komunicirate. Mnogi bloger, i primjerice, pokušavaju pisati o startupima, jer im je to “fora”, a nemaju pojma o tome što je seed investicija i ne znaju kako se uopće internetski projekti razvijaju. Takvi ispadaju naivni i u početku si uče bilo kakvi kredibilitet pišući o stvarima o kojima ništa ne znaju ili još gore – o kojima ništa ne žele naučiti.

BO : Netokracija – vladavina Interneta? To je ideja?

Ivan : U neku ruku. Radi se o pojmu koji označava vladavinu internetske tj. povezane elite. U slučaju Netokracije radi se o tome da smo svi mi danas netokrati i kroz sve sfere svog života prolazimo spojeni u digitalni okoliš. Upoznajemo ljubavi i prijatelje preko mreže te tamo također zaključujemo poslove. Ne radi se stoga toliko o vladavini Interneta koliko o prožetosti stvarnog svijeta internetskim “duhom”. Pogledajmo oko sebe. Grupna kupovina mijenja modele poslovanja, dok koncept otvorenih podataka mijenja politiku…

BO : Pričaćeš nam o tome na koji način stvoriti bolji brend putem blogovanja. Da li za stvaranje online brenda koristimo isti princip za pojedinca i za kompaniju?

Ivan : U određenoj mjeri, ali postoje ključne razlike. Osobama je mnogo jednostavnije vjerovati putem bloga nego tvrtkama te one imaju drugačije ciljeve. Govorit ću u neku ruku i o prednostima oba pristupa, jer ste često sigurno vidjeli tvrtke koje imaju korporativne blogove i one za koje bloga isključivo direktor.

BO :   Kako nastaju i kako se gase zvezde interneta u regionu? 

Ivan : Hashtagom? Nastaju komunikacijom. Bilo to blogom ili Twitter profilom: jedinstveni karakter i glas koji se publici svidi na određeni način može nekoga pretvoriti u “internetsku zvijezdu”. Radi se o virtualnoj bajci u kojima čitatelji vole izrađene likove, poput pravednika, stručnjaka, naivaca i hejtera. Kako se gase? Tako što izgube svoj glas i “prodaju se”. Zvijezde su u tom primjeru mediji od kojih publika ima određena očekivanja… Zamislite svoj najdraži bend i pitajte se kada biste ih prestali slušati.

BO : Kome je namenjeno tvoje predavanje na BlogOpenu?

Ivan : Predavanje će mi biti namijenjeno svima koji žele koristiti sadržaj na Internetu za promociju svojih usluga i proizvoda. Radi se o content marketingu, metodi od koje će u početku odustati 90 posto onih koje probaju. Traži upornost, tvrdoglavost i znanje. Očekujem kako ćete, ako se upustite u savjete koje ću vam dati, proklinjati mi @username, ali ćete zato godinama kasnije od napravljenog imati koristi.

Tiffany St James (UK)

 There are many analogies from government to business. They face similar issues in the use of digital engagement and social media: How can we get our leaders to recognize the worth of our endeavours?

Tiffany St James is the former Head of Public Participation for the UK Government, the first role of its kind in the UK; she trained the UK Civil Service on how to better engage with public online. Beside this Tiffany is also a digital strategist, trainer and international speaker. She aligns corporate objectives and digital people skills with her knowledge of evolving technology.

Tiffany launched social media outreach laboratory for Euro RSCG London in February 2011, one of the UK’s top five advertising agencies, and is retained as their Head of Digital Business Development.

As the former Head of Public Participation of the UK Government, the first role of its kind in the world, Tiffany was the strategic leader on all social media training, tools, skills and capability. She launched data.gov.uk, working with Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

Tiffany was the first Director of Communications for Directgov and designed and delivered national public consultations resulting in policy changes.

BO: How in the world you’ve got into this entire digital stuff?

Tiffany: I was always interested in technology. I had one of the first early home PC’s at 9 years old (a whole smoking hot 1KB of memory!) I was fortunate enough to be in the UK government publishing some of the earliest public consultation papers on the web when the UK Government saw the need for one citizen-facing website, Direct.gov, which I had the great pleasure to help launch. From there it was a natural progression to help with digital launches such as Data.gov and then assist in the strategic direction of social media interaction.

BO: What would you do professionally in another life? What did your parent’s want you to be? :-)

Tiffany:  My parents wanted me to be happy, but didn’t steer me towards any particular career. They massively encouraged me work hard and get a good education.

In another life I’d like to be Lara Croft, my female action hero – but in work terms I’ve always loved inspiring other people to think differently to further their own horizons, so some kind of coach or Enterprise Angel.

BO: Do you think that all of us must have Facebook, Twitter or some else social network account for making us visible?

Tiffany: Social Rank and Social Reputation is becoming more prevalent. Some tech companies in Silicon Valley won’t employ people with a Klout.com social rank under 50. People with a high social ranking are starting to be offered privileges from travel, hospitality and brands because peer to peer recommendation is more trusted than advertising (90% as opposed to 14%). Essentially it’s personal choice whether you have open networking profiles, and whether you want to be more private or want to use social platforms to increase your visibility.

BO: How does it feel to work for Government?

Tiffany: Working for the UK Government for 8.5 years in the age of earlier use of technology to open data and social media strategy was incredibly valuable experience and a piece of work I am extraordinarily proud of. I had the opportunity to work some of the world’s best minds in technology (Sir Tim Berners-Lee inventor of the worldwide web and professor Nigel Shadbolt Head of Artificial Intelligence in the UK) as well as some of the UK’s brightest coders and programmers for Rewired State – the UKs leading developer network. Andrew Stott who I worked for was awarded a CBE for opening up government data. So to have the opportunity to work with every other government around the world in early use of social media for governments was a fantastic opportunity and the Public Participation Agenda that led had the eye of the world at the time.

BO: Did you use the same approach that you use for companies?

There are many analogies from government to business. They face similar issues in the use of digital engagement and social media: How can we get our leaders to recognize the worth of our endeavours? How can we reassure our teams that letting control of our brand in social spaces is OK? Who should own and manage our social channels? Where should it sit in the business?

Businesses have the added Endeavour of leading people to direct purchase of course but the organizational infrastructure issues are the same.

BO: How much do you know about digital literacy in Serbia? What do you expect to see and to find in our country?

Tiffany: I’m delighted that BlogOpen is in its 5th year and galvanizes the Internet Community across several countries to look at participation which is a great thing to see. My focus is on digital use in government so I’ve been looking with interest about the opportunities your civil service can use to engage people in public social debates and communicate through social channel.

BO: Can you tell us what is the topic that you prepare for BlogOpen 2011. And for whom did you recommend it?

Tiffany: I’ll be talking about Digital Engagement: Citizens and Government which should be of most interest to people working in public sector fields although the strategy of galvanizing individuals for action can be applied to any organization.

BO: What is it that helps you to keep in your hands and mind in everything?

Tiffany: You have to be really interested in your subject matter so that learning the fast changes that happen particularly in digital and social technology is genuinely fascinating and not ‘work’.

Clay Shirky in his fantastic book ‘Here Comes Everybody’ famously quoted ‘It’s not information overload, it’s filter failure’. So focusing on what you can keep abreast of and what you have to recognize that you can’t keep an oversight on is really important.