The irony of this post is,  I was on the Mashable site following some others that had followed me on the Mashable Social Network when I noticed that Mashable itself was advertising for Mashable readers to “Join the conversation by adding Mashable’s Pete Cashmore to your Circles on Google+ .”  The upper portion of the site has a drop down bar telling you to add Mr. Cashmore (see image below).

Google Plus is the new darling of social networks and it is the latest in shiny things that we social media people love to jump in and declare ourselves as early adopters.  We get to try it out and pick it apart piece by piece and provide feedback and add our 2 cents.  I’m somewhat behind that game as this is my first post about the new network.  I must admit that I have been on Google Plus now since I could get an invite when it first launched and tweeting every article I can pass along that I have read on the subject.

Getting back to the issue at hand, Google Plus originally opened up the invitations to its “field test” of their network to the user that had an invite.  This made the invites like the gold standard for a while and everyone in social media was calling all their friends to get in on the gold rush of invites.  Most of my colleagues were in and salivating on the new toy, and I heard tell of brands that were also jumping in and being a part of the fun, the point there is to be an early adopter and get a jump on the competition as we are all seeing how the past rolled out with Twitter and Facebook.  This ended for businesses however as Google pulled the plug on the ability for businesses or brands to sign up on Google Plus. Google went as far as to  suspend those brands they could hunt down and find on the network.

Now enter the folks at Mashable.  The thrive on the metric of eyeballs.  They are a media property that tries to gain as many eyeballs as possible for the businesses that pay them for distribution of their posts.  They are known for reaching millions of readers and have mastered every trick in the book for having those million readers share and re-distribute their content.  Enter the next distribution system in Google Plus and its already exponentially  more than 10 million users and you have yet more metrics and eyeballs to add to your existing pitch of being the most read media property in the world of social.  Last time I checked, Mashable was a business and therefore according to Google, unable to have a presence on its new network.

There are always those that are jail breaking iPhones and those that are gaming the system to get more followers and every other loophole that can be found to get the upper hand.  This apparently is not much different with Mashable and their having a presence on Google Plus.  The route they took?  We will take our leader, Pete Cashmore, and his Google account and use it as a distribution channel.  He is a person and not a business and therefore his account can be used for us here at Mashable.  Is this a gaming of the system?  Are other businesses and brands using their “ambassadors” (Thanks Chris Heuer for that Tweet) to get a jump on the competition and getting an early look as a business on the network?

I have an admission myself, I have not used my Google account for much other than Google Buzz or Wave or whatever else I have needed to use the account for and I suppose my company is getting a leg up on other companies that don’t yet have a Google Plus account, but I am actually at the helm of my account.  I am not sure Pete is the one that is sharing each of the Mashable…err Cashmore shared posts on Google Plus.  It did strike me as funny that they would use advertising space to increase the eyeballs of the Pete Cashmore account.  Are they gaming the system?  Probably.  Do I blame them?  Not really, but I do blame Google for not having a plan on how to better handle this and how they might unfold Google Plus for Business.

UPDATE:  Upon further view it appears that Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land already discussed this in his post and updates.  It appears that Mashable is now just blatantly advertising the fact to get more followers on the account for Pete Cashmore.

There are many social sharing sites and if you wanted to count them it may take you all day to finally include each site in your count. Some of them are well known like Facebook, Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon, and of course the latest darling of the dance is Google Plus. Social sharing has been evolving as a way to increase page views and cast a wider net to see if you couldn’t create a larger community and get more readers. We use social sharing at Bloggers For Hire as a way to create this very thing. Social sharing has become big business for many and a way to create some dividends in traffic and numbers. The question I have for you is whether your social sharing is properly branded? Let me explain to you, first what I mean about branding, and then I will give you an example.

Branding to me is making sure that at every turn, your community is reminded of your existence, be it your name, a logo, or something that can identify you as the expert in your field, the product that all must have, or a service people should love. We all know when I say Nike, Pepsi, Ford, that all of these bring an image to mind or a thought or something that stirs our brains to think of the company. That is branding. In the sense of the online world, we must always look for ways to have that in place, be it a link, a banner ad, a mention, or in the case of this post, a social share. Making sure your social sharing is also branded where possible is one more way to make sure you are always putting your brand out front.

The example I have seen and been privy to over the last couple of days has been sharing on Twitter. I read a large number of posts daily. I am constantly consuming information and then sharing that information with my community. It helps the person that has produced the content for me to share and it also informs my clients and others with whom I provide the links. It is a win-win for everyone. I also note that when I share information, via the in post applications people use, they have not branded their default settings.

One such instance this morning was sharing a news item from Media Buyer Planner. No I am not picking on them but it was what spurred this post. The have the sharing buttons as everyone on their news item that can be shared via various networks. I hit the Twitter share button and up popped the Twitter window for me to share with my followers, and I saw the title of the post, and the link and then i saw “via @AddThis”. This is the name of the application and not the name of the Twitter handle of the company where I found the article. They have missed an opportunity to brand @MediaBuyer. Many companies don;t put anything in the spot they can for branding. Make sure you are taking every opportunity to brand your company.

I was just reading this morning on Techmeme the various sites that are discussing the closing down of the URL shortener service Tr.im.  I then came across a post written by Robert Scoble called, "Twitter’s platform shortcomings."  I have written a number of posts about Twitter here and we are seeing the company mature and grow before our eyes like a child.  Sometimes a child makes poor choices and sometimes they make us proud, but when I read things like the Twitter "blessing" and I have to cringe a little.  Blessing exerts some connotation of power, and with power comes great responsibility as we all know.  We see companies like Facebook with this same type of power and the same feeling of the hair standing on the back of my neck continues. I must echo Robert’s sentiment here when he states:

OK, most of you probably never have used tr.im to shorten your URLs so they fit into Twitter. But I did. I liked the URL better than bit.ly, which is the service that Twitter has “blessed.” Oh, how I hate Twitter’s “blessing.”

Pete Cashmore, of Mashable has another quote in his post that gives me the feeling all over again:

“…we just can’t justify further development since Twitter has all but annointed bit.ly the market winner.”

That from the Tr.im closing statement.  That is far too much power for one company, but I know that is part of doing business.  Google carries the same type of power and I have heard the likes of Michael Gray talk about the wielding of their power and how they can arbitrarily damn some sites and rise others to the heights of heaven.  I use that metaphor because that is nearly godlike in its functionality.  Google wants to be for good but not for evil and I suppose your definition of good and evil depend quite a bit on the way the ball bounces for you or against you.  In this case it seems that the ball has bounced against the folks at Tr.im.

We see applications come and go and in this particular instance it has implications that might hurt people in one camp over another.  To pick and choose who wins, who loses and how the game is played is far too much power in my opinion to give to companies.  The FTC is dabbling in the game with blogging and "sponsored conversations" and I would assume that some constituents will be contacting their authorities for some regulation of companies that have the power to bless.

Photo via polishamericancenter.org

Tags: Twitter, Techememe, Robert Scoble, Corporate Responsibility, Google

I am not sure that anyone in the tech world has written about Twitter more than the popular news site TechCrunch.  You may have a hard time picking out the single most popular Twitter post since after 38 pages of search results on the subject I lost count of the number of articles.  The most popular recently was the scandal involving ill-gotten documents from the folks at Twitter which Tech Crunch promptly published. But more on that in a minute.

Twitter launched today their Twitter 101 pages and of note was their "Key Resources" page which is contained under the domain related to http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/.  I quickly glanced at the people that were listed on the page, and noticed right away that TechCrunch had been snubbed.  Not a single time was TechCrunch mentioned.  You would think with 38 pages of info on the company and some of the best Twitter evangelists on the planet, they could have worked a link back to TechCrunch somewhere.  Some of the best Twitter information contained anywhere is contained on the TechCrunch site.

Now this could just be a matter of numbers or it could be that they could not find a good snapshot overview of their service or it could be some other political reason that Twitter was quick to leave TechCrunch off the list as I mentioned above and wrote about in the TechCrunch and the Twitter Documents post.

This is not going to be too unlike the "Suggested Users" list and I am sure there will be plenty of folks that will be screaming about why they were not one of the featured resources that are listed.  Congrats to Chris Brogan for getting on this page with his 50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business.  Okay, their might only be 10 in there but 50 was a good number.

Sorry TechCrunch I can assure you that the folks at Twitter are not going to cut you much slack from here forward, but keep up the good reporting and evangelizing!

[Hat Tip to Laughing Squid Links for beginning the inspiration for this post through the photo above.]

Tags: TechCrunch, Twitter, Twitter For Business, Twitter Business 101, Chris Brogan

It used to be that in order to be seen as an influencer or to be really taken seriously in your niche or genre, you had to be on someone’s blogroll.  Being added to a blogroll gave you some credibility and it also helped you get read by others in your group.  You got to be one of the cool kids if you were recognized on a blogroll.  The goal was to get listed on a blog roll by someone with lots of readers as well.  It also helped you get read by others, or it helped your voice get heard. Being on a blogroll was the gold standard.

Now with the likes of Twitter we get more of a situation of more noise less signal.  It is difficult to be heard. 25 Million people all hoping their 140 characters get in front of someone to read.  You may have the best ever 140 characters in the history of the world, but to broadcast it to Twitter is to cast it into the sea of information hoping to find a home. I liken it to casting an SOS note in a bottle into the ocean and hoping someone finds it.  Chances are it may never get read by the person that matters.  Twitter can be the same way.  It seems that many online marketing types believe this a great way now to broadcast their message.  They think a message in a bottle is a good way to broadcast.  Cast a net big enough and sooner or later someone may hear what you have to say.  This is not the best case scenario unless you get on someone’s list or in a group.  Instead of blogrolls, we now can put our Twitter friends or followers into groups.  I use the popular application Tweetdeck, and I have many groups of my followers distilled into readable tweets.  I have my social media colleagues and I have technology people and parenting bloggers and no, even though I joke about it quite a bit I do not have a "Hottie" Twitter group. This is how I track what is being sent via Twitter by those I want to listen to and want to hear. I want to hear all 250 Million people out there but I have yet to figure that out sans some special paid for application.

This is how I read most of the important stuff on Twitter.  I go through a specific group and see what they are talking about and what they have to say.  It may be an hour after the fact when I re-tweet something or I comment or take notice, and the reason is, I don’t have time to scan the river of noise going by at 10,000 people a minute. In the instance I am talking about you get added to my group if you provide me good thoughts or value. I don’t want to miss your tweet.  The only thing is, my groups are not public.  I need to find something that allows me to show you my groups.  I need a public app that shows my Twitter groups, my blogroll of twitter friends. I need to develop this as a widget for blogs or web sites.  You can get on my group in in my Twoops (URL taken I checked)?  Anyone? 

Photo via Mykl Roventine

Tags: Twitter, Blogrolls, Web Apps, River of News, Noise vs. Signal

I have been talking about 2009 being the "Year of Listening".  This may be a little ahead of its time as we are still getting sign on for the idea that social media as a doctrine is even worth the space or tab for the business plan or model.  I think that social media gives an opportunity to do more listening and less shouting.  I even do this in the real world.  I tend to sit back and gather intelligence in a situation before I ever enter into the discussion or argument or whatever might be the mode of communication at the time.  I get more accomplished by first hearing what is being said and then contributing.  I tend to learn more about a subject and the people discussing that subject than I would if I jumped into the conversation early.  Many times I have done that I find myself with foot in mouth and backing out of the conversation sooner than later.  My first advice to many companies to to listen.

Now the other side of that coin that is usually the first reason many companies are not quick to sign on to the idea is listening does not convert.  I have heard many an executive tell me, "listening doesn’t sell."  After all that is the bottom line in a company selling your product or your service to the person that holds the money.  I recently spoke to a group and later the owner of the company met me in the hall and said "oh good someone that will explain how social media is going to help us SELL."  That four letter word is the only one I tend to hear from the likes of those looking at the bottom line.  I can assure you if sell is not the goal I will hear other four letter words that will describe certain feelings.  It really is only about the sell so how do you impart listening as a way to get the sale?  Listening does not convert.  Sure that statement might be true but when does your program have the ability to know when someone wants to buy or better yet what they want to buy?

I have been showing some companies that listening actually helps them sell.  I like to use the idea behind the tire swing.

Listening actually gets you to the final image, knowing what it is your customer actually wants.  The problem with that scenario is that the CEO or head of the department or whoever seems to be the decision maker has to be thinking about all the other panels in the cartoon above.  They have learned that making all the other departments happy and still coming in under a budget is what it is actually all about.  This is not listening.  If more of us actually listened for a while to find out what the customer actually wants, we could sell them that product every time.  Perhaps the problem is not that they don’t know what the customer actually wants, its what they can provide the customer from their company.  Maybe they sell jungle gyms and not tire swings.  This is a problem, and not something that social media will help them overcome. Listening converts but only if you actually listen.

Photo via sonyradio.com

I have been trying to figure a way to work into the mix some of the businesses I visited and met while I was out in the islands and one of the things I thought of for the people at Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut factory was to allow them to talk about the processing of their delicious snack and how it is packaged and sent out to the various parts of the world.  I thought about how they could get a blog to their site to describe each of the seasons of growing, and harvesting, and also more importantly making their already open to the public tour a part of their everyday broadcast to the social media world.

They have a building where they do their packaging and processing and roasting.  As a group we were allowed to check out their assembly line type of roasting, processing and packaging.  I thought it would be a simple way to show the rest of the world this process using a simple web cam and their blog.  A page could be set up and the live stream run on the plant while they prepared and shipped their product. This could also be monitored for questions about the process, or a Q&A about what is being done and how. A few short hours a day could really turn into some sales for them overall.

They are a very retail oriented operation and I was thinking that they could generate a few more sales that would not only pay for their program, but also help with their brand.  The big Island was a wonderful place and this business is only one of them that is doing well on the island. Social media might just get them a little further as time goes on.  Now to see if I can find their Twitter page or if I can find them on Facebook.

Tags: Mauna Loa, Macadamia Nuts, Social Media, Hawaii, So Much More Hawaii Tour, Marketing, e-Commerce

I thought I would give you a taste of my new favorite Hawaiian singer and what we have heard just about everywhere here while in Hawaii. Enjoy!

Captain Tim asked, "Are you with our group?"

"I am," I said as I looked at my phone to catch my last emails before I got aboard the raft we would be taking to Lanai. 

"How much does a boat like this cost?" Not that this was relevant to taking a snorkeling tour in Hawaii, which created a strange look from Captain Tim.  I was truly interested in the business of snorkeling and other things here while I visit.  I have been asking a number of questions related to the business aspects of tourism and excursions and other parts of the Hawaiian experience.

"$80,000 approximately", was the response from our Captain.

"Wow, not bad for a couple of long balloons and an outboard motor," I said in jest to let him know that I thought that was pretty high.

I then began to wonder how tourism sets the price for what we do here on Hawaii. I wondered how much I Captain made in tips and was paid as a result of the job that he did here. We are here but a short time and he has to live here year round.  I heard him make cracks about the $8 per gallon charge for milk, and hearing about the free drinks and giveaway pupu (appetizers) at the bar in town and thought, here is a man that is truly scratching out a living doing what he is passionate about.

He took us out across the channel to our destination which was called "The Aquarium". Once I jumped into the crystal clear water I knew exactly why it was called that.  I could see everything, and the coral structure and the brilliant fish colors were awesome.  We swam and looked at puffer fish and many other varieties and then as I got out of the boat and said "WOW", I was handed a cool passion orange juice and was also given some breakfast.  This is the life of the Captain, seeing the look on the face of those as I they exit the water after seeing Hawaii from underwater, and handing them some fresh fruit and breakfast.  I would say that is a good salary there, but it doesn’t pay all the bills.  I reflected that in my tip as I headed off and away from this Captain for what will probably be forever.  Thanks Captain Tim and enjoy your job as only you can!

For more information on Ocean Rafting you can visit their site.

Photo via: Island Star Excursions

Tags: Hawaii Ocean Rafting, Snorkeling, Hawaii, HawaiiHTA, Hawaii Tourism

I have seen quite a shift recently in the way that companies are handling their social media needs.  I am seeing companies that before only though social media was a fad and that it was the marketing gimmick du jour, are now embracing the idea that this new type of online participation is here to stay.  This is not by any means surprising.  Many of the things that I have been preaching over the last 5 years are continuing to be something that seems to work in the online world.

The crazy times I have been experiencing are trying to keep up with the demand.  This is not a bad thing in this type of economy.  The other problem I have had is adjusting to the needs of clients. They for years never wanted anything to do with social media and now they seem to want the magic overnight. I have a difficult time explaining that social media is not a silver bullet and not something that is implemented and like the magic beans grows a stalk to the promise land overnight.

It is not too late to beginning a social media program at your own company and in fact the longer you wait the longer it will take to see the benefits.  Those that hopped on the bandwagon a few years back are  just now seeing the fruits of their labor.  Social Media takes time.  The participation in communities and earning of trust is not something that can be done on Monday and the fruits of that participation are seen on Friday.  That is not to say that those stories don’t happen but they are rare in any sense. Get started today.  Okay, maybe not today as I am still trying to catch up from yesterday! 

UPDATE:  A great post from Phil Johnson at Advertising Age should be read on this as well.

Tags: social media, consulting, advertising, marketing, public relations

I am trying to wrap my had around the idea that Google may possibly be the next owner of our beloved golden child in the world of social media, Twitter.  Are we ready yet to turn the keys to the Twitter kingdom over to the folks at Google?  I have been a serious watchdog lately it seems talking about Twitter ethics and the gaming of Twitter and the eroding of all things pure about the application.

How about if we turn it over to Google and make it a part of that empire?  I know Techcrunch talked about it in terms of Twitter search and that it is becoming the real time search engine.  It makes sense actually and since they turned down the money offered by Facebook due to valuation issues and Facebook’s stock, I think it could be said Google has the bank account for it.  Google and the leadership at Twitter have had dealings in the past with Blogger so in fact there may already be that relationship.  We will see how this unfolds.  I am hoping to get some further analysis from some of the people in our industry to help me grasp the idea but for now I will just try to fathom a life of Twoogle.

Update:  You can read more about it at Techrunch and the rest of the folks on Techememe.

Marketing has taken a new look as we enter the digital age. Companies are now looking for a new way to reach customers. They are reaching them in different ways because their customers are finding them in different ways. With everyone, even my 84 year old grandmother, searching the global market through Google, and getting recommendations from every friend in Facebook, Myspace, YouTube and in circles like Twitter with their options to buy or find services and products, businesses are clamoring for the attention of people. The new look and feel of marketing is participation, or what I have been calling participatory marketing.

Social media is really nothing more that participation in a social structure using different tools. All of the vehicles I mention above are merely a community of people. Like a block party where everyone gathers. An online neighborhood. They talk about their lives, they talk about their kids, they stand around the water cooler now known as their computer screen. They talk about you, your business, your product and your service.

Companies are trying to work their way into these communities now and they want to be the most noticed person at the party. The problem is that many of them are doing it wrong. They participate in the community but don’t provide anything of value. I’m not talking about walking into the party and handing out coupons for $5 off your $100 ice cream scoop. That is the way most are doing it. I’m talking about actually participating. Getting into a community of us Daddies and talking about how your 6 month old kept you all up all night is the conversation starter and ice breaker that works to get an in, but again companies open with that and then turn around and say, “Now download my sidebar widget thingy.” Again, what does that have to do with a sleepless night unless my 6 month old is put to sleep by your product? It takes a while for you to be in the group before I want to be approached for life changing conversations, like here let me help you buy a new home. Perhaps I should be calling this Kumbaya Marketing.

It takes a while for you to be in my group long enough to give me marital advice or if you want me to buy your stuff. Some of the companies have already been in my group a while. Some of the big brands and major companies are a part of our everyday lives and they can leverage that into instant credibility. If you come to my community for instance and say hey look at this cool Mac Book Pro, chances are we will all look and perhaps buy. If you want me to send you $100 to have me try your latest blue pill that will change my life, I will probably have to get to know you first.

[photo via mikebaird]*

*Not really relevant to participatory marketing but that is the point. Be relevant. That is one cute critter though. Since we are talking about Otters, check out Otter Box. See what I mean? No they are not a client, but they are a cool company that is using social media. They have been in my community a little. Now if I could get them to send me a new Blackberry case with the actual Blackberry in it.

We are trying out the a new template, we were using Lisa Sabin-Wilson’s, template before ad she is doing some really cool things. I look forward to her book coming out on WordPress For Dummies. There might be some dummy actually mentioned in the book.

We are trying some new things here to integrate some video and other media. I am also trying some other things because we have clients that need us to try them out as well. I suppose it is only right that I will be going to speak at Wordcamp in Las Vegas and have a new blog being developed with their application. We will be doing some different things and plugging is some new widgets and some new plugins will be installed.

Picture via “How To Make A Badass WordPress Logo” from 3nhanced.com

I have been asked that a number of times and I have a specifically crafted response, “I follow everyone that includes social media expert in their bio.” The response has a certain tongue in cheek quality to it but it has more truth than anything else. Yes it is true, like falling out of boat you hit water and like pulling up a Twitter bio you see “social media.” There are experts, gurus, strategists, consultants, wizards, rock stars and many other titles associated with social media people and their listed professions. I often joke about my own title. I have called myself social media consultant as it seems to be the buzz phrase, but I used to be a blog consultant, and my running joke at present is side bar wigetizer expert. You can never tell which way that tide will take you.

My point to all of this is merely to state that it really matters not the number of followers but the quality of those followers. If you sell flowers or if your business is chocolate covered cherries, chances are you can find your own niche on Twitter and any other network. Heck, some of those niches have huge networks. Scrapbooking is a group that comes to mind and knitters. They have a huge niche. You can find like minded people using some of the apps available, I mentioned before using Mr. Tweet, and then there is Twellow, and some of the other apps you can use. The idea is to find people that have your interest.

The important takeaway from this is to make sure you put the information you want people to see in your Twitter bio and profile. If you want people to find you, your bio should be filled with the keywords or phrases that people are looking for or trying to find. A look at Twellow makes my point. Just so happens at the time of this writing there are 3800+ people that have made “social media” a searchable term. Also it just so happens I have just over 4000 people I am following. Actually, it is more a coincidence because I am also following lots of mothers and fathers and other niche’s, but if you want to find a specific person to follow on Twitter, say an underwater basket weaver, I can find one for you (Thanks to @zinkly for allowing this bit of humor, our sole listed Twitterer at the time I put this together).

People talk all the time about search and increasing your search rank and search marketing, are you being found through this source? Ask yourself that question and I hope your answer is yes.

[Photo by Sreejith K]

One the best referrals I get from Google is my post on Google as a Lead Generator. I get many leads as a result of people simply searching on Google for the services I offer. I recently found others that are using online tools as a lead generator as well. Twitter.   

I am speaking at an event in Miami this week with Rick Calvert of Blog World Expo and Chris Brogan. We are doing a panel on using social media to help promote your convention or trade show. The event is IAEE which is the trade show or convention for the trade show and convention industry. I am looking forward to being in Miami while the snow falls here in Denver. I sent out a Tweet on Twitter about heading out to the city.

Anyone want to organize a Tweetup in the Miami area Wednesday night?

Immediately upon sending out that Twitter I noticed that three new twitter followers were now following me. As is my norm I checked out these new followers and wanted to see their bio, where they were from and who they were following and speaking to on Twitter. Did i have anything in common with them, Should I be interested in following them on twitter as well? What I found was interesting. 3 out of the three new followers I had gained were from the hotel or travel industry in the Miami area. This is interesting because one of the followers had a pitch right in their bio. Coming to Miami? Check out our stuff. I am paraphrasing of course but this is a very interesting use of Twitter. They can quickly follow a user that sends out a tweet that contains a keyword they are interest in for instance “Travel Miami”. They set up a twitter search for that phrase and can quickly drill down and get a quick lead follow up to the person sending that Twitter. If I had been looking for perhaps their service, they are there and showing me what they have to offer. Chances are I might but their product or book travel through them or whatever the case might be.

I remember Robert Scoble talking about this when Marayam was pregnant with their child. He continued to ask why companies were not there looking for ways to sell him a stroller or to get him to sign up for their gods in a registry etc. This is doing exactly that. Using Twitter to generate a possible sale. I think this is an innovative way to do business. If they get a few sales or leads for sales using this method it makes sense. It is an inexpensive use of a social media tool.

[Pic via Glengarry Glen Ross]