I think I have seen it all or in this case heard it all and then they come out with a Twitter song! This is awesome!
Dust Off Your Blog and Fix Your Foundation
November 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment
I have been keeping ahead of the game of new and shiny objects by trying out the latest and greatest in tools that can be used for social media programs at companies. I have always come back to the main point of view as it relates to tools that work. I was reading a recent blog post by David Armano related to this very idea. David states better than I can about dusting off some of the old tools before trying out new and shiny ones:
Your Blog(s): Your company is blogging. Congratulations. Is anyone listening? Blogging was the bright and shiny object of 2006-2008 and many companies found out just how hard it is to do well. Good blogging provides value. It is interesting and generates a healthy amount of comments and conversation which in turn generates a good dose of Google juice. It’s also terribly difficult to sustain. It requires cultural shifts within an organization, and has to be prioritized (read: made part of someone’s job). Frankly, I rarely see outstanding examples of a good company blog. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing (if it makes sense strategically), but doing it well is another story.
Many companies have still not taken on blogging as a tool that will work for them. They have gone straight to Twitter or Facebook fan pages or none of the above as yet. I am of the camp that blogs are a place to start, and a place to start a social media foundation. I am dusting off the blog here and trying myself to get back into the swing of blogging for business. This is the message I mention in most conversations. Is you blog dusty? Perhaps a little cleaning is in order and some attention given. Then you can go off to find a new and shiny tool.
Tags: Corporate Blogging, Professional Blogging, Bloggers For Hire, Social Media, Social Media Tools
Preaching From The Social Media Pulpit
November 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment
I have been preaching about blogging for a long time. I have been an evangelist and telling companies that they had to blog more they had to have a place for people to "join the conversation" and making it possible for them to connect with their customers. Like some of the preachers of the past, I am my own worst sinner apparently. I was reminded by people in my company that I am the worst person in the world to tell companies that they are not blogging enough or that they are not doing it right.
I am preaching from the pulpit so to speak and I am preaching to the choir perhaps, but I need to update more often here. I am trying to get more and more content on here and those that are slinging arrows at me the most may be asked to also contribute now and then to what we are doing at One By One Media and Bloggers For Hire. I am also on Twitter quite a bit, and I am trying out Posterous, and I am about to start Social Mediasphere TV again. Of course, you can always come and hear what we are doing at our new radio show at Blog World Expo Radio.
Now that BlogWorld & New Media Expo is over for 2009 I have a few minutes I can breathe, and I will be using that time to try to be more involved here rather than out on the road or on the phone trying to convert the latest in small medium or large business to jumping into the social media pool. I guess I am like that life guard that actually never swims!
Photo via LeMonde1
Tags: One By One Media, Bloggers For Hire, Twitter, Posterous, Social Mediasphere TV, Blog World Expo Radio, Blog World Expo, Business Blogging, Evangelism
Sponsored Status? Not Facebook
August 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment
I have been a follower of the sponsored conversations and sponsored tweets and the sponsored anything for a while now and I intend to keep on top of it because it does have somewhat of a effect on my business model although indirect. TechCrunch talks about banning sponsored status updates from their application. This will take on quite a white hat look in many of the purists’ eyes, but in my eyes if seems to be a horse of a different color. As a social media consultant I always talk about the metrics and ROI of using some of these tools, and the business model given today’s idea of return does not have much spark as it relates to sponsored status updates on Facebook.
For the most part, sponsored conversations or updates or tweets or whatever the case is mostly about reach. Part of that reach and probably what is most important to advertisers and brands is the amount of eyeballs. Let’s face it, they are not banging my door down to put up banner ads here as I am not getting the reach they require, and that is exactly why Facebook’s idea of banning the practice of sponsored updates is sort of a moot point.
With the limits they have on "friends" there will never be the huge amount of eyeballs that brands and media buyers are looking for in a property. My Facebook page will only ever have 5000 friends at the most. That is not what they want. They are looking for the biggest bang for their buck. I do understand and argue that its not about the number of followers it is about the number of conversions, or how or who you influence, but that thinking has not reached the heads of the people that are signing the checks. I think if I were to ask Ted Murphy the best way to sell the sponsored conversations it would be about your number of page views over the number of cool people you know.
I think this has to do with a preemptive strike and more about what they have for plans down the road. I do think however that with the addition of FriendFeed now in their crown jewels, it may also be a tell of what they have in store for a plan to for future looks of their new acquired service. As the FTC becomes involved and we see more and more of a crackdown these types of maneuvers will be quickly reversed or adopted but I applaud Facebook for taking a stand in this part of the controversy.
UPDATE: I forgot to mention something I thought I should get into this post. With the banning of sponsored conversations this also make it difficult to cross pollinate all of your networks with a sponsored post which in turn keeps the walled garden feel to Facebook which I think also helps their business plan. Keeping third party applications from sending out a mass tweet/update/status message to all of your "friends" at once makes it also difficult.
Tags: Facebook, TechCrunch, Sponsored Status, Sponsored Conversations, Sponsored Tweets, ROI, Marketing, Social Media Advertising
Facebook Acquires FriendFeed – Twitter Beware – Google Looking Over Shoulder
August 10, 2009 By 4 Comments
I just read the news about Facebook acquiring FriendFeed. Many are already shouting "game changer", but not really. Facebook already has the huge networking, but it does make some ground on the folks at Twitter as a microblogging or communication tool. I talked a while back about FriendFeed’s new look and feel making it seem much like the already popular Twitter.
Now it has a war chest behind it to become bigger better and more usable I hope. We are already hearing about the demise of blogs for Life Streaming, and this moves into that game as well. I hope to get a better feel for the implications behind this. Good luck to Facebook and congrats to the guys at FriendFeed.
We will see if this becomes a game changer, but for now I think that it strengthens rather than changes things. To be sure, Facebook is becoming a player that now Google needs to be careful of in the long run. Twitter needs to catch up if they want to keep up.
The press release from Facebook will be looked at quite a bit.
Tags: FriendFeed, Facebook, Social Networking, Social Media
The Twitter Blessing
August 7, 2009 By Leave a Comment
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
Social Media Strategies Don’t Matter – It’s All About The Execution
August 4, 2009 By 4 Comments
I have been writing this blog post for the last 5 years. No, I haven’t been actually writing this post for that long, but I have been preparing to write this post for nearly that long. You see I have been a strategist a long time in Internet years. I have put many of those strategies together, and I am happy to say that many of them actually worked, but I must also say unfortunately, some of them and I should say more than I care to admit have probably failed. I tried most of these ideas and “campaigns” on my own company and used myself as the test subject. I have always tried them in my own marketing, advertising and public relations and as I said, some work and some don’t. This post is not about the “try” or “the idea”, but the execution.
Many colleagues out there are expert strategists. Many charge a pretty penny to come up with a strategy. In fact, I too charge for that, and some would say (you know who you are) not nearly enough, but that is for a another post. There are some great plans drawn out on the whiteboard of board rooms, and there are some bar napkins that I would like to have in a shadow box case as many of our greatest companies started there. My company in fact was sort of started as a dare I think one night after having had too many drinks. Having a good job and a stable company to work for, why would I ever jump into the entrepreneurial pool? I blame the alcohol.
“Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
All of us have the best mousetrap. That is our strategy. We have the best way things can be done and the way that they should be done according to our extensive research and study. For my extensive study and research, (please see the archives here for a start) I have tried and failed and taken those ideas that have been most successful. Some of it is still theory after all social media has been around less than some of my young children. Given what we know of facts and how they are applied to each circumstance, all of the strategies seem to be close to the same Plan A or Plan B depending on which consultant or agency you happen to speak with about your company and needs.
I have noticed a trend based on some of the ideas and strategies implemented. When companies are happy with a certain strategy it is only after the execution stage. Most of them are all excited and gung-ho when the strategy is discussed and laid out in front of them, but the truly satisfied are not such until after the plan has been put into place and the results come to fruition. Be it as simple as starting a company blog, setting up a comment policy, providing a podcast, or research on community outreach and providing that service and seeing your first conversion, the elation comes when the plan is executed. It can be even more rewarding when a multifaceted and long and expensive journey has been commenced.
I am known for providing a sports metaphor now and then and this is not much different so I apologize for this ahead of time if you hate those. If I draw a play in the sand and at the snap of the football all goes to hell in a hand basket, the best laid plan pf x’s and o’s is not going to get me points on the board. But when you truly make a plan, draw out a play and then deliver the ball to the end zone, all are happy and we get to celebrate with high fives all around. Seems pretty simple. The problem has always been execution. As consultants or strategist are you executing your plan? When was the last time you were in the end zone?
Tags: Social Media, Better Mouse Trap, Emerson, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Consulting, New Media
Arrington and Sethi are Hatfield and McCoy
August 3, 2009 By 1 Comment
Dennis Howlett writes today about the lawsuit involving Sam Sethi and Mike Arrington and Interserve, Inc., als known in our wrold as TechCrunch. As a disclosure I remember this riff vividly as my friend and partner Tris Hussey was involved in this problem and other friends, Marc Orchant and Oliver Starr were also part of the BlogNation.com which is peripherally part of the overall story. I am not a huge fan of what took place in that business deal and I see what happened as unfortunate to my friends.
I won’t get into the merits of the case, nor will I try to discuss the legal issues as I had plenty of the legal world after working there for 22 years. I do want to comment on the somewhat short sightedness I see on behalf of Mike Arrington and TechCrunch as it relates to the lawsuit. I know that Mike Arrington is giving this lawsuit less than a nuisance value and sees no merit to the claims and perhaps wants it to carry it on for more page views (which of course I am adding to albeit a small amount). I’m afraid that this is just the beginning of something that will give Mr. Sethi more fuel for his feud and make this debacle continue.
Mike has stated that he will not participate in the litigation and that they will ignore it, not planning to subject himself to the litigation process in the UK. I think that is not a bad strategy from a legal standpoint as it carries with it somewhat of a "no harm, no foul" consequence. California Law does not really give much weight to the UK and its judgment, be it a default judgment or otherwise. I should note that a default judgment might have less weight than a judgment on the merits, but I digress. From a business standpoint, I think this might be a bad move.
According to Mike his legal costs could exceed £500,000, to win the case which the experts indicated should not have been a problem. The court would then have awarded Mike his legal costs, but that is like squeezing blood from a turnip as I assume Sethi is not in a position to pay that type of money, given what I know of the Blog Nation debacle. The part here that is troublesome is giving life or a breath or two of life to Sam Sethi and his continued efforts to gain the upper hand and make him appear to be in a better position in his case against Mike Arrington and TechCrunch.
In addition, now Arrington must watch how he works around having this judgment against him in the UK. I am assuming at some point it may be necessary for him to do business there or to collect from advertisers there or to get money from the UK. I am assuming that any funds due to him or his company from that jurisdiction can be attached or to some effect, garnished to satisfy the judgment. He has already canceled to speak at an event he told the organizers he would be a part of and who knows how many other ventures he must cancel or at least not appear for in the UK. I am not sure the limitation on satisfying judgments in the UK, but I can assure you that Sethi will be waiting at the opportunity to get his shot in to collect if only a dollar of the judgment. The time to put this to bed is now. The time to finish it is here. If not, this could drag on for some time. As I stated above, that could be what we are looking for from someone that wants to sensationalize it.
If you are a person that is owed money as a result of the Blog Nation debacle, it might provide fruitful to see if you can attach your own judgment to funds related to the Sethi’s judgment. Who knows it might work. It is by far more than you will get if you are waiting for an old paycheck to clear.
Photo above via CrunchNotes*
*I wanted to point out the labeled photo on CrunchNotes is "sethiissuchadick.jpg" 
Classic.
Tags: Mike Arrington, TechCrunch, Sam Sethi, Tris Hussey, Oliver Starr, Marc Orchant, Libel
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