During the discussion and roundtable of experts,  we talked about the idea that Johnson & Johnson, the parent company of Motrin, and more specifically, McNeil Consumer Healthcare the company that is heading up any campaigns, was not listening and did not respond to the situation in a quick manner.  That perhaps they had an opportunity to jump on this before it got to the heights it did and they could have done something more.  The response, and apology and the aftermath is a different post altogether.

In that discussion one of my guests, Jessica Gottlieb, mentioned that the company is big enough to have a team dedicated to listening to what is being said about them online.  I debated that this was not the reality of the situation. Even the largest of companies have no idea what is being said on a regular basis and they in fact have nothing in place to help them with this idea.  This also made me think of a scene from one of my favorite movies:

President: We didn’t see this thing coming?

 
Dan: Well, our object collision budget’s a million dollars. That allows us to track about 3% of the sky, and beg’n your pardon sir, but it’s a big-ass sky. ~ Armageddon (1998/I)

The line in the movie refers to the fact that a big asteroid the size of Texas was about to hit the earth.  The President of the United States wanted to know why we were surprised by this fact.

I thought about the Motrin incident with the Mommy Bloggers and the Internet in the same fashion.  Turns out the YouTube Video referred to was released to the website in September and didn’t really get known until a month later.  They were completely caught unaware.  The video went viral over a weekend, and I am sure that the folks that are in charge of the campaign were all home for their weekend off and had no idea what was coming.  The Internet doesn’t take weekends off. Monday morning, I can picture the CEO standing in a boardroom with the same conversation as above.  The department head responding the same way, “we are sorry but we don’t spend much time or money on this kind of thing.”

I recently attended,  as a representative of the IBNMA,  the Blogwell event put on by the Blog Council in San Jose a few weeks ago and I was introduced to this very idea by Debbie Curtis-Magley, at United Parcel Service.  Debbie is the whole department for their social media campaign as it relates to their online management or brand reputation management and quipped about having difficulty tracking the entire Internet, and knowing that their are quite a few people writing online about “sit-ups” and “chin-ups.”  She has her work cut out for her because like above, “it’s a big ass Internet”.

There are quite a few companies out their that do help companies with their online brand and reputation management and they have proprietary applications that they use to accomplish their task.  They specialize in making sure you are alerted to what is being said about you, your company, or about that crazy YouTube video you put up on your website that set off a wildfire response in the blogosphere.  They can also be there when something good happens.  Normally however, and most unfortunately, the good stuff does not get quite the play as the bad stuff.  What is being said about you and your company?  Are you listening?  It is after all a very big ass Internet.

I would challenge the people I mentioned above to leave a comment if you are monitoring the Internet.  Did you read this post or see it come across your screen?  Debbie, did you pick it up?  Jessica, can you leave a comment here in more than a day or two? How about my own folks at the IBNMA?

“How can we get a viral component planned for our company?”

My response is something less than jovial, and sometimes it is met with sarcastic responses like “I wish I could bottle that”, or something along the lines of “Better yet let’s go buy that winning Powerball lottery ticket!” 

I recently read a post from a blogger that talked about those social media people that you need to run away from.  He hit the nail on the head when he said to run away from a consultant that says:

“We will implement a viral marketing strategy.”
Uh, no you won’t. Viral is the effect, not the cause. If someone says, “I can make a viral video,” please show him the door.

Yes, I completely agree.  Not only show them the door but make sure to report them to the social media police.

I tend to cringe when I see things like the company that somehow “positions” itself on page one of various networking sites.  The stars aligned well for them and they got a bump or large spike in traffic. Then I see them as they are bragging to all of their friends how their servers crashed under the weight of traffic that came to see their product.  Yes, it is pretty cool to watch and I have seen it happen first hand.

After that traffic spike honeymoon is over however, they don’t talk about the return to normalcy as they continue to struggle to get those much needed conversions.  In fact, they soon find that their conversion and other numbers have been skewed by the strange anomaly that occurred.  At this point, all we can really do as consultants is to tell you where and how to buy your chance at the golden lottery ticket, but I cannot tell you which one of those tickets will crash your server.

You can go there tonight at 5:00 p.m. PST/8:00 p.m. EST and participate in what has become a great debate.  Some of the things we will cover will be the campaign itself, where it went, where it went wrong, the players, who has influence, and the aftermath of what has become a huge discussion all over the mediasphere.  Twitter is all over it, blogs, and other media outlets.  I am going to get as many of the social media experts out there and even a mommy blogger or two to give us their thoughts. Join us for the discussion.

[photo via Tampa Tribune]

Li Evans - “What is Social Media’s Purpose? Honestly, Its Not About Links”

Brian Carter - “White Hat vs Black Hat Social Media Optimization”

Mitch Joel - Yes, But Can You Seed The Blogs And Online Social Networks

Social media if done effectively can be done without smoke and mirrors and without poor credibility and with lasting results.  Like the SEO industry before it, Social Media is becoming the new black.  I wanted to make sure that in every industry we could point out the Black Hat (bad guys), the Gray Hat (controversial guys), and those doing it the right way (the old fashion way).

Many times clients will sign on for a social media campaign that we have discussed.  We helped them come up with a good, workable strategy. When things kick off on Monday, I get that dreaded email on Friday asking why their bank account is not bulging with money and their account managers are not going crazy with orders. Social Media is not a get rich quick scheme.  Those that tell you to expect immediate results are not going to be there at the end of the month when the check clears.

Social Media is not a get rich quick scheme.

Many have asked that I begin right away shouting at their customers.  They along with everyone else in their genre are on their soapbox shouting at the top of their lungs asking everyone to find them and to buy from them. I liken this to what it must be like on the floor at Wall Street when everyone is screaming “sell!”  Or it could just be what it is like at the dinner table at my house when I ask about what everyone wants for dessert.  Meanwhile, the customer is having a nice conversation with a friend somewhere over a cup of coffee.  None of the customers are in that forest hearing that tree fall.  The irony is, the customer is talking to that person at the table over coffee about what they want. Your product or service.  Who are they talking to?  I could be your competition–doing it the right way. The competition that is taking a moment to listen to what they, your customers, have to say.

Listening is always one of the best ways to get involved with a group or to make friends or to get information about what people want to talk about.  When I head to a networking event or when I participate at a cocktail party, after I have taken a moment to introduce myself, I take a moment and listen to what the conversation is and find a way to contribute.  I hate using this cliche, but it is still very relevant today as it relates to the use of social media and how you as a business use it for marketing, advertising and PR.

The social media we practice here at One By One Media is about participation.  Not immediate, in your face, car salesman social media, but the participation after invitation.  We don’t want to be the person that nobody invites to the party because they are overbearing and they cannot two sentences without talking about themselves.  We want to be that person that is on every “must have attend” list.  The way to get invited is to be a listener.

It takes a while to be one of the cool kids.  I know, I am still trying to be part of the cool kids at the party, and I helped design the INVITATIONS!  If you are one that thinks social media is about screaming your message until someone finally hears, I have some kids here you can play with, but if you are across the table ordering another cup of coffee, welcome to the party, how can we help you?

How did I go about researching and buying the product?  I went to the same place every consumer goes, I went to Google.  Like I have been saying from the beginning and telling all of our clients, “We live in a Google World.”  We don’t research a purchase, find our way across town, or order Chinese food without first consulting Google.

Where are you in the Google world?  If I wanted to find you, are your services or products findable?  If not your business is doomed.  Your company will be on the side of that milk carton and the world will not know where you are.  You will be one of a million other businesses online but nowhere to be found.

Social Media and the use of those tools can make you findable.  It can allow the search engines like Google to seek you out and make you available to their customers, the people typing their queries into that little box hoping to find the perfect widget your company sells or wanting to research and find the company that can provide them with the service that can solve their problem.  My bloggers understand the importance of this concept and if you own a business you should be on top of the notion that unless you are findable, your business is dead.

The product I searched for and purchased?  An on-the-counter stainless steel compost container, with charcoal filters. A $40 purchase.

[Photo via Striatic]

[Research Paper via Nielsen-Online]

Jim Turner Video

Listen to the show.

Feel free to get over to Blog Talk Radio and listen to some of the pre-show interviews I have done with Rick Calvert as well. We will be doing post show interviews of some of the sponsors, speakers and exhibitors as well so stay tuned and we will be providing a lineup of people we intend to talk to and interview about their experience in Las Vegas.

I have had that in my mind and can’t get the thought out of my head. I like the sound of “going home.” The thought of going home has many emotions and memories, even smells and other senses and thoughts of better days. I think of all of the times I actually went home when it brought with it the safety of youth and the feeling of protection and notion of being where I belonged.

What does this have to do with social media consulting or anything business related? I believe we all need to sometimes take a moment to stop and go home. We need to get an idea of what brought us to where we are and what started us on the journey to begin with and to see if we are still on that path. Many times we have changed paths without ever knowing and we need to refocus our efforts to get back on the proper path.

For me, getting back to what the true nature of blogging is and was for me is essential to being able to teach and mentor others. It allows me to explain to companies needing my services with the passion I first had for blogging and how it changed my life and the can change their company. As a business owner can you remember where your home is? Perhaps you are working for a company and can think of the time when you first decided that you believed in your company and its message or mission. If not perhaps a short trip back home is in order.

[photo courtesy of sanjoyg]

I have also been following the rumors, innuendo and some of the people involved with the blogging network at Weblogs, Inc., a blog network company that was purchased by AOL, and the idea that they too may be stopping the payment to their bloggers for the content that they are providing. They are supposed to also learn their fate on August 1, 2008. I would say that this Friday could be referred to as Black Friday as it relates to the blog networking agencies.

What is the cause of this demise? I believe there are two components to this dilemma and it starts with the economy and the ad spends we are seeing in the online marketing realm. I too have felt the economic crunch with companies that were early adopters to enter into the social media arena. Experimental marketing such as the kind I provide, is usually the first to suffer the cuts of companies tightening their belts to prepare for the new downturn. Companies using blogs to market their products and services are still seeing the advertising as experimental not being able to yet show a return on their investment. Measurement of social media marketing is still in it’s infancy and companies are falling back on what they believed was working before they began to experiment and then experience tougher times. The economy has taken its toll. Advertisers are repositioning their budgets to go to something more stable and more quantifiable.

Another problem I see is the way blogging networks are managing their properties. Some of the companies that are in trouble with their networks are those companies that are not flexible and have the ability to move with the market. The leadership of these companies are beginning to see what happens when you rest upon your laurels and get too comfortable with a business plan that really must grow with its market and adapt to market changes. Leadership continues to take profit and not go back to those leaner times. In addition, since the sale of Weblogs, Inc., we have seen the emergence of social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace and the explosive emergence of microblogging sites such as Twitter and other applications. These blogging networks must also evolve to adapt these tools to make them a part of their own properties. They may have some components in place, but for the most part relying on their bloggers to keep them profitable is a tough chore for those bloggers and it will not last forever.

What do I see for the future of the likes of blogging Networks? I see smaller niche networks fracturing off to make single networks and written by perhaps multiple bloggers. We are seeing the emergence now of social sites such as in the food realm, the sports realm, and the automobile industry and other hobby type sites. The mommy blogs have embraced the idea of community and are some of the best in the business at making a social group made of many bloggers. The only problem we are seeing is the bloggers themselves are not making money from these groups. It’s an advertising property for the owners. Groups that are joining as a member/friend/follower of the group as a whole are becoming their own target market. They are generating content for the group and it all ends up in one place. They have built in forums for discussion, they have feeds that are brought in from each member of their own member blogs, and they have a Facebook look with each community member owning a certain part of the real estate. We see it now with FriendFeed Groups and other places.

Some of the players like b5 and others are still able to show profits because they have positioned themselves to give the best product. I believe even b5 has adjustments that they make on a regular basis to bring in new properties and cutting off the parts of the network that are bringing their number down. A type of survival of the fittest as it relates to their participating core. The problems we face have to do with metrics and what those with money see as the value. I have heard tell that those that have a target audience with the most impressions are the most valuable and are riding that wave. It seems Jeremy Wright is able to continue to surf that wave.

What do you think. What is the new thing to replace networks? Do you think networks are here to stay? As we all become our own citizen journalists, how can we monetize that content, or is their a different way of thinking for advertisers. These are questions I get and wrestle with on a regular basis. Any ideas?

[photo via Benny Bloomfield]

The latest news that I must take time to report is that I have been appointed to the executive board of the International Blogging and New Media Association as they announce their latest re-launch.  This is at the same time that Paul Chaney has been appointed President of the association.  I am also joined by new executive board member Zane Safrit who was most recently CEO with Conference Calls Unlimited.  The rest of the board is comprised of Rick Calvert of Blog World and New Media Expo, the trade show that is partnered with the association, and Miles  Durfee the past President.  The release can be read for more information.

I welcome the challenges that being on the executive board of directors will bring and I hope that I can make the IBNMA something that all blogger and people involved with new media can be proud of and be happy to be members.  We will be having our annual meeting at the Blog World and New Media Expo in September on the 19-21, in Las Vegas at the Las Vegas Convention Center.  Come on out to enjoy and be a part of a great organization. 

Now I can finally say that I have updated my blog with information which is better to say than “A cobbler’s son has no shoes.”

While in Austin I will be trying to meet as many people as possible.  I have a few appointments set up and I have a few parties on the schedule.  Luckily, I have been asked to be a wingman for Rick Calvert at Blog World Expo which I am looking forward to as much as the trip.  I’m going to be representing Twitterlights while I am at Barcamp as they are a sponsor.  If you have any questions about the application or you want a quick tour, please feel free to stop by and ask me how it works.  I’ll also be helping my friends at Lijit, by connecting them with some of my friends and helping show off their cool Lijit wijit and hopefully get a few of you to download the application and see how it works.  I’ll bet I even have a few stickers to give away too.  I am also helping out a long time client with his company’s new ad feed that they are introducing to everyone from Hostway.  They are hoping to show off their new launch.  Finally, I may even drop in have a meeting with my friends at Photrade as I understand they will be there looking to show off their new photo sharing site.  As it turns out this cool convention where everyone is there to party is turning out to be a lot of work for me.  I suppose this makes up for last year as I got nothing done and spent far too much time at the bar.

If you are going to be at the SXSW Interactive conference, please look me up.  I’ll be the one hard at work, and still having fun.  This after all us the ultimate social networking you can do.  If you want to be introduced to any of the people I’ll be their with, by all means come on up and buy me a drink, or dinner, or just give me the cash…well that’s not a requirement.  Hope to see you all there!

Technorati

When I talked with Richard Jalinchandra in Las Vegas at the Blog World Expo in November, he mentioned then that Technorati was in for some changes and that he wanted to lead the company back to its glory days.  He couldn’t talk then about what he was doing but it seems that the cool stuff I expected and the things the head of marketing, Aaron Krane,  talked about on my Social Mediapshere radio show would make them a shining star again.  I didnt expect them to enter the advertising arena.

Tris an I questioned them on why they were not indexing search results past six months and it looks like they may be rethinking that with adding an advertising component to their search.  Arrington states:

Technorati will certainly be competing head to head with FM, although sources say they’ll focus on the long tail of the market as well (FM only takes larger sites). The network will be a self-serve exchange for bloggers (and other publishers) as well as advertisers. Ad units will include both display and text ads, and will allow units to be charged on both a CPM and CPC basis. (emphasis added)

I was hoping that Technorati would be adding some features that would be more than just another way for bloggers to add a revenue component to their blogs.  I want to see them return to an application I would run to five times a day because they offered a way to see stats and a something that was cool to experience as I did back in the day.

This is part of the reason I have hooked my wagon to the folks at Lijit*.  I certainly see that they have ideas to make their “wijit” something that is a first add-on to a blog.  I am not sensing that Technorati has that coolness factor in mind.  I certainly understand that after raising $20M in funding you might want to start thinking of making money and perhaps they will change the way they run their business and we have only seen the beginning of their new glory days.  It appears Richard is doing his job of CEO and is running the company in the best interest of those investors, but I for one want to see them do some things they used to do, only better.  Don’t make it about the page views make it about the blogger and a company that every blogger loves to use.

[photo via Brian Solis]

*Lijit is a client and I do some evangelism for them.

Facebook has become nearly a dead entity for me.  I continue to build my community there and I have used it to talk to some of my friends and colleagues, but for the most part I ignore it.  Some of my friends on Facebook are rabid users.  I say this only because I get 100 emails a day about my Funwall and Superwall and Likeness results and everything else that goes on inside the community.  At first I tried to keep up with the madness, but I already have ADD from Twitter and I can’t do both. 

Arrington reports:

First, users can block applications when they receive a request, so no additional requests from that app will get through. Second, they added a “clear all” requests feature that erases all pending requests (my new favorite, and most used, Facebook feature). Also, Facebook is watching how many people block or ignore application requests - too many, and an application has restrictions placed on it.

I think Facebook must have their ear to the ground and a bug in my office.  Whenever I say something bad about them, they do something that doesn’t suck.

The game plan seems to be along these syllogistic lines.

• Come up with an application that fills a need.
• Develop the application.
• Launch it and see if it scales, get user feedback and adjust its use accordingly.
• Begin to build your user base until you reach some determined tipping point number. (This is probably the most difficult step in the overall business plan.)

These are the initial outlines I have seen.  During this period you may have an angel investment or a small first round to get to the tipping point number.  The next step is where it gets tricky.  Now that we are at our initial goal, how do we make it profitable?

Companies have built the trust and admiration of their users by providing a great application that is free and useful.  The users are making it an integral part of their lives.  The company has developed and gathered this large community.  They must leverage that into real money.  As I see it, they have but two choices, advertise or begin charging for the service they once before gave away for free.  A blend of these two would be a third choice.

Advertisers want eyeballs and reach.  The users are what they seek, and the more the better.  It’s all about the page views and the numbers generated from people.  Fewer users, the less they pay for your real estate.  Increasing page views and users increases revenue.  This is a hard fact as CEO’s try to guide the company to profitability.  If an application has 100,000 users it is worth more to an advertiser than 10,000 users.  Companies sell to advertisers and tell them, “We have 100,000 users at X amount of page views.”  The media buyers line up for those numbers.  Problem is, companies such as Blog Talk Radio have to sell based on those numbers, but then they must get the customer or users to get behind the plan. If they ask the users permission perhaps they only have 50,000 of the 100,000 users that will allow ads.  Now their property is worth 50% less to advertisers, and they don’t make money at that level.

Their second choice.  They begin charging the users for using the service.  Or as I indicated above the third choice, charging those that elect not to have advertising on the application a premium. The third choice allowing both opt in and opt out income.  This is risky as you may chase off users that were really sold on the application that was free, but not so warm to paying a fee for the service, or having advertisements show up on a usually clean page. 

It’s a chess match played by advertisers and CEO’s and ultimately users.  How can they all be happy?  I’m not sure that is entirely possible but their must be a compromise somewhere.  Companies are struggling to be profitable, advertisers are cutting their spend to increase their return on their own investment, and meanwhile, the user holds the power of being part of the community and whether the user wants to sell their eyeballs.

I have been touting 2008 as “The Year of The User.”  Companies have been building their user base.  The power the users hold with their attention and their eyeballs and presence make the other parties to the dance want to court them.  I’m not sure the answer, but I think ultimately it will raise the cost of advertising, and may force a new metric not based upon the number of eyeballs and page views.  Who flinches first has not been determined.