Time Magazine Gets Owned by Social Media

And I thought I had seen it all… well… enough for my 24 years on this earth… apparently not.

I was reading an article at Mashable about the founder of a “legendary memebreeding forum” called 4Chan topping the Time’s 100 Most Influtential People Poll. I had to read the article twice. The person called “moot” is the founder of a website? A founder of a website beat out the likes of Rick Warren and Anwar Ibrahim? Say it ain’t so. 

What is hilarious is that the list was apparantly hacked by 4chan users in an attempt (successful attempt) to completely deface the Time 100 Poll. The surprising thing is not only did Moot win the poll but his followers also hacked away at the entire list. According to Mashable: 

“The vote is obviously hacked. Time’s attempts to fix the damage came too late, and the 4chan folks managed to put the encrypted message back into order (if you read the first letters of the first 21 names on the list, the message reads “Marblecake also the game”).”

The world is becoming smaller. One the most influential magazines in the world was infected by an anime/meme forum. Despite the fact that Time magazine built up defenses and put a captcha in place… it was too late to quell the amost 17 million votes for the 4chan founder. 

To be honest with you… the important lesson to be learned from all of this…

You can’t afford to ignore the Internet. It is NOW a part of life… our daily routine… for people, cultures, and clients. 

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Social Media Lab Developed to Help Interns and Biz

Thanks to my partner in crime at Brandswag, Brandon Coon, for sending me this article on a Social Media Lab in Oklahoma.

There is a company in Tulsa, OK that is taking the concept of marketing and education in social media and magnifying it by 1000%. Cubic , a creative marketing and advertising company, has developed a Social Media Lab that is dedicated to teaching young professionals and business owners the front and back of technology and social media.

Check out the article and read the background behind the idea from Cubic.

I like the idea of the Social Media Lab because we need (as a culture) to start helping the masses understand the concepts of social media technology and the Internet. It is important for the learning curve to start collapsing from all sides. I am glad that tech and new media companies are taking this upon their shoulders.

From SMASH to the Social Media Lab, education is going to be the leading focus of many social media and new media marketing firms in the near future.

What do you think about the Social Media Lab? Do you think it will work?

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Social Media Can Help Your Business Be Remarkable

There is a constant theme in social media that defines the use of the tool in terms of marketing and communication… being remarkable. This concept was first started when Seth Godin wrote about it in his book Free Prize Inside and Purple Cow.  The whole concept of being remarkable is focusing on the customer who is “willing to make a remark about” your product or service. I wanted to take a look at the word remark because there is a lesson buried within this word-of-mouth marketing concept. 

re⋅mark (from dictionary.com) 
   /rɪˈmɑrk/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [ri-mahrk]
–verb (used with object)
1. to say casually, as in making a comment: Someone remarked that tomorrow would be a warm day.
2. to note; perceive; observe: I remarked a slight accent in her speech.
3. Obsolete. to mark distinctively.

Do you know what hit me? The third definition in the group above: to mark distinctively. Many people view the concept of a remark as a casual comment in passing. Unfortunately or fortunately… depending on your situation… it is important to remember that a remark is no longer casual. In a world where communication is doubling ever second (or so it seems) a casual remark can spread like wildfire. If you can build products and services that are remarkable…

… that people are talking about…

… that people love …

You can create a word-of-mouth campaign that will grow your business by leaps and bounds. The truth of the matter is this: if you are not being talked about in a positive light…You are doing something wrong. Seth has the tendency to ask, “Are you invisible? Or are you remarkable.” I am going to encourage all the business owners and marketing professionals of the world to do 5 things:

1. Love the product and service you sell and believe it can be Remarkable. 

2. Talk about what you do with excitement (drink caffeine if you have to).

3. Send surveys to make sure your product or service is staying remarkable.

4. Utilize a blog or forum to allow your customers to share the story (to remark on your story).

5. Believe in the concept of using social media as a HUGE communication tool. It is here to stay. 

Are you invisible or remarkable?

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NonProfit Organizations Love Social Media Too!

I had the pleasure of speaking at the Fundraising 2.0 conference on Friday and I wanted to make sure that everyone on the Internet knew that non-profit organizations get a bad name sometimes for hating on social media (the fear factor)… well sometimes. I recorded this video to show that people are getting excited for social media and the future of communication! Check it out.

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4 Tips to Successful Strategy in Social Media

I have been following the writings of Jon Gatrell of Spatially Relevant and I would recommend all of the people reading this post to subscribe to his blog. It has some great content. I was reading his post about the 2009 Mountain Social Media Summit. I found what they are focusing on to be really interesting. This is straight from the site:

The 2009 Mountain Social Media Summit focuses on the 4 P’s of Social Media: Personas, Problems, Projects and Profits.

Personas: Who leverages social media, what are the opportunities and why is social media important in a personal, professional and commercial context.

Problems: What challenges exist for social marketers? What problems does media address? What problems exist for social media. Understand the opportunities, obstacles and value social media can bring to your business or your personal growth.

Projects: Understanding use cases and case studies which highlight key lessons and themes which are important.

Profits: Where is the market opportunity, revenue channels and process improvements. Can social media increase customer acquisition, drive cost reduction and improve customer/market awareness?

Good stuff right!? What I found interesting is that anyone can relate the 4 Ps of Social Media to their own strategy. When you are building a social media strategy for your company or organization follow the Mountain Social Media Summit and focus on the 4 Ps.

Personas: Who are you trying to target with your social media strategy? Are there different sites online that cater to this specific demographic? Are you targeting Baby Boomers? Try Eons or the growing trend on Facebook. Focus on targeting the personas of your social media strategy first. The rest will come with ease.

Problems: There are three main problems that arise for businesses and organization when using social media: Time, ROI, and the Learning Curve.  The problems need to ad addressed before you can walk down the social media marketing route. Time management, metrics, and education are the answer to the social media problems… which in the long run will just lead to fear.

Projects: Learn and read what other people are doing in the social media. Track your competitors and constantly read about changes and trends in your industry. If you are still hesitant to use social media try a small project on the side and watch the results. You will be surprised!

Profits: Measure. Measure. Measure. Measure. Measure. You will only be able to relate success to social media if you measure the social media tools you are using.

Remember the 4Ps. Write them down if you have to or just attend the 2009 Moutain Social Media Summit.  Believe me, It will be worth every second and every penny.

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Next Time. Punch Fear in the Face.

What is it about fear that immobilizes an individual or an organization? The fear of failure… The fear of not understanding how to use a specific tool.. The fear of being left behind.

The problem with fear is that it paralyzes and damages the great things your company or organization can do in the future. At Brandswag we come across many individuals, companies and organizations that are simply afraid of jumping into the world of “the social web.”

It could be the fear of open conversation. It could be the fear of not knowing what to do. What is driving your company? What is the driving factor for not changing? What is keeping you from not adapting to the changing world of communication?

The simple fact…

You cannot let fear rule the way you run your business. The world is changing. People are controlling conversations, brands, and causes. Your brand is built by people. Why not use the tool most associated with communication?

You may not want to change for a variety of reasons… but you don’t really have the choice. Remember the term Evolve or Die. It applies here.

Here is what I want you to do… Next time you are sitting down and reviewing methods and procedures for the marketing of your product or service and that fear starts to rise in the back of your mind… you have two choices…

Ignore it or Embrace it.

Which one do you think is going to revolutionize your company or organization in the years to come?

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Social Media According to Zhang Yu

I am re-reading The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

Let me be clear. When I say I am re-reading it actually means I am reading it for the first time, a second time. It is amazing the kind of insight you take away from a book when you read it through different parts of life. It has been a couple of years since I picked up the book and a section about adapting caught my eye.

Zhang Yu : Adaptation means not clinging to fixed methods, but changing appropriately according to events as is suitable.

We are in a phase of adaptation in the world of marketing communications. With the advancement of the Internet (mainly the growth of commercial social media) a new phase of communication is quickly becoming a premiere way to connect with a demographic. But..

You have to adapt.

If you do not adapt to the changing business environment.. you will be lost in a world that is moving faster and faster with every moment. It is important to destroy the learning curve that is forcing multitudes of companies to rethink the way they communicate with their clients and potential clients.

Remember that adapting and changing is not an easy thing to do but it needs to be done. The key is to learn and soak in as much as you can when it comes to business communication. We are all in this changing environment and some are adapting faster than others.

The key is to adapt, strategize, and execute….

and repeat.

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Forget Social Media Measurement. Get Back to the Basics.

There has been a lot of talk about measurement and return-on-investment in the world of social media. Where and what do we measure? Is there any type of return on investment we can micro manage down to the point of dollars and cents?

Richard Stacy asked a brilliant question on his Social Computing Journal post called Social Media Measurement – Are We STaring At Stones? Are we measuring/looking at the wrong thing? Are we missing the point when we use Web 1.0 measurement tools and try to squeeze them into a Web 2.0 – 3.0 world? I think so. I would guess that Richard would agree.

Are we staring at the finish line without starting the race?

We are focused so intently on understanding the measurement model of social media that we fail to recognize the tool itself.  We fail to realize that a complete understanding of social media (as a tool) has yet to be accomplished. We need to back up and refocus. As a company, we are just as guilty.

It is hard for me to swallow the concepts of using traditional and web 1.0 measurements tools (traffic, click-throughs) to social media tools like Twitter.  What is the answer? Ad agencies are falling over themselves to gain as many viewers as possible to online videos. We can have 2 million views on a YouTube video but does that measure to actual growth in sales? It is hard to tell and becoming increasingly harder (Google aquisition of YouTube).

I don’t have the answer. Every interactive marketing firm on the planet is trying to measure this phenomenal new medium of communication… We all have case studies but there hasn’t been a proven formula for measurement.

Maybe we need to go back to the basics… refocus on completely understanding a new medium  that is changing our entire communication formula.

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Put My Money on Myspace not Facebook

Ahh… welcome back to the Myspace and Facebook debate. I love talking about the business models of social networks across the Internet.

I was reading a post from Edmund Lee at theBigMoney called Why Facebook Can’t Succeed (via alisa at socialized) and I found myself agreeing with Edmund on some of the community versus business aspects of his post. I have always been under the assumption that we were approaching another net explosion (circa 1999) because of the value of companies being placed on growth instead of revenue. It seems ridiculous to me and completely backward.

It is easy for the social media nerds of the world to bash the social networks (Myspace) that tend to be a little more “whoring” of their advertising. The truth of the matter is that users of Myspace tend to spend more time on the site compared to Facebook.

“According to comScore Media Metrix, MySpace users spend an average of 234 minutes on the site each month, as opposed to Facebook’s 169 minute per user average. Furthermore, MySpace has a bigger cut of the U.S. audience, the most lucrative, at 75 million unique visitors for January, outpacing Facebook’s 57 million.” (Edmund Lee via comScore)

I might not be using Myspace as an individual but we cannot ignore the fact that they focus more on profitability than user growth. There is something to say about Myspace still appealing to users and the overall revenue growth of the company. Facebook may have a faster growth trend than Myspace but Myspace is the smarter social network of the two. The users are still hitting the site and using the tool…that is what matters to the growth of business in social media.

We are all still waiting for the brains of Facebook to present a viable revenue model for the site (Lexicon?) but until that time… I would invest in Myspace over Facebook.. any day of the week.

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61 Million Blogs about Professional Experience

I was forwarded an e-newsletter from Harvard Business Publish by my business party in Brandswag.. Brandon Coon. They have a section of the newsletter called Daily Stat. In the Daily Stat it stated that Technorati has indexed an upwards of 133 Million blogs and that 46% (61 Million) of those blogs are about industry and profession. Wow!

Let me preface this by saying that we are not quite sure how active the 61 million blogs are in content but this is still a staggering number. The Daily Stat also stated that 79% blog about personal interests. What does this mean to the business community?

People are talking about you. Services and products are a part of our daily lives. There is bound to be a writer in the mass of the 79% that writes about YOUR product or service. Are you listening?

The stat went onto say that only 12% of those Technorati blogs catered to corporate blogging. This shows huge market potential for coporate blogging in the following months. The trend is growing and individuals are starting to listen… both in the small business market and the corporate market.

61 Million blogs about professions. Did anyone say B2B Marketing potential? I think so.

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