Posted in blogging
30/11 2008

What I Am Reading On Sunday: Nov 30

5 Posts that I have been diving into on this snowy, ugly, Indiana day.

1. 123SocialMedia: by Barry Hurd
Post: Social Media Examples – Marketing Your Brand

“Social media marketing has been changing the way business utilize communication technology, combining different mindsets with flexible rules and non-existent standards.”

2. Logic + Emotion: By David Armano
Post: The 4 C’s of Community

“Quality content is a great way to attract the people who are needed to form the elusive community that your brand is hoping will to help build. When considering community initiatives, there are three questions to ask yourself.”

3. Amber.Rae: By Amber Rae
Post: Picasa Rocks

“Picasa pops up on the screen. “Sure why not, I’ll give you a try,” I think to myself. Two words: PHENOMENAL program. It’s very simple to use and the output is fantastic. I’m hooked! It’s comparatively similar to iPhoto (can’t believe I’m actually saying this, but maybe even better!) and the “I’m Feeling Lucky” and “Auto Contrast” tools work flawlessly.”

4. Compendium Blog: By Ali Sales
Post: 3 Most Important Blog Success Factors

“If your bounce rate is over 90%, that might be a bad thing. I say “might” because your blogging goal should be to move someone on to a next step. If your readers are so compelled by what you are talking about and want to move to your call-to-action within a few seconds, then great!”

5. ChrisBrogan: By Chris Brogan
Post: How Alltop Powers Bloggers

“Keep track of what your competitors are writing about. Alltop displays the last five stories of over one-hundred sites and blogs for topics ranging from adoption to zoology with 400 topics in between.”

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26/11 2008

Wouldn’t You Rather Shoot At Fish In A Barrel?

Global Social Network Share

Image by israelavila via Flickr

With the launch of the NING platform it has been becoming easier to create niche social networks. As a user, you can join any network whether it is location or interest based. The membership could range from 500 to 20,000 depending on the network and the participants. I have been talking randomly about the power of using networks that are geographically based (if you are using social media as a networking and marketing strategy).

Chris Brogan has a post that further enforces my idea that SMALL is the new BIG in Social Media. His post entitled Do You Have To Touch Every Conversation? talks about the importance of fishing where the FISH are located. As a fisherman you would not try to cover the ENTIRE ocean. What would you do? Try and find the right spot with the majority of the fish. It doesn’t make sound business sense to cover the entire expanse of ocean.

The same applies to social media use. As a user you do not have the ability to cover every conversation online. You do not have to be on every social media platform. As a small business owner or marketeer it is extremely important that you focus on a set amount of networks and use them to the best of your ability.

You do not need to be on LinkedIN, Plaxo, Facebook, Myspace, Powne, Twitter, blah blah blah. Pick a niche geographic social network like Smaller Indiana (for the Hoosiers among us) and three global networks. Examples: LinkedIN, Plaxo, Twitter, and Facebook.

To quote Chris Brogan:

But is that really the goal? Or is the goal to fish where your fish are, to do what you plan to do, and to do it well?

Well said. I would much rather shoot fish in a barrell than cast a line in the entire ocean.

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25/11 2008

Balancing Strategy, Transparency, and Measurement in Blogging

Doug Karr has a great post over at his Compendium blog called When to Fire Your Blogging Expert. The post breaks down the concept of weighing the intangible and tangible benefits of blogging. Doug talks about what a blog consultant should be discussing when they are helping with an overall communications strategy:

1. Your Business
2. How You Drive Customers
3. Measuring Results

I wanted to map out a couple of things you should remember when planning your communication strategy. If you are the smart business owner, a social media strategy will be combined with your current offerings. I am gleening off of Doug’s comment:

Authority, engagement and transparency are all valid tactics when writing blogs for business, but the ultimate goal is to grow qualified leads through search acquisition for new prospects and upsell opportunities by building relationships with current clients.

Based on Doug’s post and a couple of ideas of my own there are three things you should remember when planning a social media marketing : Strategy, Transparency, and Measurement.

Strategy

There is not much mystery surrounding the concept of strategy. There is strategic thinking involved in every aspect of business from finances to communication. Sit down and create a detailed list of things you want to accomplish while using the blog… Examples:

1. We want the blog to increase page views and conversions by 35%.
2. We want to be number one in pagerank for (keyword) and (keyword).
3. We want to increase the  exposure of our brand in a specific geographic area.

Those are fairly simple and completely stupid but you get the point! What are your goals and how are you going to get there? Writing once a day? Three times a week? Specific keywords you need to write about.

All of the above. Check out Chris Brogan’s post: If I Started Today… to get more tips and suggestions.

Next up… Transparency… TO BE CONTINUED.

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Posted in blogging, indianapolis
24/11 2008

Top 50 + Bloggers in Indianapolis

Lorraine Ball and myself decided to make a list of 50 of the top bloggers in Indianapolis. Let me give you the run down of how people made the list.

This is not ranked.

50 could be bigger than number 1.

I made the decision on who to make the list by updates on who I read. I read most of the blogs on the list. If you have not updated for the month of November you were not placed on the list.

I apologize ahead of time for anyone I have forgotten. Now. Enjoy

1. Douglas Karr: Technology and everything web
Recent Post: StumbleUpon Continues to Feed My Blog

2. Erik Deckers: Humor:
Recent Post: Sport Stacking: Pretty Cool, But It’s Not A Sport:

3. Hazel Walker: Referral Marketing and Networking
Recent Post: Your Reputation and Networking

4. Amy Magan: Lighthearted fare about Diet Coke, Scrabble and other encounters with life.
Recent Post: Wordless Wednesday: Food Fun

5. Jeb Banner: Web Design and Everything Media
Recent Post: Secrets of Psychic Web Pages by Small Box EXPOSED

6. Patric Welch: Technology Consultant
Recent Post: When You Think Netflix Don’t Think Just Movies

7. Pat Coyle: Sports Marketing
Recent Post: Will Young Fans Choose Virtual Over Reality?

8. Lorraine Ball: Small Business Marketing
Recent Post: My Top 50 Blogs

9. Colin Clark: Social Media Guru
Recent Post: Changing Marketing Hubs

10. Chris Baggott: Blogging and SEO
Recent Post: Blogs for Business: My Lunch with a Real Estate Company

11. Susan Davis: Day Nursery Blog
Recent Post: Setting the Turkeys Free

12. Jason Bean: Technology and all things web
Recent Post: Pockets Can Be Dangerous in Cold Weather

13. Casey Mullins: Pretty much the best mommy blogger I know. :)
Recent Post: The Beach Has Gone to the Dogs

14. Matt Zentz: Practical Internet Marketing
Recent Post:Website Chauffeurs

15. Tom Britt: Information about Geist, Indiana
Recent Post: Geist Clubhouse Issue Headed for a Vote

16. CJ McClanahan: Business Org and Management:
Recent Post: Mistakes

17. Amy Stark: One of the smartest people I know and NFP extraordinaire!
Recent Post: One Laptop Per Child

18. Nicki Laycoax: Crazy. Cool. Marketer
Recent Post: Need to Know More About Your Network? Use Twitter

19. Mark Juleen: Pretty much the coolest guy ever and everything marketing
Recent Post: Social Media & Music Story of the Year

20.Aaron Renn: Urban Enthusiast and a “thinker”
Recent Post: The Facts on the Ground

21. Rodger Johnson: Public Relations
Recent Post: For Business Sake Create a Corporate Blog!

22. Megan Glover: Blog Content, Marketing and SEO
Recent Post: Compendium Client – Estridge Homes named in recent article.

23. Ken Moore: Career Counseling, Resume Writing
Recent Post: How To Avoid 3 Common Job Search Mistakes

24. Brad Ruggles: Marketing, Social Media, Design, Religion
Recent Post: Watch. Think. Discuss

25. Chuck Gose: Cellular Digital Signage
Recent Post: Updates From The Strategy Institute

26. Duncan Alney and Chad Richards: Social Media, Marketing, Design
Recent Post: Obama Marketing

27. Erin McMahon: Social Media NFP and the Internet
Recent Post: Does Twitter Ranking Constitute Vanity?

28. William Brown: Sports, College, Education
Recent Post: Colleges Tackle Climate Change at AASHE…

29. Jacob Leffler: Amazing Designer and Visionary
Recent Post: Madison Avenue Biggies See Digital Media As Stable

30. Justin Clupper: Digital Signage and Other Fun Things
Recent Post: I hate to say it… but Digital Signage is Old

31. Matt Breeden: Sports Law and Everything Sports
Recent Post: $500,000 in Fees To Fire Sampson?

32. Andy Horning: Government and the Constitution
Recent Post:OK, So Now What?

33. Scott Henderson: MediaSauce Creative Blog
Recent Post: Why Won’t You Listen? AirTran Loses.

34. Noah Coffey: Technology and Web
Recent Post:Win a Nintendo WII from Mr. Noobie

35. Kevin Makice: Indiana University Professor
Recent Post A Very Long Wait

36. Stephen James:Designer, Thinking, Just plain Awesome
Recent Post: CSSsprite: Photoshop script combines two images for CSS hover

37. Deb New: connecting ideas between business and communication
Recent Post:
Talk the Talk with Gen Y

38. Joe Wikert: Future Visions of Print, Online, Video and All Media
Recent Post: An Interesting New Publishing Model

39. Chris Lucas: Sports and Information
Recent Post: Rich Rod Is Right

40. Michelle Hartz: Design, Branding, and Dreams
Recent Post: Four Foods on Friday

41. Ed Illig: Branding and Design
Recent Post: Yes, It’s Shameless Self Promotion

42. Hoosierati: Culture and Humanitarian Concepts in Indiana
Recent Post: Master the Technology and Share The Cookies

43. Ruth Holladay: Ex-Journalist and an Amazing Writer. I love reading this blog
Recent Post: Gannett fans flames of resentment with deep sacrifices comments.

44. Emily Sutherland: Everything Gaither.. and some personal stuff :-)
Recent Post: Wes In A Booster Seat

45. Hope Baugh: Everything Theatre.. This is a great blog.
Recent Post: More Alike Than Not: Stories of Three Americans

46. TheContent Wrangler: Content is a business asset
Recent Post: DITA Metrics: Developing Cost Metrics

47. Brad Ward: Social Media and Education
Recent Post:The Good Project Graveyard [Part 1]

48. Neil Cox: Thoughts on Serving People and Christian Community
Recent Post: 7 Ways To Bring About Change

49. Santina Sullivan: Marketing, Consulting, and PR
Recent Post: Product Placements and Breakfast at Tiffany’s

50. John Wooten: Marketing, Social Media, and Web Design
Recent Post: New Site: Kristie Blankenhorn

51. Nila Nealy: Branding, Branding, Branding, and Design
Recent Post: It Really Is The Little Things

52. Susan Conyers: Marketing Professional and Twitterati
Recent Post: A Reality Based Argument

If you know of anyone else that has been a great blogger in Indianapolis. Please place their name and url in the comment box. I want them to be added to the list.

You can find many more Indianapolis and Indiana bloggers at Smaller Indiana.

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Posted in blogging
23/11 2008

What I Am Reading on Sunday

I have been reading some interesting posts lately. Just thought I would share.

1. Urbanophile: Urban Affairs and the Future of the Mid-Western City
What I Am Reading: Detroit Do The Collapse:

“I lead with this because it is so common to blame the UAW and its $73/hour or some such wage packages for the problems facing the Big Three. And indeed in the modern era that is not sustainable.”:

2. Social Media Explorer: Great Blog about Social Media by Jason Falls and Kat French
What I Am Reading: Exploring Social Media (Without Getting Fired)

“…ignoring that a company isn’t ready to actively, directly engage customers in social media and just doing it anyway is sort of like dragging your 11-year-old screaming and crying onto a rollercoaster he clearly doesn’t want to ride at the amusement park…”

3. Pixel Bits: We all Mona and I love what she writes about. Everything weird and techie.
What I Am Reading: Websites are the New Scrunchies

“Well, you guys, when that happens? It is NOT your faults. Nor is it your computers’ faults. It is really not you, but the websites’ and the companies’ faults, for dressing up the interfaces with useless code.”

4. Being Peter Kim: Thoughts on Digital Media and Technology
What I Am Reading: Comments on The Next Digital Era

“A decline in overhead costs as a huge development for the communications industry. Social media continue to obliterate the traditional economics of media production, distribution, collaboration and R&D. Organizational functions that were once money- and time-suckers become increasingly inductive. - Josh Shabtai

5. Louis Gray.com: Silicon Valley Blog for early adopters, technology geeks, RSS addicts and MAC Freaks
What I Am Reading: This post is by Michael Fruchter via Louis Gray: 15 Tips on Improving Search Engine Visibility

“Over the years, I have studied and tested various methods, guidelines and techniques for generating search engine traffic. Back in 1997, I took on paid clients and SEO became a full time career for a few years. AltaVista was the dominant leader in search in those days.”

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21/11 2008

Hustle It and Quit Complaining. There Are People Buying.

Chris Baggott has a great post on his Compendium blog called There Are Still People Out There Buying. During the doom of gloom of an economic downturn (or so I hear) it is always good to read posts that are more encouraging than not.

In the post Chris quotes Ian Beavis from AdWeek:

“There will still be people out there buying cars, and the trick will be to identify them and what triggers them to purchase.”

Despite a economic downturn or the talks of another bailout, there will always be people buying. Money will still be changing hands in the brilliance of American capitalism. So what is the trick? Other than the power of positive thinking? I am going to piggy-back off Chris and take the concept of helping the customer identify you to the hustle.

The Hustle

Gary Vaynerchuk is a huge advocate of the hustle. In hard times… In slow economies… you have to hustle.

The hustle is the process of doing more than the competition and being smart about it.

It is about staying an extra hour or two at the office.

It is about getting up an hour early to write a blog or respond to multiple emails.

It is about doing more than the other guy.

It is about listening in every space of the market and being there.

The hustle is being smart, responding, doing more, and listening.

I am tired of hearing people complain about the market. Hustle the crap out of the market. Think clearly and start a strategy to success. There are people still out there buying. Find them.

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18/11 2008

15 Ways To Be HUMAN Online and Not A Screen Name

Jason Baer at Convince and Convert has an excellent post today on the 9 Ways to Humanize Your Brand (with real Humans). It got me to thinking about how we try and humanize ourselves as much as possible in the Internet landscape.

I know that I try on a daily basis to be as human as possible online. I don’t want to be seen as another social media marketer trying to sell his/her wares over the Internet. I’m just me and me is the best I’ve got. :)

Jason has 9 tips to Humanize your brand and I will add 11 more tips:

1. Build and optimize a blog
2. Reach out to other bloggers in the category for guest posts
3. Syndicate content to vertical aggregation sites
4. Publish white papers and ebooks, and/or conduct Webinars
5. Create a few killer presentations and get them on SlideShare
6. Do at least a little video blogging to make him/her three dimensional
7. Hustle for speaking engagements
8. Get on Twitter and make sure he/she sets aside time to really engage people
9. Make sure current company customers know all about the initiative and are invited to participate

These are great points and I wanted to add in some small business owner pointer to humanize your personal and professional brand online.

11. Join an offline networking organization: I am involved in a group called Rainmakers which allows me to network in the offline world and then connect it to the online environment or vice versa. This allows you to start connecting with more and more people over the course

12. Attend TweetUps and parties centered around social media. I would rather redirect you to an awesome post by Corvida of SheGeeks: Using Social Media To Get Our Of Your House.

13. Join Geographically Base Social Networks. Ning has a huge database of niche social networking that will allow you to meet and start conversations with professionals and other people in your area. I am a member of Smaller Indiana and it has given me a massive amount of exposure as a HUMAN and not a screen name.

14. Join a Network like Flickr or Facebook for Picture Galleries. This is not meant to say you should post every party or outing you have been involved in. This is just a way to post pictures or your family and friends. People buy into people and not products. In this emotionally charged world, a brand is the people behind it and not the billboard on the side of the highway.

15. Authenticity. Authenticity. Be Authentic. I preach about this non-stop. Authentic communication and content is key to humanizing yourself in social media. Talk about what you do and add personality into your posts and usage of social media. I can pick up the Wall Street journal every morning. I want to read REAL content.

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16/11 2008

20 Reasons Why You Cannot Ignore Social Media

I will forever been an advocate for Social Media. If you want me to jump up on a soapbox and talk about social media marketing until I am blue in the face… so be it. What used to be a “fad” two to three years ago is fast becoming the premiere way to communicate.

I have been reading the Wave.3 Presentation from Universal McCann and they had the follow facts relating to the power of social media.

1. 394 million people watch video clips online
2. 346 million reaqd blogs/weblogs
3. 321 million Read personal blogs/weblogs
4. 307 million visit a friends social network page
5. 303 million SHARE a video clip (viral marketing anyone?)
6. 272 million manage a profile on a social network
7. 248 million upload photos
8. 216 million Download a video podcast
9. 215 million download a podcast
10. 184 million started a blog or weblog
11. 183 million uploaded a video clip
12. 160 million subscribed to an RSS Feed

Not enough reason to start the journey into connecting with your clients and consumers? Here are eight more reasons to continue on the social media marketing path.

13. Blog Reading has risen 66% on a global scale in a year
14.  60.3 million american have read a blog
15. 36% of consumers will think more positively about companies that have blogs
16. 32% of consumers trust bloggers opinions on products and services
17. Social Networking has an estimated 272 million users (Myspace, Facebook, etc)
18. 43% of online consumers belong to a social network
19. 74% of social networking users message friends as part of their daily routine

20. Video Uploading growth is 31% to 82% global reach seen in all markets

I am not sitting here writing this foaming at the mouth and demanding companies (both small and large) use social media marketing exclusively. It is important to combine both traditional marketing and new media marketing in your overall strategy.

If the numbers from Universal McCann do not convince you of the overall important of social media in the years to come….

I am at a loss for words.

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15/11 2008

Newspapers and Music: The Market Doesn’t Care About You

Scott Karp over at Publishing2 has a great post entitled: The Market and the Internet Don’t Care If You Make Money. It opened my eyes to how some industrys feel the need to hold out there hands and demand for new media to give them money: Music, News, and Books.

Scott cites Seth Godin by saying:

You have no right to make money from every development in media, and the humility that comes from approaching the market that way matters. It’s not “how can the market make me money” it’s “how can I do things for this market.”

I am going to type this again because we deserve to remember this: “It’s not how can the market make me money it’s how can I do things for this market.” Traditional entertainment media has persued new media with swords drawn ready for battle.

“This isn’t how we did it in the past. I am going to sue as many people as possible until they stop downloading our music” I’m sorry to break it to you big suit record label exec, the world is changing. The market is shifting to where music is not worth what it was in the past. You can no longer sell 10-20 million albums and fuel an empire.

The newspaper and music industry need to stop focusing on how to reap the same profit margins that they did in the 1980′s and start thinking about the new world. The world of lightning fast communication. The world where I can listen to a song and then download it. While getting a news story from a FRIEND in Seattle.

NOT YOU.

Scott says it best:

The problem with the newspaper industry, as with the music industry before it, is the sense of ENTITLEMENT. What we do is valuable. Therefore we have the right to make money.

Nobody has the right to a business model.

Ask not what the market can do for you, but what you can do for the market.

And let the market happen.

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13/11 2008

The TRULY CARE Factor: It’s What You KNOW Not What You Think!

I read a post this morning that rocked my world and I wanted to share it with you. Isn’t that nice of me? :)

Brad Ward of Butler University has become an extremely influential member of social media marketing professionals in the education arena. He is also someone that I try to talk to on a regular basis to share information and learn from each other.

He has a post entitled, It’s NOT What You Think. The post talks about a Seth Godin quote relating to using the tools to capture user attention, people who truly care. The quote:

It’s not about what you think the students want or want the students to want.  It’s about creating and assembling a collection of tools that captures the attention of people who truly care.

What a great quote! Brad breaks down the quote in relation to the education world in his post but I wanted to break it down for the small business world.

1) It’s not about what you think THEY want… We would all like to think we know what people want. What does my client need… want… desire? The truth of the matter is to not rely on your own understanding. In this communication driven world… just ask. Ask your client base what they want! Send out an email and ask what people desire and need. How can THEY help YOU understand?

2)…or want THEM to want. You can plant the seed but it better be a good seed. Nourishment is key to growth. You can’t WANT them to WANT but you can create the environment to help it grow.

3) It’s about creating and assembling a collection of tools… What does your target market use in terms of communication tools? Do they read blogs? Do they have a facebook or myspace account? Maybe they just use email? God forbid it is a direct mail campaign. You need to KNOW what they use and take advantage of the medium.

4) that captures the attention of people who truly care… This is a great line to remember as we are testing this new “fad”, this new form of socia marketing. You cannot force people into blogging or reading your blog. You cannot force a group of clients onto a social network when they do not TRULY CARE about communicating online.

Wouldn’t you rather have clients that truly care about your product and service? I would.

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