Posted in Uncategorized

7 comments

19/01 2009

7 Things About Me

So, I get a link through WordPress from Advergirl. The link was an announcement that she had tagged me in a post. The post was a meme that was (as far as I can tell) started by Ad Broad called 7 Things About Me. Well, I absolutely love Leigh so I decided to do it and post 7 Things About ME.

7 Things About Me

1. I started and ran my first business my sophomore year of high school called Picture Perfect Lawn Care. I have a really good friend named Randy that was new to Anderson when I started the company. We become really good friends because he had a license and I was 15.

2. Like Leigh, I also have a box full of lovey-dovey camp letters from a church camp I attended in high school. We would color on manila envelopes and post them on the wall categorized by cabin number. If you had your eye on a pretty lass you would write her a quick note to meet you after prayed time.I still have… all of them.

3. My favorite author is Milan Kundera. My favorite book by Mr. Kundera is the Unbearable Lightness of Being.

4. I have the tendency to become obsessed with certain things throughout life. I have an addictive personality which can be (and is) detrimental to relationships. Whether it is being a workaholic or blogging uncontrollably it can be a good and bad trait.

5. I rarely ever cook at home. If I am cooking at home it means to is one of four things: Macaroni, Ramen, turkey sandwich or rice and chicken. That’s it. I hate cooking.

6. I would love a dog. My favorite dog in the world is a chocolate lab. I just do not have the time to devout to taking care on animal. I desperately would like to have one in the next year.

7. My biggest pet-peeve is stupid people. And I’m not talking on any level other than common sense. USE YOUR HEAD! I love most everyone else.

Okay so you are suppose to tag 7 more people you want to learn more about. Here it goes.

There you go. I am calling you out. 7 Things.

Posted in Social Media Community, social media marketing, social networking

1 comment

18/01 2009

It’s Not About Professional Networking In Social Media

I was surprised when I was reading some stats from the PEW Internet & American Life Project via ReadWriteWeb. Apparently the majority of adult social network users are not using the networks for business or professional networking. According to the PEW report the majority of adults (89%) are using social networks to stay in touch with friends. A surprising 6% of all adult users on the Internet are using LinkedIN which makes more sense if you think about it.

LinkedIN has boasted around 30 million users and when you think about the odd 250 million Internet users worldwide… it makes complete sense.

My question for LinkedIN and other professional social networks?

How do you get more people onto your site? How do you utilize your far from perfect application development and draw in more business owners, corporate professionals, and white-collar individuals?

Or does it matter?I don’t think LinkedIN has to expand to the point when they are catering to the people who will not use social media.

It isn’t about numbers anymore. You do not need 60 million people on a network to start making money. LinkedIN should be focusing on it’s 30 million members… switching them over to the premium service.

Posted in Uncategorized

2 comments

17/01 2009

Small Biz. It is Important to Listen in Social Media.

We are kind of getting on this kick of authentic marketing and the people behind advertising being absolutely terrible at it. So why stop now? Let’s keep this trend going.

Amber Rae has an awesome post called The Missing Ingredient in Marketing and Advertising is Trust. We all know the video this is based off of: The Break Up. Where advertising comes in and tries to convince the “consumer” to stay with him. If you haven’t seen the video. DO IT. It is absolutely hilarious.

There are two things we should touch on when it comes to putting the trust back in the hands of the consumer: Listening and Humility. So, when we are looking at a diagram for Trust in the world of Advertising.

I am pointing this concept more to the small business owners of the world. Why? Because you are the face of the company. You are out on the street (at least you should be) selling the services and products of your company.

You are also working into the world of social media. Figuring out how to use this wonderful tool to increase sales and push your products past the eyes of the consumer and into their minds and hearts. Let’s figure out how to use listening and humility to build trust in your personal brand and your company brand. We are going to focus on listening this post and humility the next.

LISTENING

It is pretty simple. Listen when people are talking to you. If you are asked a question on a social network or on your blog, respond. If not through comments then through an email. It is extremely important to respect the opinions of others. Let’s run through an actual real life scenario to show you the importance.

Imagine being at a networking event. Walking throughout the room and handing out business cards, talking to other people about your company and learning from each other. You can see him/her out of the corner of your eye… the annoying sales professional. This individual walks up and introduces him/herself to each of you and starts talking about what they can do to help you out in your business.

Did they ask you what you did? Not really. They don’t care. They are there to be seen and be heard.

You will not survive in social media if you are not listening to your clients and your referral partners on your social networks. We don’t care about what you sell. Eventually we will create a relationship built on listening + humility = trust.

Until then.. you better be listening to your community partners.

Next time… humility.

Social Media Community, blogging, social media

8 comments

17/01 2009

Thanks To You and Yours: 10 Bloggers I Like

I wanted to take a brief moment to thank everyone who has read and posted comments on this blog for the past 6-12 months. Seriously..

I love writing. I love blogging. I love social media. But the biggest thing is the people who contribute to this great community. Here is a shout-out to some commenter and twitters I enjoy.

Thanks to everyone.

10 People to Follow and Thank

1. Jeff Bennett. Jeff Bennett.org Jeff Bennett is an entrepreneur, husband, father, coach, teacher and enthusiast for many things. As an entrepreneur Jeff is the President and COO of NameMedia, Inc., a venture backed online media and commerce company based in Massachusetts that is developing media properties for Social Media, Direct Search and Commerce.

Latest Post: First Pictures From Scene of US Airways Crash From Twitter

2. Jeb Banner: SmallBox Web: design, build, promote and enhance Websites. Because we know how the Web works, we can make the Web work for you.

Latest Post: Having A Meaningful Online Conversation

3. Robby Slaughter: Turning Left Against Traffic: has had a lifelong passion for information technology, spanning some twenty years of education, teaching, full-time employment and consulting. His current areas of focus are usability, software development, process and methodology, technical communication, and data architecture.

Latest Post: The Expert Detector

4. Tom Williams: Innogage Blog: broke from traditional passive marketing knowing that Social Media would force companies and colleges to “Innovatively Engage” (aka InnoGage) their customers & students in the marketing process.

Latest Post: Blogs: Cornerstone of Social Media – Video Interview

5. Jeremy Williams: TourismTech Corner: will shine a light on technology and how it affects the world of tourism. The primary objective is to show how using interactive social media can help your website become more service-oriented and more valuable to your customers.

Latest Post: Social Media and ROI

6. Louisa Nardini: SupaNova Training: her passion is showing people how to use the Internet to build their own successful online business or to increase the profitability of their existing business.

Latest Post: Incredible Launch Offer from PepBlogger

7. Zac Martin: Pigs Don’t Fly : is an 19 year old university student, currently in his third year of a Marketing degree. He is a freelance social media marketing consultant and the Marketing Officer for the Student Union at Monash University.

Latest Post: Social Media Marketing Madness

8. Erin McMahon: Live United Y’All : The staff at Metro United Way have created this blog because we want to foster a vital, caring online community just as we build our real-life community. We want to encourage conversation and interaction, share our work and offer our community more avenues to give, advocate and volunteer to advance the common good.

Latest Post: Pop Quiz

9. Chris Hebert: Web Dazzling: Chris has been a long time knowledge seeker. She learned to read at an early age, and continues to read “How To” books on a daily basis.

Latest Post: Microsoft Windows 7 Beta Info

10. Andrea Hill: Digital Likeness: s passionate about optimizing digital experiences. She also keeps a running blog at www.afhill.com/gothedistance.

Latest Post: The Paradox of Choice Book Review

There are many, many more people who have helped make this blog a reality. Thank you all. I look forward to another year of excellent social media marketing ADVICE!

Uncategorized

7 comments

16/01 2009

I Was Just Punched In The Face

Brad Ruggles hadan awesome picture on his blog today:

How true. How freaking true! I wrote a post last year about the concept of advertising professionals being completely out of tune to the general public.

I saw this picture on Brad’s blog and it all came completely clear to me. This may not be a huge realization for most but it hit pretty hard for me.

What is the reason we love social media so much?

Is it the information sharing? The community development? Meeting people all over the world while learning as much as possible in one sitting? In my opinion it is all of the above. We use social media because we aren’t bombarded with advertisements every ten seconds (at least in some communities). The question is then… as advertisers… how do we CHANGE the thought in the picture? How do we speak to the general public?

The answer is social media or social media marketing. There is no place in the entire world that has such a concentrated group of individuals that care about each other and care about information. You want a way to talk to people? Join their network. BE A PERSON!

We are all people. We are all striving for one thing or the other. The rat race isn’t really a rat race at all… it is more LIFE. Quit trying to hard sell

become a HUMAN.

become an INDIVIDUAL.

become a member and join one THE largest community in the world (counting at 250 million)… the Internet.

So.. I was punched in the face a second time by the thought of joining a community instead of speaking to the community…

I am going to go fix my bloody nose and hop on Twitter.

ROI, blogging, social media marketing

12 comments

16/01 2009

Should We Even Consider ROI in Social Media?

(hat tip to 123 Social Media for the posed question)

There is endless talk online and off-line of increased traffic to websites, comments galore, users joining your community, and community development. The question posed through all of this discussion is the concept of measuring ROI in Social Media.

Having an arm of our company, Brandswag, be a social media strategy and marketing division it is constantly on our minds. How do you take those GREAT campaigns and measure ROI? It is pretty simple. The majority of social media marketing is brand development driven. Of course, you have the companies like Compendium Blogware that measures organic search and leads through their proprietary software which caters to a form of ROI.

When thinking of ROI in social media it is all dependent on your campaign. If you are using Facebook for donations, writing a blog as a small business, or using LinkedIN for networking purposes it is important to figure out goals before hand.

If you want to build brand name recognition in a specific geographic location you are looking at a brand development focus. It is extremely intangible. Success is measured over a length of time and that is hard to pinpoint.

Social Media is amazing for brand development. Hands down one of the best tools you could use to further your name in a community.

Use the tool for what it’s worth. It is extremely possible to start mixing social media marketing into your traditional marketing campaigns and further the power of your marketing arm.

The success comes in the little things…that leads to the HUGE things.

Uncategorized

6 comments

14/01 2009

The Difference Between Being Inspired and Living Inspired

Sometimes it is nice to step away from social media marketing. I am going to do that today.

Many of us are extremely busy. We get caught up in the everyday occurrences in life and ignore the things that are truly important to us. Well.. maybe I am just talking to myself (which is completely possible). I have begun to find myself losing track of everything other than business. I am extremely focused on running a company but there is no balance.

Good Thing: We are growing and clients are satisfied.
Bad Thing: You negate everything else in life.

I have put it upon myself to start living a little less selfishly. How am I going to do that??? What a great question!

My cousin has an organization called Krochet Kids International. The organization is built around the concept of:

To create sustainable economic development programs that support holistic growth of individuals and communities within developing nations.

To inspire the knowledge of a generation about their ability to bring change to a world that is in need.

I began thinking… I read business books and I get inspired. I read autobiographies, blogs, and watch shows about people who have done amazing feats…and I get inspired. The question is… have I ever sat down and thought: I am going to start something that inspires an ENTIRE GENERATION to live and believe in their ability to bring change to a world that is in need. My inspiration is more along the lines of… I am inspired to make the next sale.

I can watch the Krochet Kids video and BE Inspired. I can read a book about Mother Theresa or Ghandi and BE inspired. I am tired of constantly going up and down, hot and cold.

Isn’t it time to live an inspired life instead of constantly BEING inspired? Start the chain reaction.

social media

3 comments

13/01 2009

Downgrade of Social Media: Web 1.7

That’s right. I downgraded Web 2.0 to Web 1.7 and for good reason!

I received a Google Alert in my email this morning from NetVibes pertaining to the new Social MEdia Dashboard they are building for Oglivy PR.

Let me start off by saying I don’t have anything against NetVibes or Oglivy PR. I do have an issue with companies inventing old ways to use social media. I went and checked out the Daily Influence Social Media Dashboard and realized that it was an upscale version of a Yahoo and Google Personalized page. What happened to new ideas and innovation in the social media world? Web 2.0 is being downgraded to Web 1.7

I know that Oglivy is helping people monitor their brand online (which is awesome) but there is still the time issue that is keeping people from using Social Media. Can we create tools that can help people with the problem of management and understanding.

This is just another example of throwing everything in one spot. It solves the problem of multiple Safari or Firefox windows on my screen and that’s about it. I am not trying to throw Oglivy and Netvibes under the bus. This is a shout-out to every social media developer and user. It is time to upgrade. It is time to create something that brings SM to the masses.

When are we going to truly utilize the power of the social media?

millennial, social media

2 comments

12/01 2009

Breaking Into the Minds of the Gen Y via Automobiles

Ahh Generation Y… Otherwise known as the coveted Millennial Generation. Otherwise known as “Big Businesses want a piece of this action” demographic. And again, otherwise known as the “Facebook” Generation. We are a powerful generation at 75 million strong and brands will be developing to cater to every single need. So let’s break the generation down a little bit.

I wanted to break apart some information from a Deloitte Survey (courtesy of brandeo) that has some information regarding Generation Y weighing in on what is making automobiles cool again. I thought the survey had some interesting points on product development in the eyes of the younger generation.

The Top 3 Cool Factors for Gen Y in Automobiles

1. Exterior Styling

2. Affordability

3. Being Environmentally Friendly

It does make sense right?

The main point I took away from the Deloitte Survey was this comment from a PR Release:

The students found that their peers are not satisfied with what they consider their parents’ Generation of cars, but instead feel vehicles should be an extension of their lives and as such be customized to fit their always on, always moving lifestyle.

I don’t think you can get a clearer example of the power of experiential marketing. We want a brand that speaks to our need to feel connected. I want a car that looks cool, is affordable, and keeps me going – 24/7.

By the way, a recurring theme among the survey participants was the need for more connectivity via Wi-Fi, Facebook, and Twitter. Social Media in your vehicle? Say it ain’t so!

Calling all Gen Y Marketers: Now the question is… how do you take this information and apply it to your own products or services? Are you doing what it takes to capture my generation? If you are building a long term brand now is the time to capture and KEEP my attention.

Viral Marketing, social networking

1 comment

10/01 2009

The COMPLETE History of the Internet

History of the Internet from PICOL on Vimeo.

I discovered this History of the Internet video from Alisa Leonard-Hansen at Socialized. This is a great video over the complete history of the Internet. Check it out and love it!