4 More Social Media Luminaries

Posted on May 23, 2008 by marc meyer

First I wanted to thank some of the gracious people who got back to me in regards to my post about 30 social media experts, evangelists and pundits. It was a fun list to compile and did not really expect to hear from some, and am surprised I did not hear from others. So much for the conversation? too busy? traveling? 3 day weekend? Nevertheless I want to thank Chris Brogan, B.L Ochman, Valeria Maltoni, Phil Gomes and Toby Bloomberg, Their responses to this post were more than gracious and reinforces why I read their blogs on a regular basis.

Sure, I know I should be bashing twitter right now, but Chris is all over it like a cheap suit, and there’s nothing I can think of thats going to change it except to say that Twitter is effin up in a big way. Maybe IT IS time to go over to Friend Feed? Actually I have, I just don’t use it as much…yet.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, One of our Top 30, who rocks the effin house, has graciously provided me with 4 more peeps/peers that we can add to the list. Here they are, and I must admit, they were great additions to this list.

Geoff Livingston
Rajesh Lalwani
Jeneane Sessum
Paul Chaney

I’m still open to add to this list as it might be a pretty cool list to maybe work up to 50. or maybe this is it? Maybe the conversation only consists of 34? You tell me.

Peace

-MM

Monetizing Social Networks. The simplest analogy possible!

Posted on May 22, 2008 by marc meyer

Aside from the big players in social media making money via advertisers and cutting deals with some of technologies biggest hitters, there are more social sites that do not make money then there are those that do. What do they do? How are they going to make money?

Obviously one of the ways to create a social networking site that actually makes money is to niche-ify it to the extent that is speaks to a specific type of brand user and all the products or services that can be wrapped around the user. Picture the hot dog . Thats right, you are the hot dog. Your social network, the hot dog. You are going to be interested in all things related to you.

Now the hot dog has the bun, the ketchup, the mustard, the relish,and the onions. All viable participants in the network. Including our friends chil and cheese. Couple with that will be napkins, something cold to drink and perhaps to go with the hot dog, a side of chips.

All of these mentioned make perfect sense. They are viable, channel driven, niche driven, complimentary, cross promotional products that speak to the center of the social network universe known as is…the hot dog,

The problems arise when something that is totally irrelevant tries to crash the party. And interestingly enough, you would be surprised how often the following happens:

The best example of a lot of people trying to crash the party is perhaps the frenzy that is Myspace and Facebook. The frenzy of advertisers wanting to take advantage of million and millions of customers waiting(or are they?) to be pitched. Problems can arise from people who try and crash a party that they’re not invited to. Some great examples can be found in Jeremiah Owyangs post on brands that got punked by social media

As an advertiser, one just needs to know and it’s not like it’s that difficult. Are you the windshield, are you the bug? Are you the louisville slugger, are you the ball? Are you the hot dog? are you the bun? Or are you window cleaner that is the upsell to a box of triscuits?

30 Top Social Media Experts, Pundits, Evangelists and Marketers

Posted on May 21, 2008 by marc meyer

If I spent all my time reading their blogs, there would not be enough time to do anything else. So I want to ask everyone out there, Who else should be on the list?. By compiling the list, maybe it will help others narrow down the search, increase the conversation, hone in on what they are interested in and reduce the amount of time it takes to read their prose.

This is by no means an exact list but it’s certainly a WIP. I need everyone’s help in compiling this though!

There is no order. <—–truer words have never been spoken?

Social Media and Web Metrics Dinner Party Conversation

Posted on May 15, 2008 by marc meyer

Ok class it’s time to throw out bits and pieces of useless information to astound the people you’re talking to this weekend at the dinner party that you have to go to. Usually when you go to these things, you try to seek out the tech-y guy or person. But ultimately what happens is they try to impress you with what they know and think YOU don’t know nothing. It’s at this point you drop of this on them.

Social Media

So some how, things shift to talking about social networks, you went to get a drink and bam, somehow they’re talking about how America’s youth is effed up because of Myspace and Facebook and is populated by amped up testosterone laced males. At which point you chime in and say:

Actually Facebook has more female users than male. In fact, of the 57 million users on Facebook, 56% of them are female. It’s at this point that you now have their attention and they all start looking at you. Which is when I silently thank Marty Fahncke for throwing that tidbit of his up on an article in Electronic Retailer

So now they are wanting more. So thanks to Marty I throw this one out: DID YOU KNOW…that Linkedin has 17 million members with every Fortune 500 company represented? Or that the average age of the LInkedin user is 41? Hopefully none of them ask what Linkedin is, but invariably there WILL be someone within the group who asks.

So while they’re chewing on that someone will of course ask, How many members use MySpace? And with total confidence you answer 200 million members, 110 million of which are “active”. Whew. You have them eating out of your hand right now.

Time to drop some good stuff on them now.

Web Metrics

Did they know that the average American spends 30 hours per month online with October being the heaviest month for usage? Thanks comScore Or that Ann Arbor had the highest internet penetration in the U.S.? According to The Media Audit

Think the majority of users are the 18-31 user? Think again. Leading the way for tops in internet usage are the 44-62 year olds. In 3rd place are the 32-43 year olds and behind them are the 63+ demo followed by the 12-17 year olds according to emarketer

The audience around you will grow and the questions will now vary. But they will all have a tech feel and flavor. Someone will no doubt ask, what site they should go to in order to get a good feel for the pulse of say the blogosphere. I’ll mention that shel israel has a really interesting and observant blog that should at least warrant a stop by as does Seth Godin who always has some great points about all things marketing related.

But maybe that’s too deep for you and you need some sites that are light on the copy and heavy on engagaing you for awhile. Where can you go you ask? Go here and check out what streams from Kevin Kelly’s consciousness.

I grab another drink while I see some grabbing napkins to write on. I blurt out that I always enjoyed this blog just because it’s put together well, and its always got something that helps me learn and understand and yet is not so technical. Jaffe Juice fills that need.

From the Jaffe Juice site: How many social media experts does it take to change a lightbulb?

Uh oh, I think you’re starting to glaze over, too much info. It happens to everyone who doesn’t live and breath and digest this stuff on a daily basis. Thats cool though. For that I will throw Matt Creamer at you, he always has some interesting links to pass on as does Nathan Gilliatt but it may be a little to techy for you. But then again, when this conversation started you thought you knew your stuff anyways. You do Twitter don’t you?

The dumbing down of America

Posted on May 12, 2008 by marc meyer

Last week on HBO, they reran CostasNow, a “sort of” sports oriented talk show hosted by Bob Costas, one of this nations most gifted sports authorities, scribes, oracle and overall mouth pieces for all things related to sport. One of the segments featured concerned the Internet and the impact of bloggers, as it pertains to sports. The guests were, Deadspin.com editor Will Leitch, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Buzz Bissinger, and Cleveland Browns wide receiver Braylon Edwards.

First, let me say that Buzz Bizzinger was so caustic, so adamant, and frankly so foul mouthed in his opinion that the current state of blogging, Deadspin in particular, was taking writing, sports writing in particular, in a direction that demeans everything that he ever stood for, that I had a hard time really agreeing with anything he said regardless of his pulitzer prize winning credentials.

At least I think that’s what he was saying, when he wasn’t yelling and cursing. I was ready for him to blame the demise of sports writing on that “damn rock and roll”! But alas, he didn’t. I’m guessing he’s just a completely jaded sports writer that’s mad that athletes make more than him.

So I sat and watched this exchange and started to think about what has the blogging community, and social media, and really the internet, created? Or what has it taken away? It’s pretty simple to see what is has created. It has created this:

Lots of talking, lots of conversations and lot’s of communication.

But what has happened is that the users expectations are starting to be raised. The user wants to be engaged, entertained and dazzled by the latest technological advance when it comes to communications and media. The days of relying on a newspaper and Time magazine are slowly being replaced by the rise of the blogosphere, the kindle and podcasts.

So are the users expectations rising? Or better yet, are we raising expectations while lowering the barrier to understand and comprehend? Or, dare I say it, are we simplifying the way we want users to get their info? Are we compartmentalizing their intake of information in such a way that it now can be treated as fast food. Information that is gathered at the take-out window. To be digested before you get home.

Funny thing though, the more we as technologists try to simplify things, the more time we demand of others to use the things that will “simplify” our lives. Email streamlines our lives so that we can communicate with our frinds and family. Text messaging so that we can give or receive an immediate response. Our phone allows us to not only call or text but also allows us to go online and do research and or check email! If you’re worn out already and wondering how one folds this time into one’s busy schedule, keep in mind that currently the average American spends 30 hours per month onliine according to emarketer.

If you take into account all of the current activities that a U.S. adult uses the internet for: Email, Local search, IM, blog reading, watching video, and podcasting to name a few-The average internet user needs their info quick and dirty (pun intended), easy to read, to digest and ultimately easy to discard. It can’t be complicated, they don’t have the time nor the patience to wait. If it is any of the former, expect the bounce.

The internet is taking away our patience. We expect our results, our information, to be delivered to us now. What this breeds are expectations in other social settings that might not necessarily be realistic. We wait longer at traffic lights or so it seems, so we run lights that are more red than they are yellow, and for what? Because we don’t want to be late. We grow impatient in a line when trying to check out at a store because the sales person is having trouble with the RFID scanner. We want product now and are unwilling to wait. We expect service now because it’s the way it’s delivered to us online. Fast with no bullshit. If any exists, we are OUT OF THERE.

OUR EXPECTATIONS OFFLINE ARE NOW IN LINE WITH OUR EXPECTATIONS ONLINE

THEY’RE UNREALISTIC!

When they do not meet those expectations, we complain. Why are our experiences online so unrealistic? Because the online world has eliminated the human element. It delivers what we need and want instantly. That is not reality. Online, the old adage “Good things come to those who wait”, never meant less that ever before.

In turn, if we can get what we want without having to deal with a human, that suits some of us just fine. Some desire as little human interaction as possible. Coupled with our desire to speed up things, is the desire to simplify. These 2 elements have prompted companies and developers to try and speed things up by over simplifying the processes involved in creating the speed. In essence THEY ARE DUMBING THINGS DOWN

Thus the more a developer can dumb down the learning curve by not sacrificing the performance of the app, the higher the chance that it will be embraced by not only the casual user, but also the development comunity as well as investors. Investors love something that is sexy and easy to understand or can be pitched in the elevator. If it can, and it’s fast and solves a problem, and speeds up a process, it’s a winner.

Tim Ferris comes right out and states that he receives 500 to 1000 emails a day…

To contend with this, I have virtual assistants in Canada and sub-assistants in Bangalore who filter my inboxes using processing rules in Google Docs. Connected via Skype and compensated via PayPal, this team translates a 10-hour task into a 20-minute phone call.

Simplification? Hardly. E-mail has dramatically increased the number of coping mechanisms required to handle communication, the net complexity as compared with previous alternatives.

“If the promise of technology is to simplify our lives, it is failing.” The wording of this proposition is tricky. To quote Bill Clinton: “It all depends on what the definition of is is.”

Ironically, Tim is the author of the 4 hour work week and thus may or may not be a good proponent of encouraging more humanistic encounters with a hint of challenging the intellect of the masses. With that being said, Seth Godin puts it pretty bluntly when he says, “When you dumb stuff down, you get dumb customers.”

Word of Mouth Marketing-U

Posted on May 6, 2008 by marc meyer

I know it’s a little late to be telling everyone, but if my schedule wasn’t so tight, I would be going to this:

WOMMA’s Word of Mouth Marketing University

Something completely new from WOMMA.

WOMM-U is a 2-day comprehensive and interactive educational experience built around giving you the real-world knowledge you need to execute exceptional word of mouth marketing programs.

WOMM-U is different from any other conference you have ever attended (including previous WOMMA conferences) because of the powerful mix of the theoretical, practical, and hands-on opportunities that will allow you to return to your office prepared to strengthen your existing WOMM programs or begin new ones. The curriculum includes:

Keynote presentations and real-life WOMM success stores from major brands highlighting their WOMM success stories
Unique, workshop-style breakouts that give attendees an opportunity to begin applying the lessons they’ve learned
WOMM in Action: Team study sessions that will give all WOMM-U attendees a chance to share their best word of mouth strategies with highly respected charities and public interest advocacy groups, offering up fresh WOMM tactics that will further their charitable efforts and advance their success.

Who Should Attend WOMM-U

Brand marketers, BtoB and BtoC marketers, Corporate communicators, Nonprofit marketers, Advocacy experts, CRM specialists, Social media practitioners, and Agency marketers
Marketers new to the WOMM practice
WOMM experts
Marketers trying to jumpstart WOMM in their organization
Marketers trying to fine-tune active WOMM programs
Anyone else with a stake in WOMM!

Did I Say Jump The Shark?

Posted on May 2, 2008 by marc meyer

I meant Killing cows

16 links that I need to share on Wednesday April 30th 2008

Posted on April 30, 2008 by marc meyer

It’s wednesday April 20th 2008, so I think it’s important that we keep it light, interesting and still add a bit of tech stuff in todays post. First off lets go here:
The world’s most famous colossal squid was still thawing yesterday in a New Zealand museum laboratory as researchers prepared to measure it, probe its interior, and take samples. It has a huge eye.

Here’s how much of a snooze fest was American Idol was last night, I started watching the Pittsburgh Penguins versus the New York Rangers hockey game!

How can they have the contestants singing songs we haven’t heard… ever? Or better yet, songs our parents barely remember? And they wonder why the ratings are starting to slip. Perhaps we’ll look back on Neil Diamond night as the night the show “jumped the shark”.

For the uninitiated, the term jump the shark refers to when a tv show tops out in popularity and starts to fade in to Bolivian-as Mike Tyson once said.. The origin of the term comes from an old episode of Happy Days, where Fonzie decides to try and jump over a shark on a pair of water skis…nuff said.

On Monday night I caught the intro to Deal or No Deal where they had Storm Troopers as brief case holders, Darth Vader as the banker and Chewy as a cheerleader…Can you say JUMP The Shark?

This just in: If you’re young and have zero cash, then you probably use Yahoo more, and if you are rich and older, then you use Google! Say what? According to Hitwise the stats bear this out, check the matrix.

According to Uptrends, there are some social networks out there that need to get their act together. This is in reference to the amount of time certain social networks were down, as in “Page not found”. Not a good idea to be anti-social when your business model is..ah hem a SOCIAL NETWORK. Two of the biggest offenders were BlackPLanet.com and Reunion.com. BlackPlanet was down for a total of almost 21 hours in the past 30 days and Reunion.com, almost 13 hours. Uptrends, is one of the leading remote website and server monitoring companies that tracks uptime of some of the most popular social networks.

My plan for optimizing some terms for the sake of SEO, specifically the term, direct response marketing, seems to have worked rather well. I’m not shouting it to the rooftops, just merely giving myself some props for having a plan, sticking to the plan and watching it work. Right On, Me! It was not an easy term, but it wasn’t like it was mortgage lenders either, but the results have been favorable.

On a sports note, The Spurs are still the champs until someone knocks them off, though the Lakers are really looking good. The Chris Paul gang out of New Orleans is a really good story this year, and I’m glad the Rockets are not laying down. Are the Mavs ready for an overhaul? The New York Times thinks so. Looks like the J kidd trade might not have worked out. But do you fire the coaches? Same holds true for the Suns and Shaq? It’s been fun to watch snippets of the games each and every night. Looks like we might see the Pistons advance as well as the Cavs. Am I the only that thinks the Wizards are turning into a bunch of punks? Don’t think I’m right? read this post by Mary Schmitt Boyer One last thing, the TNT announcers on all of these games have been fabulous! Major shout out to them.

Would you rather have a budget for offline marketing, online marketing or sales?

Posted on April 23, 2008 by marc meyer

Below is a conversation I had with Fred Yee, President of ActiveConversion/FoundPages in regards to a question that I had posed to the Linkedin group. The Question Details are below, but the main question is in the title of this post.
——————–

Me: I once had a colleague who told me he rather would have a 2 sales people rather than x amount for marketing. I had another colleague or vigorously defended marketing and branding as something that could not be ignored. It ended in a stalemate. Is it possible to have one without the other and still be realtively successful?

On 4/23/08 11:50 AM, Fred Yee wrote:
——————–
Marc, I think I understand your question and although the ‘mix’ is important, and having all is important, I may have your answer if there is only one allowed.
Today I would say online marketing. You can do a lot with a website, search marketing and email marketing, which is low cost and bring leads in, so that even non-sales (owner, manager, admin and technician even) can engage to produce sales. It’s also why Google has 800,000 customers now…
Offline is good for branding and credibility but short on producing tangible sales. Sales people can close but they need leads and without decent marketing, it’s expensive sales.
Of course, there are situations and industries where online marketing doesn’t work that well or is outperformed by the others but in general I have noticed that it works well for most.

Links:
http://www.activeconversion.com

On 4/23/08 12:52 PM, Marc Meyer wrote:
——————–
Fred, I would have to agree with you in that given all of the online productivity tools that are out there, the advent and rapid acceleration of user generated content and the ability to leveredge them at little or no cost, an inhouse team that consists of everyone from the folks in HR to the folks in IT, to the people down the hall in management, all have the opportunity to brand and market and create sales leads and marketing materials and opportunities. Which means that a collaborative effort and a sense of ownership can do more for growing a company selling a product than a single marketing department operating out of a vacuum, an autonomous sales force working without sales leads or a management team demanding results without a budget.

Thanks for responding to a great thread.

Marc, what can I say? Having been pained by this for over 15 years, I totally agree. Great minds must think alike! Fred.

Marc

11 websites to use, share and send to your friends this week.

Posted on April 23, 2008 by marc meyer

I know you get tired of going to the same sites day in and day out hoping for something other than your usual blah blah experience. It could be your blog you go to and you’re hoping for that killer response to your post that you labored on for hours. It could be a new connection in one of your many social networks. Or maybe it’s the hopes that some of the 129 emails in your inbox are actually from people you know! Instead of the usual plethora of Nigerian kings, male enhancers, and cheap software emails.

Nevertheless, here are 11 websites that you might actually bookmark and go back to at least more than twice. Who knows? You may even bookmark and use one or two of these on a regular basis! So Here is your latest weekly List:

RateMyDrawings Might be a good one to try out with the kids or maybe you might want to use it yourself.

Yapta This one’s timing might be better than ever. Track airfares and save money!

BossBitching I had no idea there were sooo many bad bosses out there! How did they get the jobs in the first place?

Want to access your pc from your phone? Then check out Soonr Over 600 handsets supported, including all major feature phones and smartphones.

Whenever Google buys something it must be good, so maybe that is the case with Grand Central With GrandCentral, you can be reached with a single number, answer a call at any phone you want, seamlessly switch phones in the middle of a call, and even know whether a call is important before you take it. Cool!

How bout free wake up calls? Ok I know we all don’t travel that frequently, but still good to know about Wakerupper Because it does more than just wake up calls.

I know I could use something like this ProQuo which stops junk mail and protects you from ID theft!

This company I could have used back in December Mobical allows you to securely backup your mobile data for free.