30 Social Media Sites, Tools, Posts and Articles that I Bookmarked from 2010

Posted on December 3, 2010 by marc meyer

2010 was a heck of a year in so many ways wasn’t it? I know it was for me. One of the things that I do throughout the year though is, I stockpile sites, blog posts, articles, tools and things that just catch my eye-Oh yea that’s called social bookmarking isn’t it? Well, rather than have you sort through the 14 thousand bookmarks in Delicious, I saved you the trouble and am sharing my favorites of 2010. Let’s get to it.

1) It’s all about networking and sharing isn’t it? But it’s also about learning and growing too. So it starts with this resource: 100+ Upcoming Social Media & Tech Events

2) Turn what people post in social media into compelling stories with Storify

3) I liked the premise of this but always questioned whether it was sustainable beyond the this is cool stage? Groubal

4) A ridiculously long Directory of Social Media Monitoring and Analysis Tools

5) Let’s think in a forward fashion-Greenopolis is doing it, now we need to. And you thought the green thing was just a movement…

6) When I saw this, it reminded me of Blame Drew’s Cancer…sorta. And I have no problem with it…Hey Cancer…F off!

7) How The Average U.S. Consumer Spends Their Paycheck from Visual Economics would seem to really connect with all of us these days and thus I loved this infographic: How The Average U.S. Consumer Spends Their Paycheck –

8. Sometimes blog posts resonate in different ways. For me, I want to lead in a way that resonates in the space that I play in. This post from Don Bulmer titled 13 Rules of Leadership for Communication, Influence and Social Media Strategy, did just that-it resonated. I apologize for using the word resonate 3, 4 times…

9) The Hierarchy of Digital Distractions just makes sense and probably needs to be revised every 6 months.

10) What The F*!# is my Social Media Strategy is hilarious if not for the fact it’s very very accurate.

11) Along those lines Marta Kagan from Espresso has really found her niche with these decks-this one from 4 months ago oozes the words explosive and growth.

12) From March of 2010, David Armano, from Edelman, rolled out a pretty good deck himself about the need for the uncommon in social media. What is the uncommon? Common sense silly.

13) Not only was the Old Spice social media campaign the big wow for me in 2010, I thought this was pretty fun too. The Old Spice Voicemail Generator.

14) This article in July from Wired really touched on a lot of truths in social media that we all know about and in some cases actually do, but don’t admit. Gaming the System: How Marketers Rig the Social Media Machine

15) One of my favorite posts on Facebook marketing came from my amigo Tamar Weinberg in May-How to Use Facebook for Business and Marketing

16) Stick this QR-Code Generator in your back pocket

17) One of the most important issues to come out of 2010 was about cyber bullying, I thought this June article from the New York Times really brought the issue front and center-How Should Skills Handle Cyber Bullying?

18) This pretty sweet image tagging tool from Tangelo was another one of those “this is cool but will people use it type of applications”.

19) Another Google product Follow Finder analyzes public social graph information (following and follower lists) on Twitter to find people you might want to follow-Did you even know about it?

20) One of the key lessons in 2010 was, watch what you say and where you say it-Need I say more from Openbook?

21) Regretsy was one of my favorite sites of 2010-where DIY meets WTF.

22) In March of 2010, Altimeter came out with a great report that I have referred to more than once, The 18 Use Cases of Social CRM, The New Rules of Relationship Management

23) One of my favorite tools of 2010 came from Flowtown

24) I absolutely loved this post from April, but I’m partial because of my SEO background. So it might not mean much to you but I loved it anyway because it was so dead on accurate. 36 SEO Myths That Won’t Die But Need To

25) I always forget to use this Tagxedo

26) This is another I want to try and use more in 2011 Tinypay.me

27) PPC gone awry at your PPC sucks.

28) 35 great social media infographics was a really cool post. We all love a good infographic and here are 35 of them all in one place!.

29) I love time lapse videos, and this one is no exception. One year walk/beard grow time lapse

30) and lastly one of my favorite articles from 2010, Branding and the ‘Me’ Economy from the New York Times.

As we hurdle into 2011, first, I want to thank those who made the content that I consumed and you consumed in 2010, but now it’s time to start thinking in a more altruistic, giving way. People need our help, and for a lot of us we have the ability to use our knowledge, skills and attributes in social media and technology to make things happen. We can do it, I can do it and you can do it. Let’s make it happen through design, through action and through our words and our vision.

Social Media: What’s Right, What’s Wrong, and What’s Next?

Posted on November 24, 2010 by marc meyer

They’re coming. The lists are coming, the predictions, the opinions and the trends-all those juicy posts that populate the month of December, they’re coming. So I wanted to get this out there while it could still mean something.

What’s right in social media?

Or better yet what went right? For me it was a mashup. It started with an eye catching commercial developed by Wieden + Kennedy and ended with videos that have been viewed more than 40 million times and total brand views on the web that have been estimated to have surpassed 110 million. What am I talking about?

And for those that are wondering whether it was worth it, sales for Red Zone(the actual Old Spice product) hit $1.6 million for the four-week period ending July 11, 2010. That was a 49 percent jump over the four-week period ending Feb. 21, 2010 according to SymphonyIRI. The other four Old Spice Body Wash products also showed a lift as well. Overall sales for Old Spice Body Wash rose 105 percent for that period.

This was a seminal moment in the worlds of social and traditional media. It was cool, different and most of all it was viral which is the holy grail for all digital marketers. As much as some people are apt to point out the #FAILS in social media, this was the big win of 2010.

What’s wrong with social media?

The semantics of social media education. Collectively I think we are continuing to focus on constantly rehashing what the definition of social media is. As an industry we keep redefining what social media is so much, that it’s causing some to go back and redefine what social media is to them. Is it tools? Is it a platform? Is it a mindset? A movement? What day is it?

We are influenced by influencers who are influenced by influencers…

Some are focusing on what it could be and what it can be, instead of belaboring the effort of trying to understand what it is. The barriers in social media are not so high that it is an exclusive club. Yet some want to create that mystique. I fear that we are getting caught up in the semantics of social media to an extent that it is bogging down not only us, but also companies of all sizes struggling to make money. It’s creating an air of impossibility, and we need to do a better job of removing that notion. It is still an effort, and rightly so, to show companies how to use social media effectively, but please, enough with the definitions of what social media is.

At some point we have to quit focusing on “What is it’ and focus more on the “What the heck, let’s try it.”

What’s next in social media?

One thing that is safe to say is that Google will make another play in the social space. Why? Because Google understands that if you can keep your people in network, then you can market to them, you can sell to them, and they are that much more valuable to you and your partners. Now add the mobile element to this and what you will see is a continuous explosion of mobile apps, mobile marketing, and mobile sites all geared towards our escalating migration away from the desktop.

Mark this down as well: As Facebook rolls out their Facebook email, look for there to be issues around privacy and data collection. I know, not much of a stretch… But, this move will further propel Facebook front and center as a legitimate threat to space previously occupied by Google, Yahoo and MSN. And it makes sense. Keeping the users of your social network “in network” with their own email, makes complete sense.

Lastly, our online social connections will continue to become more ubiquitous and less assumptive. They may become more platform specific as we continue to search for our tribes but ubiquity we reign in 2011 and beyond.

So what about you?

What’s right in social media?
What’s wrong?
What’s next?

Our Shifting Notion of Search, Social and Mobile.

Posted on November 23, 2010 by marc meyer

10 years ago seems so 10 years ago in the world of search, social and mobile.

We’ve definitely evolved and rightly or wrongly so depending on your point of view. Take for example search. In 2000 Google was a 2 year old start-up still trying to create an identity and compete with Yahoo and MSN. We all marveled at the simplicity of their interface and as a starting point for our queries, it simplified and created a less cluttered entry into a sometimes messy and confusing search result. Little did we know what was on the horizon.

How do we use search now? Search is and has been woven into the fabric of our daily lives thanks to Google. It is a utility that drives our online and offline interactions. We use it for online transactions, travel decisions, job searches, purchases, research, and a dozen other activities. We use search the same way we use our lights, drive our cars and brush our teeth. Google has changed and redefined what search is for you, me and all the companies that rely on it for business.

What search will ultimately be, is as much for us to determine as it is for Google to create and beta test. We will define it.

Online social networks are redefining our offline relationships both casual and personal. What drives that redefinition? search? The barriers for connecting with someone are next to none. Social networks are not what they used to be. Looking back at MySpace, it almost looks like pre-Y2k web Dev. doesn’t it? If you think about what made MySpace popular, it wasn’t as much about the conversations as it was about creating your own content, your own page-it struck a nerve. Facebook has taken that aspect of MySpace, and simplified and reduced the ability to create, and amplified the ability to connect and share- and 500 million people have embraced it. Where does it go from here?

Social continues to evolve into something devoid of privacy and chock full of transparency with authenticity caught somewhere in the middle.

In the world of mobile, the evolution has been nothing short of dramatic. 10 years ago we were an evolving world of mobile adoption, the mobile handset was a utility for and an extension of the land lane. Now the mobile device is an extension of our desktop. The ratio of mobile handsets to people is approaching one to one. Search and social have migrated to the mobile device. SMS drives conversation and just as search has become somewhat of a utility for the desktop, the smartphone is now the defacto device for driving purchases, for buying tickets, for research, for email, for being social and oh by the way…making phone calls.

So what does this all mean? The same thing that has happened to all great inventions and milestones in history-Their original intent looks nothing like their eventual outcome.

The Social Customer

Posted on November 2, 2010 by marc meyer

Posted: November 2nd, 2010 By: Jason Breed

You think marketer’s lives are rough, try being the customer. So much is being thrown at the customer these days, its hard to keep up.

B2B Customers: You used to have a few vendors that competed for your dollars, the agencies were simply creatives and technology vendors simply did technology. Without all the improvements in technology, manufacturing had many barriers to entry which reduced your choices. You never heard about how vendors were treating your employees (good or bad) and you never cared how they were performing with other peers in related industries. Marketing was marketing and technology was, well, technology and never did the two meet. Decisions were made independently without concern to the ecosystems that are in place today.

B2C Customers: You were able to make purchase decisions simply based on how the product tasted, handled, or felt. You did not worry about their greenhouse effects, the videos their employees were making behind the scenes or how much the same product cost at other stores within a 7 block radius. Your friends may have mentioned cool products but you did not have to worry about your friends seeing every purchase you make (remember that Dixie Chicks album you really want) nor did you have to remember if you had ”like’d” the Brand in one of your networks. You did not care what they were making next because if you did not want it, you would simply just not purchase it. Forget writing letters to your friends to warn them that the “new & improved” product really wasn’t.

Fast forward to today. Customers are more equipped through technology and network science to make purchase decisions than every before. Interestingly enough though, the buying cycle is getting longer, not shorter. Customer’s purchase paths have changed. No longer do they call you to see if something is in stock or what your hours of operation are. No longer do you get a chance to speak to prospects, they simply search online, visit the first few sites that come up, comparison shop through online and physical stores, review product ratings and comments. If prospects can’t relate to the things they find in that process, those potential customer simply go away without you ever knowing they were actual prospects.

While purchase patterns have changed, so have expectations. The expectation is that I, as a customer, can ask a question online to a company and get a response back either from other customer zealots or from the company itself. The other expectations are that you are being a good corporate citizen (because I’ll find out if you are not) and that my vote counts. I want to influence the direction of the next product, not as a shareholder, but as a product user and Lord help if my product breaks down before I think is reasonbly expected.

We know that customers are changing for both B2B and B2C and yes, even for B2B2C. The challenge is that customers have not yet fully transitioned from customer-of-old to customer-of-new so they are still in motion. They don’t know what they want in a Brand yet however the expectation is still there. So how do you handle this?

13 Soft Skills Needed for Companies Selling Social Media

Posted on October 19, 2010 by marc meyer

Do you ever stop and think about how much you’ve actually read and heard about social media? Especially the “how-to” stuff, or the all encompassing “list”? There’s one every day. Yet one of the things that is often overlooked in a lot of the blog posts and conferences I attend, are the soft skills needed to achieve success. What are those?

We talk or you hear all the time about C suite alignment in order to drive some type of momentum in rolling out social media, but has anyone ever explained or told you about the soft skills that are needed to get you over the top? Last night I was on a plane in the middle seat squeezed between Kevin Smith’s twin, and a poster child for Nyquil thinking about those “soft skills”.

When you get your foot in the door, know that integrating social media into the organization will take many meetings with many different opinionated, passionate, department heads who will have their own agenda. There is a reason it’s called “ducks in a row”, but have you ever tried to physically get ducks in a row? Here are 12 soft skills that might help you.

1) It takes the touch of threading a needle and knowing when you might need a bigger needle. Or someone with better touch-don’t be afraid to ask for help.

2) It requires that you have an argument with use cases. Think Tom Cruise in the movie, “A Few Good Men”, or maybe Jack Nicholson? Just don’t act like jack.

3) You better have more than just your words. Use cases go a long way in proving out your argument.

4) Hopefully you have the oratory skills of a a Socrates or Abe Lincoln. Why? You’re going to need to strike a nerve with lots of different personalities who will be relating to different pain points. The same “spiel” doesn’t work with everyone-know your audience.

5) Let’s not forget that you must have the skill of a diplomat-Per my point in #4. Every one has a different agenda, some will have P&L responsibility. You must have the ability to let each department know that you have their best interests at heart..

6) Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee-Can you achieve the goal with the deftness and impact of a Muhammad Ali jab? You’ll need it. You cannot get bogged down-stick and move, but be effective-just like a boxer. Know when you’re getting bogged down.

7) You’ll need to possess the sales skills of a Zig Ziglar or Og Mandino. Or is that the pitching skills of the Phillies Roy Halladay?

8) Have the passion of Rhett and Scarlett-Remember this is new to them!

9) You will have to have the foresight to anticipate not only change in social, but change within the organization that you are dealing with and how that might affect what your pitching.

10) The hindsight to know what doesn’t work anymore even if it affects what you are proposing and the honesty to admit it.

11) You’ll need the insight to make it happen

12) Leave your temerity and ego at the door.

13) Trust what you know-believe it, but then listen and be able to adjust.

As you can see, the person who just sits in front of a computer screen and or just writes blog posts and articles is going to need a whole lot more under the hood should they happen to get in front of a client. Just because someone graduates from medical school, doesn’t necessarily mean they are going to be a good doctor right?

What other soft skills would you add to this list?

7 Tips for Staying on Top of the Social Wave

Posted on October 15, 2010 by marc meyer

Often times you have to step in it to realize you are in it. With social media, you would have to have lived in a cave on an island in the Pacific to not know how ubiquitous it is. It’s permeating every part of our daily lives. With that being said, here are 7 “things” you should be aware of as we go forward in this digital world that can carry you and your company towards Web 3.0.

1) Look for more content to be produced by “others”. This means look for the rise of the professional content creators masking as citizen journalists. They will blur the lines so much-you won’t know where the value lies. We used to marvel at UGC, but what is it when large organization start to pass their content off as UGC? Think of Wal Mart or Astroturfing. Know the difference between “real” UGC and professional content.

There’s a reason why Twitter is killing Facebook in CTR rates. Marketers are realizing that Twitter is a consumption vehicle for content and thus they are catching on in continuing to push out content- but they realize they must disguise the content in a way that is appealing and doesn’t seem hook ladened.

2) There will be a continued increase in the value of communities but you will also see more splintering of those communities into niches. Face it, we all have a niche, and connecting to those people via an online community, certainly drives a good portion of our searches. Knowing that people are searching for their tribes will help you in your understanding of market segments. Focus on focus-Want to grow your product? Find the niche, it’s there.

3) Mobile will be THE social platform.The global mobile market is expected to reach $1 trillion by 2015. What are you waiting for? Your competitors? What are you doing about it? Get serious about mobile.

4) Social data will determine your next move in your future business engagements, don’t ignore it-Social data will be driving consumer engagement.

Companies are mining the social web to build dossiers on you. Information posted publicly on blogs, Facebook, Twitter, forums and other sites is fair game

5) Engagement strategies will be different on every channel because of the data returned from #4. Don’t assume that your social strategies will be the same across all BU’s. Each has it’s own nuance and needs. Be mindful that your social solutions will be different-understand their capabilities and their deliverables.

6) Mitigating loss of control in social media will continue to be underserved and undervalued. What seems to be common is that people don’t do anything from a crisis communication and loss mitigation standpoint until after things hit the fan. Create your social media worst case scenario plan, don’t wait.

7) Search will still rule, but social search will drive future customer engagement. How are you currently addressing the fact that people will be using a mobile device and could be doing searches through their social network of choice for products and service and companies? For starters, think local and then learn how it works.

If there were a way to etch these in pencil, I would do it. Things change so quickly in the digital social media world that nothing is finite and everything is fair game. But as an organization, agency or marketer trying to make heads or tails over what might happen-this is as good a snapshot as any to start from.

The 7 Fluid Absolutes of Social Media for 2010

Posted on October 13, 2010 by marc meyer

I think a lot about measurement. Not only measuring my efforts during the workday, but also away from the office like in working out or where my money goes, or why I can’t lose weight- You know, the traditional stuff. But I also like to measure the collective efforts of both large companies and small when it comes to social media and social media marketing as well, and how it all plays out into today’s economy and how it utlimately affects you, the consumer. Thus, I came up with a couple of “fluid absolutes” that for now, make sense to me.

Social media measurement will continue to adapt and evolve with the constant change of external markets and it’s influencer’s. It’s not always about ROI, I’m sorry.
The rules of engaging the consumer and marketing to that consumer are changing at light speed with the advantage shifting towards the consumer and with the enterprise constantly trying to catch up.
Social media engagement should be measured differently in tough economic times. But some rules will still apply when the dust settles.
The tone, the fabric and the nuances of marketing and social media marketing is changing, but sadly, marketers are not.
Consumer expectations of social media will not change during the current economic woes because they still don’t know what to expect.
The importance of social media optimization, SEO and it’s relationship to mobile has never been larger, yet some still don’t get it.
Some Social Networks have less chance to thrive now, than they did at this point last year.

As we wind down 2010 with essentially 2 1/2 months to go. What have you seen? What did you predict would happen and did not? What do you think will change? What didn’t change?