Category: marketing

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blogging marketing social media Tweets

Hungry to share your thoughts? Deborah recommends a SnackByte

Deborah Schultz is always thinking a few steps ahead. Everyone who reads her post will get this, and the early adopters of web technology will be glad to have a name for what they have already been doing:

Introducing The SnackByte

A Snackbyte is lighter than a complete blog post, has more context than a del.icio.us link and is more thoughtful (and hopefully more informative) than my typical Twitter post. They are tasty morsels of thought that go down easy.

Many friends of mine are using things like Twitter and even Tumblr but I think both of these are too ‘immediate’ and ‘short’. Deborah’s idea of a short post that’s longer than a twitter tweet, and very focused, rings true to me. Thanks, Deb.

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blogging marketing social media socialmedia

Blog Action Day – Talk about the Environment

While the Network News programs this morning did little more than pimp their own shows (CBS , ABC, I’m talking to you), people on blogs all around the world are making news with Blog Action Day. (Thanks to the never-sleeping Chris Brogan for letting me know via Twitter).

Today, 15,861 (as of this writing) blogs are participating, not counting this one.
Everyone is writing something about the environment, and trying to get some attention for the issues around it. There will also be donations to causes from Greenpeace to the Sierra Club. More about it on the Blog Action Day Blog. They’re claiming a reach of about 12 million people today. That’s better than the network news programs combined.

So, for my writing – just this. We took a simple action a few months ago, and replaced all our fixed lighting bulbs with Compact Fluorescent bulbs. And, our bill went down several dollars over the last few months. Is it the bulbs, or are we more conscious of not having the lights on? Who cares? We’re saving money and using less electricity. So that’s good for the environment and for our wallets. The one thing we couldn’t find is CF bulbs that go into dimmers. For some reason, Home Depot, Costco, Walmart, none of the big stores near us carry bulbs that work in dimmers. Our house was wired for dimmers in several rooms by the former owner, and that also can save electricity, but we couldn’t find those bulbs. Well, thanks to Google, today I found 1000bulbs.com and Bulbs.com. I’ve got to figure out how big the bulbs are, and which ones are the substitutes, then we can buy some dimmable ones and save even more money.

So, that’s your environmental tip for the day. Try CFL bulbs.

And it’s also your Social Media tip for the day. If you want some attention, get a bunch of bloggers involved. I’m interested to see how this plays out in the main stream media.

Categories
blogging Business marketing social media socialmedia web2.0

Social Media as Conversation

This morning, Jeff Pulver does a great job at summarizing what many of us in Social Media have been seeing for the last few years (Jeff included) – that the biggest attraction on the net is the Other People and the ability to Have A Conversation with them.

The Jeff Pulver Blog – Notes, comments and observations

Back in the day, Content was king, but in the world of social media communications, “the conversation” has taken the throne. Sure, content still matters, as does context, but for those of you who are looking to where the next mega trend on the Internet will be, I am placing my bets on something I am referring to as: The Conversation.

Jeff also notes: “By embracing social media, a business can shift from being a monolithic
company name or a branded product and transform themselves to a person,
an individual who advocates and evangelizes.” Exactly. This is part of what I do with companies all the time. By helping people learn to blog, to join Social Networks, or to help develop strategic plans on how to join the conversation, we are enabling companies to have a face – the face of the actual people who work there.

One PR agency asked me how they could write better blog posts for their clients. I told them to teach the client to blog instead. It is rare that someone can post for a company better than an employee who cares about the company’s mission, is seeped in their culture and is passionate about the company’s direction. That was me, back when I worked for Microsoft, and that passion coming through goes a lot farther than any amount of free copies of Windows.

As I start to receive feedback about my Podcast, which isn’t a business venture but is purely a personal and creative effort (see this post about A Chat and A Song) it is the feedback, the conversation that keeps my effort going. In the same way, when a company starts a group on Facebook to hear what people have to say about their product, or to gather their fans together, they’re gaining from the conversation.

In a sense, none of this is new. The ClueTrain Manifesto reminded us that conversations are what markets were always about. We just needed to find a balance. The old era of blasting messages is coming to a slow, lingering end. It’s time to learn how to have conversations. If you want to know more, talk with me, or with one of my many friends in the Social Media arena. I have a whole network of them.

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blogging Business DocSearls marketing social media socialmedia VRM

Doc is Mad as Hell, and He’s not going to take it anymore

Wow, Doc Searls is fired up about the potential Google phone, based on the Business Week story. Bweek talks about targeted ads popping up on your mobile as you go through the world, but based on your preferences and actual behaviors.

Doc’s take: He wants to tell advertisers what he wants, not be made into a profile:

Tools on my phone that let me tell sellers what I want, and on my terms
– and not just on theirs. Whether that’s a latte two exits up the
highway, next restaurant that serves seared ahi, or where I can buy an
original metal slinky…I want to be able to notify the market of my shopping or buying
intentions without revealing who I am, unless it’s on mutually
agreed-upon terms….Quick, who wants their cell phone to be a “mini marketing machine”?

There’s more to read, and this is a great discussion about what Doc and others have been calling VRM, or Vendor Relationship Management – “the reciprocal of CRM or Customer Relationship Management. It provides customers with tools for engaging with vendors in ways that work for both parties.”

Worth checking out.

Categories
fun geeky marketing social media

If Supermarkets were Web 2.0 compliant

Excellent video, which might not be funny if you’re not part of the ‘in crowd’ for Web 2.0, but which appeals to my sense of humor.

Glumbert.com – Supermarket 2.0

(I tried to embed it but it is too wide….)