THINKing

Social Media Hub

We’re flattered to have been included as a featured blogger in the new social media hub, Social Media Informer. The site has just launched this week, and there is great content there from a diverse group of social media thought leaders.

Here’s what my pal, Tom Pick, at Webbiquity says about SMI,

SMI was developed by some of the same people as the popular B2B Marketing Zone b2b marketing portal. It also uses the same underlying Browse My Stuff technology, which enables publishers, PR agencies, corporations and other enterprises to build branded content aggregation hubs. For readers, SMI will aggregate high quality content; make it easy to navigate based on topic, source or date; and expose valuable niche content that might otherwise be overlooked.

This is going to be a great destination for people interested in high level social media thinking. So, check it out, soon.

Oh, and here are some of the other featured bloggers:

• Alex Blom
• Buzz Marketing for Technology
• Conversionation
• ConverStations
• Direct Marketing Observations
• FreshNetworks
• Idaconcpts
• Janet Fouts
• Kyle Lacy
• One Social Media
• Scott Gould
• Simon Mainwaring
• Socialized
• The Relationship Economy
• Webbiquity SMM
• WindMill Networking

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Social Media Relationships: Are They Real?

Just saw Suzanne Vara’s excellent piece on building social media relationships. Let’s listen to Ms. Vara for a moment:

Social media has afforded us the opportunity to meet a lot of people. We gain insight as to who they are through their profiles, blogs, with whom they associate and our interactions with them…we find an entirely new world and start building relationships. There are some people we just click with and feel like we have known them forever.  We like them and look forward to seeing them each day on their blog, on our blog and in our platform streams.

There are a number of people – those whom I call DCs or “digital colleagues” – I look forward to each day as well. But are these relationships real and actionable from a business standpoint? Most are not. But some of those online relationships – as Ms. Vara points out – may blossom into something deeper.

As we have discussed before, the value of connections in business cannot be underestimated. I’m talking primarily about tight connections that you use to help you achieve your personal and professional goals. Friend and business coach Brent Dees of Focus Four tells us that you if want a $1 million business, you should have 40 contacts (your Focus 40) each of whom can bring you $25,000 in business. Your job is to help each of these contacts achieve their goals and they, in turn, will help you reach yours. This is a spin on the method that made Andrew Carnegie a millionaire many times over.

Now, Brent says that a human can’t truly support more than 40 contacts of this nature, and I agree.

However, with the advent of social networks like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, you can have access to hundreds of contact to help you connect with others who may be able to help you.  Social media means your close relationships are no longer bound by geography – and that is a beautiful thing. For instance, there is Bob Taylor from Grand Rapids, Michigan who I talk with about wine, bacon, guitar playing and social media. Jay Ehret in Waco, Texas, has become someone I read and listen to via podcast. Says Jay in a piece called Welcome To Social Town,

The amazing thing is I didn’t know any of these people three years ago. This is what social media has done for my professional, and personal, life. To me, it’s not a marketing channel, it’s a community of my favorite people who don’t happen to live in the same city I do. I wish we all did live in the same place because we would have some killer happy hours! But we don’t, so we just hang out together online, in Social Town.

What do you think?

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Cap The Spill, Then We’ll Talk

You’ve probably read about BP’s so-called social media efforts to shape the conversation about the oil spill. It’s not just BP. The government keeps barring journalists from the area in what seems to be a move to downplay the spill. There is plenty of blame to go around in this debacle.Andy Beal at Marketing Pilgrim has an interesting take on this topic, too.  Says Andy,

“Updates, Response, Statement, Briefing, Broadcast, Distribution, Push. Those are just some of the words that I found while looking around BP’s social media efforts for the Gulf oil spill. So, what’s missing? How about…Listening, Engaging, Discussing, Conversation, Dialog, Understanding.”

Listening would be a good step, but BP, if you really want to shape the conversation, fix the spill. Once that is done, I”ll be ready to “talk” with you through social media.

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Your Online Privacy Is Your Responsibility

OK, I’m going to say it and hack off some folks: your privacy is not Facebook’s responsibility, nor the government’s. Just like earning a living, supporting your family, taking care of your health, paying your bills on time, and raising your children to be productive citizens, ensuring your privacy online is your responsibility.

Now, if you don’t care who knows everything about your online life, then move along, there is nothing for you to see here. But, if you do care about your online privacy, you might want to read on.

Now, I have some problems with the way Facebook plays fast and loose with personal data, but ultimately it is your data. You enter it, you manage it and you control what people can see and how other websites can utilize your data.  Facebook can’t share what you don’t let them share or what you don’t enter in the first place.

If you feel – as I do – that you derive benefit from Facebook’s platform but you are concerned about your online privacy, this article provides a good explanation about what you can do to enhance your data’s security.  Additionally, I recommend running this privacy tool on your Facebook profile.

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Twitter Lists: Twittering Journalists

Finally, Twitter is offering a lists function. None too soon.If you need more info on Twitter lists, Mashable is a good resource.

We set up the My Creative Team Twittering Journalist wiki last year in order to develop a directory of journalists who were using Twitter. This was not an ideal solution, but it was good enough at that time. With the new Twitter list, we can move that wiki online. This makes it easier on everyone to follow twittering journalists.

We have established a USA Twittering Journalist List and a Canada Twittering Journalist List. They are not yet complete, but feel free to begin following them, and let us know if there are other journalists you are following who should be on the list. Next on our agenda, media outlets using Twitter.

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Reading List

What are you reading today? Here are a few items we are checking out.

Newspaper Online Traffic Heads Up

Google Fast Flip Speeds Online News Reading

iPhone App Helps You Find Guinness

Measuring The Business Effects Of Web 2.0

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Old Media Drives New Media

The average American’s Internet use has nearly doubled in the past two years, according to a MediaPost article. This means that the Internet now accounts for 1/3 of the average US consumer’s media day. So, how are you going to get those Americans to your website, hmmm? By the way, did I tell you that your website is one of about 186 million?

Google Adwords can help, but it doesn’t drive the volume of web traffic most local businesses would like to see. If you have your own email list, superb. Nothing like email to drive current customer traffic. But what about for customer acquisition?

If you haven’t noticed, there is a fire sale going on at the old media store. Newspapers are struggling, so, too, are many radio and TV stations. Rates are down and so is competition for eyeballs. It’s a great time to increase your share of voice and take market share from weak competitors.

In my mind, a local business should be looking at these media opportunities. In particular, I’d look at my local newspaper, especially if it has a solid web presence. You can pick up packages that include both print and web options. For instance, according to the same MediaPost article:

The report further reveals that seven daily newspapers have achieved a net unduplicated reach of 80% or more when the past 30-day website visitor figure is combined with the past month print readership figure. Among these newspapers are the:

• New Orleans Times Picayune with a total unduplicated reach of 85.8%
• San Antonio Express-News (80.6%)
• Post-Standard in Syracuse (84%)
• Buffalo News (83.3%)
• Democrat & Chronicle in Rochester (80.9%)
• Peoria Journal Star (80.4%)
• Omaha World Herald (82.2%)

Says  Bob Jordan, President of The Media Audit,

“Daily newspapers were the first to embrace a multi-platform distribution strategy amidst a period when consumers were spending more and more time with the Internet. And as a result, newspapers followed the way of the consumer. By doing so, they have broadened their reach to include younger consumers. And these consumers are buying new cars and driving sales for retailers who represent a significant portion of the newspaper industry’s revenue… ”

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Connect With My Creative Team

Are you connected with My Creative Team? Here are the ways to get and stay connected:

Facebook

Friendfeed

Think (our monthly enewsletter)

THINKing (RSS Feed)

Twitter

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Undiscovered Gems

There is a ton of content on THINKing that has not yet been discovered by our more recent followers. So, I thought I’d serve up some of those undiscovered gems today. Enjoy.

Creativity & You

Shallow Brands

Remember, You Are Naked Online

Content Marketing On Steroids

Leadership 101

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Why Coupons?

We talked recently about using online coupons to spur consumer action. Now, let’s take a look at a company which is using coupons strategically and successfully.

I talked with Jim Deitzel (@rubbermaid) and Lauren Spahr (@rubbermaidtwo) about how Rubbermaid’s organizational products line is using coupons.

It turns out, Rubbermaid is no Johnny-Come-Lately to the online coupon. The company has used them for about four years, initially placing them on the company website. Recently, with some tweaking to the program, redemptions have increased. Part of that, say Deitzel and Spahr, is due to greater reach offered by News America’s online coupon service, Smart Source.

The strategy behind using coupons is fourfold:

- Augment offline coupons

- Attract website traffic

- Acquire email addresses

- Add value to email club membership

The online program is a real value, according to Deitzel. He says FSI (free standing inserts or paper coupon) programs can cost into the six digits, whereas a very strong online program can be implemented for around $20,000. Now, this doesn’t mean small companies can’t take advantage of online couponing if they don’t have $20,000 to spend. They can develop their own coupons and send them out via a house email list.

Are you using online coupons? I’d like to hear about it.

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