Biznology

Social Media Buzz

2009-11-06T11:43:29Z

Image by autan via Flickr

Social media (and much of Internet marketing, for that matter) are effective when measured. We like to see how much interest we can generate around our ideas, services and products. We like to see which outlets and techniques get people's attention and which ones inspire them to spread the word about how awesome our stuff is. We have all turned into our own little PR factories. The term generally applied to the resulting level of interest and chatter is buzz.

Buzz, in social media terms, is taking our message and making it viral. Making it something that is willingly passed along because people perceive value in what you are offering, whether it's a product, knowledge, or just information.

I am different than most with regard to social media buzz, however. Sure, I understand and even desire the idea of many people finding me so irresistibly cool and insightful that they will share my musings with their network of friends, followers and acquaintances. Since the cool part happens on few, if any, occasions (ask my kids how cool Dad is and you'll see why my confidence in my cool quotient is wavering significantly) I have discovered something else about social media. There is a second kind of social media buzz, and it is actually the one I desire above all else.

I liken it to a runner's high. It's the feeling that I get when I have truly made a connection with someone through social media. I'm not talking about gaining followers on Twitter or amassing some large RSS feed. That's not connecting with that's simply a recognition of our paths crossing from time to time. No, I am talking about the buzz of having the opportunity to connect, dare I say meet and even shake the hand of, someone that there is likely no other way to have connected on a real level had it not been for the social Web and it's many new avenues for introductions.

Case in point: Without divulging names and titles, I had a chance to meet someone face to face yesterday that in the Internet of even five years ago I had no business of meeting. Through a piece of information sent along by a another person in network that I trust, I was given the impetus to get in a car and drive 30 minutes to shake someone's hand, because they were in my little ol' city for an event that I had already left. I know that is vague, and may leave you scratching your head, but let me finish.

Because of my social "dealings," I was able to literally start what has the chance to be a real relationship with someone of similar beliefs. Would I have ever known about these beliefs if it weren't for my social media efforts? The answer is a definitive and emphatic "no." As a result of these series of "events," I walked away with a social media buzz. A high. A feeling of truly connecting with someone over a common interest of importance to us both.

No longer was I just another person who was looking for an introduction to someone I normally wouldn't have spoken to. No, in fact I was able to approach them with a bold confidence that I wouldn't have had before because I knew something about them of value. Something we both cared about. As a result, I walked away refreshed and renewed and experiencing a social media buzz.

It happened again as I was listening to a panel discussion and I had been made aware of another social connections need through a network. It was a fresh request and I was listening to someone on a panel that could answer the question for my friend. So I approached the panel member after, and they were very cordial—nice and helpful. I then was able to call my friend with information that I think they never anticipated. In fact, they made a joke about what took me so long to have put together a list of contacts to help them. What I get out of this? A social media buzz. A high because I helped someone of like mind.

So, if you are a person who seeks a rush or a high, don't look to poisonous sources of that heightened state of being. Go get a social media buzz by helping someone today. Oh, and if you do this expecting something in return, you'll get the thing that I wouldn't wish on anyone—a social media hangover. Why? Because if you are doing something only to get something in return, then it's not real and it's not genuine, and it won't work as well, if at all.

Thanks for listening. I hope you experience the kind of social media buzz I have.

Write a Compelling Marketing Headline

2009-11-05T15:31:25Z

Image via Wikipedia

More and more, marketers must write stories much the way a newspaper reporter does--it's about compelling content, not advertising copy. One of the most important skills a marketer needs is to create a headline that makes people click through to the entire story, whether that headline is on a paid search ad, a link to a Web page, an e-mail subject line, or somewhere else. Compelling headlines invite readers to read more and are the first step to a customer relationship. For a handy checklist on what to think about when you write your headlines, check out the new "Checklist for Writing a Headline" in the Internet Marketing resources of my Web site.

Multiply Marketing Effectiveness Despite Division of Labor

2009-11-04T17:33:19Z

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As soon as you hire your first employee, you have to divide up the work--experts call this division of labor. The efficiencies gained through this specialization are vital to any growing business, but they come at some marketing cost, because marketing effectiveness is often affected by division of labor. Large companies deal with this problem every day, but even small companies grapple wit this problem at times. If your marketing effectiveness might be compromised by creeping specialization in your business, check out my latest post on Search Engine Guide, "Multiply Marketing Effectiveness Despite Division of Labor."

The Internet Has Sent Marketing Back to Its Roots

2009-11-03T15:46:38Z

Image by huntz via Flickr

When I went to marketing school, back in the dark ages, we learned about the "Four Ps" of Marketing, but the truth is that when most people think about marketing, they think about just one of the Ps: Promotion. The Internet is actually forcing the other three Ps back into the conversation, with companies using new ways to do marketing in each area. To learn more about what I mean, check out my latest post on Internet Evolution, "The Internet Has Sent Marketing Back to Its Roots."

Is your strategy to leave your finger in the dike?

2009-11-02T00:54:44Z

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OK, I know that times are tough in the business world. I got that memo. So, I realize that some businesses are in crisis--maybe even yours. But I've been struck recently by the short-term focus of folks that purport to be our big thinkers. More and more, I see strategic roles in companies filled by people spending most of their time shoving a finger in the leaky dike. For some, it might be necessary, but I question its long-term wisdom. Are you trading your future for your present? I am using the analogy of the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dike to illustrate a problem that many of us are facing. I know that our businesses depend on holding back those flood waters, and that we're spooked watching other companies spring leaks that quickly overwhelmed them. So, when something critical is going wrong, it is natural for all of us, even those of us in strategic roles, such as CMOs and CTOs, to jump into the breach.

And, honestly, it's refreshing to see people respond in a crisis, rather than standing around saying "Not my job." But there is a limit to how effective that can be. We're over a year into our economy's latest crisis and strategic people can't abandon their roles for that long without causing long-term damage.

So, if you have a strategic role in your company, but you've been spending almost all of your time with your finger in the dike, you need to pull it out. Here's why:

The company needs someone else to do it. You are too highly paid and too important in the job you do to spend this much time in crisis. In the long run, you're enabling the people who should be repairing the dike to continue their shoddy work. Pull your finger out of the dike and make sure the folks in charge of that job step up.
No one can fix the dike. As long as you have your finger in it, the dike can't be repaired by anyone. You're going to have to accept some short-term water damage to fix things in the long-run. At some point, you need to stabilize whatever crisis you are in to move forward again, not just defend against more damage.
Your real job is becoming a crisis?. While you are hanging around the dike, you can't go where you're needed in your own job. While you're doing someone else's job, no one is doing yours. If you are as critically needed in the crisis as you think, it's time for you to change jobs so that someone else does the strategy work you are neglecting.

Handling the crisis always seems more important than the long-term things that make your company vital. I would argue that many crises are urgent but not all that important. We must accept that sometimes a crisis is in the natural order of things and that we can't and shouldn't always prevent them.

And if your company is in such crisis that you think you are doing the equivalent of prioritizing breathing over eating, it's time for you to decide if you are in the right place. Because soon you're going to be very hungry.

I Am Just a Seeker

2009-10-29T23:25:33Z

Image by Pete Prodoehl via Flickr

by Frank Reed

I am not an expert in social media. I am not an expert in search marketing. I am not an expert in anything, really. I don't like the title when applied to anyone or anything. It has been so misused, it is like the Internet marketing's version of putting "New and Improved" on a bottle of laundry detergent. It is so overused and under defined at the same time, that the word expert has lost its real meaning. Don't get me wrong, though. I do know some things about the industry. In fact, I am confident that I know quite a bit. But an expert? Nah.

What I am, though, is a seeker. I think that is what we all need to be in this space. Seekers. Seeker is a positive word. It's a word that implies being inquisitive in a relatively positive way. It implies an appetite for exploring and learning. It is a powerful word and it is a powerful state of being. I like being a seeker.

Many times the term seeker is applied to someone who is on a spiritual journey. They are seeking more than what they have because they know there is something / anything out there that is more than what they are right now. Watch someone make this journey. What's most fascinating is that when they "find" what they have been seeking, then the adventure REALLY begins.

I think the same goes for social media and this whole Internet marketing space. Why? Because there is always something bigger and greater out there. What we do today with Facebook and Twitter will pale in comparison to what will be done a few short years from now. Interestingly enough, it may not be that there are different tools being used but the
APPLICATION of those tools will have grown and evolved to a point that we will look back on 2009 in social media the same way we chuckle about Web sites done in Front Page just a few years back.

What will it look like? I don't really know because, while I am not an expert, I am also not a good prognosticator. What I can say with a great deal of confidence is that there will be a lot of good, a lot of bad and a lot of frighteningly average variations on the same social media theme.

The difference is likely to be our ability to more efficiently sort through the mess (real time search maybe?) and also learn how to say more with less. I suspect that blatant self promoters will be seen as hucksters and snake oil salesmen whether they are or not. Just as all salespeople must overcome the stereotype of being shifty and manipulative (an earned title in many cases, by the way), the typical social media person promoting themselves will have to fight through a stereotype that is being hammered out right this very moment.

So how do you see yourself using social media for your business and your life in the next few years? Will you be buried in the avalanche of 140-character gems and the typhoon of status updates, or will you be at peace? At peace that you don't have to listen to everyone because they are not experts. I hope we all experience the peace of being a seeker. That means we are in control and looking to improve rather than just add to the noise.

Happy seeking and I hope we bump into each other on our respective journeys.

Is the mobile Web really happening this time?

2009-10-29T12:14:28Z

Image by pollyalida via Flickr

If you've been working on the Web for more than a couple of years, you know that predicting that the mobile Web will take off this year is always popular, and always wrong. Thus far, the mobile Web is a small niche for most businesses, but will it remain that way? I started wondering about that as I see the spate of TV commercials leading up to the Droid phone announcement by Verizon Wireless. Yesterday, Motorola and Verizon finally revealed the phone, for which of the details have been leaked for weeks, and it makes me wonder of something finally is changing in the mobile Web.

Before now, your best bet for mobile Web access was the iPhone. To get an iPhone, you not only needed to shell out the cash for a smart phone (which more and more is gaining share over the dumb varieties), but you probably had to switch carriers, to AT&T, which naturally limited the size of the U.S. market for Web browsing. Similar exclusive deals surround the iPhone in other countries.

Now, you non-iPhone users have probably surfed the Web, too, but studies show that iPhone users do it far more. One reason is the browser built into the iPhone is based on WebKit, an open source "rendering" engine that does a far better job of showing Web sites than older mobile browsers.

See, before WebKit, anyone with a Web site needed to fool around with different formatting for the small screen than for computer screens. And before 3G networks, bandwidth was so constrained that images rarely rendered fast enough to be worth the time waiting. There were fat "best practices" documents for mobile Web sites. So, lots of programming time went into futzing around with Web sites to make them mobile-friendly, and more time was sunk into .mobi Web sites and mobile sub-domains. In short, if you wanted your Web site to look good on a mobile phone, you needed to know what you were doing and to pay through the nose on an ongoing basis to make it happen.

As you might expect, that attracted relatively few businesses, and it meant that mobile Web browsing was a hit-or-miss affair, with a few sites providing very nice experiences, while most putting you into a second-class citizen status, causing you to remember to come back and look at that site the next time you are at your computer.

Better screens, higher bandwidth, and WebKit has changed that for iPhone users. Nokia, Palm, and (most important of all) Android phones are all beginning to use WebKit, and other browser rendering engines are beginning to pick up the gauntlet thrown down by WebKit. In the next couple of years, it's very likely that your mobile phone will do a good job rendering almost any Web site, whether designed for mobile or not.

And, Android phones are poised to be a force in this market--expect a dozen phones in the next few months, spread across virtually all carriers. Like iPhones, Android 2.0 phones are starting to show the ease-of-use needed to spur behavior change for users who want to surf the mobile Web. I can upgrade my phone in January, and I am eying these new Android phones for a place in my pocket.

And that changes things for your business. If you never thought that you should consider mobile users in your Web plans, because not many will use your site and because it is too expensive to retrofit your development, it's time to re-examine that stance.

Think about what customers might want to do while on the run, whether it is checking order status, opening a service ticket, ordering supplies, or watching a video about your new product. Then check out your site with one of these mobile phones. Can you figure out how to do these tasks?

I know that my Web site fails that test right now, but I am in the process of redesigning, and mobile is one of the things I plan to attack, because someone might want to check me out during a speaking appearance, or just catch up on their blog reading while mobile. I want my site to allow that.

So, even if you've heard that the mobile Web is taking off every year for the last five years, it's time to listen now.

Google Labs jumps into social search

2009-10-27T23:09:20Z

Image via Wikipedia

People have been talking about social search for years, but the noise reaches a crescendo whenever Google does something--in this case, Google Labs suddenly delivering a Social Search function. How does social search change the game for search marketers?

That's actually a trick question, because nothing in Google Labs changes anything for search marketers. Almost no one uses alternate search interfaces, and social search is no different. The real question is how will this change the game if social search's features are folded into Google's mainstream search that is used by almost everyone?

Social search has some interesting features by which it shows content by people you know much higher in the search results than they'd otherwise be. Regardless of whether this creates a successful search experience, this shuffling of results wreaks havoc for the average search marketer.

Search marketers have grown accustomed to relying on search rankings to determine how well they are doing. Everyone wants the #1 result, but social search, and all other forms of search personalization, doom rank checking, because every searcher might receive different results for the same search keywords.

In a personalized search world, search marketers must stop focusing on rankings, instead focusing on referrals—the number of searchers that click through to your site—and conversions. Personalized search, including social search, might finally take the focus off search itself and place it squarely on the business value it generates. That would be a huge step forward for the business.

Doing some things wrong beats doing nothing

2009-10-27T20:10:20Z

Image via Wikipedia

by Eva Lyford

This past week I helped a a man old enough to be my father to figure out something about Facebook that was bugging him. He wasn't getting any replies to most of his Facebook messages. His friends and family were complaining that he wasn't responding. What the heck was going on? After some rough Time and Motion studies I found that due to a UI issue, his replies were going to noreply@facebook.com. Gah, I hate do not reply mailboxes. Still, I have to credit the guy. A lesser soul might have given up in disgust with this setback. Instead, he got a bit of how-to knowledge transfer then he carefully redirected each misdirected message. The social imperative of responding trumped any ego-centric notion of retreating from engagement.

And then the very next day, Facebook tweaks its feeds (and its members), once again outraging the commenting public and causing a re-surge in interest in commentary on the last time Facebook horked its users, and spurred the creation of a lot of Facebook activity in reaction. Of course, all this new activity and focus is happening on Facebook, so I don't really suppose the Facebook upper echelons are sweating it right now. I suspect instead that they might be limbering up their apology muscles, since it seems every few months they apologize for some change to Facebook.

What's the deal? Well, in the time since their last snafu, Facebook has rolled out an improved iPhone app 3.0, a new gift store, even a new Gross National Happiness counter to serve their devoted econometrician members. These folks do a bunch of coding, and they do it daily. Once in a while they get it wrong, they apologize and get on with a fix. Kudos to them. That's how it should be done.

Compare this--briefly--with the forlorn and ill-fated Geocities. I'd say that Geocities could make a fair claim to being the first social site--every type of person, cause, and organization was represented. Proto-bloggers hung their virtual shingles there and early online Romeos posted profiles before the dating services existed. But what has happened recently? Just a lights-on approach. Were they taking the risk of doing something wrong? No, they were doing nothing. But doing nothing isn't right either. If you're feeling sad, at least you can be comforted that Geocities is now out of its misery, and that some intrepid souls are trying to record its contents for posterity.

And we've got a pretty little case study handily demonstrating how do-it-wrong-quickly handily beats don't-do-anything. Now excuse me, I've got someone calling who wants to know how to turn off farmville updates.

Redefining social media

2009-10-26T15:09:46Z

Image by the tartanpodcast via Flickr

How can it be that at a moment in time when most people can't even define social media that I can appear at a conference panel session trying to redefine social media? My take is that social media isn't what's changing right now--it's how businesses are using social media that is changing the most. To learn more, check out my latest post on Search Engine Guide, "Redefining social media."

The Internet Ocean Is Not a Sea of Tranquility

2009-10-23T10:00:00Z

Image by Paulo Brandão via Flickr

by Frank Reed

It's starting to happen at a more and more rapid pace. The sheer amount of information and opinions and data and whatever else you can put online is turning into an ocean of information. Like the ocean, size is amazing. That analogy works about the sheer size of the object but the similarities end there.

You see, I usually go to the ocean to be refreshed and to find some peace. Of course, part of my secret for that is to never go during peak season, but this is an Internet marketing blog not a travel blog, right? When you stand on the beach, right at the edge of the water, you can observe the rhythm of the waves, and the wonderment at the idea that it rolls on and on regardless of whether I am there or not. If I don't come back for another year, it will be doing the same thing and it will have the same pace and apparent
disregard for who is watching.

The Internet's information ocean is similar, but there is nothing soothing about it at all. As we stand on the beach of this sea of data, the information keeps crashing on the shore in a similar fashion to waves. The trouble is that there is no consistency or rhythm to these waves. They come in fits and starts and stops, and they come at times that are disruptive rather than soothing.

While the ocean goes about its business, there is never a desire to have to catch and bottle the waves. There is no need to manage the flow of the water. Rather, it is relaxing that it is what it is, and that is enough. The Internet information wave, however, gives one the feeling that it needs to be harnessed, captured if you will, so it can be used for advantage.

What about the sounds of the ocean? Aren't they beautiful and soothing? Even as larger waves make a crash in the surf, there is that wonder and ease about them. It moves your mind to bigger things without creating stress. In fact, it can remove you from stress much more easily.

Not so on the shoreline of the Internet Ocean. No, in fact, the noise that comes from it is getting louder and louder. It is the sound of everyone needing to be heard above everyone else. As a result, rather than having incredible power from the sheer enormity of the Internet, you have the din of noise on top of noise that is trying to drown out some other noise.

This analogy can go on forever so I'll end it here. What won't end, though, is our having to deal with the expanding Internet Ocean. While the oceans of the world retain their size (relatively speaking), the Internet Ocean is growing and there is no end in site. Here's a quick plan for how I intend to not get taken in by the Internet's undertow:

No more RSS feeds. I don't read them because it is not humanly possible. Why sign up for something that is not doing anyone any good other than goosing feed numbers for someone to sell ads around?
E-mail notifications only. If there is no way for me to get an e-mail update on a blog then I am not interested. I check e-mail a lot so this is part of my regular routine so if I receive a few
e-mails a day about new thoughts from trusted sources that's manageable.
Find the Top 10. I am working on finding the Top 10 sources of information that I will follow regularly for information and that's it. If they guide me to another source, then I will consider it because I trust the referral. No more chasing information rabbits.
Keep social media as social as possible. In other words, I cannot have days that are swallowed up by the busy-ness of social media. Social media needs to be fun yet purpose-driven for me. Otherwise, I will find myself 100 miles offshore on the Internet Ocean with no gas and no radio. That's bad.
Step away more often. I seek the natural beauty of the ocean because of its source and I am awe of its power. I am drawn to it and never upset by it. Not so with the Internet Ocean. It is something that should be used but not admired. As soon as I admire it it will suck me in and that'll be it.

So how do you view the Internet Ocean? Is it soothing? Is it relaxing? If not, I suggest you head to beach and leave the online where it belongs: online.

Why is engagement important?

2009-10-22T19:25:45Z

Image by Davichi via Flickr

I served as a panelist at the SUPERCOMM Digital Broadband Forum in Chicago today, at a session entitled "The Engaged Consumer." The discussion was quite interesting, led by our moderator Steve Dennen of Comscore with my fellow panelists, John McCready of Nortel, Joe Paulsen of Experian, and Sumit Rai of Kulu Valley. Engagement is such a nebulous term, used to mean so many different things by different people, that you might wonder why engagement is even important.

And for some companies, engagement really isn't important. Google, for example, has made a living in search by being as disengaged as possible--they get you your search results and send you on your way. So, why are we fixated with engagement?

I think we all yearn for things to be simple. We want something easy to understand and measure, and some get excited about the idea that engagement is the right answer. But engagement is never important in and of itself. Who cares if someone spends an hour on your site an never buys anything while someone else parachutes in and makes a purchase in 30 seconds?

No, we often use engagement as a surrogate for loyalty or intent to purchase or some other valuable business goal, when it is in fact just a means to an end. On the panel, Sumit pointed out that if you use a tabbed browser, some measurements of time on site seem to show engagement when they actually show that you aren't paying any attention at all. Now, most metrics systems are more sophisticated than that, but the point remains that measuring engagement as an end in itself might not help you make better decisions.

No, direct marketing principles put engagement in its place, as a sign that response is in the offing. Response is the real thing to measure, because with enough responses you will eventually make a sale.

If you're focused on engagement or any other metric that has no tie to sales, you might want to examine your motivation. You're probably better off looking for something that your CFO understands better than engagement.

Understanding what job risk really means

2009-10-21T09:00:05Z

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As someone who left the corporate world a year ago to pursue a new path in Internet marketing, I am often approached by people who ask me about "risk." What I have found is that the word risk often means different things to different people, but what it mainly means is, "What's the risk that I will not be able to buy food if I take this path?" And when I explore the fears behind this concept of job risk, I am often struck by how often people underestimate the risks that they are really choosing and overestimate the risks they are avoiding.

Often, people associate large companies with the idea of safety. So, an Internet marketer will approach me, asking if I know any openings at "good" companies. "Good" always means "large companies that I have heard of." And sometimes I have. And if that is what the person wants, good for them.

But often, what that person really means is, "Do you know of any openings at a company that is doing well and won't go out of business?" And often that large company fits that criteria, but bankruptcy is not the only risk you run when you sign up with a company.

I've seen many more layoffs at large companies than at small companies in the past year. And I've seen even fewer Internet marketers in trouble when they work for themselves as consultants--they seem to be in great demand right now. (Perhaps because companies are laying off so many full-time people--part-time consultants are cheap in comparison.)

But a lot of these folks shudder at the thought of opening their own business because of "the risk." And yes, it is risky to have to market yourself and get enough client work to pay the bills. It's not for everyone. But many people who are perfectly capable of succeeding shy away and take on what I think is an even bigger risk--getting fired.

Consulting might be risky, but at least no one client can take away your whole income (including health insurance and other benefits) at once. You can far more easily get work, because it is a small decision for the company compared to a full-time hiring commitment.

I'm not saying that Internet marketing consulting has no risks or that working full-time for a company has all the risks. What I am saying is that the knee-jerk reaction that starting your own business is risky and working for a (usually big) company is not risky is totally false, in my experience. Internet marketing offers many chocies, not the least of which is how you get paid and how you live your life. Don't write off the possibilities without even considering them.

Deciding What to Ignore in Internet Marketing

2009-10-20T15:40:23Z

Image by Saynine via Flickr

You've probably felt that awful feeling in the pit of your stomach. It's another new "must do" Internet thing that you feel compelled to go investigate. You're not sure what it is, or how it helps your business, but all the smart people are talking about it and if you hang back you'll be left behind, again. If you've asked yourself how you can keep up with everything happening on the Internet, maybe it's time for you to check out my latest post on Search Engine Guide, "Deciding What to Ignore in Internet Marketing."

The missing step in keyword research

2009-10-19T12:56:12Z

Image by So gesehen. via Flickr

You probably know that keyword research is important in search marketing. After all, if you don't know what people are looking for, how can you provide the right answers to their questions? If you've taken the basic steps in keyword research, but wonder what you might be missing, then check out my latest post on Search Engine Guide, "The missing step in keyword research."