If you want to read more about Martell Home Builders, you can read a more detailed view of what they’ve done here.

There’s also a case study on Freewheelin’ which outlines their campaign.

If you’re looking for information about different social media monitoring tools, there are a few places to look:

• Nathan Gilliatt has been tracking vendors in this space since he was a teen. But seriously, he’s got a lot of great resources here and here.
• Visit Jeremiah Owyang’s blog. He’s an analyst for Forrester, and continually updates information on this as well as other social media technologies, since that’s his coverage area. Search his archives for social media measurement.
• Visit KDPaine’s blog, which is all about measurement in social media, particularly from a PR angle.
• See this article (there are others, if you search on social media measurement) at Mashable.

If you’re interested in public-facing customer service, see what’s going on at Get Satisfaction.

To find out more about advertising on the social networks, visit Facebook’s and MySpace’s advertising opps sections.

Silverpop has an overview of their Share to Social application that Angela talked about.

Let me know if you have any other questions or comments about our presentation, and I will answer them in the comments.

There were definitely a few nuggets I pulled from the conference. David Meerman Scott made a powerful opening by showing just how dead the traditional print media is for business research. And, Tim Ferriss broke the “everyone should have a blog and a Twitter account!” rule with the true but relatively no-brainer comment that if it doesn’t drive sales (for most companies) there’s no point. Now that I’m working to help the small business market, that rings very true to me.

Here’s what I thought worked well:

• Format: Initially, I thought the short (sub-60 min) format was weird, but as the day went on, I appreciated it alot. Having a new subject, format and presenters every 30 to 40 minutes meant you really couldn’t space out and nod off. The flip side to this was that its hard to get depth in that amount of time.
• Format variety: No hour-long lectures here. There were single presenters, two-person riffs, panels, etc. Again, that format switch up kept you engaged. Also, if you did get up to make a call or put out a fire at work, you didn’t have to wait too long for a new presentation. At Kutenda, we’re going to incorporate this model into our training programs.
• Pacing: Kudos to Justin Levy for keeping everyone stay within their time limit and cueing up the next session immediately. The good thing about a short format too is even if there is an unprepared or boring speaker, they are gone before you nod off.

I believe the short format made it so that people didn’t have a lot of questions, because there wasn’t time to formulate any.

Of course, there’s always room for improvement, and here are the ways I think IMS can improve:

• Ban devices from speakers and panelists: I am not going to name names, but I think its rude — both to other panelists and the audience - to check your iPhone or other device while you’re in front of a crowd. I mean, if you are that busy, then perhaps you should leave the space open for another expert. Show us how smart you really are by paying attentionand being respectful to the real world around you. NOTE: This wasn’t a common occurrance, but happened enough to be irritating. Just ban it. Problem solved.
• Gender balance: With the hundreds of applications for speakers, surely there could have been more gender balance of presenters. I know that the tech start-up world is filled with (mostly white) men, but really, if you want to be a leader in the field, show some leadership by finding those smart women who have something to share. If they don’t apply, seek them out. Get out of the clubhouse, boys. NewComm Forum did a better job of the balance piece — maybe ask Jen McClure how she does it.
• Tactical: It might really help give context to new media beginners to get a start to launch look of social media initiatives. How did the strategy get formulated? Where did that lead tactically? What did you fail at? Where did you succeed?

Roger Neal from BusinessWeek.com talked about the slow transformation of BusinessWeek, and how they are moving towards digital. There’s a lot of skepticism around the future of print and traditional publications and how they can survive while competing with online content. They get lots of visitors and traffic, but the reality is that the traditional ad market is changing. How will they be able to boost their revenue when only 20% of their revenue comes from online (where most of their readers are, looking at free content)?

Jeremiah Owyang is talking about his research on the future of the social web. He says that social networks are becoming more like operating systems - like LinkedIn’s app framework. Now he’s talking about social colonization, where no matter where you go, your friends go with you (if you want). New technologies will allow any website to be social. Social networks will cut into traditional email by centralizing all activity on the open web. Traditional brand marketing will wane, and marketers will have to focus on social recommendations. Favorite quote: Registration pages should go away.

But let me be specific here. Because I live in proximity to Denver International Airport, I’ve been stuck for years with United Airlines as the main way to travel around. And frankly, even though I’ve been a Premier member, and currently have close to 200K miles racked up in their system, it is generally speaking the airline I prefer to travel on the least. Let’s face it — I, as well as many folks who live in Colorado forced for years to live with the crappy service and attitude that’s pervasive at United. Sure, there are occasional bright spots — a helpful, patient agent here, a nice or funny flight attendant there — but all in all, the worst airline. Crappy, old and dirty airplanes. No leg room, ridiculous rules and charges, and a pricing system which boggles the mind.

Here are a few of my most recent experiences — and when I say recent, I mean just within the last few weeks. In fact, I am writing this on a flight from Newark to Denver on Easter Sunday:

1. The whole family was supposed to fly east for Passover, but do to a snow storm, my teen’s competition was rescheduled for the same weekend as our trip. So, two of us had to stay home. To cancel the tickets? $150 each cancellation fee, because I am not stupid enough to purchase a refundable ticket (which costs almost twice as much as a non-refundable ticket). So, besides the $300+ roundtrip price (each) for the original tickets, I am out another $300, and shit, I better think of another reason for the two of them to fly somewhere else in the next year that costs at least that much. And oh yeah, they’ll have to fly on United.

Oh, and did I mention that on the United Airlines website, where I tried to cancel the flights, it said the tickets were refundable? It just wouldn’t let me complete the transaction because all 3 of our tickets were connected, and I only needed 2 tickets cancelled.

2. On same flight to Newark, everyone’s of course all crammed into the back of the plane because United insists on charging money to sit with a few extra inches of leg room — anywhere from $39 in advance to $65 on the day of your flight. So, someone in the back here asks if they can move to another seat after the flight takes off. Something that on any other airline I think no one would bother asking, they’d just get up and move. However, on United, they will break out their credit card charging machine to charge you IN FLIGHT to move up. Not to first class, to a seat a few rows up in econo-class.

3. The condition of United’s airplanes should be an embarrassment. Tonight, I waited to get on my delayed flight so the “cleaners” could get on the plane and clean up. I get to my seat and there’s popcorn all over it and the cushion in the seat next to me is half pulled out. I can only imagine what the bathrooms look like.

It is experiences like this that make me look into other options when I can. With two trips to San Francisco this month, I have much greater options than United, and I couldn’t be happier. When I can get a refundable fare on Southwest that’s direct and gets me there and back on a timetable that works for schedule, I’m going to choose Southwest.

Both trips are booked on Southwest — one was a comparable price to United, the next was half the price. Yes, that’s right, half. Because on Southwest, any flight on the days I’m traveling is the same price, no matter if I leave at 6am, or have a layover in Phoenix, or leave at 10am and go non-stop. United, on the other hand, charges me more based on, based on I am not sure what — this is what I mean by their bizarre pricing scheme.

Another option would be Frontier, which generally has decent coverage between Denver and SFO and has nice planes with equal legroom no matter where you sit. Their flights are generally cheaper too. And, if I could fly direct to Newark on Southwest from Denver, you can be sure that I would. I could care less about United’s mileage program, because at this point they make it hard to redeem anyway, with less mileage-available flights available on flights. I’d rather get better service, cleaner planes and pricing that was simpler.

I don’t know what the solution is, but I wonder why my experience on United stays approximately the same, and my experiences on smaller airlines is so much better. I will say this for United - they suck, but American Airlines is even worse. I just thank my lucky stars I don’t have to fly American all the time.

Now I have to close my laptop because the woman in front of me just pushed her seat back, and my knees are being crushed and the lid of my laptop is now at about 55 degrees. Did I mention that I have short legs and still have this problem?

The fragmentation of the blogosphere is important, for a few reasons:

1. New opportunities: With even A-list bloggers losing “Authority,” this provides opportunities for new bloggers to expand theirs by being vigilant and consistent. On the flip side, if blogs are becoming less important, it might make more sense to focus on raising your cred in one or another of the social media worlds. This is a great relief to people who frankly, shouldn’t bother starting a blog because they don’t feel comfortable in the medium. Doesn’t it sound easier to get involved with Facebook or LinkedIn than committing to regular blogging?

2. Measurement: Social media measurement and monitoring is more important than ever, but needs to cover ever-expanding data sources in order for it to have true relevancy. On the flip side, what the measurement means will have even wider interpretation than ever, with vendors focusing their reporting based on the strengths of their algorithms.

3. SEO the ultimate prize: Link building is a whole lot easier if you don’t have to spend alot of time thinking, formulating and writing to build a link. But, link building is still the winner for building authority in the search engines, and there are now more ways to build them without creating alot of content.

1.    Thou Shalt Not Expect Everyone to Believe. As was shown in the Skittles case, if you choose to live by the Social Media Sword, understand you can also die by the Social Media Sword. Opening up the conversation to your believers also means you open the doors to the non-faithful, who will take every opportunity to express themselves.

2.    Thou Shalt Not Build Your Own Churches. Believers like to build their own churches and not have the brand build it for them. This is almost never successful. Skittles is trying to find middle ground by using their site as a shortcut to a few online destinations that help define the online image of Skittles. It’s an interesting move, but I believe it will ultimately be a short-lived one. For one thing, it’s confusing as hell.

3.    Thou Shalt Have No Illusions of Control. If a brand goes down this path, they have to accept (everyone, repeat after me — and that means you, Mr/Ms CEO) that by opening the door to the masses, they abdicate all control. If Skittles.com turns sour, all Skittles can do is pull the plug on their official endorsement. The buzz will outlive the campaign and take on a life of its own.

4.    Thou Shalt Understand the Web is a Fragmented Place. What is interesting about the Skittles experiment is that it’s a tentative acknowledgement that the sum total of a brand lives in many places online. The idea of defining the boundary within one Web site is long dead.

5.    Thou Shalt Honor Thy Product. You have to have a pretty damn popular product to take this step. There’s probably nothing more innocuous than Skittles (who could hate a little fruit candy?) and yet some still managed to spout bile all over this little social media stunt. The more beloved the product (and the company behind it), the more secure you can be in letting your fans be your spokesperson.

6.    Thou Shalt Accept What One is Given. If your brand builds a devout following, your customers will take it upon themselves to generously share more than you ever expected about what the brand is, what it isn’t and what it should be. You have opened up more than a dialogue; you have embarked on a weird and wonderful partnership with your customers. Embrace this or lose it. Consider the story of Timberland, who had no idea that they’d become the chosen footwear of hip-hop. At first they disbelieved it, then they ignored it, then they fought it — and finally, they embraced it. Today, you can customize your Timberlands in pink and purple with your own monogrammed tag and customized embroidery: a fully pimped pump.

7.    Thou Shalt Know Thy Flock. If you’re going to intersect your faithful where they live, you have to know something about them. David wondered if Twitter was really the best social media choice for the Skittles target market. If your brand has already established online places of worship, spend some time in stealth mode and get the lay of the land before you go public.

8.    Thou Shalt Listen. Online gives you thousands of listening posts to get the pulse of your brand. One example I saw this week: the iPhone app Dial Zero. It’s a nifty little assistant that gives you tips to avoid the dreaded voicemail dead zones for over 600 companies. A quick look up and you have tips to connect with an actual live person. But what’s even more interesting is that it shows real-time comments from people who’ve recently called.

9.    Thou Shalt Live Up to Your Flock’s Beliefs. With devotion comes responsibility. In return for their brand loyalty, they will hold you to a higher standard. They have emotionally invested in your brand, so if you disappoint them, it will leave a bigger scar than just a passing frustration. Hell hath no fury like a customer scorned.

10.    Thou Shalt Count Thy Blessings Every Day. Brand evangelism. Brand loyalty. The willingness to pay a premium. An unwavering devotion untouched by the millions in advertising spent by your competitors. A much lower cost of acquisition. And millions of pages of customer-generated content. All brands should be so lucky.

The question I have is, if more brands do it, when do we reach the critical mass of boredom from the social nets? When do people get tired of this next round of gimmicks? To me, it seems like the cycles for that get shorter and shorter, forcing faster creative cycles and perhaps not well thought out executions. We’ll see.

Here it is in full: MediaPost Publications Brand Religion: A Reading From The Book Of Skittles 03/05/2009.

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Today I’ve been looking around for a free online translation tool that translates English to Hebrew - harder

than I thought it would be to find something that doesn’t literally give me words written in Hebrew letters (I was actually looking for transliterations, but…). During this futile search, I came across an Adwords ad for Babylon Software:

Wow, free translation - I will click that

Now, from this ad, I was reasonably expecting free translations. Or, to at least get my free download, right?

So, I clicked the ad (ka-ching, Google says thanks).

Get it now- sounds promising

Ok, a little marketing fluff never killed anyone. The landing page has one link, and even I can see it with my old eyes. I guess I need to Get It Now!

So I clicked the link in the landing page.

Which brought me to:

Umm, maybe I can’t see well enough, but I don’t see anything remotely free. I see that I can select products that cost money. No free download. No free translations. Just a place to make my secure online purchase. FAIL.

I’m not sure why Babylon thinks that offering something for free, and then not delivering on that option, will make me happy. Or make me trust them. Or make me ever return to their website.

Frankly, Babylon Software, I am not a good candidate for your product. I have a limited use for wanting to translate words - and there are only a few words I want to translate. I might just call up one of my relatives in Israel and ask them to do it instead. So why are you trying to get me?

Stick to the plan folks, and remember why exactly you are buying Adwords. It’s not to waste your even smaller marketing budgets.

Frankly, I usually know more people, but this must have been a slightly different crowd. As I stood around speaking with the few I did know, a complete stranger walked up to me. “CopyDiva, how are you?” Turns out this was a person who follows me on Twitter and somehow recognized me from my photo. I felt like maybe I was one of those people you sometimes see who have left a conference but still have their name tags on.

Did I have a name tag on?

No, not in the real sense, but in the Internet sense, yes. When you’re out in social media folks, remember you never take your name tag off. So don’t get too taken off guard when you’re in an unfamiliar place and someone walks up to you like they already know you. Because they just might.

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1. what your top 3 keywords are
2. how many searches there are per month for that keyword
3. your ranks for that keyword

The problem with this data for most website owners is that it isn’t very useful. Typically, one of those top 3 keywords on a company web page are the company name, so unless you have really high brand recognition, that’s not too compelling for probably 80% of the websites out there. Chances are, there aren’t many searches out there for your company name, unless you’re a well-known brand in your category or local area.

The next problem with this data is that frankly, you could have great page keyword density, but it could be for not a very compelling word or phrase, as far as what people search on to find a company like yours. Here’s an example of a chiropractor in Golden, Colorado whose highest density is around the word wellness:

Is wellness the best choice for keyword density?

If I were optimizing this site, I’d want Golden, Colorado to be a pretty prominent keyword. I can’t even see it on here at all. Clearly you cannot uncover how keywords are weighted using Wordle, but I think its a great visual tool for people who don’t spend all their days looking at search engine optimization info (ie, the rest of us).

Since content is a major component in search ranking, getting a good visual representation of keyword density can help you figure out where to focus new or updated content on a page. Hoping to do better for a particular keyword or phrase? Create a Wordle and find out where your page density is (or, if your site has an RSS feed, dump that URL into Wordle to get a better representation of keyword density across your site).

For grins, I took three players in the social media monitoring/analytics to task on their home pages, to see their keyword density. The players: Collective Intellect (my former employer), Radian6 and Visible Technologies:

Collective Intellect home page keyword density

Radian6 home page keyword density

Visible Tech home page keyword density

From this experiment alone, I’d say Radian6 is doing the best job of keyword density on the terms that matter most to them.

Interestingly, of all the searches I did on Google for where I’d think any of these folks might show up — social media measurement, social media analytics, and social media monitoring - none showed up on the first page of search engine results. Who did? Just for social media monitoring - Trackur and Techrigy. There’s just a lot of other fresh content in this space, so kudos to Andy Beal and the folks at Techrigy for their SEO skills in beating out blog posts and articles to get on the first page of Google search results.

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