This past year has been one of excitement, dread, thrills and challenges working as an independent digital and Social Media Consultant. That said, I would never have changed a single step along the way but I am proud to say that I will now be bringing my knowledge, experience and passion to the New Marketing Labs family. The team there has been a joy to work with so far and the clients are fun as well as challenging. My role as Director of Client Strategies will be predominantly in helping NML clients strategize, plan, benchmark and measure their social media and digital efforts. This role is perfectly suited to my talents, expertise and most importantly my passions! I’m excited to get up and work every morning and to be honest I never feel like I have to psyche myself up to get through the day. Unless of course the day turns to late night and early morning… hahah. (Right Justin?)

To be honest, I feel very blessed and I would really like to take this time to thank the team at NML for bringing me aboard and letting me spread my wings!

Thank you!
Chris Brogan – President
Colin Bower- Senior Vice President/Chief Operating Officer
Justin Levy, Director of Business Development, Corporate Strategy & Client Services
TJ O’Connor, Director of Technology
Stephen Saber, CEO of New Marketing Labs
Nick Saber, President of CrossTech Media

And the rest of the awesome team at NML who keep it running like a well oiled machine each and every day!

Photo Headshot Provided by: CC Chapman

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We are in an always “Connected” world. Find time to unplug.

Note: the blog has been a bit stagnant lately. I have been extremely busy with travel, new clients and building a business. This is not an excuse but rather an apology. Please leave feedback about these audio posts. I really enjoy doing them.

Thank you!

Photo Credit: John Meadows

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5:00 Can boring products be exciting?
8:00 Exploding on the Social Media Scene
10:00 Permission? Who needs it?
13:00 Passionate challenger brands.
15:00 How do we find time for social?
18:00 Jen says “Build your lists!”
22:00 Enterprise scaling web 2.0
27:00 Let go of control? That’s BS!
37:00 Should you “target” followers in the social space?
40:00 Olivier shares the story about the “Viral” chair.
43:00 Building a new website? Some things to look out for.
49:00 Make sure your sharable.

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We want to thank John Meadows as always for providing us with the intro and outro music.

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Enjoy the show!

2:00 Welcome to Kelly Rivard.
4:00 Is higher education up to date on new technologies?
6:00 Social Media certifications a farse?
11:00 Integrating technology and business.
15:00 What defines an Expert?
20:00 Understandig how the gears turn.
25:00 Kelly talks about a professional social image going to credibility.
31:00 Do we need a clarification in terminology? Social Media vs. Social Communications
36:00 Do definitions matter or is it all about objectives?
42:00 We ask Kelly how she would run Obama’s digital campaign.

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Relevant Links:
Red Chair Linked in Group
Red Chair Training
Tweetshare
SXSW
Kelly works with http://www.oathealth.com/ and http://fruitex-b.com/

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Today, I am sharing a tip from the comments that Jen (@lavenderk5) brought back to my attention. It’s a way to clear out the clutter in your Facebook news feed by hiding all of the applications that you are not interested in. Personally i find Super Farkle, Mafia Wars, and others to be an annoyance. In the screencast below I show you how to zap these noisy apps from your stream of news.

Enjoy.

Related Posts:
A screen capture of why only some people show up on your Facebook wall
Facebook at 400 million users….So what? Traditional metrics need not apply!
Facebook Changing the Width of Custom Application Tabs

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1) Number of users in a service means nothing.

Facebook is said to have 400 million active users, twitter while growing quickly has a fraction of that and spaces like chat forums and user groups seem to be slowly dissipating. However, this being said the only thing that truly matters is the quality of the community tied in with specific business objectives. If you are selling eco-friendly industrial cleaners maybe Facebook isn’t the right place for you or your brand. However there may be a niche website with a small group of people passionate about the topic that would be the best place to start. Don’t put the tools ahead of your objectives.

2) Shift your focus from Broadcasting to Relevancy and Value

The new digital space is 100% opt in. Consumers will not tolerate blatant self-promotion and broadcast feeds anymore. It is incumbent upon the agencies, creative directors and CMO’s to learn how to ask, “What does our customer want?” If you ask and don’t deliver…… people will react with their feet.

In the audio piece below I give a quick synopsis of the importance around having specific business objectives and why old traditional media reach numbers mean absolutely nothing in the digital space.

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!

Relevant Links:
Great example of a company/brand to emulate. Air New Zealand is of massive value to it’s community.
10 Industry Types that ‘SHOULD’ be using Social Media and why…

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BEST VIEWED FULL-SCREEN

Relevant Links:
Facebook Changing the Width of Custom Application Tabs

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2:00 – Keith & Olivier explain rants come from their passion.
4:00 – Olivier talks about great brand experience with Home Depot.
(How come positive mentions don’t get traction?)
6:00 Contrasting service online and offline from Best Buy.
(Why such a retail/digital service disconnect)
10:00 Brick and mortar has not caught up to digital velocity in customer service.
14:00 Keith gives hat tip to Jesse and his team at Lowes.
15:00 Is “Social Media” terminology getting in the way of adoption?
16:00 C-Suite Execs need virtual glasses!
18:00 Olivier beats up the Brand Week Twitter bashing Article.
(I hesitate to give them the link love!)
23:00 Why some brands succeed in social and why some don’t.
24:00 Keith rants about the digital integrated marketing opportunities missed during the Superbowl.
28:00 Olivier says “Brands need to start INVESTING in media”
32:00 Identify “Natural Extensions” to connect the online and offline channels.
37:00 Social Media offers FREE market research.
41:00 Challenges big brand social media managers have after being successful building a smaller or personal brand.
44:00 Celebrity vs. Brand
46:00 Closing Conclusions: Olivier and I beat the dead horse. “Have Objectives!!”

Subscribe to the Podcast in iTunes
Click to Play or Right Click to Download

Relevant Links:
Red Chair Linked in Group
Lowes Twitter account
Home Depot Twitter account
Brand Week Twitter bashing article

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Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Beebo, Yelp, Foursquare and on and on and on. These social services all have one thing in common. You are pouring YOUR content into them. By the mere nature of your engagement you make these services all the more powerful loading them with personal data to literally map the flow of humanity! Stop and Think.

Stop spinning and start focusing. Years and years ago I worked as a sous chef in a very fast paced high end kitchen. We had a particularly busy night one evening and my station was getting absolutely slammed. In fact I could see in my periphery that the other chefs on the line were literally twiddling their thumbs waiting for an order to appear in their station. (This was my reward for making awesome food) About an hour into the chaos the head chef (A really big French dude) came out and ripped the other guys a new one for standing there watching me get buried. After that he reamed me out for having a station that looked like a bomb went off. He whispered this in my ear, “If your station is this cluttered I cant imagine what is going on in your mind”

From that day forth I have always strived to stay under control, focused and on point with my actions and emotions. Now as a social media and digital marketing professional I find myself often repeating that French chef in my ear. If you have read this blog for any amount of time you know that I am a huge advocate for social media tools but I implore you to stay focused and on point. It is really easy to get washed away in the river of chatter on twitter, even easier to check your email every time the little ‘You’ve got Mail‘ button bell goes off. Be a do’er not a follower and you’ll find yourself ahead of the game in no time. Every day there is new advice from an expert telling you to be focused on linked in, Facebook, or some new-fangled website that will make you rich and powerful. Shut them out and listen to your gut!Approach your goals one lilly pad at a time until you have crossed the pond enjoying the challenge of every step. Over time you will find that you have built yourself something substantial rather than have built it for someone else!

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Turn your thirty second spots into conversation starters and engage with the real people generating real buzz around your brand.

Tonight, I noticed that just after a spot ran for a device called Flo-TV that Twitter was quickly making mention of everything from how the device looked to the viability of a one-dimensional device that is only meant to stream TV. So without getting into the discussion about the technology, I ask, “Why is that brand not engaging in the immediate feedback and mentions?” They have a twitter account and it has an offer for a Flo-TV personal device give away. Traditional push marketing tactics that in my opinion will take them nowhere!

Give people a reason not only to mention your brand but to interact with you.

What types of things could Flo-TV and the other brands be doing in these channels?

1. Extending brand mentions and buzz into real conversations. People like to do business with people.

2. Answering questions about the product or service.

3. Building and embracing the community.

4. Driving people to a measurable landing page with a call to action.

5. Build a community of passionate users.

The list goes on and on but I cannot stress how valuable it would be for brands to be leveraging the buzz and chatter around their products. This is the cheapest form of brand-extension known to man! Take a multi-million dollar investment in a 30 second spot and generate real measurable ROI!

Real Time Conversation

Since starting to write this blog post (about the length of half-time) there have been nearly 1,000 mentions of “flo-tv” or “flo TV” on search.twitter.com. Watching the google real time search field will make your eyes spin like a slot machine. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be anyone there to collect the money.

Overwhelmed

So lets say there is someone at the other end of all these mentions. Heck, I’m sure their PR firm is collecting data of all the mentions. Maybe, the brand or people monitoring the mentions feels a bit overwhelmed. If this is the case and they have not thought of the real time effect it would have on the digital space I don’t believe they should lose all hope. Spend the next month engaging with the folks that took the time to mention the brand. Take the time necessary to connect with them. Build a community space where people can ask questions and leave feedback. The SEO value of all this content could pay for itself for the next year!

In the next five years I am betting integrated marketing suggestions like these will become the norm or best practice. It will be interesting to see if Flo TV responds to me in the next few hours or days.

How are you extending your advertising budgets?

Final Side Tweet:

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