Six Pixels of Separation - Marketing and Communications Insights - By Mitch Joel at Twist Image

Media Hacks Podcast #19 Is Now Live

Mitch Joel — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:41:24 PST

Episode #176 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to. It is also episode #19 of Media Hacks.

It's not a great excuse, but business travel has kept the Six Pixels of Separation Podcast from being published - which (as you will hear) is a very lame excuse. Regardless, here is also a new episode of Media Hacks (it's #19). It's actually just a very personal conversation with Julien Smith (In Over Your Head and Trust Agents) about community, business, communication, business books and how to own your platform(s). The other co-hosts (C.C. Chapman, Chris Brogan, Christopher S. Penn and Hugh McGuire could not make the call). Also, it's Julien, so please note that some of the language is not work-safe (like every second word out of his mouth). Enjoy the conversation.

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast #175.

Tags: audio business business book cc chapman chris brogan christopher s penn communication community hugh mcguire in over your head itunes julien smith media hacks platform podcast trust agents

There Is Nothing New Here

Mitch Joel — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:08:04 PST

It's almost hard to believe that there are some New Media pundits who actually say, "there is nothing new here" when reviewing their peers. It's shocking (and a little bit sad).

Last week, there was a Blog post here titled, 10 New Business Books Worth Checking Out. As I was sorting through which books to list, it was interesting to read the reviews surrounding these titles (both on the book retail websites and on Blogs, Twitter feeds, etc...). You could tell which reviewers were regular people (the silent majority, the mass population, etc...) and which were the ones who were neck-deep into New Media (those with their own Blogs, thousands of followers on Twitter, etc...). It should come as no shock, that when it comes to Bloggers we like to eat our own. We're quick to judge, comment and attack, but in seeing countless semi-nice reviews with lines like, "there is nothing new in this book" or "I didn't really learn anything I didn't already know," it wound up becoming somewhat comical.

The real experts, the ones who really are superstars don't do this.

After spending countless years in the music industry, it was plain as day who would be a successful artist/musician and who would disappear quickly into obscurity. The real geniuses, the real experts and the real artists were the ones who knew this one golden rule: you can learn something new from anyone at any time. The trick is in leaving yourself open to this experience. The trick is in always being a student.

It's a sure sign of inexperience when you don't see an opportunity to learn at every turn.

At one point, I was interviewing a well-established artist. They happened to be one of the most respected guitarists in the world. I asked him who teaches him or who inspires him to learn more, to which he said, "some of the greats, some are alive and some are dead. The truth is that you can pick up something from someone who just started playing last week as much as you can pick up nothing from some of the other greats." The point was, that when it comes to creating art or something that is still a very new media, there is learning at every corner and only those with insecurity, inexperience and a bloated ego can't see it.

Be open to everything because everything is new.

Beyond the potential to learn something new, it's also kind of humorous to think that "there's nothing new" in some of these books when, if you look at the space with a critical eye, everything is brand spanking new (five years or newer). Everything is so new in fact, that one person's rules is another person's faux-pas. In fact, if you really dive deep into some of the people who are most critical, you'll note that they were inspired by those who they now critique. When something is new - especially New Media, Social Media and Web 2.0 - it's easy to get up-to-speed and think you know it all.

In the end, it's not about you... it's about your clients and peers.

On a personal note: I didn't write the book, Six Pixels of Separation, for those who are passionate about this Blog or follow me on Twitter. I wrote the book - like most of these other authors did - for those who don't read Blogs. The point was (and still is) to introduce them to these new media channels using language that they are more accustomed to, and in a media channel that they are more used to (printed business books). Avinash Kaushik (author of Web Analytics - An Hour A Day, Web Analytics 2.0 and Blogger at Occam's Razor) used to always marvel at why so many people would buy his book, when all of the content was available for free on his Blog. He soon realized that the majority of people buying his book never read his Blog, and those that had been following the Blog wanted something more tangible that they could either refer back to or pass along to clients and peers.

Yes, we need to be critical of one another and open to divergent thoughts and perspectives, but we also need to be extra careful when spouting off sentences like "there's nothing new here" or "there's nothing that has not been said before" simply because most people are not following a bunch of Bloggers and spending their days on Facebook. This channel is new, and most books on the subject are giving their own unique perspective and, ultimately, what's old to you in this space, is brand spanking new to the rest of the global population.

What do you think? Or has this conversation become old too?

Tags: author avinash kaushik blog book review business book comment conversation critique education experience expert facebook mass population music industry new media new media pundit occams razor review social media twitter web 20 web analytics 20 web analytics an hour a day

The Social Media Revolution

Mitch Joel — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:36:50 PST

Need some real insight into the the Social Media revolution?

Here is a great video interview with Clay Shirky (author of Here Comes Everybody) from GRIT TV on how Social Media is changing everything from news and media to business and communication as we know it (this is well worth the 24 minutes):

GRITtv: Clay Shirky: The Social Media Revolution

Tags: business clay shirky communication grit tv here comes everybody laura flanders media news social media social media revolution video interview

Don't Give Out Your Slides When Speaking

Mitch Joel — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:43:12 PST

"Can I have your slides?" is probably the most common question a presenter gets asked. Here's why you should never give them out...

If there is one rule of presenting that I constantly see broken, it's the one where a presenter gives out their slides whenever they are asked. There are two very valid reasons why this is a bad idea:

It means your slides had too much content on them. Lots and lots of headings, sub-headings and way too many bullet-points. This can only mean one thing: you wrote a document in PowerPoint and were reading your slides. Your slides aren't really slides at this point: it's a document. Your "slides" had so much content on them, that people would like a copy for future reference - the same way they refer back to a good white paper or article from a magazine.
It means that people will misinterpret what you meant. If your slides follow more of the Presentation Zen and Slide:ology model - great images and beautiful design - then odds are that people want it, but will have a very difficult time being able to recall the true context of your slides.

Here's one way to make everybody happy:

Never give out your slides. It's not socially acceptable to do this, but - in the end - you are doing your audience a favour. What you should do is prepare and be comfortable handing out Speaking Notes. Speaking Notes is a document that walks people through your presentation (it can be done as a written document or in note form), and it has all of the content that you presented (the quotes, the stats, links to websites, Blogs, books mentioned, etc...). Speaking Notes can be as extensive or brief as you see fit. It should include the presentation name, date of presentation, your contact information and everything that you spoke about. It's a document that will add value to your presentation, and it's a document that frees you from presenting everything in bullet-point form or having to respond to emails weeks after your presentation about what you meant when you used a cute dog eating flowers to explain the power of Twitter.

Personally, creating Speaking Notes prior to even building the PowerPoint deck has always been a great way to organize my thoughts, play with the flow and figure out if the content I am presenting is worth the slide, or is best left to just being said live. Finally, it also allows to me structure the content and define a style.

Never give out your slides. Always give out robust and complete speaking notes.

Tags: article audience blog content context design document powerpoint presentation presentation skills presentation zen presenter presenting reference slide slideology speaking speaking notes twitter white paper

Email Still Matters

Mitch Joel — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:34:11 PST

Email is dead. Right. Along with Blogging, Podcasting and everything else. But how true is that statement when it comes to getting business done?

Do teens email as much as they text? Probably not. Teens have not been culturally stewed in the ways of going to an office and working on a computer. Most teens start down their technology road with a mobile device. It's also not mission critical for teens to manage, store and evaluate text messages or tweets from the day, week or month before. But, make no mistake about it, email still matters. And, it would matter to the younger generation if they actually had to manage and organize the text content they are creating.

Business is a long way away from dropping email.

Sure, there is a real need for email to modernize even more (check out Google Wave for what email could/will look like going forward), but for my money, email is still a vital lifeline. As much as Google Reader, Twitter, Facebook and Skype provide powerful (and great) new ways to communicate, email is still a primary way to communicate and also get information. For years, Internet Marketing focused on Email Marketing, and while talking about email marketing may seem as exciting as talking about Second Life at this point, there are still millions of people - specifically those in business, with education and money to spend - that rely on email as their primary lifeline. And, for those who can make it personalized and relevant, Email Marketing still delivers great ROI.

I rely on email. Do you?

For one, email is private (for the most part). The content of that email is not owned (or ownable) by a third party (like Facebook, Twitter, etc...). It's fascinating to see many businesses or independent consultants using these public online social networks for business. Sure, they're great to connect, but any interfacing between clients, private communications, company-specific content (like your intellectual property) is now a part of their system too. Not to be paranoid, or make you paranoid, but they do have the right to review that content and do with it what they will (like sell it to your competitors). Now, let's not get too paranoid, but the content is, essentially, available to the highest bidder.

Pushing beyond the paranoia.

Whether it's for e-newsletters, Google Alerts or quick notes from key business people or new business opportunities, nothing beats email. Beyond the hundred of RSS feeds and people that I am following on Twitter or keywords being tracked using TweetDeck, email still inspires everything from articles to read and Blogs to check out, to the latest news items to review and businesses opportunities to attack. On top of that, because it's not "live" and streaming in a "river of news" type of flow, it does seem somewhat more manageable. That being said, my inbox is still more like a game of Tetris than anything else. As soon as I read, delete and move emails over to folders, more keep pounding down, making the stack higher and higher. Still, I'd take email over voicemail any day.

How important is email to you and your business? Has something replaced it?

Tags: blog blogging business communications computer e-newsletter education email email is dead email marketing enewsletter facebook google alerts google reader google wave inbox intellectual property internet marketing mobile device office online social network podcasting roi rss feed second life skype technology teen culture tetris text messaging tweet tweetdeck twitter

Marketing Is More Important Than You Think

Mitch Joel — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:26:41 PST

Do you think that this is a Blog about technology? Others have said it's about New Media. Some have even suggested that it's about what's happening right now in the world of Social Media. The truth is that this Blog is about marketing.

It's about how your business connects in a world where everybody is connected. It's also about how your messages are created and spread. We no longer have the luxury of communicating to consumers as we see fit (mostly through the muscle of mass media), because now there are many online channels where thousands (actually millions... actually billions) of people are connected (and chatting) about your business or the industry you serve.

In fact, if you take a quick look over at Facebook's latest statistics, it is claiming that it has more than 300 million active users where more than 50% of those active users log on every single day to the online social network.

If that doesn't make your jaw drop, Facebook's fastest growing demographic is people 35 and older. In July of this year, it was announced that there are more grandparents on Facebook than high school students. You read that right - more grandparents than high school students on Facebook.

Sure, the average grandparent might be joining the online social network to creep on their kids, and to make sure that they're not posting too much information that is too personal or that might limit their employment opportunities when they get older. But once they're on, they're hooked. They're reconnecting with family and friends. Their sharing pictures, creating events (like high school and/or family reunions) and they're able to stay that much more connected to their real-life social connections.

What does all of this have to do with marketing and not technology? Everything.

If we are to believe the latest Wikipedia entry on the list of countries by population, Facebook would rank as the fourth-largest country, just slightly below the United States of America (which has about 308 million people). These online channels are no longer just a bunch of high school students who wear black, listen to Fall Out Boy and need to be removed from their computers in the basement with a spatula.

These online channels are who we are - all of us - as a society. It hasn't just changed the way we communicate either. It has changed who are as people.

Being connected - be it through an iPhone or netbook - is part of who we are and how we interact with one another. We use these channels to find out where we're going, what people thought about something before we buy it, and to validate ourselves in front of our peers (whether we like to admit it or not). Marketing always had a knack for getting consumers to think differently about the products and services we use. Now, these many online channels amplify that because it's not just brands screaming at us with television ads and billboards on the freeways, but we are - literally - marketing to one another as well.

Whether it is brands on Twitter speaking to individuals in a very human and real way, or people who list in their profiles on Facebook the brands they love and have affinity for, we live in the most branded generation ever.

As a business owner or active participant in your company's success, it's time we all got that much serious about marketing. Marketing Week in Canada happens next week with a two-day event (Nov. 11-12) in Toronto. Day 1 is Digital Day and Day 2 is Media Day. The event is highlighted by some of today's hottest thought leaders including author and cultural anthropologist Richard Florida (The Rise of the Creative Class, Who's Your City? and many more), David Weinberger (co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto and author of Everything is Miscellaneous), Terry O'Reilly (from the CBC's Age of Persuasion and a recently released book of the same title), Cathie Black (CEO of Hearst Publishing), Louise Clements (RVP, head of sales, Facebook Canada) and many, many more. The week-long Marketing summit will also feature The 10th Annual Media Innovation Awards and the 2009 Digital Marketing Awards.

It's important for you (and your business) to be there.

Unlike other industry conferences, this is a chance for you to really focus on the marketing side of your business. For two days, you can listen, learn, share and network with some of the best and brightest minds (and get away from the office). It's also the perfect place for you to move marketing higher up on the food chain of importance in your business. There's something to be said about this: very few people go to university with the intent of becoming a marketer. It's usually what happens as a back-up when law, engineering or business school doesn't work out.

Marketers aren't generally perceived in the most positive light. Some of this we've brought on ourselves, and some of it is just a symptom of our society.

In the end, marketing is becoming a more important function of the enterprise, and if we're going to change perceptions, the only way to do it is through education and leadership. That's what this Blog is really about and that's what next week's celebration of Marketing is about as well.

How do you feel about how Marketers have been marketing "marketing"?

The above posting is my twice-monthly column for the Montreal Gazette and Vancouver Sun newspapers called, New Business - Six Pixels of Separation. I cross-post the article here with all the links and tags for your reading pleasure, but you can check out the original versions online here:

- Montreal Gazette - Marketing might be more important than you think.
- Vancouver Sun - Marketing is more important than you think.

Tags: age of persuasion blog brand business business book business column business school canada canwest cathie black cbc cluetrain manifesto college communications computer consumer creeping david weinberger demographic digital day digital marketing awards education everything is miscellaneous facebook facebook canada fall out boy hearst publishing internet culture iphone leadership louise clements marketer marketing marketing summit marketing week mass media media day media innovation awards montreal gazette netbook new media newspaper column online channels online social network products publishing richard florida rise of the creative class services social media society technology terry oreilly toronto twitter university vancouver sun whos your city wikipedia

Is All Of This Social Media Making You Hungry?

Mitch Joel — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:05:08 PST

I was stuck, and it was my own fault. After a long flight delay, I found myself in New York City, walking toward one of the most challenging places in which to find a healthy meal: Times Square.

Beyond pizza, hot cashew nuts and a pastrami sandwich bigger than my head, I had no idea where to turn. So I turned to Twitter and sent out a request to my online community for a healthy, fast and fairly priced meal. I wasn't expecting much. Maybe "What? Are you saying that the Carnegie Deli is not fat-free?" But within a few minutes, I had the information I needed and, based on multiple recommendations, managed to eat a lightly seared piece of fresh tuna with vegetables at Blue Fin (attached to the W New York Hotel in Times Square). The "wisdom of crowds" (a term coined by James Surowiecki in his best-selling business book of the same name) prevailed. Amazingly, Blue Fin was also on Twitter and even thanked me for my patronage.

Without question, using hardware, software and mobile applications in order to adopt a healthier lifestyle is one of the best uses of technology for health-conscious road warriors.

And it's more than just restaurant recommendations. Travel and tech really come together in connecting you to other like-minded people. Sure, if you're looking to, say, monitor your running, you can grab the amazing Nike + tech for your iPod/iPhone to tell you how fast you're going or to help you choose a playlist to keep your pace up. But along with Nike + comes an amazing online community that includes iPhone apps and discussion groups, where people are connecting to organize running groups and create running routes based on things like length of run, difficulty and even scenery. (There's also lots of conversation around healthy meals and dieting tips for both pre- and post-runs.) So even when you're out on the road and away from your regular routine, technology and online communities are there to help keep you both motivated and healthy.

Whether you're looking for a delicious smoothie, a way to track your fitness or someone to connect with for dinner or a game of Ultimate Frisbee, technology can help you surround yourself with the right people.

In other words, with a little research, business travel doesn't have to mean taking time out from your health.

The above posting is my monthly tech and gadget column for enRoute Magazine called, Ultraportable. I cross-post it here with all of the links and tags for your reading pleasure, but you can check out the original versions online here:

- enRoute Magazine - Ultraportable - The Crowd-Sourced Menu.

Tags: blue fin business book business travel carnegie deli crowd-sourced menu enroute magazine gadget column hardware iphone iphone apps ipod james surowiecki mobile applications new york city nike plus online community road warrior software spafax tech tech column technology times square travel twitter ultraportable w new york hotel wisdom of crowds

The Post-Recession Consumer

Mitch Joel — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:55:57 PDT

John Gerzema is the co-author of the book, The Brand Bubble. He spoke at TEDx KC about what the Post-Crisis Consumer will look like.

These 17-minutes will make you think differently about how you sell and market - especially when you consider that your consumers are no longer the same people they were prior to the recession: TEDx KC - John Gerzema: The post-crisis consumer.

Tags: brand bubble consumer john gerzema post-crisis consumer recession ted ted talks tedx kc

10 New Business Books Worth Checking Out

Mitch Joel — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:43:17 PDT

There have been a bunch of new business books launched recently.

The stack on your night table is about to get a whole lot higher. Here are ten new business book that are worth checking out right away:

Connected - The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives by Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler. Many people are calling this the online social networking book for the TED crowd. I've just started to dive in and it's some high-brow thinking (in the best possible way).
Crush It! Why now is the time to cash in on your passion by Gary Vaynerchuk. I finally got to meet Gary this past week on his book launch tour, and he is the real deal. His book (which hit #2 on New York Times' best-seller list) is a shot-to-the-gut reality check on how New Media is changing everything.
Inbound Marketing - Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (The New Rules of Social Media) by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah. Dharmesh presented shortly after me at Mesh Marketing the other week. This book brings together some new thoughts and new techniques on how to change the way you market your business. Here's a visual: this book will help turn your business into a magnet for customers.
The New Community Rules - Marketing on the Social Web by Tamar Weinberg. Weinberg is the Blogger behind Techipedia, and she knows everything there is to know about how to grow and manage a community. This book is perfect for companies trying to figure out the role online communities will play in their business and how to find the right people to help manage them.
Socialnomics - How social media transforms the way we live and do business by Erik Qualman. I have not had a chance to deep-dive into this one, but it is next on the pile. This books looks at the latest trends in Social Media and what it means to businesses the world over.
Superfreakonomics by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt. You know Freakonomics was an incredibly fresh and fascinating book. Superfreaknomics seems just as challenging and fascinating.
Trust Agents - Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. Good friends, co-hosts of Media Hacks and overall caring and giving guys. Their debut book is a New York Times Best-seller and it deserves all of the attention and praise it is getting. If you don't have trust (online or otherwise), you're going to struggle in building your business. These guys know trust. They live it. And, in this book, they teach it.
Viral Loop by Adam L. Penenberg. Penenberg first wrote about the concept of a viral expansion loop in Fast Company magazine (Ning's Infinite Ambition). That article lead to a major book deal, and that book just came out. The article was fascinating and I can't wait to read - in detail - how new companies grow their market share.
Web Analytics 2.0 - The Art of Online Accountability and Science of Customer Centricity by Avinash Kaushik. I wrote a testimonial for Kaushik's latest book. Here is what I sent him (unedited): When it comes to the Digital Marketing channels and understanding what and why people do things online, there is no one smarter than Avinash Kaushik. His first book, Web Analytics - An Hour A Day, should be on every Marketer's desk. Now, with Web Analytics 2.0, there's something to put on top of the first one. When people ask, 'who is the smartest guy in the room when it comes to Online Marketing?' only one name comes to mind: Avinash. I'd tell you to buy this book, but I would prefer if you didn't. I'd love to keep these concepts and theories all to myself and my clients. Yes, it's that powerful, awesome and actionable.
What the Dog Saw And Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell. If it's at all possible for the business book industry to have a rock star, that person would be Gladwell. HIs latest is a collection of 19 essays from The New Yorker, and each one validates his rock star status. If you just finished Outliers and need another fix, this is perfect and will hit the spot.

Any other new business books that you're either reading or can't wait to get your hands on?

Tags: adam penenberg avinash kaushik best-seller blog blogger brian halligan business business book chris brogan connected crush it dharmesh shah erik qualman fast company freakonomics google hary vaynerchuk inbound marketing james fowler julien smith malcolm gladwell marketer marketing media hacks mesh marketing new community rules new york times new yorker nicholas christakis ning online community online social network outliers publishing reputation social media social network social web socialnomics stephen dubner steven levitt superfreakonomics tamar weinberg techipedia ted trust agents viral expansion loop viral loop web analytics web analytics 20 web analytics an hour a day what the dog saw

Tweetbait

Mitch Joel — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 11:40:59 PST

In the old day (like two years ago), linkbait was one of the best ways to get recognition, attention and comments for your Blog, but things are quickly changing.

Several months ago, I sat down with Avinash Kaushik and recorded an audio conversation for my Six Pixels of Separation Podcast. Kaushik is the author of Web Analytics - An Hour A Day, a Blogger over at Occam's Razor and the Analytics Evangelist at Google (I'm also proud to call him a friend). In that conversation, he announced that his new book, Web Analytics 2.0, would be coming out (in fact, it's available this week!). In Web Analytics 2.0, Kaushik looks at newer ways to measure success in the online channels and how some of the newer ways will definitely look strange, foreign and scary to the everyday Marketer.

A retweet is one of the better metrics to gauge success with Twitter and could well be one of the best web metrics overall.

That was only one of the many insights that Kaushik is kicking around, and it leads to something we often talk about and rarely see: if customers like a brand they might consider following it on Twitter. It's a whole other level of interest and engagement when those customers start spreading the brands tweets within their own online social network.

Fighting for that attention and the short nature of Twitter leaves plenty of room for Tweetbait to make linkbait seem look like a joke.

In a trusted network, a simple tweet like, "you gotta check this out..." with a link created with a URL shortening service is sure to get some clicks and Twitter attention. The trouble with this is - much like any other form of "baiting" - that unless it's truly meaningful and adds value to the person who is "checking it out," wasted attempts will surely get people to unfollow you and - potentially - start thinking differently about your brand.

With each tweet, people are investing or divesting in you. There is little-to-no apathy.

And, we're not just talking about Twitter here. Along with every wall post, Blog post, LinkedIn update, video posted to YouTube, etc... you're either building community or losing community. It's one of the lesser talked about truths about online social networks. Every piece of content created - especially when it comes from a brand - is being scrutinized for value. The one-click to drop your brand is easy and consumers are quick on the mouse. Don't forget that.

Force yourself to face the tough realities that pushing people to your content or focusing too much on creating tweets for the sheer result of pumping up your Twitter followers or grasping at the retweet is not a long-term strategy. Depending on your strategy, all of that energy and effort might be better spent on Twitter Search looking for tweets about your industry and those who need some service from it.

If you're into the idea of Tweetbait, use it wisely and sporadically or risk becoming known as The Tweeter Who Cried Wolf.

Tags: avinash kaushik blog blogger brand community content engagement google insights linkbait linkedin marketer marketing occams razor online social network podcast publishing retweet tweetbait tweeter who cried wolf twitter twitter search url shortening service web analytics web analytics 20 web analytics an hour a day web metrics youtube

Loving What You Do

Mitch Joel — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:01:09 PDT

"Passion" is one of those words that is thrown around in every motivational business book. It's a big word, and most simply don't have it.

If you have ever read a book on what the best and brightest have done to become as successful as they are, one of the core underlying themes is that they were either pursuing their passion or were simply so perfect at what they were shooting for that it comes off to the rest of us as passion. The counter to that thought is that if you are driven by the almighty dollar, you can't be passionate as well.

Why?

In a past life, I was a music journalist. My job was to interview many of the more popular rock bands, write reviews, concert critiques, etc... On a few instances I was able to interview Gene Simmons from the rock band KISS (full disclosure: I was a huge fan of the band growing up... and I'm still a proud member of the KISS Army). With the thousands of interviews I conducted over the decade-plus of my life in the music industry, it was one thing that Simmons said that always stuck with me. When asking him about how he feels about the business side of KISS, he stated simply: "I'm pissed at a nickel because it isn't a dime."

Clearly, you can be passionate about money and love what you do as well.

The sad reality is that well over 90% of our society doesn't have that passion for the work they do (I made that percentage up, it is probably higher). Forget passion, the majority of people probably don't even like what they do for a living. It's important to remember this. You and I have passion. If people are reading industry Blogs on their own time, listening to Podcasts and trying to engage in these channels - even when the company that employs them questions on the online world, there has to be some kind of passion. It's much easier to just go home, plop yourself on the couch, turn on the tube (not the YouTube), crack open a beer and forget the day that just passed while not focusing on the days that will follow.

Those people - and they may even be your superior at work - will always try to bring you down.

That's a lie. They're not trying to bring you down. They're trying to get you to feel as miserable as they feel, so that they can commiserate with you. The ones that break free are the ones who don't utter sentences like, "I'm just doing my job," "I'm new here," "because that's the way it has always been," and "let's leave everything as is and let my successor rock the boat." Without sounding like a motivation Blog post, it's your job to keep at it. It's your job to push forward. It's your job to "do the right thing," and it's your job to make sure that you go to bed every night filled with energy and chomping to get at the days ahead.

You're going to spend more than half of your life working if you add up all of those hours.

Your job isn't to get paid to do work. Your job is to constantly work at loving what you do more and more. Those who embrace that type of mindset (regardless of position, stature, industry and compensation) are the ones who not only get ahead, but the ones who are happy - at work, home and in their community.

Do you really love what you do? Are you working at loving it more and more everyday?

Tags: blog business book gene simmons hr human resources internet culture interviews job kiss kiss army love money motivational book music business music industry music journalism passion podcast rock music society success work youtube

Giving Till It Hurts

Mitch Joel — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:45:15 PDT

At what point do you stop giving and start taking? At what point are you no longer serving the community and looking out for yourself?

Those are fair questions and those are the same fair questions that brands ask all of the time once they start to embrace Social Media and the many new platforms offered to them in the Digital Marketing channels. It's easy to get to the point where you lose focus on where the ROI is in all of your online actions and it's even easier to forget about the initial strategy that led you down this road.

Have you ever been tested about your sincerity in these channels?

It's important to remember that if you are engaging in Social Media for your business, there are many people out there who are not. Their values will be different from yours. Expect it, anticipate it and don't be surprised when your reasons for being online and connected get questioned. Many people online have the expectation that everything is free (and should be), and that everything should be published, shared, and passed around all for the better good of the community.

It makes sense, but it doesn't make great business sense.

In a perfect utopian world, it would be nice if everything could be free and shared. It would also be nice if we all didn't have to suffer with issues like poverty or inequality, but we're simply not there yet. Recently, someone commented to me that they hope Facebook is not just another marketplace. They were hopeful that it was still an open social network that brings human beings closer together. They also went on to say that Facebook doesn't need a business model, and that all they need is to focus on creating meaningful value that could lead to a new sustainable model of our society.

It sounds pretty, but let's face it: Facebook is a business.

Facebook is/was set-up as a company to do business... almost from the day that Mark Zuckerberg pushed it beyond people with .edu email address and opened it up to the world. They incorporated a business, and did not create it as a foundation to serve society (like Wikipedia or how NPR sort of operates). They have a sales staff that hits the phones everyday just as hard as some of the telemarketers that call your house around dinnertime. It's nice to think that Facebook is an online social network that brings human beings closer together, and that may be true so long as it generates a profit. Yes, they are doing good by helping us better connect, but yes it is a business and it will always be pushed to make more and more money. If they chose that utopian route, it would need to be supported by either people like you and I paying for it or by the Government (as a social cause that all citizens are/should be entitled to).

What we all need to understand... together...

Your online experience is what you make it to be. If you think PR people pushing press releases on Twitter is wrong, it's pretty easy for you to not follow those people - and it's pretty easy for the journalists who are interested in following them to get what they need. If you think that Social Media means that everything is free and open - that's your opinion (not mine). I believe that this is simply a new channel and platform to communicate and share. I think that along with the "changing the world" bit, there are amazing opportunities for companies to grow their business through marketing in the channel and taking part - depending on their strategy. I also know that your "rules" are not my "rules" and that's what makes this channel interesting. We can both spend our lives in these channels and never have a similar experience.

It's great to give and add value, but it's also important to remember and focus on your original goals - which were to give and add value... and grow your business.

Tags: brand business business model community digital marketing email facebook free journalist mark zuckerberg marketing npr online community online experience online social network online strategy pr press release publishing roi social media twitter wikipedia

Pushing The Truth Behind Building A Community

Mitch Joel — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:06:20 PDT

Do companies really want to build communities or do they just want to sell you stuff?

There is no straight answer to this question. The truth is, there are companies who are genuine and really do want to build a community, and then there are those who think they want to build a community but are really just looking for any opening to hit you with a sales pitch. If you want to push that truth even further, most companies lie somewhere in the middle - they sincerely want to build community, but only if that community eventually leads to a sale.

And, who can blame them?

Take a look at any real-world community. Is it run by a business or is the business one of the many functions (or cogs in the wheel) that serve a community? It might sound like some kind of semantic debate, but it's an important distinction to identify and think about - especially if your business is just beginning to look at how engage in any of the many online communities. Much of the regular jabber you hear about building an online community for a business is the usual relationship-building advice: everything from taking your time to earning your place in the community to constantly providing value and understanding your role within the community that you're either creating or engaging in.

But, there's something more.

You can't build a community after you need it. It has to be there (and it has to be solid) when you need it. So, when do you need it? That's the point, you never know. As more and more companies let their Blog lapse, ease off on opening up on Twitter or gently step away from their Facebook page because they currently don't have any campaigns in market, what they're not realizing is that the community will not just wait around for them. That "community" will move on, and in doing so will heavily divested in the brand. Some consumers might even feel used.

You have to start it. You have to keep at it.

There is tons of online chatter about being relevant to your community and about really embracing not just the content you are publishing as a company, but the context. None of that will matter if you are not consistent with your frequency and pace. It can't just heat up when you need some sales and then dissipate when you're not selling your wares. It's also hard to build that community today when you really needed it yesterday.

Now, more than ever, is the right time to sit down with your team members and start talking about a real strategy to engage, create and nurture an online community - one that's always there... not just for when you need it.

Tags: blog business community consistency content context facebook facebook page frequency online chatter online community pace publishing sales pitch strategy twitter

Embrace The Serendipitous Nature Of Marketing

Mitch Joel — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 10:23:51 PDT

If all you ever do is set-up your own Google Alerts and only follow Blogs and news sites that are of interest to you, you're actually going to lead a very uncreative life.

While many people argue that they hate mass media and the advertising that comes with it, there is something underneath it all that you really can't live without: the serendipity of it all. Without question being able to leverage the power of RSS to choose and filter the vast amounts of content is an amazingly powerful tool that makes all of us smarter. But, if all we're doing is filtering everything else out based on our preferences, we may miss something that we might come into our lives via incident or accident, and that would truly be a shame.

How many times are flipping through the channels and come across something amazing on TV?

How many times do you pick up a magazine to uncover an article (or two) of interest that you would have never read normally?

How many times have you been parked in the driveway waiting to hear how a segment on NPR ends?

How many times have you seen a print ad and said to yourself, "wow, I didn't know that was available?"

That's serendipity... and it's powerful. It's all about stumbling into something (by happenstance) that gets you to think differently or creates an awareness you did not have before.

One of the personal ways that I have been experimenting with serendipity is by reading a handful of magazines cover to cover (they include: Wired, Fast Company, Inc., Technology Review and a few others) even when the story or news item is not relevant to me. Or, by watching TV shows like Bill Moyers, Charlie Rose and The Agenda with Steve Paikin even if the topic doesn't interest me. I'm also paying a lot more attention to the mass advertising that I am exposed to (including TV, radio, print and billboards). While the core of my media consumption is done through Google Reader and what kind folks like you refer me to in places like Twitter and Facebook, I am doing everything I can to expose myself to other forms of media that might give me newer and different ways to think. Who knows, maybe I can apply them to my business? Maybe it will inspire a different type of Blog post? Maybe it will just make me more empathetic?

The trick now is to embrace more serendipity by choosing additional pieces of media that aren't even relevant to my areas of interest or have more broad-ranging topics.

Either way, closing yourself off to everything that you think may not be of interest to you, is one sure way to make yourself more close-minded.

Tags: advertising article bill moyers blog business charlie rose content facebook fast company google alerts google reader inc magazine marketing mass advertising mass media media news websites npr print ad publishing radio rss serendipity technology review television the agenda with steve paikin twitter wired

The Part Of Social Media That Freaks Out Freelance Writers

Mitch Joel — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:37:55 PDT

Before getting into the meat of this Blog post, let it be known that I have been (and continue to be) a freelance writer (been at it since 1989).

Yes, I have a full-time job (as President of Twist Image where I am also one of the owners of the company), but writing and being a freelance journalist is in my blood. I love to write and I love everything that has to do with the publishing industry. I no longer rely on my freelance writing for my financial outcome in life, it's more of a hobby for me (albeit a paying one), but I am passionate about it and enjoy helping/connecting with those who do freelance for a living. It's one of the reasons why I could not turn down the opportunity to present at Mediaville Montreal today. Mediaville Montreal was an event organized by and for freelance media professionals. It was attended by independent writers, editors, publishers and translators.

Deal with writing for free.

With only 15 minutes to talk about Personal Branding, Digital Marketing and how to make money as a freelance writer, I started off with this quote from Clay Shirky: "So forget about blogs and bloggers and blogging and focus on this - the cost and difficulty of publishing absolutely anything, by anyone, into a global medium, just got a whole lot lower. And the effects of that increased pool of potential producers is going to be vast." The quote was taken from an article Shirky wrote for the Gothamist in April 2004.

That's right, 2004.

Freelance writers - even those late to the Blogging game - have been told about it since late 2003. That's six years ago. Shirky - who can be prophetic in his words - wrote this around the same time that Blogging was as popular as Twitter is today. The message is/was clear: if you don't Blog because you think that you should be paid for every word that you create as a freelance writer, you are completely missing point (for more on this, please see the previous Blog post: Blogs Are Doing Very Well, Thank You Very Much).

Here are 6 ways that a Blog can change your freelance career:

Blogs can supplement your current freelance writing. Sometimes you have a great idea for an article that editors just don't understand. You don't need their permission to publish anymore... write it and publish it on a Blog.
Blogs can tell your unedited story. Most editors give freelance writers a specific word count. If you can work out a non-exclusive deal with the publication, you can use your full, unedited version and publish it on your Blog. Warts, unedited, and even over the word count.
Blogs can help you sell more stories. Search engines love Blogs. People on Twitter and Facebook love Blogs. By Blogging and putting your stories "out there" you make yourself more findable, which - in turn - might catch the eyes of some editors and create newer business opportunities for you.
Blogs establish you as a recognized authority. The good are good, the great get recognized. Yes, there are millions of Blogs and tons of content being published every minute. Still, those who are truly great do get recognized and do build community... fast. People who establish themselves as such, get noticed and grow their business. Period.
Blogs will make you a better writer. Much like your muscles, in order for your writing to grow and get stronger it requires frequent and consistent exercise. Having a Blog should force (and encourage) you to write more. This is great if your freelance writing business has ups and downs (as most do). Blogging consistently will keep you sharp and keep your mind open to new story ideas.
Blogs are free. Blogs set you free. One of the hardest parts of freelance writing is the constant rejection. For every story sold, there are handfuls of those that have been rejected. Setting up a Blog is free (it can cost you, if you want to make it more personalized) and Blogs can set you free. The freedom to have a story idea, write it and immediately publish it to the world is an amazing change in how we all communicate (see Shirky's quote again above). This freedom will give you confidence and it will also help you remove that "whiff of desperation" that many freelance writers have when they deal with editors.

It's not all about Blogs for freelancers.

Building up any semblance of a community or online social network is a smart idea for freelancers. It can be Twitter, creating a group on LinkedIn and more, just don't forget that a great Blog is often better than any number of writing samples or portfolio.

The challenge is that you have to mentally get over the hump that you're writing for free, because you're not. You're writing to free yourself.

Tags: blog blogger blogging clay shirky community digital marketing editor facebook freelance freelance journalist freelance writer freelancer gothamist journalist linkedin mass media media professional mediaville montreal online social network personal branding portfolio producer publisher publishing recognized authority search engine social media translator twitter writer writing sample

Blogs Are Doing Very Well, Thank You Very Much

Mitch Joel — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 18:32:20 PDT

Technorati just released their, State Of The Blogosphere 2009, and some of the results will surprise you.

According to the Fast Company Blog post, Blogging Is Dead, Long Live Journalism, writers, Bloggers, Journalists (or whatever you want to call them now) are making some good money from their online Blogging efforts...

"Technorati's killer finding is that among the professional bloggers they surveyed who fall into the 'full time' worker category, the average salary works out at $122,222 - an enormous figure. Those full-timers equate to 46% of the respondees, which means that the majority of bloggers are part-timers - but these guys still take home some $14,777 per year, which isn't to be sniffed at. That means the average blogger salary is about $42,548."

The big news is that the money is not coming from employers, running ads or sponsorship opportunities. The money is coming from everywhere else but their Blogs.

Bloggers who are active, consistent and have built some semblance of an audience and community are using that platform to convert it into book deals, speaking gigs, more traditional media appointments, and even setting up and running conferences. Essentially, individuals who have used a Blog platform to establish themselves as some sort of recognized authority are not just nurturing their online community, but parlaying it into real business (with dollars attached to it). Let's also not forget those who have used their Blog to gain a significance presence that helped them secure a better position either within their company or with another one.

Amazing to think that it's not about making money off of your Blog, but it is about using your Blog to establish yourself within your industry and community.

Tags: ad advertising audience blog blogger blogging book deal community conference fast company journalism journalist online community professional blogger recognized authority speaking sponsorship state of the blogosphere 2009 technorati traditional media writer

Sharing Corporate Tribal Knowledge

Mitch Joel — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 03:25:54 PDT

Creating content is never easy. Whether we're talking text, images, audio or video, you have to have a passion for the industry you serve, and you have to also have a passion (or, at least, a knack) for creating some kind of content.

If there's one major complaint that businesses have when they first dip their toes into the raging river that is social media, it is that they often "run out of things to say." When these communication and publishing platforms were more nascent, the choices were much more limited. All you could really do was blog. And, if writing wasn't your thing, you can well imagine how hard it was to truly engage and nurture any sort of community.It should come as no surprise that even though Technorati is currently tracking over 130 million blogs, it's only a very small percentage of those that are updated frequently (defined as about once a week).

The choices are now endless. You can take pictures and upload them to Flickr, you can shoot your own videos and promote them on YouTube (or even Facebook), you can create your own audio programs (podcasts) and push them out to the world via iTunes, and you can even simplify your apprehension to writing a blog and build your own community using only 140 characters at a time on Twitter.

Creating content is definitely getting easier.

And there are many more platforms (with newer ones coming online every day). Businesses can even forgo all of these choices and edge out even further by creating their own iPhone, BlackBerry or other smartphone mobile apps. The opportunities and potential are limited only by your imagination, appetite for experimentation, and resources for getting it done and keeping it going.

There is a simpler way to not only make your mark using social media, but to get ever-more comfortable with new media: You can simply start sharing content.

It's often the most overlooked strategy, but it's the one that will really bring out adoption throughout your entire organization. Just think about "sharing" in terms of your business's tribal knowledge. Wikipedia defines "tribal knowledge" as, "any unwritten information that is known within a tribe but often unknown outside of it. A tribe may be a group or subgroup of people that share a common knowledge."

Your business is a tribe as well.

Think about your employees and how most communication in the past was passed down from senior management to teams - or from long-time employees to the new cadets. Usually, it was done either orally or in communication channels like email, post-it notes and voice-mail messages. So, when those employees either move on (or up), that tribal knowledge does not get passed on.

It's one of the key reasons why hiring (and even firing) employees is both expensive and time consuming.

Company Intranets attempted to resolve some of these issues, but it's only recently that there has been a huge upsurge in implementing many of the social media sharing tools and platforms to keep all of this corporate tribal knowledge alive, updated and available. When many business people think about how to best use a wiki, they think of Wikipedia. Imagine transferring all of your internal corporate documentation over on to a wiki platform - making everything a webpage (or document) that anyone in the company can edit, update and comment on? Imagine how that one simple act of making your content more shareable might affect and improve your corporate culture? Imagine how much easier it will be to bring in new employees (and get over the loss of some others) by having everything about the company in a much more shareable format.

What about news, information and industry trends?

Why not use some of the amazing (and free) bookmarking services like Delicious or Google Bookmarks to share anything and everything with your teams? You can use these tools and share this information privately (meaning only with the people you give permission to) and you can create/choose tags (or words used to describe the content you're sharing) that your whole team can start adopting - this way, it's not just you sharing with everybody, but now it's everybody sharing with everybody.

Your most loyal brand evangelists are the people whose cheques you sign and who walk out the door every day at 5 p.m.

Don't forget that. Being successful by using the online channels is less about how quick you are to join Twitter and more about how much smarter you can make your team by using these tools to grow your business. Always remember that one of the easiest ways to grow your business will be in how well you help your teams share, grow and build their talents.

Don't be quick to jump into the latest online social network just because everyone else is, but move as fast as you can to start using these tools to capture and document your tribal knowledge.

- Vancouver Sun - Sharing corporate Tribal Knowledge.
- Montreal Gazette - Wading in to Social Media? Get a comfortable start by sharing content.

Tags: app blackberry blog brand evangelist business business column business section canwest communication community content corporate culture delicious email facebook flickr google bookmark intranet iphone iphone app itunes mobile montreal gazette newspaper online bookmarking online social network online video podcast post it notes publishing share sharing social media strategy tag talent technorati tribal knowledge twitter vancouver sun voice mail wiki wikipedia youtube

6 Ways To Look At Negative Feedback

Mitch Joel — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:05:00 PDT

What happens when people do say bad things about you (or your company)?

This is - without question - one of the primary reason many companies avoid the conversation that takes place in the Digital channels. It's the exact same reason why they don't allow consumer reviews on their sites. It's not because they don't have thick skin or because they have a product or service that is not up to par. For the most part, the main reason is that they don't know how to respond at a corporate level. They're not sure if they need to involve the legal and PR folks and they're also not sure if they have the capabilities (re: work force) to really tackle it in a professional and meaningful way.

Regardless of whether or not they have the infrastructure to respond, here are:

6 Ways To Look At Negative Feedback:

Is the feedback legitimate? There are many instances where the negativity actually has some merit. You'll see a lot of this in industries like pharma and travel. It's hard for everybody to have a pristine customer experience when issues like side affects or even sliding scales of pricing are in play. In a lot of instances, the negative feedback is not about the overall service, but is an exception to the rule. If the negative feedback is legitimate, it does require some kind of response. Does it require a personal response in every instance? Not necessarily. As long as the response is communicated in a human and personal way (re: no PR or legal mumbo jumbo) and then findable if someone does a search or makes a query, it could correct the course. At the very least, an instance like this might force the company to look internally and really fix things (either in how they communicate or with the product or service specifically).

Is the person crazy? Don't laugh. It is possible. We've all read peer reviews and marvelled at how someone's review of a product has no real attachment to the reality we all share. The world is full of crazy people who are just looking for a soapbox to be heard or a cause to take on. In this instance, you have to tread carefully. Responding may open up a can of worms that will see no end and no reason. No responding might only aggravate the individual. These are special/case-by-case instances, and they might require something more traditional - like a phone call - to try and resolve the scenario.

Will someone else in your community come to your defense? This is probably one of the more surprising outcomes that we have seen in online communities. Often, people who are engaged in the community are quick to defend it or share their own opinion (that is in-line with the companies). It's actually more common than uncommon and speaks to why it is critical that companies identify their brand evangelists and build that community... before they need it (before the negative feedback comes to pass).

Is apologizing an option? I was taken by Tom Peters' rant at last week's The Art of Management event in Toronto. Peters said that many divorces and business failures would probably never materialize if people sucked it up and simply apologized. Not an apology with a "but" or exceptions - a full-on, "we're sorry. We screwed up. We need to fix this because you are important to us." But, only if you mean it. There is something big in this thought from Peters. Apologies definitely go a long way.

Should you just forget about it and move on? There are many schools of thoughts on this. Some people say you have to respond to each and every piece of feedback (both positive and negative), some argue that you should only respond to those who really do have some kind of impact within the community, and then there is the group that simply sits backs and just lets it fly without ever responding. Your mileage may vary. Depending on the scenario, the type of feedback and the voices behind the noise, is how you will best gauge how to respond. If you're somewhat open and using platforms like Blogs and Twitter, it is possible to respond without directly engaging. It's a tough generalization to make, but it is usually good to respond in some kind of fashion so that your own POV (point of view) is - at least - a part of the conversation.

Should you respond to everything? It's easy to respond to the good stuff, it is hard (and time consuming) to respond to the negative. The answer to this one ties into #5. In a perfect world, yes - respond to everything (with the exception of the people in #2). In responding, you're not just answering to this one individual's gripe, you're better able to reflect on how your brand "lives" in people's minds, and I believe this will make you a better Marketer, a better Communications Professional and a better brand.

What would you add?

Tags: apologize art of management blog brand brand evagelist communications community company consumer reviews customer experience customer service digital channel feedback marketing negative feedback online community peer reviews pov pr public relations tom peters twitter work force

Removing The Most Painful Question Potential Clients Always Ask

Mitch Joel — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:45:23 PDT

"I'd like you to come into our offices and help us understand why we still need a website."

You can remove the word "website" and interchange it with practically anything from, Twitter and YouTube to Facebook or a mobile website. You can even swap that word out and exchange it with any of the more common industry terms you use. If you really want to translate that first line, what it really says is, "forget what you do for a living (and how well you do it), I don't even think the industry you serve is important for us to be paying attention to, is it?"

It's a bad place to be, but it's the reality for most.

One of the biggest transitions we've had at Twist Image over the past few years is that we no longer field questions/comments like that anymore. In fact, we get the calls that go something like this: " we know that we could be doing a lot more in the Digital Marketing space, and we'd like to come over to your office, explain where we're at and have you show us where we should be going."

How can you transition your business from dealing with questions about the merits of the industry you serve to becoming a recognized authority?

Here are 6 ways to remove the most painful question potential clients always ask:

Join your industry association and groups. You can't have a strong business without a strong community. One of the best ways to bring your industry into a more mainstream world view is to become a member of the associations, organizations and groups that serve your industry. In my instance, this included groups like the IAB - Interactive Advertising Bureau , but it also meant taking it a step further and getting involved in places like the CMA - Canadian Marketing Association as well. It's important to have association with the industry that serves your company directly, but it's equally important to get involved in the more general industry association that serves the larger umbrella of your vertical.

Become a leader. If all you do is join and pay your dues, you're missing a much bigger opportunity to affect change. Most of these associations and organizations are driven by volunteers, and they are constantly looking for fresh blood and succession for some of their present leadership. What an amazing opportunity to not only affect change, but to network, connect and really get your hands dirty in growing the industry that you serve. Who knows what this can do for your industry (and your career/business growth)? If that doesn't suit your needs, look at unconferences (like BarCamp and PodCamp) and figure out a way to get something like that started for your industry.

Be quotable. Mass media and the power of strong traditional public relations and media attention does move the needle. While Blogging and being on Twitter (see the next point) are a huge part of this transition, do not dismiss the reality that many of your potential clients still pick up the business section of your local (or national) newspaper and are still highly influenced by what they see on TV and listen to on radio. If you can be quotable, Journalists will call you for your perspective. Bonus points if you can score your own column or segment in traditional media where you're frequently sharing the value of your industry and those who serve it.

Blogs are not dead. People still like a good White Paper or article that they can pass around the company. Blogs are the new White Papers and articles. Now, you don't need to spend months trying to get one piece of content produced, you can Blog for relatively cheap (even free) and start creating a constant and consistent stream of valuable content that establishes you (and your industry) as a recognized authority. The hard part is doing it well, doing it consistently, being highly relevant and not being pushy on the sale. If Blogging isn't your thing consider any (or many) of the other online digital platforms that allow you to publish text, images, audio and video. Figure out what works for you, strategically, and start producing valuable content.

Speak. A lot of people say that they like to speak in public, but few really do prepare, practice and hone this skill. This is a huge component of how you can shift the perceptions of your industry. Think about it in its simplest form: instead of going from meeting to meeting explaining to one company at a time the value of the industry you serve, suddenly you have a public platform where you can evangelize to hundreds (sometimes thousands) of individual and companies at a time.

Be Authentic. This is the core principal for how to develop your Personal Brand. It's also the core value in what makes some people so successful at Social Media while others can't figure out why it's not working for them. Being authentic is your ability to understand your true values, goals and beliefs and using all the channels/opportunities mentioned above to share them. I've often talked about how great Digital Marketing is because it's about, "real interactions between real human beings." That's what is going to separate and elevate you and your industry from the rest: your ability to do things authentically for the overall betterment of your industry, and not with the sole purpose of lining your own pockets.

What would you add to this list?

Tags: article authenticity barcamp blog business canadian marketing association cma community digital marketing digital platform facebook iab industry industry association interactive advertising bureau journalist leadership mass media media mobile newspaper personal brand podcamp pr presenting public relations public speaking publishing radio recognized authority social media speaking tv twitter unconference website white paper youtube

Sound Marketing

Mitch Joel — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:07:18 PDT

Here is a great (and short) TED Talk from Julian Treasure (author of Sound Business) all about the often-forgotten power of audio and sound in life, business and marketing...

TED - Julian Treasure: The 4 ways sound affects us.

(side-bar - while attending my first TED conference a few years back, I spent quite a bit of time watching the live presentations and chatting with Julian. We just happened to meet at the event and stayed connected).

Tags: audio business julian treasure marketing presentation public speaking sound sound business ted ted conference ted talk video

The Marketing Singularity

Mitch Joel — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:42:10 PDT

This Blog post is going to get a little geeky, techie and weird... you have been warned.

On July 25th, 2009 The New York Times ran an article titled, Scientists Worry Machines May Outsmart Man. It tells the story of leading computer scientists, artificial intelligence researchers and roboticists who met earlier in the year at a conference organized by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. The meeting was created to discuss and debate how much research and technology should be done if it leads to a moment in time where humans loose control over the computer-based systems that they created. We're not talking about the Matrix or 2001: A Space Odyssey here, but advancements are happening quicker than we all might realize.

"The idea of an 'intelligence explosion' in which smart machines would design even more intelligent machines was proposed by the mathematician I. J. Good in 1965. Later, in lectures and science fiction novels, the computer scientist Vernor Vinge popularized the notion of a moment when humans will create smarter-than-human machines, causing such rapid change that the 'human era will be ended.' He called this shift the Singularity."

Is it possible that we will see a Marketing Singularity?

Can computers get smarter than human beings when it comes to Marketing? Granted, the one area that may be difficult for a computer to master might be creativity and understanding the human condition, but what if they could tell us the likelihood of which ideas will spread (and which ones will die)? What if they could tell us before we delve into the creative aspects where we should be looking for optimal inspiration?

OK, this does sound a little too much like Science Fiction.

But, then again, so did Star Trek when it first came out, and suddenly we've got communicators (cell phones), stun guns and scanners. In fact, as advanced as Web Analytics is, it could well be the first nod towards how sophisticated and predictive Marketing tools can become. The question (and it's well-worth thinking about) is: could we develop such smart analytics platforms that they design even more intelligent machines that can understand what messages will work on human beings better than human beings can?

Last thought from the article that spawned all this wacky thought:

"While the computer scientists agreed that we are a long way from Hal, the computer that took over the spaceship in '2001: A Space Odyssey,' they said there was legitimate concern that technological progress would transform the work force by destroying a widening range of jobs, as well as force humans to learn to live with machines that increasingly copy human behaviors... The researchers... generally discounted the possibility of highly centralized superintelligences and the idea that intelligence might spring spontaneously from the Internet. But they agreed that robots that can kill autonomously are either already here or will be soon."

If they can kill, odds are they can market too.

Tags: 2001 a space odyssey ai artificial intelligence association for the advancement of artificial intelligence blog computer science computers creativity hal human condition ij good inspiration intelligence explosion internet marketing marketing singularity matrix new york times research robotics science science fiction scientist singularity star trek technology vernor vinge web analytics

Google's Next Step Is Not Search

Mitch Joel — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:13:19 PDT

Google is a fascinating brand, company and technology developer. Here are some random (and personal) thoughts about where Google might be going...

In the nineties I helped one of the first search engines build their sales and advertising channels. At the time, the only other major search engines were Yahoo!, Microsoft and AOL. They were less like search engines as we know them today, and much more like directories to navigate through the many websites that were online and being added every single day as people rushed to this new media channel. I remember seeing Google for the first time a couple of years after the term, "search engine" had entered most of our vernacular. My first thought was, "how are they going to make any money?" The truth is, I wasn't the only one thinking like this. At that time, it wasn't uncommon for both Sergey Brin and Larry Page to say the same thing. When asked how Google would make money, the common response from the Google founders would be something like, "right now, we're focusing on how to make everything much easier to find online. In doing so, we believe that we'll uncover a revenue model at some point." And while that is a simple paraphrase of the many quotes that they put out there during those initial days, the message was crystal clear: they were focused on getting the product right and making it perfect for those using it.

Pushing beyond search.

It's both funny and strange to think of Google as just a search engine anymore. They do everything from email and maps to collaborative document development and media sales (their full product offering is both staggering and impressive). They push the envelope with newer platforms like Google Wave (which they hope is the next evolution of email or online communication) and they've even entered into the web browser wars with Chrome. Through it all, there has always been conversation, rumours and more about whether or not Google was/is developing their own operating system for computers.

And then, there's this Android thing.

There was recently two very telling articles in Silicon Alley Insider. One was titled, Google's Android Ready To Explode Past The iPhone (October 16th, 2009) and the other, Google Android Is Getting Huge (October 8th, 2009). Here's one quote from the latter article that brought me right back to the first feelings I had about Google when it launched as a simple search engine:

"What's changed? Over the past few months, several phone makers and mobile operators have announced their support for Android phones, many of which are beginning to ship. None of this means Android will necessarily be a big commercial success, but it's a good start. (And yes, a slow start. But building gadgets is not fast.)"

It's easy to imagine a world where Android would account for 60% of Google's revenue, attention and focus in the not-so-distant future.

It's a dramatic statement, but think about it this way: Google has dominance in the traditional Internet search space, then in May 2009, The Slate's The Big Money site reported that,"97.5% of all mobile searches are done on Google." Where was all the hoopla, celebration and noise about this? Much like Google in 2000, they are just plodding along and building it up. They are closing more and more mobile deals with handset manufacturers, carriers and more. Most of these mobile companies have little to no choice but to align themselves with Google as they continue to battle the dominance of both the iPhone and BlackBerry. There's no doubt that there are many other mobile operating systems that still dominate over Google's Android, but that was also the case when they were a simple search engine start-up as well.

Google is focused on mobile... not on search.

Maybe not entirely right now... but it is slowly happening in front of our eyes. They're not looking at the next generation of operating systems and web browsers, they're looking at how more and more of us are transitioning to smartphones, netbooks and the like, and they are not-so-quietly preparing to dominate the mobile landscape much in the same way they dominate the search landscape.

What's the big difference/deal?

If you think search made them incredibly wealthy and powerful, the size of the mobile market and landscape going forward is going to make search seem small and inconsequential.

What do you think?

Tags: advertising android aol blackberry chrome directories email google google wave iphone larry page maps media sales microsoft mobile mobile carrier mobile search netbook new media online marketing operating system os revenue model search search engine sergey brin silicon alley insider smartphone the big money the slate yahoo

Social Media And The Gentle Art Of Management

Mitch Joel — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:41:19 PDT

If there is one question that circulates around boardrooms, organizations and enterprises, it is: how do we manage Social Media from a management perspective?

Here are 6 ways for management to manage Social Media:

Acceptance - Social Media is not a fad. The ability for people to share stories is as old as fire and cave walls. Mass media disrupted this type of conversation and now, technology not only enables it once again, but it also facilitates it. To think Blogging, wikis, Twitter or online social networks will disappear as quickly as they arrived is simple naivety. Management needs to accept and understand that their employees and consumers are connected, using these channels, sharing information and telling stories in both channels and platforms that are not only shared by over a billion people, but that are searchable and findable by anyone and everyone. It also means that your company must stop blocking access to these channels and platforms. Thinking that everybody is wasting their time on Facebook and YouTube and not getting their work done, is not the reason the work is not being done. If you've blocked them out of these tools, trust me, they're finding alternative ways to waste time.

Openness - Once there is acceptance, the only way to truly embrace these Social Media channels and move on is to declare a new state of transparency and openness within your organization (for more on this, please read the excellent business book, Tactical Transparency by Shel Holtz and John C. Havens). This doesn't mean that you have to share corporate strategies or give everything you produce away for free. It means that you are going to embrace the notion of changing the way you communicate from a "one voice to customers" model to a "many human voices to many human beings" model. This does mean that you will empower employees - in conjunction with your Marketing, Communications, Legal and Human Resources departments - to act as both advocates and brand evangelists for the brand. It also means that you are going to not only listen to what your consumers are saying, but that you are going to respond and improve your products and services based on what makes the most sense... and you're going to do it faster and better than you have ever done before.

Policy and guidelines - One of the major reasons most companies get scared off of Social Media is because they feel that they will "lose control" of their messaging and brand. Nothing could be further from the truth. Brands still (and always will) control the product, pricing, advertising, customer care, etc... and consumers will always control whether or not the buy from you and whether or not they tell everyone they know about how great (or bad) you are to them. Having a clear policy (though, I do prefer guidelines over a formal policy) will help everyone - internally - understand what these channels are, why they are important, how to communicate and connect in them and what the company expects in terms of disclosure and "voice". It also helps employees understand what they can and can't say about their work (for more information on creating Social Media policies and guidelines, please check out this Blog post: Does Your Company Need A Social Media Policy?).

Monitor - Tools like Google Alerts, Twitter Search, Technorati and even targeted searches on the generic search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo) offer tremendous insights into what is being said about your brand. Make sure you are listening to the many voices. Follow the keywords/terms that are specific to your business including key employees, competitors and even the more generic industry terms. By monitoring what is being said you not only get smarter about your industry, but you will be better able to manage internal expectations as you'll be more informed about who is using these tools to communicate and connect, and what they are saying.

Lead by example - Another way to manage Social Media is to not sit back and wait for employees and customers to use it before reacting to it, but rather to be proactive. Take the lead and lead by example. Develop a strong Social Media strategy that ties into your business (and sales) objectives. Tie that strategy directly into the overall ROI of the enterprise. Once you have defined the Social Media strategy, define the tactics and the key players within the organization and define budgets, timelines, teams and milestones. Hold yourself (and the company) responsible. Understand that it is going to take time to build community, and recognize that it is going to take a healthy dose of both relevancy and consistency to really break through and become some kind of recognized authority within the greater community you serve.

Start on the inside - The gut instinct it to jump on to Twitter, Facebook or YouTube and start posting. One of the easiest ways to manage Social Media is to try it out internally first. What does that look like? Put your documents into a company wiki and ask for feedback/edits. Start an internal Blog to share news, information and other Social Media stuff that people on the inside should know. Take an audio recorder, interview the CEO and launch it as an internal Podcast. The list, opportunities and options are endless. What winds up happening is a "softening effect" - your employees get comfortable with these channel and platforms, they seem less scary and more manageable and suddenly, the enterprise starts benefitting from all of this sharing and collaboration.

What is your advice to management about how they can best use Social Media to build business?

Sidebar: On Friday, October 16th, 2009 I will be speaking in Toronto at an event titled, The Art of Management. This full-day event will also feature best-selling business book author Tom Peters (In Search of Excellence, Re-Imagine!, etc...), Marcus Buckingham and the Getting Things Done guru, David Allen. all live and in-person. There is special pricing for this event if you mention this Blog or my name. You can get more information here: The Art of Management (I hope to see you there).

Tags: art of management bing blog boardroom brand evangelist business book communications community consumer conversation david allen employee enterprise facebook getting things done google google alerts human resources in search of excellence internal blog john c havens legal management marcus buckingham marketing mass media online social network organization podcast recognized authority reimagine roi shel holtz social media social media guidelines social media policy social media strategy stop blocking strategy tactical transparency technology technorati tom peters tranparency twitter twitter search wiki yahoo youtube

When We Switch From Free To Paid

Mitch Joel — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:27:20 PDT

When it comes to the troubles of the newspaper and magazine industry, the greater debate always comes full circle to when/how they will begin to charge for content. Some people call it crazy, others think there is no choice, but how will the general mass population react?

Vanity Fair has a great article in their November 2009 issue titled, Rupert to Internet: It's War! Journalist Michael Wolff dissects Rupert Murdoch and his plans to change News Corp.'s current online practices of giving the content away for free to a paid model:

"From the failure of Delphi, one of the first public-access Internet providers, in 1993, to iGuide, the precursor to Yahoo and Google, which closed within months of its launch, to his son James's aborted Internet-investing spree in the late 90s, to the great promise of MySpace, which was shortly flattened by Facebook, to the second launch of Pagesix.com, which Murdoch closed this year, after four months of operation, Murdoch's Internet starts and stops have engendered at News Corp., in the description of Peter Bale, who once ran the Web site of The Times of London and now runs MSN in the U.K., a relative 'fear or abhorrence of technology.'"

Is it really about the Internet and these new Digital channels or have we got it all wrong?

There's no doubt that many people are opting for their laptops and Google News in the morning over the local newspaper, but the shift away from reading the news is as old as the advent of radio, TV and whatever else came after that. For years, educational facilities and the book publishing industry have been complaining that the activity of reading keeps dropping year over year. Couple that with the advent of many new and interesting media channels (and yes, this includes the Internet) and you don't really have a digitization of the newspaper industry that is killing it, you simply have more choices and options for the average consumer than ever before.

Newspaper have never been heavily into the concept of innovation.

They always owned a large portion of the local market and that's what attracted (and continues to attract) most advertisers. My guess is that newspaper publishers saw the Internet as an additional distribution channel to demonstrate the quality of their content and get the mass public interested in buying their paper products. When that conversion never came to be, and the realization set in that people were more than fine with just reading the news online or grabbing some quick headlines from an iPhone app, the game needed to be changed again.

It's been documented and debated to death.

Whether the newspaper and magazine industry made the right choices is not as important as the business choices they are about to make. If they choose to charge for the content that has been free for almost 15 years now, they're sure to have some semblance of a revenue stream, but there will be other media companies who might come along and offer up that content again for free (and figure out some other kind of revenue model beyond paid subscription). If they choose to no longer let companies like Google serve up their content in their generic search results, fewer people will be exposed to those traditional media brands. If they leave things as they are, they are somewhat stuck in a model where there is a tremendous amount of Internet traffic but not enough advertising interest to support it.

How can you charge for something that was free?

Simply put, you can't. But, you can charge for premium, new and different kinds of content. Perhaps if these newspaper and magazine publishers actually embrace the idea that "publishing" online is more than just copying and pasting your traditional media text onto the Internet, there may be many new and interesting money making ventures ahead of them (at first glance, charging for a great iPhone app is one, small way). From audio, video, images and yes, text, to a better understanding as to how tools and platforms like Blogging and Twitter are moving us ever-closer to a real-time publishing world, perhaps these publishers can really start developing and marketing new publishing tools and pieces of content for the Internet, mobile and whatever new digital platforms are going to be developed in the coming years?

Publishers need to understand that the future of publishing is not about charging for what they used to create, but rather charging for newer types of publishing platforms and pieces of content we can't (and couldn't) get somewhere else.

Tags: advertising article blog book publishing brand content delphi digital channel facebook free google google news google reader headlines hyperlocal iguide innovation internet culture iphone iphone app laptop magazine media michael wolff mobile msn uk myspace new media news corp newspaper pagesix paid content paid subscription peter bale premium publishing publishing industry radio reading real time news rupert murdoch technology times of london traditional media tv twitter vanity fair yahoo

Does Your Company Need A Social Media Policy?

Mitch Joel — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:49:30 PDT

With more and more employees jumping on to platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn and years of Blogging and Podcasting already water under the bridge, most companies still don't have any kind of corporate policy or guidelines around Social Media, the company and their employees.

Now is the time to start thinking about one.

The most important concept to remember is that a policy or guidelines around Social Media is not meant to limit what people can do and say, but rather a way to help everyone know what the company considers "fair play" and what is "off limits". This type of document is also a great place for the company to really explain how they deal, interface and respond to their consumers (both the negative and the positive). It can also provide tips of how employees can make the most of their personal brands by understanding some of the generally accepted "rules" about what works (and what doesn't) in these online channels.

But, where do you begin in terms of putting a document like this together in a cohesive fashion?

Thankfully, the Social Media Governance website has over 105 Social Media policy documents from a wide variety of companies and industries - all available for free: Social Media Governance Database.

Enjoy.

(hat-tip: Lisa)

Tags: blog blogging corporate policy linkedin podcast podcasting social media social media governance social media guidelines social media policy twitter