Online marketing Calgary

I recently presented at a conference. Once of the questions was: Can you suggest a list of books to read to get better at social media? It was a good questions, and, of course, I gave a crappy answer. But this got me thinking. Here is the result:

1. To learn social media is to practice social media. Social media is the way we communicate by sharing. It changes, it evolves, it happens now. So the best way to learn it is to do it.
2. It's no longer about books (books take time to be published), it's about faster, up to date knowledge that's developed through the community members sharing information. So, it becomes a question of NOT "What book to read?" BUT "Who to follow?".

Instead of a list of books, here's a list of select people I follow and listen to. Actually most of the have written books on the subject. Unfortunately, by the time most of those books came out, the online community has already evolved beyond the book's contents in many cases.

• Guy Kawasaki, GuyKawasaki.com
• Jeremiah Owyang, Web-Strategist.com
• Charlene Li,  Groundswell Blog
• Chris Brogan, ChrisBrogan.com
• David Armano, Logic+Emotion
• Seth Godin, Seth Godin’s Blog

Here's a list of more people I follow on Twitter. And I'm sure I'm missing some of the brilliant modern minds, so feel free to suggest more people to the list above. Who are YOUR gurus?

Scanning through Twitter yesterday I bumped into a link to a new service called knowem.com. It allows people to protect their online brands by offering to register social networks profiles on over 380 networks.

The tool checks your brand presence on a variety of social networks. The lists are arranged by category of social networks like Photo, Video, Business, Blogging, etc. See a complete list of Social Networks. The service offers a number of plans including personal and corporate. You can register each profile yourself or you can pay and your brand profile will be registered for you.

Advantages of using the tool:

• Once you register those profiles, your brand name is preserved across major social networks.
• If the name is already taken, you can see who owns the name.
• It's a good tool to keep track of your social network profiles.
• You can export your social networks lists to a CSV file to share with a client.

Disadvantages or things that are missing:

• Lack of proper list management interface where I can track social networks I own.
• As the product is still new, there's a few bugs.

If you know of any other similar tools or have a comment on this one, please leave in the comments to this post.

One of the key questions I get when discussing social media with businesses is: how can we see a result of a social media benefiting companies. Here's one of numerous examples of how public perception, real-time data and tools like Twitter shape the new future for marketers.

This is real life, real-time case that's happened to me over the past hour. I use Shaw as my ISP and about 30 mins ago, the thing stopped working. Tried rebooting the modem (often a solution suggested by ISPs). Didn't work. So, I wend to search.twitter.com on my Blackberry and typed "shaw internet". Got the following:

Twitter comments: Before Shaw solved the problem

* Please note that this is an image that was taken through a web browser on my machine once the problem was resolved. But I saw exactly the same when I browsed mobile.

This is real-time, real life example of social media shaping the future of digital marketing. Public has a say. If you screw up as a business, people will know. They will also spread the word by sharing or RT (re-tweeting) to help others form an opinion about the quality of your service. We share, we contribute, we, the public, form opinions of masses in real time, using real tools.

This snapshot was taken when the situation was resolved by Shaw. Although people are getting happier, there's still a bad aftertaste on Shaw's brand name showing between the lines.

Twitter comments: After Shaw solved the problem

It's been a great weekend! Among a few personal celebrations and meetings I also had a chance read a few periodicals. I prepared a list of articles on topics such as leadership, business, social media, etc. in case you may be interested.

Eight Ways to Ruin Your Social-Media Strategy

So you’ve set up a company fan page on Facebook and you’re letting your employees fire off messages to the world via Twitter — or you’re at least thinking about it. Well, congratulations! You’re part of the social-media revolution, which can offer unparalleled access to word-of-mouth buzz among those you most want to reach: your customers, current and future.
Read more at BNET.com

Rich Vs. Poor Is Not The Right Debate

I have received numerous comments from readers on my recent column, Capitalism's Fundamental Flaw. A wide range of ideas and explanations of our current plight were offered, including one comment that pointed out that as long as there is a government and it regulates, we are not practicing free-market capitalism.
Read the entire story at at Forbes.com

The 10 Questions You Should Never Stop Asking

In the early 1990s, I was brought in as an interim president/CEO of two regional monthly magazines. Both are now out of business. It was a trying time--and also one of the great learning experiences of my life.
Read the entire story at at Forbes.com

How Entrepreneurs Identify New Opportunities

A key question that all would-be entrepreneurs face is finding the business opportunity that is right for them. Should the new start-up focus on introducing a new product or service based on an unmet need? Should the venture select an existing product or service from one market and offer it in another where it may not be available? Or should the firm bank on a tried and tested formula that has worked elsewhere, such as a franchise operation?
Read the entire story at at Forbes.com

How Hierarchies Do Harm

As a coach he has been a revolutionary in his way of building winning organizations, by developing what he calls the "leaderful team," in which every player is prepared, technically and psychologically, to step up to lead--or to step back to support, as needed. The idea is to maximize the potential contribution of every team member in a way never before attempted in sport.
Read the entire story at at Forbes.com

Where Your Customers Are: How Facebook, Twitter and Others Break Down by Age

Facebook, the largest social media network, recently reached 300 million users worldwide — roughly the population of the United States. So do your homework before you approach your customers online. Here's how users on the top social media sites broke down by age in August 2009.
See graphs at BNET.com

Remembering how to forget in the Web 2.0 era

Amid ongoing debates over the hazards of excessive digital exposure through such Web 2.0 social networking platforms as Facebook and Twitter, a new book by Viktor Mayer-Schonberger extols the virtues of forgetfulness.
Read more at Reuters UK Blogs

Robin and I had a conversation last week about some of my revelations on social media. My point was that social media has proven itself as a strong contributor to B2C marketing efforts. B2B companies, on the other hand, had yet to identify the process of getting into the social media game. Robin did not a see a huge difference between the B2C and B2B ways of using social media to sell products or services. As a result, we’ve got to a point where we agree to the following general process of how B2B companies should be using social media. Here we present the LAR Model (Listen, Analyze, Respond):

Step 1: Listen

• Listening is the key component of any social interaction. People are talking about you, your competitors, your peers and your industry. You need to be aware of what’s being said.
• Some popular tools to help aggregate your listening efforts: Google Alerts, Trackur.com, ScoutLabs.com, Radian6.com, Buzzding.com.
• When you decide to setup a Twitter account for your company, be slow to befriend people right away. Instead, try the following: 1) create an account, 2) listen to what people are saying on topics of interest by using search.twitter.com, 3) analyze what people are saying, and finally 4) start following ones of interest.
• Some topics to try listening to: Vanity (your brand, your URL, your name), industry (influencers, leaders, companies, governing bodies), competition (key terms you compete for, your competitor names, URLs, etc.). More on this topic at FastWonderBlog.com.

Step 2: Analyze

• Once you have gathered information on a subject, it’s the time to look closer into the information you found.
• Consider what people are saying. Is there a trend in what they say about your company? Which events are people talking about? Are there certain people that appear to be “influencers”? What are the problems people experience with your product or service?
• Once you have all these data sorted and arranged in a convenient manner, answer the following questions: How can I solve the problem people are having? Who can I ask for help? Are there any influencers that I could talk to for assistance?
• Finally, you need to choose a champion. Someone (or a small group) who can take ownership of your interaction with social media. If you don’t have the time or desire, a social media or PR agency can help you.

Step 3: Respond

• Now that you’ve come up with a way to address your audience’s issues, you should start the conversation through your social media champion.
• Stick to your plan, but be flexible. Participate in conversations in a consistent manner to establish and maintain the quality of what you’re saying, and avoid confusion.
• Always respond with the assumption that the entire world is listening in. Because they are.

At the end of our heated discussion I realized that we’ve actually moved pretty close to agreeing on things. This article was originally written by me for Apis Design Inc. Visit Apis Design blog to see more articles on the topic of online marketing.

This article was originally written by me for Apis Design Inc. Visit Apis Design blog to see more articles on the topic of online marketing. I just had a meeting with the team to discuss our internal progress using social media tools and strategies. One of the takeaways was the process of using Twitter. Speaking from a business standpoint, Twitter is a new tool that is saturating our minds. We have to have an account, we have to follow people and get followers, etc. All of these are pressing on our time allocated for work. The question becomes: do you fit your routine into Twitter or incorporate Twitter into your existing daily routine? The answer I support is that you should not change the way you live just because there’s a new tool. Instead find a way to introduce Twitter to your common practices. Here’s a list of ways you can introduce twitter into your life the smoothest way possible:

• When reading your morning news online, have Twitter open to share interesting news items.
• When researching for work-related projects, have your twitter account open to mention interesting articles.
• When reading Twitter feeds, feel free to RT (Re-Tweet) interesting links you come across.

And remember, twitter is a way to share bits of valuable information with people who want to listen. One of the tools that will help you to stay in touch with Twitter community is TweetDeck. This article was originally written by me for Apis Design Inc. Visit Apis Design blog to see more articles on the topic of online marketing.

This article was originally written by me for Apis Design Inc. Visit Apis Design blog to see more articles on the topic of online marketing. I just came from an event hosted by CMA in Calgary. Presenter: Darren Barefoot of Capulet Communications, titled Deadly sins of Social Media Marketing (Social Media Campaign Killers). Below is a list of the main takeaways from this event and Darren’s presentation. Disclaimer: Although I will be using the first person in points below, please note that these are just my notes from the event.

1. Do it, don’t just talk about it. Social Media marketing does not heal all wounds. Use social media marketing as a tool in combination with other marketing channels, both traditional and digital.
2. Measure what you do, review the results, and adjust. Do not be afraid if Social Media does not work for you. It’s not for every business or product.
3. Show, don’t tell. Use traditional communications principles such as “a picture is worth a thousand words” to communicate your message. Also show example of how others benefit by using your product.
4. Watch your conversational tone. Make sure your conversations are happening in the tone consistent with your product and target audience.
5. Don’t launch campaigns on Friday afternoon. By the time you are back in the office on Monday, your client / brand / product will be severely damaged. Online communities are not taking weekends.
6. Know your audience. What they are, where they are, what they want.
7. Don’t spam, don’t broadcast, play by the rules. Spam and you’ll suffer.
8. Observe what the web says. First monitor and listen, then analyze and react. Things to consider when reacting: be honest and use the same channel that was used to talk about your company. For example, post a video response on YouTube. Make a campaign of it.
9. Monitor all the time, not just once a month. Create Alerts and make sure you are notified about every mention of your brand / product / company online.
10. Find great community managers, champions. Can’t find any? Create them. Don’t assume that interns are the best people to enhance your reputation online. Champion needs to have the following qualities:
    • Passionate about your business, company
    • Aware of brand issues and social etiquette
    • Great at knowing the audience and talking to them
    • Great at soliciting feedback from the audience
    • Digitally savvy, technology, social media
11. The Internet is made of people. Put your people in the center on your website and social profile as they are the ones that deliver the value to the client.
12. Don’t abandon blogs. Although it’s time consuming, keep at it. Allocate enough resources to talk about your company’s people.
13. Don’t bullshit. The web will know. Even after the campaign ends, the info is still there on search engines. The web is the “archive”.

The next big thing according to Darren Barefoot, is Foursquare and communities like it: Location-based social networks where people interact based on game rules. Google Latitude is another example of similar service. This article was originally written by me for Apis Design Inc. Visit Apis Design blog to see more articles on the topic of online marketing.