online marketing

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.

Just came from another great event by Third Tuesday Calgary this time hosting Julien Smith, co-author of Trust Agents (Chris Brogan and Julien Smith). Those who missed it, missed a lot. Below are the notes for those who attended, let's compare!

• Hype vs. channel: hype dies, channel is forever
• Controlling future is about controlling a channel
• Channels used to be one-way, now it's both ways
• A channel starts from a network
• Channel: a tube you use to communicate with members of your network (my understanding, I may be wrong).
• Channel examples: Twitter, YouTube Channel, Facebook Fan Page
• Channel example (specific): ShitMyDadSays
• $50,000 / year example: great example, also referenced in Guy Kawasaki's Reality Check: on average $50,000 / year is enough to live in North America. Anything beyond that should not (hypothetically) make you happier.
• Social Networks and happiness. The closer you are to the centre of your network, the happier you are.
• Over time networks dissipate, so one should build tribes continuously.
• Laughter takes walls away; at work and at home. Laugh.
• Social capital = puzzle piece of the game
• Facilitate the exchange of social capital
• Reliability is huge. Be consistent with your content.
• Create content that's visible and indexable.
• Insiders vs. outsiders of a social neighbourhood.
• Insider language. Example: Sprite commercial ;)
• Differentiation: Blue Ocean Strategy
• Pattern breaking. Example: Cirque Du Soleil
• Do something different.
• What can be measured can be sold.
• Book reference: Connected by Nicholas A. Christakis.
• Be the lead goose.

For those who could not attend, you can catch Julien on his Canadian tour. More about the tour and the author:

• The next event is on Wednesday in Victoria.
• See Julien's site: InOverYourHead.
• Julien is talking (podcast): http://inoveryourhead.mevio.com/
• Alternatively, feel free to buy the book. BTW, I'm not getting paid, I just liked the presentation.

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

A few weeks ago a friend of mine asked me questions about linkedin.com and how I benefited by using it so far. I have been meaning to respond to her questions but didn't have a chance to do it. Now, I realized that this information may be useful for other people too, hence I'm sharing it here. Below is an overview of a few useful features on linkedin.com that I've benefited by since I first started using it.

1. One place for your resume
2. To connect with colleagues, past and present
3. To discover new connections
4. To join groups of similar interests
5. To help people solve problems
6. To stay up to date with your network
7. To recommend and get recommended
8. To look for jobs and apply for jobs
9. Search visibility and personal branding

Facts from Guy Kawasaki on the subject:

• People with more than twenty connections are thirty-four times more likely to be approached with a job opportunity than people with less than five.
• The average number for Harvard Business School grads is fifty-eight, so you could skip the MBA, work at Google, and probably get most of the connections you need. Later, you can hire Harvard MBAs to prepare your income taxes.
• All 500 of the Fortune 500 are represented in LinkedIn. In fact, 499 of them are represented by director-level and above employees.
• The average number of LinkedIn connections for people who work at Google is forty-seven.