Even though there are many things that I wished I had accomplished this decade that I haven't, in all I can't complain. I don't look back and regret any of the decisions I have made and I don't feel like I wasted any time doing something that I didn't want to do.
I took every opportunity I could. I worked hard. I had fun. And I spent a lot of time with my family. I did things the way I wanted to.
I may not have accomplished everything I wanted to, but I sure tried and always worked toward what I wanted.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Web ME.0, Consumers take control
In 2010 consumers will gain control. We will see the birth of Web ME.0 where everything is about me, the consumer. Its the web the way I want it, not the way someone wants me to see it.
Gone are the days of a brand deciding for me, deciding how/when/where/what message I see. Gone is Web 2.0. Brands must now play by the consumers' rules.
Web ME.0 is:
Consumers are in control.
Gone are the days of a brand deciding for me, deciding how/when/where/what message I see. Gone is Web 2.0. Brands must now play by the consumers' rules.
Web ME.0 is:
- Destination Free. I don't have to visit individual sites because all information flows to me.
- Filtered. I see what I want, when and where I want to. None of the stuff I don't want.
- Walled. I only interact with the people with whom I want to interact. Maybe its lots of people in an open format, like twitter. Maybe its just my closest friends, like Facebook(or something like Facebook used to be since they are foolishly breaking down the wall just to make a buck.) But I get to choose who.
Consumers are in control.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Zuckerberg Is Out of Touch
I can't tell if Mark Zuckerberg is just completely out of touch with his users, or if he's just completely ignoring them.
Why? Because every recent change Facebook has made to its platform has been met with opposition from its users. Just look at these two Facebook Groups.
We Hate The New Facebook, so STOP CHANGING IT!!! 1,643,343 members
group: i love the new facebook design 70 Members (and this is the largest group)
People can't tell you how to innovate or how to make something better. But they sure know when something is wrong. And if the groups are any indication, something is definitely wrong.
A good CEO is in tune with his audience. He gets them. He looks out for them. He does what is in their best interest because he understands that when his users are happy, his company is happy.
Z is the complete opposite. He is out of touch with the users and isn't building Facebook in their best interest. He is building it for himself. The way he thinks it should be. And right now, how Z thinks they should use it and how users actually want to use it are at odds. Which is not a good thing.
Case in point.
Facebook has announced new privacy settings to make privacy EASIER on the user. Total lie. The only thing easier about the new change is how much easier it will be for Google to get your personal data. I guess this is to keep up with Twitter. But I can't figure out why.
If Z learns anything from reading this post(yeah right) its should be this:
Facebook is Private and always should be.
Twitter = public. Facebook = Private. Two totally separate things. They don't have to be like each other. They shouldn't. We shouldn't even be comparing them.
People like their privacy. That's why Facebook has been so great. I can talk with all my real friends without the entire world watching. (sure there are loopholes, but for the most part it works pretty well.)
How's this for a business model? Make it more private. Make it a safe harbor where I can go online without fear of someone stalking me, watching me, spamming me or interrupting a private conversation. That's the value. Privacy. There aren't many, if any, private places online. Make Facebook the most private place online. That will make you some money. Guaranteed.
With the new changes, Facebook has taken away some of our privacy. They have told us what the world can see of our profiles when they should have given us the option to decide for ourselves. Actually, I think it shouldn't even be an option. Make it private. Keep it private.
Remember MySpace. It died because it got to be too public. Facebook is the next MySpace.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Going Destination Free
When the web was born, everyone focused on the destination, usually an all important URL where all the magic was going to happen. And nearly two decades later, most still seemed fixed on getting traffic to a destination. That will change.
A friend of mine, Anthony Power, has called it "The Destination Free Web", where information flows freely from one place to another, and the destination is no longer important.
Why the Destination Free Web?
The question arises, "If people aren't visiting my website, then how will I make money?". Tough question. But then again, the people asking that question are the ones who still think that they can make money through advertising. Advertising is dead and the destination free web will only make it more dead.
People and companies who understand the destination free web will build the web of the future.
A friend of mine, Anthony Power, has called it "The Destination Free Web", where information flows freely from one place to another, and the destination is no longer important.
Why the Destination Free Web?
- Its the INFO people want, NOT the destination.
- People don't want to be confined.
- People want access everywhere and anywhere.
- APIs
- Partnerships between companies and platforms
- Sharing of Data and Info
The question arises, "If people aren't visiting my website, then how will I make money?". Tough question. But then again, the people asking that question are the ones who still think that they can make money through advertising. Advertising is dead and the destination free web will only make it more dead.
People and companies who understand the destination free web will build the web of the future.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Where there are people, there's Spam
Spam is nothing new. It started with email, but is quickly spreading like a virus to each new emerging technology and platform. Right as each technology hits the tipping point and moves from early adopters to mainstream use, that's when the spammers start.
It happened this year with Twitter. One search of a trending topic shows real conversations, mixed an increasing amount of Spam.
Mayra Ruiz notes on her blog, "What is up on LinkedIn these days? I have heard countless folks complain about *all the limitless spam* that can be found in groups." Linkedin groups are full of Spam too.
With each new technology, the spammers find a way to abuse it and spread their Spam and as long as there are people there, they will continue.
One thing that concerns me is Facebook's talk of making the popular social network more public than private. Right now, the privacy wall does a pretty good job of keeping the spammers out. But I guarantee, the more public Facebook becomes, the more Spam we will see. (Personally I think making profiles public will be the death of Facebook).
If social networks and other emerging technologies aren't careful to control Spam, they will lose value and people won't use them. And no one, is immune to this.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
The importance of proper catigorization.
I have been working on a project lately where I have been dealing with filtering and categorizing large amounts of data, specifically retail products. What surprises me is that companies who are in the business of helping people find a product, don't take the time to lay the proper ground work to make it easy for people to find what they are looking for.
Let take for example, Amazon.com, one of the largest internet retailers. Its their business to help people find products. But Women's T-shirts, with 25,000 items is very hard to navigate because it doesn't really have any subcategories. Off the top of my head, I would think you could create sub categories like, V-neck, Round Neck, Cotton, Cotton Poly Blend, Novelty, Casual, Retro and more.
It does us no good to give people all of the products/data in the world if there is no way to easily navigate that data. If you are in the business of helping people find something, take the time to do it right and make sure everything is properly categorized.
Let take for example, Amazon.com, one of the largest internet retailers. Its their business to help people find products. But Women's T-shirts, with 25,000 items is very hard to navigate because it doesn't really have any subcategories. Off the top of my head, I would think you could create sub categories like, V-neck, Round Neck, Cotton, Cotton Poly Blend, Novelty, Casual, Retro and more.
It does us no good to give people all of the products/data in the world if there is no way to easily navigate that data. If you are in the business of helping people find something, take the time to do it right and make sure everything is properly categorized.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Long Tail Surfing
The Long Tail is so BIG, you can't possibly navigate it by yourself. Even with great filters, its just too big a job on your own.
It must be a collective effort. With each person surfing individually and sharing with the group. This sharing from person to group will introduce people in the group to new things that they will then share with new groups(if its worth sharing). This cycle from individual to group and back to individual is the future of the Long Tail Surfing.
Enabling this cycle is the future of internet retailing.
It must be a collective effort. With each person surfing individually and sharing with the group. This sharing from person to group will introduce people in the group to new things that they will then share with new groups(if its worth sharing). This cycle from individual to group and back to individual is the future of the Long Tail Surfing.
Enabling this cycle is the future of internet retailing.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Blogging for an A
It has been a long time since I have blogged. I have been consumed with another project that has consumed all of my free time. Should be launching it soon.
The time off has made me think about how I blog. And I have decided to change my blogging habits. Before, I only blogged when I felt like I had something really intelligent to say. I took a long time to think about a post because I wanted get it just right. And sometimes it took a long time to write those posts as if I were writing a small Thesis for some Masters Degree I will never get. I feel like this way of blogging has limited me and my ability to get my thoughts out. A lot of great thoughts have fallen by the wayside.
But that's all going to change starting now. From now on, blog post will be:
The time off has made me think about how I blog. And I have decided to change my blogging habits. Before, I only blogged when I felt like I had something really intelligent to say. I took a long time to think about a post because I wanted get it just right. And sometimes it took a long time to write those posts as if I were writing a small Thesis for some Masters Degree I will never get. I feel like this way of blogging has limited me and my ability to get my thoughts out. A lot of great thoughts have fallen by the wayside.
But that's all going to change starting now. From now on, blog post will be:
- Shorter
- More frequent
- A way for me just to get my thoughts out on a given topic
- Written in the moment
- To the point
- More of a brainstorm
- How I think the digital world IS changing
- How I think the digital world SHOULD change
- An exploration of my thoughts
Friday, July 31, 2009
The World Needs Another Search Engine.....
....Like It Needs Another Energy Drink.
There are a million energy drinks out there, but no one, no matter what they try, can even put a dent in Red Bulls sales.
The search world is the same story, just with different players. Google owns search(67% worldwide) and not even Microsoft's Bing will put a dent in Google dominance. Everyone else can see this, so why can't Microsoft?
Maybe the same people behind Bing are the same people who thought the Zune was a good idea?
Microsoft is in the business of trying to compete with companies who already own a category. They need a new business.
Microsoft needs to be in the innovation business, and they have the money and power to do it.
Monday's post will be an idea on how Microsoft can innovate.
There are a million energy drinks out there, but no one, no matter what they try, can even put a dent in Red Bulls sales.
The search world is the same story, just with different players. Google owns search(67% worldwide) and not even Microsoft's Bing will put a dent in Google dominance. Everyone else can see this, so why can't Microsoft?
Maybe the same people behind Bing are the same people who thought the Zune was a good idea?Microsoft is in the business of trying to compete with companies who already own a category. They need a new business.
Microsoft needs to be in the innovation business, and they have the money and power to do it.
Monday's post will be an idea on how Microsoft can innovate.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Obamarketing
I may not agree with all of Obama's policies, but I do recognize that he is doing a great job marketing them.
I recently read Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition by Jack Trout. Jack Trout explains that one way to differentiate is to point out your competitor's weaknesses and position yourself as the better alternative. And this is exactly what Obama is doing to pass the health care reform bill.
Two simple phrases have become the slogans to push his campaign forward and have backed Republicans into a corner that they aren't sure how to get out of.
"We must act now" and "We can't do nothing." More than defining his own position, these statements define the position of all of his competition in the minds of the public. If Obama is FOR taking action, anyone opposing him MUST be AGAINST taking action. And if Obama is FOR doing something than anyone opposing him must be AGAINST doing something and therefore FOR doing nothing.
In the human mind, only one Brand in a given category can own a specific position at a given time. There can only be one first man on the moon, one "King Of POP", one original, and in this case, only one Brand OWNS doing something.
Its not that Republicans want to do nothing. They want to solve the problem too. But since they are fighting against the Brand(Obama) who OWNS doing something, it appears in the minds of the public, that Republicans OWN doing nothing.
People don't see all of the other things that they should be thinking about with this big decision(expense, the future of our Country). All they see is "We have to do something". Which makes it possible for Obama to pass anything he wants because anything is better than doing nothing.
So how do Republicans fight back. It will do no good for them to try and fight the "We Can't Do Nothing" battle. They already lost that. They have to fight on another front. How about a Trillion Dollar front?
I would attack the price tag for the Health Care Bill, but not the way they are currently doing it. Republicans have been sure to let us know that the Bill is going to cost us a Trillion dollars, but what does that really mean?
Saying a Trillion doesn't really have any impact on the mind. Sure we know its big, but we have never seen that much money, so we can't grasp how big it is. All we know is that its more than a Billion which is more than a Million.
They need to find a way to have it register in the minds of the people how big a Trillion dollars really is.
Via an email from my Dad I received a powerpoint called Whats a Trillion that illustrates just how big a trillion dollars is. I am not sure who authored it, but who ever did, great job. Here are a few slides from the presentation. I can't guarantee how accurate it is, but it gets the point across.
$1,000,000
$100,000,000
$1,000,000,000
$1,000,000,000,000 (The Death Blow)
I don't think anyone can look at that picture without thinking about how much money that is and without thinking about the repercussions of what is about to happen.
These pictures are great, but I would take it to another level. If the Republicans want to win this battle, they need to make these pictures real life and make a spectacle of it. Hire a bunch of semi trucks loaded with pallets stacked with money( or fake money, cause no one has a Trillion to do this with). Alert the press so all of the cameras, helicopters over head and reporters are there. Have the semi trucks pull up in front of the white house and with fork lifts, start unloading the pallets of money. Have it shut down traffic and stop everyone in their tracks. That would make people realize how much this is going to cost and will shut down the "We can't do nothing" Campaign.
I recently read Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition by Jack Trout. Jack Trout explains that one way to differentiate is to point out your competitor's weaknesses and position yourself as the better alternative. And this is exactly what Obama is doing to pass the health care reform bill.
Two simple phrases have become the slogans to push his campaign forward and have backed Republicans into a corner that they aren't sure how to get out of.
"We must act now" and "We can't do nothing." More than defining his own position, these statements define the position of all of his competition in the minds of the public. If Obama is FOR taking action, anyone opposing him MUST be AGAINST taking action. And if Obama is FOR doing something than anyone opposing him must be AGAINST doing something and therefore FOR doing nothing.
In the human mind, only one Brand in a given category can own a specific position at a given time. There can only be one first man on the moon, one "King Of POP", one original, and in this case, only one Brand OWNS doing something.
Its not that Republicans want to do nothing. They want to solve the problem too. But since they are fighting against the Brand(Obama) who OWNS doing something, it appears in the minds of the public, that Republicans OWN doing nothing.
People don't see all of the other things that they should be thinking about with this big decision(expense, the future of our Country). All they see is "We have to do something". Which makes it possible for Obama to pass anything he wants because anything is better than doing nothing.
So how do Republicans fight back. It will do no good for them to try and fight the "We Can't Do Nothing" battle. They already lost that. They have to fight on another front. How about a Trillion Dollar front?
I would attack the price tag for the Health Care Bill, but not the way they are currently doing it. Republicans have been sure to let us know that the Bill is going to cost us a Trillion dollars, but what does that really mean?
Saying a Trillion doesn't really have any impact on the mind. Sure we know its big, but we have never seen that much money, so we can't grasp how big it is. All we know is that its more than a Billion which is more than a Million.
They need to find a way to have it register in the minds of the people how big a Trillion dollars really is.
Via an email from my Dad I received a powerpoint called Whats a Trillion that illustrates just how big a trillion dollars is. I am not sure who authored it, but who ever did, great job. Here are a few slides from the presentation. I can't guarantee how accurate it is, but it gets the point across.
$1,000,000
$100,000,000
$1,000,000,000
$1,000,000,000,000 (The Death Blow)
I don't think anyone can look at that picture without thinking about how much money that is and without thinking about the repercussions of what is about to happen.
These pictures are great, but I would take it to another level. If the Republicans want to win this battle, they need to make these pictures real life and make a spectacle of it. Hire a bunch of semi trucks loaded with pallets stacked with money( or fake money, cause no one has a Trillion to do this with). Alert the press so all of the cameras, helicopters over head and reporters are there. Have the semi trucks pull up in front of the white house and with fork lifts, start unloading the pallets of money. Have it shut down traffic and stop everyone in their tracks. That would make people realize how much this is going to cost and will shut down the "We can't do nothing" Campaign.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Advertising is Dead
Social Media is quickly changing the way we communicate with consumers and because of it, the old model of advertising is dead.
Advertising has long been about guessing what your customer needs. Using demographics and other customer profile data, advertisers have tried to narrow it down to "Target" consumers and show them an ad that they will respond to. But in the end, its just a guessing game because advertisers don't really know what the customer needs. They just try and guess as best as they can. The problem is, its a one way communication.
Social Media has opened up a two way communication. Now we can get feedback from consumers like never before. Anthony Power has always said that "Marketing is the alignment of solutions and needs to everyone's benefit." Rather that guessing what a customer needs, why not just ask them?
Social Media gives us the ability to have our customers tell us their needs. This is marketing.
This allows us to not just advertise to them, but to truly market to them, to everyone's benefit.
Advertising has long been about guessing what your customer needs. Using demographics and other customer profile data, advertisers have tried to narrow it down to "Target" consumers and show them an ad that they will respond to. But in the end, its just a guessing game because advertisers don't really know what the customer needs. They just try and guess as best as they can. The problem is, its a one way communication.
Social Media has opened up a two way communication. Now we can get feedback from consumers like never before. Anthony Power has always said that "Marketing is the alignment of solutions and needs to everyone's benefit." Rather that guessing what a customer needs, why not just ask them?
Social Media gives us the ability to have our customers tell us their needs. This is marketing.
This allows us to not just advertise to them, but to truly market to them, to everyone's benefit.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Worse Than Spam
The Windows Live team isn't fooling anyone by trying to pass promo spam off as a tech support email.
The only thing worse than SPAM is when the company spamming you, acknowledges within the spam itself, that they aren't supposed to spam you and trys to pass the spam off the as something else.
Today, I received this email from the Windows Live Team.
They acknowledge within the email, "your settings do not allow Microsoft to send you promotional information", yet they are emailing me anyway?
Maybe they think that they are fooling someone by disguising it as "contacting you regarding your communication preference settings". As if this makes it non promotional.
But at the end of the day, they sent me this email to promote the changing of my settings so that they could send me promotions. Lame attempt.
I don't actually use this account for anything real. I use Gmail. But I guess it fits, since I only use this account to fill out forms that I think I might get spammed from. And I did.
The only thing worse than SPAM is when the company spamming you, acknowledges within the spam itself, that they aren't supposed to spam you and trys to pass the spam off the as something else.
Today, I received this email from the Windows Live Team.
They acknowledge within the email, "your settings do not allow Microsoft to send you promotional information", yet they are emailing me anyway?
Maybe they think that they are fooling someone by disguising it as "contacting you regarding your communication preference settings". As if this makes it non promotional.
But at the end of the day, they sent me this email to promote the changing of my settings so that they could send me promotions. Lame attempt.
I don't actually use this account for anything real. I use Gmail. But I guess it fits, since I only use this account to fill out forms that I think I might get spammed from. And I did.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
I've been #twitterjacked
Over the weekend, I discovered that I had been #twitterjacked. An account by the name @lncjmsjones76 had been stealing my tweets (@ljjones) and republishing them as if they were his own without giving any credit to me. It was easy enough to do, as I am sure the person just grabbed my Twitter RSS feed and used a robot to republish it to his account.
Like anything rising in popularity, Twitter has experienced its own forms of spam and nefarious behavior. We have seen many accounts set up to impersonate famous people. While some were created out of respect for the famous person, many have been set up with the intent to deceive.
The great thing about Twitter is that everyone is willing to look out for the people in their network. I was alerted to the fraudulent account by a friend of mine named Anthony Power (@apowerpoint). I had sent him an @reply a few days ago, and over the weekend, he received the same exact @reply from @lncjmsjones76. Realizing someone was stealing my tweets, he sent me an email with a link to the account.
What I can’t figure out is why steal my Tweets. I would like to think that it is because my Tweets were so full of wisdom that they are worth stealing, but I am sure that’s not the case. I was probably randomly picked by someone too lazy to tweet themselves who was trying to build a profile. The weird thing is that I couldn’t see any objective in creating the profile. The profile looked liked it used a fake name that it had created from my initials and there wasn’t even a link to a website.
After doing some investigating, I contacted Twitter and they suspended the account for me, but not before I had a little fun with it. Knowing that it was all automated, I figured I would post a few tweets proving that the account was a fraud. So I tweeted and an hour later, this tweet showed up in the other account.
If you think you have been #twitterjacked, grab one of your tweets that’s a few days old and plug it into the Twitter search. Do it both, with and without quotes around it. If you do find that someone is doing something suspicious, report it to Twitter through their @spam account.
Like anything rising in popularity, Twitter has experienced its own forms of spam and nefarious behavior. We have seen many accounts set up to impersonate famous people. While some were created out of respect for the famous person, many have been set up with the intent to deceive.
The great thing about Twitter is that everyone is willing to look out for the people in their network. I was alerted to the fraudulent account by a friend of mine named Anthony Power (@apowerpoint). I had sent him an @reply a few days ago, and over the weekend, he received the same exact @reply from @lncjmsjones76. Realizing someone was stealing my tweets, he sent me an email with a link to the account.
What I can’t figure out is why steal my Tweets. I would like to think that it is because my Tweets were so full of wisdom that they are worth stealing, but I am sure that’s not the case. I was probably randomly picked by someone too lazy to tweet themselves who was trying to build a profile. The weird thing is that I couldn’t see any objective in creating the profile. The profile looked liked it used a fake name that it had created from my initials and there wasn’t even a link to a website.
After doing some investigating, I contacted Twitter and they suspended the account for me, but not before I had a little fun with it. Knowing that it was all automated, I figured I would post a few tweets proving that the account was a fraud. So I tweeted and an hour later, this tweet showed up in the other account.
If you think you have been #twitterjacked, grab one of your tweets that’s a few days old and plug it into the Twitter search. Do it both, with and without quotes around it. If you do find that someone is doing something suspicious, report it to Twitter through their @spam account.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Social Media For Small Business
I recently had the opportunity to be on a discussion panel on Blog Talk Radio hosted by Linda Daichendt of Strategic Growth Concepts. The topic of discussion was The Basics of Social Media - How to Use it to Grow Your Business. If you are interested in listening to the program you can hear it here.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Value Is The Key To Social Media Success
Value is when the benefit received is greater than the effort that is put in.
Something is valuable as long as the benefit is greater than the effort. You may even get away with the benefit being equal to the effort. But the moment the effort is greater than the benefit, there is no value. No one wants a 1 for the price of 2 deal.
Breaking it down into benefit and effort gives us two manageable parts that we can affect to reach the desired result of increased value. To increase value we can focus on increasing benefit, focus on reducing effort or a combination of the two.
Benefit
To better understand how to affect benefit, we break it down into relevance and net gain.
Relevance is a measure of how important or interesting the audience finds a given message or interaction. It is important to note that relevance does not measure whether an audience finds a particular message good or bad. A counterpoint or difference of opinion is still relevant as long it is centered on a common interest that is shared by the participants.
Net gain is a measure of the overall increase that a person receives because of the interaction. This may be an increase in knowledge, entertainment, ego, financial or social status.
Effort
Effort, as it relates to social media, can be further broken down into the three basic components of accessibility, consumption and usability.
Accessibility is how easy it is to find, see or engage in the interaction. Remove barriers, make it more visible and give people the right information where and when they need it to be able to interact. This includes things like providing a bookmarking button at the end of a post, visible links to your social media profiles in the navigation of your blog or simplifying the form that captures a person’s contact info before they download a white paper.
Consumption means that the message occurs in a form that the audience is familiar with and can easily digest and participate with. For example, a blog is consumable when it’s written in language that the audience understands and the length isn’t longer than the audience’s attention span.
Usability determines how easy it is for a person to apply what they have gained after the initial interaction. It ensures that the message or interaction is easy to use or execute. Things that decrease usability are legal issues, copyrights, downloading third party software, an association that may embarrass a person in front of their peers, or any other hoop someone might have to jump through in order to further use the message. Youtube does a great job with this by providing embeddable code in a neat little window that makes it easy for non programmers to share and post a video.
As I said before, value is the key to successful social media participation. Make a commitment to provide value to those you interact with through every conversation, marketing campaign, blog post, tweet and interaction and you will be successful.
I am currently putting together a Value Checklist which will outline specific action items that should be accomplished in order to increase value in your social media interactions and messages. If you would like to receive a copy of the checklist, please email at ljjones6 at gmail dot com.
As a math equation
Value = Benefit / Effort
Value = Benefit / Effort
Something is valuable as long as the benefit is greater than the effort. You may even get away with the benefit being equal to the effort. But the moment the effort is greater than the benefit, there is no value. No one wants a 1 for the price of 2 deal.
Breaking it down into benefit and effort gives us two manageable parts that we can affect to reach the desired result of increased value. To increase value we can focus on increasing benefit, focus on reducing effort or a combination of the two.
Benefit
To better understand how to affect benefit, we break it down into relevance and net gain.
Relevance is a measure of how important or interesting the audience finds a given message or interaction. It is important to note that relevance does not measure whether an audience finds a particular message good or bad. A counterpoint or difference of opinion is still relevant as long it is centered on a common interest that is shared by the participants.
Net gain is a measure of the overall increase that a person receives because of the interaction. This may be an increase in knowledge, entertainment, ego, financial or social status.
Effort
Effort, as it relates to social media, can be further broken down into the three basic components of accessibility, consumption and usability.
Accessibility is how easy it is to find, see or engage in the interaction. Remove barriers, make it more visible and give people the right information where and when they need it to be able to interact. This includes things like providing a bookmarking button at the end of a post, visible links to your social media profiles in the navigation of your blog or simplifying the form that captures a person’s contact info before they download a white paper.
Consumption means that the message occurs in a form that the audience is familiar with and can easily digest and participate with. For example, a blog is consumable when it’s written in language that the audience understands and the length isn’t longer than the audience’s attention span.
Usability determines how easy it is for a person to apply what they have gained after the initial interaction. It ensures that the message or interaction is easy to use or execute. Things that decrease usability are legal issues, copyrights, downloading third party software, an association that may embarrass a person in front of their peers, or any other hoop someone might have to jump through in order to further use the message. Youtube does a great job with this by providing embeddable code in a neat little window that makes it easy for non programmers to share and post a video.
As I said before, value is the key to successful social media participation. Make a commitment to provide value to those you interact with through every conversation, marketing campaign, blog post, tweet and interaction and you will be successful.
I am currently putting together a Value Checklist which will outline specific action items that should be accomplished in order to increase value in your social media interactions and messages. If you would like to receive a copy of the checklist, please email at ljjones6 at gmail dot com.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
The Real Shaq is the Real Social Media Guru
By now its no secret that the real Shaquille O'neal is on Twitter as @THE_REAL_SHAQ. The truth is, he is doing a great job and people could learn a lot from watching him.
Shaq Is Real
The greatest thing that we can learn from him about participating on Twitter is that he is participating as a real person who just happens to be a celebrity. Its not his assistant or some marketing agency acting on his behalf. Its him, sending tweets from his phone and tweeting with normal, average, everyday people just like you and me. Now that's cool. After all, he could have just followed and tweeted with other Twitter celebrities like Lance Armstrong @lancearmstrong or Steve Nash @the_real_nash.
He is real. He is personal. And he also has fun with it.
Recently he gave away two tickets to a suns game with this Tweet.
People n phoenix u have 5 min to touch me I have 2 laker tickets n my hand I'm on a corner at a bus stop
4:42 PM Feb 28th from txt
And 9 minutes later @austino won.
Wow the winner is @austino he saw mw walgreens on 7th and glendale congrats follow him
4:51 PM Feb 28th from txt
Be real. Be personal. And have fun. It takes time, but you will be rewarded.
Monday, March 9, 2009
One Man's Noise
With the internet and social media making it so easy for anyone to become a publisher, it can be difficult to keep up with all of the content that is produced and can be difficult to find the good content among the noise. As I was discussing this today on Twitter with @mehwolfy, he tweeted that "@ljjones one man's noise is another man's music." A very true statement. What's interesting and relevant to you may not be the same for me and vice versa.
So what is noise?
Noise is content that is not relevant or of value to you or a given audience.
Listening
If you are listening, then you are part of the audience and you need to filter the noise. Don't try to listen to everything. There is just too much. Listen to what interests you and to people who interest you.
Publishing
If you are publishing then you are writing for an audience. In order to write good content rather than generating more noise, you need to know your audience and understand what content they will find valuable. Write for them.
Everyday more content is created and if we don't filter it, it all becomes noise. But always remember just because its noise to you, doesn't mean that it won't be music to someone else's ears.
So what is noise?
Noise is content that is not relevant or of value to you or a given audience.
Listening
If you are listening, then you are part of the audience and you need to filter the noise. Don't try to listen to everything. There is just too much. Listen to what interests you and to people who interest you.
Publishing
If you are publishing then you are writing for an audience. In order to write good content rather than generating more noise, you need to know your audience and understand what content they will find valuable. Write for them.
Everyday more content is created and if we don't filter it, it all becomes noise. But always remember just because its noise to you, doesn't mean that it won't be music to someone else's ears.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Keep Your Blog Posts Short
Blog posts don't have to be long to be powerful. In fact, some of the best posts are the ones that are short and get right to the point.
Reasons to keep posts short:
- People have more to do all day than read blogs
- If a post seems too long, I may just skip it
- It keeps you as the writer focused on the subject
- People like things that are easily consumable
- People have short attention spans
If you do have a long post, break it up into two or three separate posts and share them over a few days. It will keep readers coming back, rather than getting bored and leaving.
Reasons to keep posts short:
- People have more to do all day than read blogs
- If a post seems too long, I may just skip it
- It keeps you as the writer focused on the subject
- People like things that are easily consumable
- People have short attention spans
If you do have a long post, break it up into two or three separate posts and share them over a few days. It will keep readers coming back, rather than getting bored and leaving.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
You Can't Buy Influence
Today I came across a post about Gary Vaynerchuk Using Adwords Ads to Buy Twitter Followers?. The author, Jacob Morgan - a social media consultant, asked the question is it ethical? Gary is being very transparent about what he is doing, so I am not sure that its an ethical question. I think the bigger issue here is whether or not Gary has influence over the people that follow him through Adwords.
Gary has gained a lot of followers with this tactic but I doubt that he has much influence over them. Influence is about earning trust. Its a relationship and a relationship that starts with money, is bound to fail. As soon as the money runs out, the relationship is often over.
Plus this tactic just smells funny. It may not be as bad as Belkin paying people for good reviews on Amazon.com, but it feels like it belongs in that same category, along with buying links for SEO and paying people to Digg your story.
True social media is about trust, and it can't be bought. Key things we should learn from this:
Gary has gained a lot of followers with this tactic but I doubt that he has much influence over them. Influence is about earning trust. Its a relationship and a relationship that starts with money, is bound to fail. As soon as the money runs out, the relationship is often over.
Plus this tactic just smells funny. It may not be as bad as Belkin paying people for good reviews on Amazon.com, but it feels like it belongs in that same category, along with buying links for SEO and paying people to Digg your story.
True social media is about trust, and it can't be bought. Key things we should learn from this:
- Social media takes time and effort
- Be authentic
- Don't force it (You can't buy it)
- Avoid tactics that "smell" funny
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Economy Needs To Be Re-Branded
Although President Obama is trying his hardest to help our struggling economy, he is looking for advice from the wrong experts. Like most people, he is thinking, this is an economic problem so lets ask the economists. But this isn't a problem about money, its about dealing with human emotion and right now those emotions are fear and confidence.
Companies are scared of the recession and are laying off employees. The people who still have jobs fear losing their jobs so they spend less money. Because consumers spend less, companies fears are validated, and so they lay off more people. And Banks don't trust anyone with their money. Its a vicious cycle and unless we can restore confidence, we won't get out of it soon.
It won't matter how much money we pump into the economy if at the end of the day people's confidence isn't restored. Many surveys show that lots of people don't think the economic stimulus package (800 + Billion$) will have any effect on the economy. And if they don't think it will, then it won't. Its kind of like a reverse placebo effect where you don't think a drug will help you get better, so it doesn't.
And the media doesn't help at all. They continuously tell us how bad it is and give us minute to minute updates on the total jobs lost. I admit, its bad, but all the media does is scare us and make a bad situation worse. All in the name of better ratings, they are willing to help us into the hole and cover us with dirt. Sadly, the only way to get the media to stop spreading mass economic chaos is to get them to focus on something else that would bring them bigger ratings. I don't even want to think about what that would be.
We need something that inspires confidence, trust and optimism. The current stimulus plan does just the opposite. Its too big. Happened to quick. Its highly debated. People already don't trust the government with money. And all the fighting in Washington between the two parties only makes it worse.
So how do we fix it? We approach this from a marketing point of view and re-brand the economy. We start from scratch, get rid of the old, throw out the stimulus package and work on developing strategies to gain consumer confidence. A good marketing plan will go further than all the money in the world.
Companies are scared of the recession and are laying off employees. The people who still have jobs fear losing their jobs so they spend less money. Because consumers spend less, companies fears are validated, and so they lay off more people. And Banks don't trust anyone with their money. Its a vicious cycle and unless we can restore confidence, we won't get out of it soon.
It won't matter how much money we pump into the economy if at the end of the day people's confidence isn't restored. Many surveys show that lots of people don't think the economic stimulus package (800 + Billion$) will have any effect on the economy. And if they don't think it will, then it won't. Its kind of like a reverse placebo effect where you don't think a drug will help you get better, so it doesn't.
And the media doesn't help at all. They continuously tell us how bad it is and give us minute to minute updates on the total jobs lost. I admit, its bad, but all the media does is scare us and make a bad situation worse. All in the name of better ratings, they are willing to help us into the hole and cover us with dirt. Sadly, the only way to get the media to stop spreading mass economic chaos is to get them to focus on something else that would bring them bigger ratings. I don't even want to think about what that would be.
We need something that inspires confidence, trust and optimism. The current stimulus plan does just the opposite. Its too big. Happened to quick. Its highly debated. People already don't trust the government with money. And all the fighting in Washington between the two parties only makes it worse.
So how do we fix it? We approach this from a marketing point of view and re-brand the economy. We start from scratch, get rid of the old, throw out the stimulus package and work on developing strategies to gain consumer confidence. A good marketing plan will go further than all the money in the world.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Communities, You are just a Guest
In an effort to market their products, I often see companies wanting to run out and form a community around their brand or product. But unless you are a brand like Nike or Apple, you can forget about it. No matter how great you think your product is, it just isn't cool enough to support a community. And until you come to grips with that, you won't be successful in social media.
So what is cool enough to bring a group of people together and form a community. The key is common interests. Common interest is what brings people from all walks of life together and is the glue that holds social media together.
People have connected and formed communities long before your product arrived in social media. So rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, why not find a community that already shares a common interest with your brand and participate.
But before you run in there and announce your arrival to the party, take a step back and listen. Listen, watch and get a feel for the community. Figure out the rules, the ins and outs, and the etiquette of the community. And then develop a strategy to participate. And if your strategy for participating involves telling the community how much they need your product, then you need to start over and go back and do some more listening.
Communities are powerful and a great way to engage your audience. Just make sure you play by their rules and not yours. After all its their community and you are just a guest.
So what is cool enough to bring a group of people together and form a community. The key is common interests. Common interest is what brings people from all walks of life together and is the glue that holds social media together.
People have connected and formed communities long before your product arrived in social media. So rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, why not find a community that already shares a common interest with your brand and participate.
But before you run in there and announce your arrival to the party, take a step back and listen. Listen, watch and get a feel for the community. Figure out the rules, the ins and outs, and the etiquette of the community. And then develop a strategy to participate. And if your strategy for participating involves telling the community how much they need your product, then you need to start over and go back and do some more listening.
Communities are powerful and a great way to engage your audience. Just make sure you play by their rules and not yours. After all its their community and you are just a guest.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The Best Posts Will Still Find Me
I came across this really interesting post the other day called Uncle! Why I Quit Following Chris Brogan. In the post the, Scott Hepburn says, the best posts will still find me. And that got me thinking.
One of the great things about social media, is people's willingness to share things that are really good. If its good, and people like it, they share it. I hate to say it goes viral, because that is something else. I am talking about the sharing and spreading good and useful content.
If its good content it always seems to find me through email, Twitter, Facebook, it always finds me.
One of the great things about social media, is people's willingness to share things that are really good. If its good, and people like it, they share it. I hate to say it goes viral, because that is something else. I am talking about the sharing and spreading good and useful content.
If its good content it always seems to find me through email, Twitter, Facebook, it always finds me.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Whats the first tool to start with?
I often get asked, "What's the first social media tool or technology my brand should start with?" My answer is always none.
Tools and tech are not the place you start.
Start with Objective, Strategy and Audience. Once you have defined those three very important things, they will help you decide which tools are right for your marketing plan.
And with each new tool that you discovered or are considering, ask yourself these three questions:
Tools and tech are not the place you start.
Start with Objective, Strategy and Audience. Once you have defined those three very important things, they will help you decide which tools are right for your marketing plan.
And with each new tool that you discovered or are considering, ask yourself these three questions:
- Does it help me accomplish my objective?
- Does it fit with my strategy?
- Will it help me communicate with my audience?
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
How I use Twitter
When I first saw twitter, I have to admit, I wasn't sure what all of the fuss was about. After all, Twitter's tag line is "What are you doing?" and I couldn't figure out why anyone would care what a person was doing at any given moment.
And if that were its only use, I don't think I would use it. But that's not all it is for. Its much more.
A better tag line for Twitter would be "What are you talking about". Twitter is like a bunch of chat rooms where people come in and out and talk about just about everything. Its a great way to communicate and to meet people who share common interests with you.
For me, Twitter is about communicating. I have met people that I would never have met before and have learned and discussed ideas with really smart and interesting people.
One of the most interesting things about Twitter, is watching what people are talking about. Check out the search.twitter.com to see what people are saying. What people are talking about on twitter, is a good representation of what people are talking about in real life and vice versa. So if you are wondering about what people are talking about, check out the search.
And if that were its only use, I don't think I would use it. But that's not all it is for. Its much more.
A better tag line for Twitter would be "What are you talking about". Twitter is like a bunch of chat rooms where people come in and out and talk about just about everything. Its a great way to communicate and to meet people who share common interests with you.
For me, Twitter is about communicating. I have met people that I would never have met before and have learned and discussed ideas with really smart and interesting people.
One of the most interesting things about Twitter, is watching what people are talking about. Check out the search.twitter.com to see what people are saying. What people are talking about on twitter, is a good representation of what people are talking about in real life and vice versa. So if you are wondering about what people are talking about, check out the search.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
You think I am reading your mind... but really I am just reading your blog.
Today's blog post is inspired by a secret I recently saw on Postsecret that read, "You think I am reading your mind... but really I am just reading your blog." And it got me wondering, what does a blog and other social media tell you about a person.
I find that people blog about what they are passionate about. Whether its marketing, their kids, a hobby, or a specific facet of their life, people write about something that is important to them and occupies their thoughts.
I think that's why when I meet someone and I am interested in learning about them, the first place I turn is their blog. I could go to Linkedin, but that's like reading a resume and tells me more about what they have done then who they really are.
Because a blog has that personal feel to it, people have that tendency to open up and show their true colors and you really get a feel for who the person really is.
Another place in social media that I like to see how people describe themselves is their Twitter bio. You only have 160 characters so you have to get right to the point. There is only room to include vital, important info and no room for fluff. 160 characters says a lot about what is important to a person and their reason for being on twitter. And when someone hasn't taken the time to fill out their Twitter bio, it just tells me they are there for the wrong reasons.
My twitter bio says "Social Media and Internet Marketing Strategist. Internet and Star Wars Geek. Dad and Husband. Snowboarding, Sports and Video Games." It tells about what I do, who I am, and a few hobbies I enjoy.
What do your social media profiles say about you?
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