David Hoppe on the value of content
My friend David is a great human being. He's a writer, he's an advocate for change, he's an intellectual, he's a playwright, I could go on. David and I hung out this week to talk content. We're both believers in the paramount importance of stories. He says it best – so check out the video.
Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz | Blip.fm | Social Media Marketing
An interview with Neil Berman, President, Delivra
Neil Berman, President of Delivra, says there are lots of reasons to use email as part of your marketing mix. 5 to be precise. They're instant, affordable, dynamic, measurable, and best of all, its easy!
I started thinking more about this the other day when I saw this on chart of the day:
According to AddToAny
,
a company that provides Web publishers tools to let their users share
content, more people use Facebook to share links than any other service
– including, to our surprise, email.
Now, if you read the original article closely:
Interestingly, if you combine all of Yahoo’s
properties – Delicious, Yahoo Bookmarks, Yahoo Buzz, and Yahoo
Messenger – it accounts for 14.4 percent of sharing, making it second
on the list. Less surprising, MySpace has fallen well down the ranks with just 5 percent of shares. Other notables include Digg at 4.4 percent, Bebo at 3.1 percent, and LinkedIn at a mere 0.4 percent.
Either way, the way I look at it – email is still accounting for 11% of the way that content/information is being shared. This raises an important question for some of you that insist that social is king. Isn't email the original social? Shouldn't you be using email?
Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz | Blip.fm
Why aren't more agencies, PR firms, social media people/agencies practicing what they preach?
Let's start this locally.
Kyle Lacy posed this question in recent post entitled "the failing marketing and PR world"
"I am becoming increasingly concerned with the lack of blog writing by public relations, marketing, and advertising firms in the city of Indianapolis and abroad. The simple fact that a communications company is not in-tune with the changing landscape of the consumer driven world is troubling… to say the least."
Rodger Johnson, on the Hooiser PRSA blog in this post entitled, "How are you using social media for your clients"
While there are a few agencies experimenting with social media, I've talked with one agency owner about his effort, I don't see many of us embracing social media as tools of engagement. I wonder why that is?
In her characteristic candid style, Elizabeth Friedland responded:
Our clients are paying us to make their brands better but utilizing EVERY strategic tool at our disposal — not just social media. They're not paying us to try to launch ourselves into the social media "digiratti."
To which, Gus Pearcy, said (wow Gus – I'm not even going to start with those loaded remarks)
PR is not about the method; it's about the results. Why is Lacy so sure that PR firms are not using social media? Firms work for a client. The strategy is not something to brag about. It's like revealing the secret behind sawing the lady in half. It's clever, but it's no longer magic.
My man, Chuck Ghose jumps in with the answer I find most appealing:
The best way to learn a game is to play it. If I were hiring an agency, I'd like to see how they are using it to grow their own business. I think it would provide insight into their potential strategy for clients.
And, in his own poignant style, Robby Slaughter says:
As for Kyle Lacy's original post, I think his concern is that if you look around, many—if not most—people who wear the PR hat are not really leveraging social media. In fact most of the people in this thread seem to think social media is just another tool in the PR toolbox.
But again, from the outside, it looks like a sea change. Social media appears to be a fundamental shift to re-engage individual empowerment over the conversation
Great conversation, everybody. But, frankly I'm disappointed in the lack of answers to the real question: Why aren't you practicing what you preach?
Some questions about all the random commentary around why more firms aren't practicing what they preach?
Does transparency prevent you from doing your job? When did keeping clients thinking you perform magic ever result in sustainable relationships. Smart clients know how you do it. They work with you because you add value and you have a relationship. Sure keep a few tricks up your sleeve. Ken Honeywell, Well Done Marketing founder and overall bad ass, said it best "clients and agencies deserve each other". There are people that do it well – clearly. Hetrick Communications, Trendy Minds, Brainstorm, and many more do a great job practicing what they preach. Clearly, if anyone should specialize in social media – its PR firms. I'd love to see more discussion and some real answers.
Last point: Say you want to get in shape at your gym and you decide to get a personal trainer. Would you hire the over-weight (yes I said it), unhealthy, chain smokin' personal trainer because he or she's got a lot of great clients and awards? Sorry, maybe I'm not that open minded. Credibility matters. EAT YOUR OWN DOG FOOD (Thanks Brad Ward for clueing me into this Chris Brogan quote).
Bring it. It's a discussion. Keep it focused 
. The question is why you aren't practicing what you preach.
Indianapolis’ Scofield Editorial captures vendor client relationship dark side
If you live in the marketing, PR, social media, website, or any related field – you can feel this Youtube video. The metaphors are spot on. The virality was presumably driven purely by word of mouth – I’d say email, facebook, and twitter. Its very clever. Here’s a quick look at some of the results:
- Comments: 1,079
- Favourites: 7718
- Ratings: 3.053
- Average rating: 4.91
Consider that this video is B to B, and the 1,013,255 views are more impressive. Also interesting is that the most popular demographic is male 35-64 broadly. Nice job, Scofield Editorial – I’d say they deserve an award for great Indianapolis social media usage! Content is king! I’d be interested to see how they’ve used the virality to generate additional business.
Twit and tweet have become two of the most popular words in
Web language lately, it seems. Twitter has so many applications developed to
make it more accessible and convenient for followers, it’s hard to keep track
anymore.
To make social media life a little easier, I've compiled a list of the Top 20 Twitter Applications and written a one-sentence description of each. (Ranks are based on monthly unique visitor numbers from Compete.com.)
Photo by AnthonyCarlucci/Flickr.com
Twitter Applications
1. Twitpic – share your photos on Twitter
2. Tweetdeck – personal browser for Twitter
3. Digsby – live newsfeed for Twitter
4. Twittercounter – track follower numbers on Twitter
5. Twitterfeed – feed your blog to Twitter
6. Twitterholic – track which Twit has the most followers
7. Twhirl – desktop client for Twitter
8. Twitturly – tracks/ranks what’s talked about on Twitter
9. Twtpoll – create a poll on Twitter
10. Retweetist – track what’s being retweeted
11. Tweepler – process new followers
12. Hellotxt – update your status on all social networks at
once
13. Twitdom – Twitter application download database
14. Tweetscan – Twitter updates via e-mail or RSS
15. Tweetburner – tracks links shared on Twitter
16. Tweetvision – see where people are twittering in the
world
17. Twitterfall – Tweets delivered in waterfall fashion
18. Monitter – enter keywords to see what people are saying
19. Twibs – browse Twitter businesses
20. Twistori – tracks specific words in tweets and feeds
them
Feedback
Which have you used? What do you like/dislike about those you have used? Which do you think are the most useful?
Share your thoughts. Let it out. Pent-up thoughts are never good for anyone.
~ Alyson ~ @ Twitter
Zig.marketing has
been named the digital agency of record for three Sherwin-Williams brands,
Dutch Boy®, Krylon® and Pratt & Lambert®. Zig is helping Sherwin-Williams
make a commitment in the digital space to stay ahead of a changing media
landscape, and do an even better job of talking to and inspiring new and
current customers.
I must commend
Sherwin-Williams for this move. While I don’t know the work of Zig.marketing, I
applaud Sherwin-Williams for recognizing that standard advertising doesn’t
work, and for understanding the value of reaching and engaging their customers.
This is another major brand that has axed a significant amount of traditional
media to move into a space where purchase decisions are being made.
And yet, so many mid-market
brands, continue to resist the benefits of internet marketing. Of course, the
marketing director who doesn’t understand it is afraid of it – but the advice I
have for you is simple: Adapt or you will become redundant anyway. Its just a
matter of time. Your internet marketing strategy should include micro-sites,
landing pages, banners, organic and paid search, blogging and micro-blogging,
and email.
The truth is mid-market firms are more mobile, should take more risks to compete with larger brands, and should use every advantage they can. What do you think?
- Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz
