Social Media in Action Series: List Blogging with Jeremiah Owyang

I'm spending a few days highlighting my "best in class" picks for companies driven by social media. This series isn't about uncovering the latest viral phenomenon - it's about slowing your roll a little bit and observing the underlying principles of success in social media marketing. The third case in this series features prominent blogger and digital strategy expert Jeremiah Owyang.

If you enjoy keeping up with the social web and learning about new technologies you may be familiar with Owyang's aptly named blog: Web Strategy. The blog has one area that I'm going to highlight: a rolling list of brands that were "punked" by social media. Take a look at the extensive article, then read my analysis below the image.

Building a unique, thoughtful list of (for lack of a better word) things, can be an incredible source of traffic, referrals and conversions. For marketers Jeremiah's list provides a chronological account of case studies in social media failure. Incredibly useful for client and prospect presentations, internal reports or as a way to check for probably issues before a campaign goes live.

There are many many examples of lists in social media, but remember this: if it doesn't already exist you may be passing up an opportunity to aggregate and store information that will be appreciated by thousands - if not millions - of adoring fans. Go get em!

Nick Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 9 years, and helps agencies and brands find and connect to digital audiences for profitable outcomes. Want to talk to him about how social technologies can help your agency or brand grow? Email him at nick@lonelybrand.com

Chicago Media Marketing & Advertising August Meetup Conclusion and Pictures

The Chicago Media Marketing & Advertising Group had another great meet up last night - the founders of ChirpUp spoke about blogging and their experiences, as well as engaged the audience in a lively discussion about how to make blogging work for clients.

Here are some select photos from the event - over 70 of Chicago's media, marketing, advertising, and public relations professionals attended! Thanks to Saper Law for providing the space for a wonderful evening.

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Maddock Douglas Launches Innovation Blog

Nicholas Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 15 years. He is the Digital Strategy Lead and founder of Chicago-based digital marketing firm lonelybrand, where he directs the creation and execution of digital marketing programs that generate measurable signups, conversions and sales.

In the spirit of innovation and bringing truly great ideas from mind to market, Maddock Douglas has created the Innovation Blog. This is a unique opportunity to communicate with the top innovators in advertising and understand more about how great ideas are brought to life.

Enjoy!

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ADMAVEN to Begin Bimonthly Column For Young Professionals of Chicago

Nicholas Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 15 years. He is the Digital Strategy Lead and founder of Chicago-based digital marketing firm lonelybrand, where he directs the creation and execution of digital marketing programs that generate measurable signups, conversions and sales.

Recently I accepted a request to begin a twice-monthly contribution to the Young Professionals of Chicago (YPC) blog.

From YPC:

Young Professionals of Chicago (YPC), a non-profit, all volunteer organization, is dedicated to building a better Chicago. We are made up of motivated, energetic young professionals certain to become the community's future leaders. YPC encourages members to get involved and make a difference by becoming active participants in the professional, civic and social aspects of their city.

YPC offers its members a way to link their personal passions with professional ambitions. The group is the one professional, civic and social organization that drives positive and real change in Chicago, while giving young professionals a chance to make a significant impact in the community.

I look forward to contributing outstanding content from my own perspective to YPC. Please look for my posts beginning early next week. If you would like to contribute suggestions for content, please comment below or contact me via email, Twitter, or other outlet.

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The Printed Blog's Joshua Karp Calls Writers and Editors to Action

Nicholas Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 15 years. He is the Digital Strategy Lead and founder of Chicago-based digital marketing firm lonelybrand, where he directs the creation and execution of digital marketing programs that generate measurable signups, conversions and sales.

I received a call to action via Facebook yesterday from The Printed Blog's founder Joshua Karp:

In three weeks, The Printed Blog is going to publish its first Special Issue. The First Special Issue will be 10 pages long... but:

2 pages will be in Spanish; 2 pages will be in French; 2 pages will be in Hebrew; 2 pages will be in Chinese; and 2 pages will be in English

We are going to distribute the paper in Beijing, Tel Aviv, Paris, Madrid, London, Mexico City, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

This is an experiment.

Each 2 page spread will be comprised of blogs, photographs, events, music, and profiles from each country, in their original language. Can we leverage the power of the social network to engage people to create a global newspaper?

I think so, but we need your help. If you would like to help promote the next new era of citizen journalism and, hopefully, global cultural awareness, let me know. Here's what we need:

1) editors in each language, in each city, who can also speak English
2) an editor in Chicago for each language (who can also speak English)
3) bloggers in each language, ideally with permission to use their posts
4) photographers from each city, also with permission to use their photographs
4) musicians from each city who would like to be promoted within the pages of The Printed Blog
5) events happening in late March for each city (in the original language)

Guest editors are paid $250.00 per issue... bloggers and photographers will receive a portion of the ad revenue from any ads run near their content; everyone else gets exposure in the paper. Maybe you fit into one of these categories, maybe you know someone else who does?

Please send your information to: specialissue@theprintedblo

g.com.

We need people from around the world to be aware of this project and to get involved in this project. That means inviting your friends: from Des Moines to China. We need ideas of how to find editors, bloggers, photographers, and musicians in each of the counties (Craigslist will only go so far). We need people to translate. If you are a blogger, if you felt like writing about this, that would be great, too.

If you have any questions, please reach out to me directly at jkarp@theprintedblog.com. Let me know what you think about this project. Feel free to "friend" me if we are not already. Please tell your friends, and invite them, too.

Thank you very much!
Josh

Web: http://www.theprintedblog.com
Blog: http://blog.theprintedblog.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/theprintedblog

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Chicago Media Marketing & Advertising February Meetup

Nicholas Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 15 years. He is the Digital Strategy Lead and founder of Chicago-based digital marketing firm lonelybrand, where he directs the creation and execution of digital marketing programs that generate measurable signups, conversions and sales.

The Chicago Media Marketing & Advertising Group invites you to attend our February meet up!

February details are online, and I look forward to seeing you all there.

"Join us along with a special panel of three (3) guest speakers. All experts in their field, who will be discussing the world of PUBLISHING.
There will be a brief Q & A."

Expect to hear discussions centered around blogging, print media, and new ways to reach consumers through both mediums.

Location Information:

Monday, February 9, 2009, 7:00PM
Lincoln Station
242 N. Lincoln Ave.
Chicago, IL 60614
773.472.8100

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Book Review: Groundswell - Published 2008 by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff

Nicholas Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 15 years. He is the Digital Strategy Lead and founder of Chicago-based digital marketing firm lonelybrand, where he directs the creation and execution of digital marketing programs that generate measurable signups, conversions and sales.

Groundswell: A social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations.

Earlier this year the blog community was abuzz with the impending release of Groundswell - the "how to" book for all things social media. Promising a system of planning and executing social media campaigns and tying them to measurable results, expectations were high.

Fast forward six months - has the Groundswell lived up to its promise?

Fundamentally, I enjoyed the book because it helps solidify social media as a valid and usable marketing/advertising strategy. The most useful portions of the book are the case studies detailing the trials and tribulations of various large companies attempting to enter the social media space (or being run over by it). Don't expect formal case study material - references are lacking and the studies themselves read as narratives as opposed to true analysis, however you may find some similarities between your experiences in social media and the foibles of those put under the microscope.

Authors Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff are veterans of Forrester Research, Inc. and it shows. They consistently lace the text with drivers to their website and blog, which is nice the first time but gets very old very fast. Additionally, the entire Groundswell strategy hinges on research, which although important, is certainly not the best solution for social media execution in every scenario.

Functionally, Groundswell delivers a very basic understanding of what social media is and how to use it in some very specific situations. In terms of providing a framework for planning, measuring, and executing a social media campaign Li and Bernoff simply suggest that through proper research and understanding of the target audience your strategy will usually succeed; a simplistic view of a very complicated process in my opinion.

In addition, Groundswell does not provide a true tool or metric for comparing campaigns against competitor initiatives, nor does it provide a quantifiable method for execution. The reader is simply told that each client is so unqiue you must make a significant investment in research up front or risk missing the mark and getting steamrolled by masses of dissatisfied or unconvinced customers.

If you are completely new to social media or need a good understanding of what a properly executed social media campaign looks like, this book may assist you in that endeavor. Take care to not get lost in the process of research, research, and more research.

Bridging The Gap - YouTube Links to iTunes, Amazon, and Others

The biggest problem faced by Web 2.0 technologies involves measuring the success of a campaign in dollars. Creation and distribution of content is the first step to a great campaign, but how does one move from clickthroughs to actual sales. Last week YouTube took steps to sell - albeit through affiliates - content related products and services online.

The new model has been reviewed by many analysts, bloggers, and pundits; so I am not going to cover the specifics of how it works (read marketingpilgrim, seorountable, adverlab, and searchengineland for more details). Rather ADMAVEN will look at the fundamentals of the YouTube model; and why bridging the gap between social media campaigns and direct sales is so critical to the future of online campaigns.

Linking products and services directly to YouTube videos on a content specific basis allows vendors to benefit from product placement, use of music, and overt commercials that are often viewed by millions.

The holy grail of all social media is moving one step past the clickthrough rate to the conversion rate, or number of viewers that actually perform the desired action, such as purchase, register, or otherwise interact with a vendor.

When advising clients on how to properly execute social media campaigns, it is important to ask yourself how a campaign might be structure to remove as many layers between viewing content and actually making a purchase, registration, etc...

Too few campaigns measure success based on number of clickthroughs or video views alone. As we move forward in the Web 2.0 space, these metrics will become increasingly irrelevant as the industry restructures toward conversion rates.

Nicholas Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 15 years. He is the Digital Strategy Lead and founder of Chicago-based digital marketing firm lonelybrand, where he directs the creation and execution of digital marketing programs that generate measurable signups, conversions and sales.

Corporate Blogging For Self Defense

I have recently been discussing with clients and the blogosphere why it is important for companies to author blogs.

This evening, in lieu of the last week of economic turmoil on Wall Street, I did a quick search on Google for the term, "CEO".

The top articles returned were very negative in nature. What can a company do to counter the onslaught of negative press and foster an image of customer service and relations?

Step one: set aside a tiny amount of your marketing or public relations budget to start and maintain a blog.

Step two: discuss relevant corporate issues and bring your customers and concerned interests one step closer to the board room.

As Allison Guimard, CEO of Alijor, recently commented on ADMAVEN:

"I’m a follower of Tim Ferriss’s 4-Hour Work Week, and his guidelines on time management have been very influential for me. Yes, I am a busy CEO, and I try to post regularly, but thankfully I have people working for me who make sure that happens! So I get friendly reminders every now and then from my co-workers/PR people to update my blog!"

Allison may be in command of a promising venture, but she does not have millions at her disposal for marketing and public relations. The point of the matter is you do not need a seven figure marketing budget to take initiative and utilize social media.

As we move to the fourth quarter of 2008 and enter 2009 corporations will come under increased scrutiny. Take your pick - John McCain or Barack Obama - both include policies of tighter corporate financial control and demand more transparency from American companies. Consider social media tools when planning your defense against attrition due to bad press and economic uncertainty.

Nicholas Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 15 years. He is the Digital Strategy Lead and founder of Chicago-based digital marketing firm lonelybrand, where he directs the creation and execution of digital marketing programs that generate measurable signups, conversions and sales.

Reasons Your Company Should Have A Blog

In follow up to B.L. Ochman's article in AdvertisingAge entitled "Nine Great Reasons to Blog" I thought I would add my two cents. Clients are asking more and more about how best to create and maintain a blog, and aside from the obvious caveats about content and relevance, here are some outstanding reasons companies should make the investment.

There are some very pragmatic reasons your company should have a blog:

1) Search Engine Optimization. Search engines reward content that is not deeply structured (a blog usually consists of one HTML page) and frequently updated. A blog can ensure your company stays number one when a potential customer hits a keyword

2) Your competitors are doing it. I was just asked in a conference call with a large company to look at their competitors website, "Look at this, they have a personal CEO blog, a general PR blog, and a Flikr group! We want that!" My immediate response was, "What content do you have to offer? Give me something I can use to attract readers."

3) Your customers want it. A marketing manager at a large cinema group is using Twitter (a microblogging service) to give away free movie schwag (film posters, premier tickets, etc...). He got a modest initial following from the giveaways, but noticed something interesting. His dissatisfied customers were using Twitter to let him know they had a bad experience. He was able to bring these angry customers back into the fold by offering complementary tickets, a quick word of apology, or an explanation of company policy. The point is these customers were able to quickly issue feedback through the blog that is reviewed by peers and gave the company a chance to reduce attrition.

In addition, there are other - less tangible - benefits from having a company blog:

1) Your employees read it. Having a centralized place to deliver a more personal message can boost employee morale in tough times. Think of how C level bloggers have used their platform to discuss layoffs from an honest, no nonsense perspective, or how the same C level bloggers have congratulated individuals or groups within the company on better than expected performance.

2) Your company can create perception. Companies and individuals can use blogs as a way to self-brand. Choosing an author, imagery, rich media, and topics for articles allows you to actively manage your company perception. Individuals trust and seek out blog posting much more than press releases, and data from a blog cannot be bent through the lens of biased media groups. So long as the content remains honest, useful, and relevant to the audience a company may enjoy a high level of brand awareness without being literal.

3) Increase personal value. As an employee, your ability to manage and produce a successful blog increases your value. You have an opportunity to establish yourself as an informed and knowledgeable industry pro in a public forum. Encouraging employee contribution to the blog is a win win - individuals gain recognition and the company that employs them is increasingly viewed as having the best talent by customers and competitors alike.

Nicholas Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 15 years. He is the Digital Strategy Lead and founder of Chicago-based digital marketing firm lonelybrand, where he directs the creation and execution of digital marketing programs that generate measurable signups, conversions and sales.

Social Media Studies! Blogs and College Students Are Growth Markets

Two outstanding reports released this week:

Technorati's State of the Bloggosphere 2008

and

EMarketer's College Students' Social Networking

Both studies tackle some complex methodologies and manage to create a well done, very readable report that may help your agency or company make more informed decisions when planning social media campaigns.

Combine these reports with Sapient's recently released Brand Marketers' Top 10 Wish List for Agencies of the Future and it does not take a rocket scientist to see the implications!

Studies notwithstanding, social media is clearly a growth market and will not dissipate any time soon!

Nicholas Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 15 years. He is the Digital Strategy Lead and founder of Chicago-based digital marketing firm lonelybrand, where he directs the creation and execution of digital marketing programs that generate measurable signups, conversions and sales.

Plug In To The ADMAVEN Blog List

I have updated the ADMAVEN Blog List with many more resources for readers interested in delving into the Web 2.0 community. These resources are located towards the bottom of the page on the right side. Enjoy!

Nicholas Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 15 years. He is the Digital Strategy Lead and founder of Chicago-based digital marketing firm lonelybrand, where he directs the creation and execution of digital marketing programs that generate measurable signups, conversions and sales.

Blogger’s New Following Feature

I have added the Following widget to ADMAVEN. The right hand side of the page will now display ADMAVEN followers! Join up by clicking the link to the right.

Yahoo Buzz: Room For Growth?

Since making its official public release three days ago Yahoo Buzz has generated just that: a lot of buzz. But has it delivered? The premise of any site using the user rated content model (YouTube, Digg, etc…) is to push relevant articles into the hands of readers by peer voting. Of course any organization can submit its own writing – ADMAVEN does it for every article – only large groups of individuals voting for a submission will bring that particular article to prominence.

So far Yahoo Buzz has acted more like Yahoo Drone.

In press releases and interviews leading up to the public opening of Buzz, Yahoo stated that individual bloggers, small-time writers, and other such users will be given a chance to be on the front page and vaulted into relevancy. Unfortunately that just has not happened. Major news organizations dominate the first page of articles, with a few non-syndicated bits buried deep within the back pages.

My advice to Yahoo Buzz is simple: get rid of the New York Times, Salon, Times.com, and all the other major news organizations bloating the service. We know where to get that information, assuming we don’t already have RSS Feeds set up for it. The key for Yahoo Buzz should be to carve out a niche of relevant, user generated content that includes the blogosphere, videos, and other popular media. In this way Buzz can differentiate itself from its competitors and get away from the traditional news aggregation model that so many other sites employ.

Nicholas Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 15 years. He is the Digital Strategy Lead and founder of Chicago-based digital marketing firm lonelybrand, where he directs the creation and execution of digital marketing programs that generate measurable signups, conversions and sales.