Blinders

January 14, 2010 By Jeremiah Staes 1 Comment

I don’t normally write my blog entries aimed for other social media professionals. After all, there’s a lot of knowledge out there – I aim to distill things to my audience, which I know is more executive and marketing related but not necessarily in the digital space. If a fellow SMP gets value, awesome, and I welcome you – but my reader base generally isn’t you.

But this post, I’m going to address you, fellow Social Media Professionals, and hopefully give value to my typical reader.

Take Off The Blinders.

horseblinders

I’m noticing some things falling through the cracks – people hyping different things as if it were the second coming of Steve Jobs, but at the end of the day, not producing desired results. It’s almost as if many SMPs out there have decided that social media can do no wrong, and that THE way to do it is the way they and their techno-elite friends do it (by the way, I’m one of those technophiles, for sure).

But your target market, unless you’re selling tech to early adopters, probably has no idea what FriendFeed is. I explain Foursquare at least once a week. The value isn’t evident. There’s a reason way more people use Farmville than Twitter.

Non-techies get the point of Farmville, even though it’s much more complicated of an interface.

Because it’s not about the interface, it’s about the value proposition.

More people see value in having a fake farm than Tweeting.

Think about this.

Done? Next.

It Seems The Internet and Social Marketing Pros Have A Problem.

I recently saw a post that was all about how “Lands’ End isn’t visible.” Blinders completely. As of this writing Land’s End has 250,000+ Facebook fans and quite honestly a different demographic than Zappos, with 29k or so. Yah. 29k. On Facebook, at least, Lands’ End has almost NINE TIMES more fans than Zappos.

It just isn’t the social media elite demographic, highlighted out of the valley, so it was missed. But it was still in the minds of people. It’s humming along selling stuff. It’s popular. Obviously, raw fan numbers are not your only metric of success, but a lot of people have been missing the boat.

Seem as if we as a group don’t use it or it’s not OUR work flow or in our frame of “cool” visibility, we (royal we) denigrate and talk about how others “don’t get it” or it’s a “poor choice.”

You know what? I know success on the oft-maligned MySpace in certain situations.

I’ve worked with blogs who get tens of thousands of unique visitors but few comments – but high conversions. Most of the time, readers in non-SM circles call blog posts “articles.” I’ve seen it time and time and time again.

I know people who get 5,000+ word diatribes from other “experts,” but, although their blog isn’t designed to my aesthetic taste, it works for them apparently and gets them business. Bravo to her. I’m not her target market anyway. If I were, it’d be designed differently.

One of the biggest indie musicians’ sites is the definition of basic – but because he covers so many bases contentwise that countless zoom-bang flash sites do not, including showcasing his awesome – it helped him get relatively huge and make a real career sans label.

Or the pervasive myth that content has to be short at all times – sure, short content is great – but why are the biggest podcasts around long-form, sometimes easily exceeding an hour long? Because they’re good. It takes skill to be good for a whole hour or longer, regularly. And that’s why the previous example is making millions of dollars and in this next linked case have plenty of listeners and a loyal following.

A Parting Thought

I’ve always been fascinated behind the real reasons and incentives why things happen, as opposed to the hype of them. Many times, while one hand is dealing the cards, the other is distracting you from the real “magic” that’s happening.

What are the non-sexy methods that you find that work? What about newer tools and techniques that you’ve found make it happen for your strategy?

Filed Under: Advertising, blogging, Business, Online Marketing Fundamentals, Rant, Social Media, Tips, Web Sites Tagged With: blinders, facebook, farmville, land's end, myspace, rss, rss is dead, Social Media, social media professionals, Twitter, zappos

Questioning God

December 4, 2009 By Jeremiah Staes 1 Comment

in-garyv-we-trustThere’s groupthink in any industry, but I think ours in Social Media is full of it to an extreme extent.

Because it’s so relatively new (although some of us has been interacting socially on the web for 15 years before the tools got nifty pastel gradients and friendly icons reminiscent of songbirds) people are busy looking for any validation of their beliefs due to either their inexperience, their need to be like others, or simply professionally being able to point to someone else.

Unlike any other marketing/PR/customer service/etc. function, social media crosses so many barriers and traditional silos that it literally scares people. We who live “in the biz” forget that this isn’t second nature and intimidating to most not just because of the tools but the impending culture shift, contradicting what years of B-school and hierarchies reinforced.

And what do people do when they’re scared? Come together. At times through religion. Add into the mix it’s digital and many people over 40 don’t have much value for bits and bytes and/or culturally don’t understand their significance, you have a flock of converts under attack looking for leadership.

The Universal Law (Benefit) of Social Media

However, in order for our industry to grow, and for the real, universal benefit of social media – connecting people to make things happen, whatever that “thing” is to you – true progress is going to be made not by parroting the current leaders of the social media industry, but by taking their experience and trying new things. Working it. I say this with the utmost respect, but the only real difference between them and everyone else is the willingness to try something and do the hustle to make it work, and being willing to fail (which by the way, is much easier said than done, and one of many reasons to respect thought leaders).

After all, there is no formula when dealing with people; and this is dealing with people to the largest extent. Every situation you’re going to want to draw on yours and others experiences, real data, ask hard questions and be willing to listen to the answers, even if they don’t match your initial thought.

You need to be willing to act quickly, decisively, and comport to the needs of your community, not necessarily your needs.

So go out, be fruitful, be an evangelist for your brand, love your users, love your community, and charge on. We might have different sized caravans – or lone riders on a trusty steed. But if you want to make things happen – be that trailblazer with your own ideas.

Filed Under: blogging, Business, Industry News, Love Your User, Online Marketing Fundamentals, Social Media, Social Media Fundamentals Tagged With: questioning, Social Media, social media benefits, trailblazing, universal law of social media

It’s Only Stealing From Yourself

November 6, 2009 By Jeremiah Staes 5 Comments

theftI felt highly motivated to say something, after I’ve had numerous friends come to me and tell me there’s a problem going on in our Detroit social media community. I’ve made a generic example below of how it’s gone down the 9 or 10 times it’s happened recently with the most common themes as told to me.

Apparently, many people think it’s okay to repost, word-for-word, other’s posts. Sometimes, with no credit, or credit buried so that it is hidden and not obvious to the reader. I’m going to try to be positive and say that it’s because they don’t know better, but I also know some of the folks are too savvy in this lot (or portray themselves to be) that if they really didn’t know they shouldn’t be charging people for their services.

Let me repeat this, because I talk to people every week who think that “if it’s on the internet, it’s free and okay to use” – legally, and I believe ethically, just because content is on the internet and free to access does not mean you have the right to use it without permission in your own work or as your own work. There is a lot of examples that back this up.

When blogging about someone else’s post or sharing it along, an excerpt is what’s appropriate if you do not have permission, and with or without permission, you should have the author’s full name and link to the website (as well as other things like their Twitter if public) at the top of the piece to not mislead readers.

Want more proof of misleading readers? In some cases, there’s comments under the post referring to site/blog author, people who the original writer doesn’t know, praising the blog/site author for writing the post, or “that’s why you’re such a great writer, *blog site author, not post author name here*”

Even better, if you have permission, make them an author in your blogging system and even have the author tags be created properly. Otherwise, it’s very likely (from experience) that Google will put the work under your name – which may be what you’re trying to do anyway. And why I’m writing this terse post.

If you’re committing this mistake, either:

  1. You don’t know better (that’s okay, especially if you’re new at this)
  2. Are playing like you don’t know better to scam the Google page rank and/or
  3. Trying to pass off work as your own to be a thought leader off the work of others true thought leading (see this post by Justin Kownacki on THAT subject which is more well put together than anything I could write).

What Is Being Done: The Diagram

So below, I’ve diagrammed what’s been happening. Note that without any author mention, with just a very small, not plain link, it looks like the author of the blog wrote the piece and that is NOT the case, especially compared to the gigantic author info box which is commonly on the right side. It misleads the reader into thinking that it’s the blog owner’s work, when it is not. And people know how to click links – if you do a paragraph or a few lines, then link to the other blog at the end, they can figure that out. If you’re really paranoid about not letting them off the site, target the link to a new window (even though I’m not a huge fan of it, I get why it would it be done) could be an option.

example3

We’re Better Than This, Detroit.

Although this is a bigger problem geographically, we in our growing Detroit social media community need to not do it, and not do it to each other. All the examples I’m thinking about are local. They either don’t know better – and quickly fix – or they feel like they could make a few more adsense cents or improve their brand or standing by stealing other’s works.

If we’re going to grow as a community – and prove the naysayers wrong about us – we need to respect each other first.

Filed Under: blogging, Business, Rant, Social Media Tagged With: content theft, Detroit, netiquette, reposting blogs, stealing

11,000 Reasons To Disclose

October 5, 2009 By Jeremiah Staes Leave a Comment

behind-the-curtain

This has been coming for months, and as of December 1st, it’s here.

The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has decided to put their hand into the blogosphere (as well as other types of endorsements) and have a policy shift that requires more disclosure than before. This initiative (started and most of the formulation was done by the previous presidential administration) is no surprise – but an under-covered story. Now that’s it’s on our doorstep, I hope more pay attention.

In some ways, this is a good thing – digital is being taken seriously enough and has proven it’s efficacy enough to require being noticed. But, with prestige comes responsibility – and since we’re talking about transactions, even if they’re “freebies,” you’re influencing people because of influences you normally wouldn’t have.

I’ve always been a proponent of full disclosure – I think that the culture of the web (which is the deciding factor – not of your profession or company) leans toward being transparent

Social media etiquette is like when you go to someone’s house – the deciding factor of whether you take your shoes off at the door is the discretion of the host, not the guest.

Open The Kimono

I honestly don’t understand the outrage of people who are against disclosure. Why does it matter to tell your audience if you received a sample, gift, or are paid for the review? If your audience ACTUALLY trusts you, it won’t hurt your credibility whatsoever.

Here’s some suggestions for disclosure:

  • Lay The Disclosure At The Reader’s Feet: The footer disclosure. At the end of the post, possible as a p.s. or italics, there’s a straightforward disclosure line.
  • Integrate it into the post. Just come out and say, “The Acme company sent me these freebies the other day, and I tried….”
  • Have A Post That Tells The Story. Especially if your site is a review site and you’re brought on retainer by a PR or ad firm to write about their products (I know bloggers who are in this situation), et all, you should have a post that states the relationship directly, offer a place for questions in the comments, etc.

Again, if you actually have trust with your readers, you have nothing to fear. It will be interesting over the next few months how the public reacts to this disclosure. However, if you’re really serious about your blog and reputation – step into the dojo:

Black Belt Judo Move: Develop and Publish Your Policy

Judo_Fight_270462Yep, I’m encouraging individuals to have a policy on this and publish it.. according to what you’re comfortable with and what’s within the bounds of the upcoming regulation. I believe readers (even if you don’t consider yourself a journalist, however, evidence is mounting that’s the default standard the public has once your readership reaches a certain level) deserve to know what you’re internal barometer is. This is a big reason WHY mainstream publications are trusted by most and continue to have high level of readership - and continue to be the “originators” of content. If you’re going to be a quality, followed, content originator, trust needs to be built up over time. Here’s a great for-instance from CNET on how they approach disclosure. Not saying you should copy exactly, however, it’s an idea how a respected publication takes it. One initiative our network uses is Blog With Integrity.

The Field Is Moving Forward

I believe December 1st is a turning point of sorts. I think the entire discipline is growing up so different rules are being applied, and just like people forever thought “blogging is dead,” it’s just because the people who weren’t dedicated and not as good didn’t have the readership or passion to continue – and Twitter, at 140 characters, was easier.

The unintended consequence is that those who actually do still blog got more authority and audience due to the lack of commoditization – if you’re writing blog posts, you’re obviously putting in more effort than a Tweet and more and more people aren’t willing or able to do more than a Tweet – and they NOW realize how much more difficult it is as far as writing, time commitment, research, etc.

What do you think? Is the government stepping too far in? What justifiable reasons does a blog writer or person have to NOT disclose relationships?

Filed Under: Advertising, blogging, Business, Industry News, Love Your User, Online Marketing Fundamentals, Social Media Tagged With: blog disclosure, disclosure, fines, ftc, Social Media

This Post Sucks!

August 12, 2009 By Beverly Cornell 2 Comments

Guest-written by Beverly Cornell – Check her out at her Global Business Blog – Follow On Twitter

beverly-cropped-sm

Where are all the Social Media women in Detroit.. or anywhere for that matter?

I don’t want to write this post – really, I shouldn’t have to write this post. However, I’ve read an article this morning that confirms what I’ve known for 2 years, or really most of my life.

After all, women are around 50% of social media users.

I am not a mommy blogger or social media blogger – I blog about an unpopular topic, especially in Detroit (an historically union town) globalization. I know, it’s a niche, and reading my Twitter DM’s many think I should be tarred and feathered for living in and encouraging a global world.

I accept that I talk about the elephant in the room so I’m not as popular as others.  But why do I feel frustrated that more women aren’t present and accounted for? Even better, why are women not leading the way?  Are there not the invites from the social media conferences? Are women not branding themselves to get noticed? What does it take to get noticed?

Historically speaking, aren’t we the gender that supposedly “gets” relationships, the very basis for social media? Oh I know there many wonderful women in this space – to name a few, Amber Naslund, Ann Handley, Katie Paine, Shannon Paul – but where are the social media femme rock stars, especially in Detroit? Do we need a social media Lilith Fair?

To be clear, I don’t usually spend a lot of my time in women’s only groups.  I think it is great to support each other and I do some mentoring but I enjoy spending time at the table where all decision makers not just women hang out.  And to be really honest, I like men.  I like their straightforward no nonsense approach to business and often times find myself the only woman present and for that I am actually quite grateful.  My offline business relationships with men are respectful, engaging and insightful.  I feel welcome at the party!

I know that women have long battled the conservative boys club in this automotive town – so is social media equality too much of a cultural shift?  Are we just not ready for the stage?  Or is the world not ready for us?

Is there a place at the table for educated career driven women who understand social media and use it and have some modicum of success in the space.. but aren’t “in” social media?

After all.. I’m so excited to be in this space. Sometimes I feel like the kid in the back of the room with their hand up, saying, “Pick me! Pick me!”

Filed Under: blogging, Business, Rant, Social Media Tagged With: amber naslund, ann handley, Beverly Cornell, Business, fastcompany, katie paine, respect, Shannon Paul, social media women, women in tech
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