PARTNER News

Sunday, August 22

Can Lady Gaga Have a Conversation With You? (thanks @DavidVUK)

It's better to listen than to speak, better to engage than broadcast.. but how does that scale?



The easy answer for a company and their brand would be "figure it out.. when people talk, you need to be listening" ... of course, that is easier said than done. It means that every person in your company has to start listening and switch from saying "it's not my job" to actually engaging. Tough stuff.



@DavidVUK asked about Lady Gaga. Can she engage all 10 million Facebook fans? Does a celebrity need to tweet AND read all the responses.



Well, yes and no...



Yes. every fan that gets a personal response from the celebrity or even their staff will tell you that it feels different that seeing a broadcast message. Wherever it's physically possible and the desire of the celeb, you can't dispute that engagement beats broadcast.



But I think we've been asking the wrong questions.



It's NOT "How many followers?" or even "how many conversations?" that the real influencers need to be asking. It's "how many conversations are people having with each other?"



Sure. A higher number of followers is more than a smaller number. Basic math, right? Answering tweets from followers is better and more of those is bigger than a few... Easy, and for most of us scalable. We just add more time or staff.



But let's look at Lady Gaga conversations.



David used her FB popularity in a tweet to me. I have no idea how involved he is with Lady Gaga, her music, her antics, brand or her fan base. I CAN tell you that this is by far the longest conversation I've ever had about Lady Gaga.



I'm not a fan, but she has David and I talking about her... and now YOU are reading a post from someone who knows very little about Lady Gaga.



Will that make you listen to her music more?



Are you more or less likely to buy Gaga merchandise (my assumption is that there is Lady Gaga merchandise that I've never seen or paid attention to)?



Maybe.. maybe not.



But you might be thinking "that Lady Gaga has some pretty smart marketing if some old guy on Amplify is talking about her"



And that might be just enough to get you to read the next article, notice a cover spread on the magazine rack or ask "Is that Lady Gaga on the radio?"



And so the influence of Lady Gaga grows.



My point. She did not buy an ad. She didn't follow me on Twitter. And as far as I know did not pay David to start this conversation.



She produced content that got our ATTENTION.



@JimKukral, author of "ATTENTION This Book Will Make You Money" was on the last episode of Profitable Social Media Radio (http://budurl.com/btrw) reminded me that getting attention from doing whatever Lady Gaga does besides sing (again, I can't think of one example) works because she is very talented.



All this conversation and ATTENTION stuff will not work in a vacuum. You have to start with something worth talking about.



If YOU have something worth talking about.. make sure it's out there in a form that others can talk about. Put it in a tweetable, bit sized phrase and let people know. a meme (idea) that can be shared by people beyond who you engage.



Buy ads if you can. Broadcast where you have a audience and LISTEN and LOVE (engage in conversation) to share, help and respond.



Do the right thing. Share a good thought.. and KNOW that others will be talking about it.

Amplify’d from pluggio.com
DavidVUK @WarrenWhitlock Lady Gaga has 10 million FB fans but just broadcasts to her fans be better if they engaged as well
4 hours ago . F: 462 . Ratio: 0.71 . web . Giant Tweet
Read more at pluggio.com
 

Does the Value of a Network Connection Go Down With Time

I just saw another piece quoting Julien Smith's rant about the declining value of followers as a network grows.



This is just plain silly. 100 people in a network makes for a lot ton of connections. 200 people in that same network gets a lot more potential connections. Even if you never add one extra connection, a network that has grown has MORE value per connection, not less.



The number doesn't matter near as much as the RELATIONSHIP. If I have ONE PERSON on a network and he's my next big customer, a though leader with thousands of readers, or a person with a friend that can connect me to another network of people I'd like to hear from.. ONE is FANTASTIC.



Develop relationships. Not numbers.

Amplify’d from webworkerdaily.com

Smith’s post helped explain to me the concept of inflation in a social media following. If you start out on a social network early on and that network grows over time, you can only keep up with that growth for so long because, at some point, the service will experience faster and bigger growth than you. The result is that you end up with less “access” and have to make more effort to be able to reach more people. As Smith puts it, “100 friends yesterday has the same value as 200 today.” This feels to me like a never-ending vicious circle.

  • Listen. What is being said about you is as important, if not more than, what you are saying about you.
Read more at webworkerdaily.com
 

Saturday, August 21

@egoldstein thinking about amplify.. I could get more conversations if..

I've done an informal count on how many interactions, likes, comment, etc I get on a post sharing others articles, post and pages.



The AMPLIFY logo on Facebook pretty much kills any conversation.



Don't know why.. it's an attention getter, the primary purpose for a photo on Facebook. But it's also a corporate logo rather than a visual to go with the story.



On my FB feed, there are lots of Amplify logs, and since I've been doing that.. a lot less total interaction on everything I do there. You'd have to factor in what I replaced, my schedule during August, what I'm talking about about and how much I interact on friends posts to get anything to count on.. but my gut say "I don't like all those logos"



I'd like to have my defaul action for FB go to a PAGE. When I tried to turn it off my main stream, I lost the ability to post on a page.



(frankly, my biggest problem is that I don't check the autopost section at all.. when I do, the posting is much better :)



Which brings up my other problem...



I love amplify.com and wanted to make it a primary content creation site for me. But there are severe ligations.



1. (can't find numbered list button) text formating not quite there



2. Photos can't be upladed while writing



3. Limits on where I can post. I'd like YOUR front end to MY blog for some posts



A quick look at my stream will prove I'm not just complaining.. I use Amplify and lot anad will continue to love you guys no matter what.

Enjoying Paper.Li news from friends

I think the the jury is still out on whether Paper.li will add any value to their users or networks that read it.



But I'd really like if it did.



Cool design, fun to be included on friends pages.. looks great.



Will it help me get for information? Get organized? Save time?

Amplify’d from paper.li
improvement Daily
Read more at paper.li
 

I Love Blind People, But Never Let Them Drive My Car

My favorite big old media publication Advertising Age has a post up with advice for "brands" (that's ad talk for companies)



Michael Learmonth is has credentials. He's digital lead at Advertising Age (?)



He admits that he doesn't get social media. He then let's us know that he's talked to high profile users by referring to them (but not their advice) and he's quite clear that he doesn't want to talk to anyone he doesn't know.



I look at it a bit different. I'm not trying to draw a crowd so much as I am open to the possibility that there are very cool SMART people out there who I haven't met. That's why I read AdAge.. even when they use staff that doesn't know the world I live in. He might just have some information I can use.. or be a person I'd like to connect with.



AdAge closes with his Twitter ID.



Why would I want to talk to someone who says he doesn't have time to vet new friends?

Amplify’d from adage.com


Some so-called social networks aren't really social at all. On Twitter, for example, the relationships are asynchronous; there is no obligation to follow anyone in return or even monitor who's eavesdropping in the first place. But things are different for other social networks, where the idea is that the user actually has a real professional or personal connection to the people he is "connected" to.


For me, the rules are pretty simple: Facebook is for people I know and might be interested in my vacation pictures; I'm happy to connect to anyone on LinkedIn who I've met or spoken to professionally. Since I'm in the broadcast business, I do what I can to cultivate a Twitter following.


Curious as to why someone would friend someone they don't know, I tried to reach Mr. Slattery of Cohocton, N.Y., who seems like a nice enough fellow. I tried looking him up to no avail in both Cohocton and Rochester, where his Facebook profile indicates he's spent some time. His Facebook profile lists Harvard University, so I had a friend search the alumni network, but nothing there, either. Finally, I sent Mr. Slattery a message on Facebook. Maybe I'll hear back. Or maybe, he's got the same policy I do and doesn't connect to strangers on Facebook.

Read more at adage.com
 

Money. The Ultimate Drug?

"Show me the money" is pretty close to what happens in your brain.



You get a high from seeing the dollar signs and have more success.



What ways can we use this to accelerate our businesses or accelerate the spreading of any meme?

Amplify’d from www.futurity.org

The study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, identified a brain region about two inches above the left eyebrow that sprang into action whenever study participants were shown a dollar sign—a predetermined cue that a correct answer on the task at hand would result in a financial reward.

Using what researchers believe are short bursts of dopamine—the brain’s chemical reward system—the brain region then began coordinating interactions between the brain’s cognitive control and motivation networks, apparently priming the brain for a looming “show me the money” situation.

“The surprising thing we see is that motivation acts in a preparatory manner,” says Adam Savine, lead author of the study and a doctoral candidate in psychology at Washington University in St. Louis. “This region gears up when the money cue is on.”

Read more at www.futurity.org
 

Friday, August 20

Trying to find a human at @Clear

Amplify helped me connect with Cox Cable.. that came out very good. We had a conversation on Twitter within a couple of hours.



Today, I'm going back to CLEAR or Clearwire or whatever they call this division of Sprint.



I posted the humorous chat I had with a Clear rep today.. and detailed my story. Like the Cox situation.. I'm mostly trying to reach out and find a rep who doesn't mind talking on any social media channel. Twitter is preferred, but Facebook is fine too. Of course, we want comments on this post or the LaserPage.com blog with the full story.



Know anyone that works for CLEAR? Tell them Warren is looking for them.



If you don't know anyone on social media that works for CLEAR then TELL EVERYONE.. Retweet this to your network and let's find at least one human being to bring to the conversation.



I'll be talking about this on my Social Media Radio show, on my other blogs and anywhere else I can. This time, I do want my problem fixed.. but the PRIMARY goal is to open a real conversation.



Disclaimer: ANY conversations will be reported. I've put 50+ hours into talking in private with Clear.. now I'm reporting everything you say.. even when you attempt to "take it offline"



C'mon Clear. Talk to me.



I want to LOVE WiMax.. I was begging for it for YEARS and now I'm not giving up just because you got bought by a big uncaring telco cell carrier (Spring is next on my love the big company tour)

Amplify’d from laserpage.com
Logo

This is representative of every exchange I’ve had with Clear or Clearwire or whatever Sprint allows them to call themselves this week. Nice people, mostly clueless and ultimately dropping me at another dead end.

So I yelled a bit more and got them to schedule a service tech. Only a one week wait.  This tech came out and said such things as

  • The newest modem they sent you is crap
  • The tower across the street isn’t accepting traffic and overloading the one a block away
  • There is new software that will let me see what tower signal is, but I missed the training on that
  • I can’t do anything. It’s those dang tower guys. They’ll probably have to reboot something. I’ll put in a ticket and they’ll get to it in a week or so. I don’t know if that will work.
  • The tech support people screw up modems. I’ve reset yours and it will be fine (refusing to hear that I had tested extensively BEFORE they reset it using settings that had been better for 3 weeks).

Does Clear work for you?

Are there any Clear reps working online that are willing to address the social media outcries for help?

Do you know anyone that will talk to me publicly?

Read more at laserpage.com
 

It easier to move forward when you let go of the past

I'm a fan of eMarketer.com.. they do a lot of primary research and have good graphs that I can point to and look smart.



Today, they did a great job of showing NOTHING.. Things are changing, and some people don't know what to do. That line has been used to sell studies and solutions for a long as anyone can remember.



I would have just ignored it.. but then saw the line "times of rapid change"



HEY! .. Wake UP!!! Times of slow change are history. It's not going to be like it used to be. No need to adapt of a "new medium" for your old school marketing ideas.



That world is gone.

Amplify’d from www.emarketer.com

Social media is no longer new, but it’s still a turbulent space. Just a couple years ago MySpace was on top of the world, only to be ousted unceremoniously by crowds flocking to Facebook. Twitter crept onto the scene and then exploded with growth in 2009, putting itself on every marketer’s radar. New trends are developing in the social location-based area, and that’s not counting the seemingly constant mergers, acquisitions, startups and failures.

Little wonder that marketers find it difficult to stay on top of the hottest social media trends. A May 2010 survey from staffing firm The Creative Group found that 65% of US marketing executives considered it at least somewhat challenging to keep up.


Challenge of Staying Current on Social Media Trends, May 2010 (% of US marketing executives)



“Marketing has always been a field with a constant learning curve, but the shifts taking place today are occurring more quickly, making it especially challenging to keep pace,” said Donna Farrugia, executive director of The Creative Group, in a statement.

Most marketers rely on in-house staff to handle their social efforts, but employees still require adequate training and also the time to keep up with the latest developments and trends among both consumers and their competitors.

The Creative Group found marketing executives relied most on conferences and seminars along with industry networking events to learn about social trends. Relatively few depended on actual social sources such as Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, and just 7% said they kept up to date through blogs.


Leading Resource for Staying Current on Social Media Trends, May 2010 (% of US marketing executives)



“Networking becomes even more important during periods of rapid change,” said Farrugia. “Many marketers are aware of broad social media trends, but they need nuts-and-bolts information on how to most effectively use new channels. That's where insight from peers on what worked and did not work for them can be most valuable.”

Keep your business ahead of the digital curve. Learn more about becoming an eMarketer Total Access client today.

Check out today’s other article, “Gilt Groupe Positions Service and Value as Luxuries.”
 


















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“Networking becomes even more important during periods of rapid change,” said Farrugia. “Many marketers are aware of broad social media trends, but they need nuts-and-bolts information on how to most effectively use new channels. That's where insight from peers on what worked and did not work for them can be most valuable.”
Leading Resource for Staying Current on Social Media Trends, May 2010 (% of US marketing executives)
See more at www.emarketer.com
 

Thursday, August 19

Cameron Diaz Does Not Hate Your Interwebz

When shopping for celebrity gossip, it's always a good idea to look out for viruses and bad players. That's a good idea any time.



From what I've seen, as long as you aren't looking for hoards of photos or lurid details, you are pretty safe. After all, most anything you need is on IMDB or social media sites.



But it does make for great headlines and fun discussions like my wife saying "Why is SHE on your computer screen"

Amplify’d from holykaw.alltop.com

Computer security firm McAfee named the Something About Mary star the “most dangerous” internet celebrity. Searching “Cameron Diaz” on the internet puts you at a one in 10 risk of landing on a website ripe with malicious software.

Read more at holykaw.alltop.com
 

When people ask me for insider knowledge about Vegas, I say follow @24k and @vegasbill

I live in the suburbs.



In Vegas, that's not too far away from the action.. but most days, I sit and look at the skyline from the side of my pool or catch the lights from my bedroom or home office.



If you ask me about having a good time when visiting, or how to have the most fun as a local, I'll introduce you to the Twitter Twins. Chris and Bill.


Facebook Advice for Liars, Cheats, and Star Wars Memorabilia Collectors

Humorous take on the new PLACES feature on Facebook.



The tool make it easier to tell the world that someone is somewhere they may or may not want to share.



Better advice.



1) don't go to places you are comfortable telling the world about (even someone without FB may see you)



2) don't trust the data you see about where someone may or may not be from the Facebook (or Twitter, Foursquare, email, whisper) you get.

Amplify’d from gawker.com
  • You are having an affair with your wife's sister. Your wife's sister checks into her home and says "Having awesome sex with [Your name here]". Your wife sees this on her sister's wall and divorces you. (Also, a robber you're friends with steals your Star Wars memorabilia collection because he knows you're out having the affair.)
The First Thing You Should Do With Facebook Places: Don't Let Other People Tag You
See more at gawker.com
 

Wednesday, August 18

Social Networking On a Plane

We spend a lot of money to show up for a conference, visit a potential client and put ourselves where the money is.



Airlines have tried to pretend we can have a party in the sky, but why not facilitate real conversation about business (when we want that)?



Technology could let us meet and connect with others going to the same event, or looking for a solution we have in hand.. often without getting out of our seats and comfort zones.



I think it's safe to say there could be as many prospects on a cross country flight as you might see at a trade show party. Not a sure fire business love connection, but better than treating us all like a big tube of cargo.

Amplify’d from www.buzzmachine.com
Continental 747 lounge

* This is the key to decommodifying the airline: What if you chose to fly on one airline vs. another because you knew and liked the people better? What if the airline’s brand became its passengers? What if the airline even found ways to encourage more interesting people to fly with them because they knew that would attract and retain passengers (they could offer discounts and benefits to people who are active and popular in the social network)? Right now, all you offer is seats and miles: commodities. How much richer this would be if you offered small societies. Yes, we could still get stuck next to a talkative bozo — but not if we could meet people and arrange our seats before the flight thanks to the social network. Next to the right person, I might even tolerate a middle seat.

Read more at www.buzzmachine.com
 

Monday, August 16

Worse that Auto DM.

I've learned to love the people (not bots) that send me an Auto DM when I follow them on Twitter.



I assume they mean well, have been taught to automate or experiementing with what works. I try to get inside the thinking of a newbie that sees a form to set up an auto DM one time, like writing an ad.. they want to do their best to write it right, but most of us don't on the first try.



All this happens before they learn how much of a nuisance all those "thanks for following come buy from me" DM's are.. no matter how clever, the real annoying fact is that the writer likely doesn't ever see what they've sent until hundreds have been sent and someone they know explains it to them



Much more insidious is the tweet here. Someone sets up an account to promote another account, affiliate link, sales page or whatever. Then they put out tweets with lists of names. I assume there are bots and programs that do this and teach people to do it.



The EVIL part of this is that anyone using it has to know they are spamming the stream and have no regard for the conversation. I know, I've tried replying to a few.



I don't know who this iis, who they are promoting and assume the account will be shut down by the time you read this.



My point in bringing it up. If you put out a #FF list, it looks very much like this.



I'll occasionally tack on a friends handle as a "cc".. only if I KNOW them and KNOW they will want to see it.



And it's perfectly normal to tweet "I had lunch with A, B and C" so I'm not suggesting a ban on multiple handles or lists in a tweet.



But be careful.. if you tweet looks like the one below.. anyone on the list might assume you are a spammer ((especially if they don't remember who you are)



If you want to ask me a question, engage in conversation, comment on a tweet or post.. PLEASE write to me. If I'm in a tweet you RT, great, I love the mention. But is you cram my name in to get attention, I"ll see it, and it won't leave a good impression. It's not the kind of attention you want.



We're have a conversation people... yes real people read tweets.. talk to us like you want to be talked to :)


Thursday, August 12

Learning to Love Farmville. Comments on @loritaylor post

If you've somehow missed Farmville and it's huge market, or are in the 80$ of Facebook users who dread seeing users notices, it may be time to start playing.



I hold that anytime you put together a large group of people who aren't rioting for food, you have a MARKET. I'll let Lori tell you about the market and dollars going to Farmville and other games.. I want to comment on the marketing.



We've learned from social media that the future of marketing is to go where your customers are and find a way to serve them.



Think about good old TV as an example. When TV was new, but had got tot he point of being in most every house, ads went to the ones that were where the customers were watching.



Now many use social gaming MORE than TV.. get the picture.



Difference this time is that it's not just for big brands with big budgets. We're not just talking about segmenting (running a Farmville flavored ad in that game) but REAL communication. Some has to figure out out to get into the game, interact with the players without annoying them and the get them whatever they want. And all this can be targeted to any niche that you have previously targeted promotions to.. Just on Farmville, that at least twice as many niches as we used to have.





We are still at the beginning of this. A niche can be pretty big and your competitor likely hasn't figured out that he can buy ads (he will).



In the future, I predict there will be a job category of servicing people inside he games.. either for real world brands or things not yet created.



Still using last years marketing campaign? Last weeks?

Gaming in China is bigger than ads or search, which might explain Google’s reported $100-$200 million investment in Zynga, a top social gaming company. Even a listing by appdata.com of the top five games paints an astonishing picture of growth in social gaming.

Social media is a game-changer. It’s impacting who plays, along with when and where they do it. Because of the viral aspect, social media even affects how games are developed and their shelf life.

According to Zynga, a company’s success revolves around three factors:

  1. Ability to drive new users
  1. Ability to create an engagement loop
  1. Access to an open communication channel
Read more at www.socialmediaexaminer.com
 

Craigslist Starts To Roll Out…Gasp…A Slightly New Design

occurs to me that a feed from Cragslst would give endless plausibilities


Wednesday, August 11

As I said to @mitchjoel, People Expect a Response When they Tweet

Enterprise feeds are mostly that.. just feeds.



But is that what people expect?



Amplify’d from www.examiner.com

On August 12th Red Cross is hosting a Emergency Social Data Summit . Did you know 74% of those in need who post a request for help online expect a response (See the Red Cross study findings  http://bit.ly/smhelp

Read more at www.examiner.com
 

Social Media is NOT a Lead Gen Platform

Most of my new business in the past year or two has come through referralls, and most of that is through connections I have on social media.



But "lead gen" is not what social media is good at. It's more what I'd call "pre lead gen" activity.



The leads/referrals from social media are people looking for you.. not something you'd buy or coerce. The way I look at it.. there are MILLIONS of people that need what you have. They want to buy from someone they know, like and trust.. or at least someone referred by someone they know, like and trust.



Maybe it's semantics.. but I think people like to be "leads" about as much as they like to be "eyeballs"

Amplify’d from www.hooversbiz.com

Why rent leads or share them with other competitive businesses in your market when you can create your own stream of direct leads? With a properly integrated Internet marketing platform you can have at your fingertips local, paying customers who want the services you provide.

Read more at www.hooversbiz.com
 

Can I AMP a Facebook Video or @CoachDeb?

I wanted to share this cool clip of my Deb with a special blog post over at http://TwitterHandbook.com that I'm sure thousands would have liked to know about.



Now way to embed, so I tried a couple of times to AMP it.



That failed, so I did this Facebook post. Do go enjoy it there.. worth the extra click



Is is Facebook or Glazer Kennedy that put the restriction on this? Can you tell me?

Amplify’d from www.facebook.com
Warren Whitlock

Warren Whitlock
My Co-Author Deborah Cole Micek talking about Twitter

A video snipet of Coach Deb Micek teaching her Twitter Money Magnet Techniques at the Glazer-Kennedy Social Media Money Magnet Seminar. Discover how to make money with Twitter. This is your Glazer-Kennedy Behind-The-Scenes Look!
Length:4:39
13 minutes ago · · · Share

Read more at www.facebook.com
 

Fun Show on BTR for Anyone in Business. Thanks @tamaradorris

I just did a show today with Tamara Dorris.



As a Vegas resident, the first few minutes of RE news kind through me off, then I once we got talking we had a marvelous conversation.



Tamara followed up with more than the wonderful tweet. She sent me an email with an introduction of someone she though could help with my business.



I just love working with people like Tamara

Amplify’d from gianttweet.com
@ShesSoSocial thanks for the RT...it was an awesome show! @WarrenWhitlock is the Einstein of book marketing! http://ow.ly/2oh3k
Read more at gianttweet.com
 

"Design for a Loss of Control" ... an oxymoron?

This phrase caught my eye.



I'm generally a fan of design. And an enterprise needs to plan things. After all, that's what an enterprise is.



But can you design the process of giving up control?

Amplify’d from www.dachisgroup.com
  1. Anticipating and designing for loss of control. At this year’s Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Boston, my friend and colleague JP Rangaswami delivered a terrific opening keynote where he dropped the phrase that became a hot topic of conversation for the rest of the week. In his keynote, he talked of the necessity of enterprises today needing to “design for the loss of control.” A combination of Web access, SaaS, cloud computing, social software, and smartphones that are more powerful than many laptops are leading to a world where anyone can access the IT solutions they need to get their work done and don’t need any permission to do it. Enterprises currently expend considerable resources trying to impose control on a situation that increasingly appears like it not only can’t be controlled, but almost certainly doesn’t need to be. The level of control being imposed over IT today is excessive, counterproductive, and undesirable from a business results standpoint, the argument goes. Routing workers away from the applications, social networks, and devices that they clearly prefer to use is a strategy that, like most modern urban conflicts, is almost certainly a losing proposition in the long run. Instead, focusing on enabling the safe and effective use of cloud-based solutions that fit local problems, leveraging workers’ growing social capital and their own mobile computing devices can be looked at as just another form of outsourcing. In other words, letting go of non-essential control will be a key success factor for Social Business leaders going forward. Certainly there are still real challenges to doing this but the point is that the opportunities are certainly significantly greater than the cost. Together, we must learn how to fix IT in the Social Business era.
Read more at www.dachisgroup.com