Latest Social Media News

It's the singer, not the song. Thrilling article about match the hatch for your content

Solid advice that won't be new to many, but never a bad idea to remind ourselves to dream big and so so in social media.

The Network Is The Computer
Remember when Sun Microsystems proclaimed the network to be the computer. Most, upon hearing Sun's new tag line, either yawned or tilted their head and said, "What?"

In this excellent post from Clinton Bonner on the TopCoder blog we see a future of "niche social nets". Bonner uses Spotify's recent modification to allow social tribes to form around a single song to illustrate how, in the not very distant future; the network will be the computer.

Several years ago when I wrote Platforms vs. Websites (http://scenttrail.blogspot.com/2011/09/internet-marketing-platforms-vs.html ) I got it half right. The trouble is I didn't go far enough. Platforms like Spotify are really tools that allow other platforms to develop. Bonner notes how a social tribe can form around a single song. Here is a great quote from Bonner's post:

"The center of gravity is no longer wholly Spotify, the service and its tentacles outward to Facebook, but instead, the individual song itself becomes the gravitational pull, inside Spotify. The intention is to drive more focused conversations and mid-thread, peer-to-peer recommendations to occur directly in the individual song thread. Of course, the ultimate intention is to gather ever more accurate data on a gigantic user base, and this social step, is a game-changer in that regard.

In my opinion it’s a natural progression to drive these conversations to the micro-level and it begets better, more specific social content around the original content, the song. Recommendation engines will improve, user experience will be altered positively, and again Spotify will now gain even more user data than before that they can use to monetize in a variety of ways."

Paradigm Shift

As Internet marketers our THINKING must shift from proprietary to collaborative (at least at the information level). I remember asking the owner of a $150M catalog company why we didn't "sell" everything. What I was really asking was why we didn't arbitrage everything since, at least at an information level, there was NO COSTS associated with "selling" one more thing.

The Spotify model improves on that idea. With "niche social nets" is it isn't necessary to even "sell" a single thing because the right platform allows and encourages niche social nets to do almost all the work. One could make a good argument that Scoop.it is to content what Spotify is to music.

Spotify and Scoop.it show that the more intelligently we approach the HOW the more exciting becomes the What and Why. When the network is the computer Internet marketer who can think about INFORMATION as effectively as Spotify and Scoop.it win. Those who can't will be swept from the field.

Kudos to Clinton Bonner for such elegant thinking.

Wow, niche communities around a single song, even.  

nonprofits of small and medium size are distinctly and significantly similar to start-ups. They can similarly utilize these content curation tools, especially nonprofit arts looking for online impact.  

To some extent, it pointed the changes happened today in marketing and how to cope with such changes.

Live Events & Social Media
Love this quote:

"Social media is a fantastic complement to compelling, live television content," said Toby Byrne, president of advertising for Fox Broadcasting Co. "Not only is it a great marketing tool for us ... [it also] opens up additional ways for us to connect brands with our audience."

Duh! This new partnership is a victory and a defeat. Victory because it signals brands are getting social media. Defeat because the new partnership seeks to make social media just another push network.

Let's hope people smart enough to realize social media can rock live events also understand "live event" means there are threads that should be followed instead of simply pushing more disconnected ads at us.

Gret post about when to do what and how to have OPP (Other People's Platforms) work FOR you not just for THEM.

Great post about when to do what and how to have OPP (Other People's Platforms) work FOR you not just for THEM.

ME: I just love the acronym OPP! 

Everything is in the commons now. 

Wrote this piece after having great conversations with lawyers in Raleigh about what they did and didn't understand about Internet marketing. The interesting part of thise conversations was what many of my lawyer friends thought they knew they didn't and what they thought they didn't know they weren't as far away as they thought. 

Welcome to the strange serendipity and mystery wrapped in enigma that is Internet marketing my legal brothers and sisters.  

 Rather than chasing Google+1s of content, your time is much better spent making great content."

Excellent Post, My Notes:

1. SEO is about more than keywords! Agree
 Hummingbird's ability to handle multi-word queries is setting the stage for semantic web when search engine spiders understand context, nuance and sarcasm. Keywords are important, but the "social vitality" of your content CONFIRMS your keyword-based claims.

2. Bing Doesn't Matter. Agree
When I went to work, I "retired" last week to start my 5th company, I set up my work PC to be all BINGED up. There is enough difference between Google and Bing that I wanted to know what the other guy was thinking (and how). Bing is NOT as fast as Google and they don't understand the content as well, but unimportant they aren't.

3. Google's Hide Of Keywords Kills SEO
No death here, just have to be more intelligent about modeling our content, understanding what (in the content) is creating conversion and doing analysis BEFORE we write to know the most important keywords. If "writers" gets 3x the traffic of "contributors" then use writers.

4. Good inbound links from comments (don't be absurd, Panda helped Google SEE into all of that kind of BS so stop trying to game and create great, highly viral content instead). Comments links, almost without exception, are no follow links. If you drive links to yourself that math will stick out like the SPAM sore thumb it is.

5. Subheads don't matter much (this was new to me and disappointing, I still like subheads for engagement and formatting though).

6. Don't mistake serendipitous conditions for meaningful patterns - this is a general truth and one blown up for +1s. Pages that receive a lot of +1s are also receiving other kinds of benefits, accolades and links. MOZ pointed out that just because two things happen together doesn't mean there is a cause and effect relationship and good idea to remember at all times and in all things Internet marketing.

7. No higher rank from authorship....yet. Not sure my friend Mark Traphagen would agree, but not important enough to get all bent out of shape over in an excellent post.

More on Gplus
https://plus.google.com/102639884404823294558/posts/2iFLkcgSkAT

I’m going to provide my evidence: 5 tweets, with versus the same 5, without one reaching hashtag each.

Next time when planning a new Marketing strategy, keep Social Media into TOP MOST prioritized tasks to accomplish it.

Should You CLOSE or REDUCE Your Facebook Marketing?
Didn't know that Facebook was being such a jerk about "graph search" for brands. Not surprised to see you can buy your own list back as that is the kind of ransom Facebook has shown brands from the start. 

Interesting to see Mark Cuban takes his marbles and go home (threatening to close his Facebook pages). The article makes a good point.

If you have a substantial UNIQUE Facebook following you are probably stuck paying the $2. If not you may consider the cost / benefits of your Facebook marketing and arrive at where Cuban is - thinking about closing down your Facebook page (or relegating it to the "low investment" side of the fence). 

Benjamin Moore's Main Street Mattes is a great campaign idea. The paint company will use a favorite tactic of mine, the User Generated Content Contest, to "beautify America.

They will select 20 "Main Streets" to be revitalized based on UGC nominations and votes. Great idea proving another favorite topic - Save The World Marketing.

Every brand, product and service saves the world in some way. Connecting with how your brand, product, service or company saves the world has never been more important.

Find my slideshare on Save The World Marketing here
http://www.slideshare.net/martinmartysmith/save-the-world-marketing

Kudos Benjamin Moore.

Google Header Eats Los Angeles

Yes the Google+ Header just got bigger along with 41 other feature improvements to the leading search engine's social network. Recognizing that the most popular content on Facebook is pictures, Google+ boosted its ability to compete. Here is a quote from the Economic Times post:

"But the most compelling new attraction may be a new photo-management tool that promises to test how much control people want to cede to computers. It will also further blur the lines between a real moment in time and augmented reality."

I have tested some of the changes out. I like the look and feel. They need to work on getting the masses over there, even if it is for the communities.

I do think a little better documentation is needed. 

social intrapreneur: a turning point

Social Media Command Center Is In Your Future

First "social media command center" I saw was at Edelman (http://www.slideshare.net/EdelmanDigital/edelmans-social-intelligence-command-center-sicc ). The first person I heard mentions real time social arbitrage was David Meerman Scott. 

David’s books including NewsJacking and New Rules of Marketing and PR are must reads since our slouch toward real time is picking up speed and momentum. Real Time will be where the social money is really made and you need a "command center" to parse real time ORM feeds (Online Reputation Management) into proactive connections and sales. 

This is a great infographic about what your Social Media Command Center may look like in our not too distant Internet marketing future.  

Don't Be Fooled, Blogs Rule Influence and Conversion

Social nets form a vibrating membrane of marketing communications. Social nets vibrate and bang off each other like bumper cars. Social signals are the confirming truth of the new SEO and so very important, but when it comes to conversion and sharable influence your BLOG rules. 

This post from @TMGmedia is very specific and helpful in reminding content marketers that blogging is about money. Social nets are moths to a light, needed and important but you won't be the only moth attracted to that flickering light. 

Blogs, especially blogs well supported by social media, create distinction and voice. There is only ONE company that sounds like YOU (hopefully that is true even if you have multiple authors writing for you). 

Resist the corporate tendency to smooth out all the edges and create a zombie voice. Distinct beliefs voiced with strength and confidence promotes shares and relationships. Be a human or accurately voice your company's human character.  

Remember to share as much as you preach and balance your approach (not all long posts, not all short posts). Do what fits the content and your discovery / message and do so with authenticity and honesty and your tribe will grow. 

Note: yes those are Magnetic Poetry Kit words, the cool gift item created by David Kapel the gift company I co-founded brought to market all thos years ago :).M

Cool, helpful infograpic about how to set up your social media campaigns. Our process is 10% different. Excellent.