Archive for April, 2012
In an information-dense world, headlines prevail
Apr 18th
By Neicole Crepeau, Contibuting {grow} Columnist
I’ve been extremely busy, lately. With a lot of client work, I have neglected my blog and have been sharing content less on Twitter and G+. Often, I only get to read blogs and share content one or two days a week. When I do, I have to pick which blogs and posts to read from my Feedly list and FeedMyInbox items. My position now is a lot more like that of the average social media user. And it made me ask myself how I’m deciding what to read.
When you’re pressed for time and can only read a few posts, which ones do you pick?
We work to build a subscriber list and a fan base, and we hope that our fans will loyally read our content. For those who have chosen to opt in to our blogs, we hope when push comes to shove, they’ll choose us to read.
I’m finding that being a subscriber isn’t, by itself, though. For me, it’s a combination of:
- The feeds from people I’ve subscribed to. I click less on links posted on social networks now, because I’m spending less time scanning my Twitter feed or G+. I’m more inclined to look at posts from my short-list of trusted bloggers. That’s the good news.
- The headlines that speak to me. When you’re scanning, the headline makes all the difference. Whereas before I might have clicked on a headline that I deemed semi-interesting, now I only click on the headlines that convey a topic that really interests me.
- The hit-rate, or historical quality of the author’s post. This is the one that I think most of us wouldn’t expect. I subscribe to a lot of blogs. Some of them put out posts almost daily. Others weekly or even intermittently. It doesn’t really matter to me how often they post. What does matter to me is what percentage of the posts I find valuable.
It’s the last bullet that I want you to think about. Because I expect that our readers have the same back-of-head quality meter that I do. How many times have you seen a killer headline, clicked on it, and found the post was sub-par? It’s happened too often to me. So while I certainly judge a post by the headline, that’s not the only factor.
Over time, we develop a sense of how often a given author’s posts prove truly really valuable. We have an idea of how well the author delivers on the headline. And when all other things are equal between bloggers, I’m going to open the posts of those writers who have a high batting average—the ones whose posts I almost always find valuable, insightful, thought-provoking, or useful.
So, if you’ve been striving to post every day, even when you don’t have something really ground-breaking or valuable to say, remember that the average reader has a quality meter. When push comes to shove, the historical quality of your posts may be the deciding factor on whether users read your latest post. That fact might change your approach to blogging.
Neicole Crepeau a blogger at Coherent Social Media and the creator of CurateXpress, a content curation tool. She works at Coherent Interactive on social media, website design, mobile apps, & marketing. Connect with Neicole on Twitter at @neicolec
The Story Behind Red-Hot Storify
Apr 17th
Click here if you can’t see this video interview with Storify Founder Xavier Damman.
Xavier Damman of Storify
If you’re immersed in the social web it would be hard to miss Storify. The young company has been everywhere lately and it is a result of the passion and vision of its founder and CEO Xavier Damman.
In this video interview, Damman relates the interesting story of how he rapidly progressed from putting code together in his apartment in Belgium to building a company now backed by one of the most powerful venture capital firms in America.
The quality of the video was so-so because we were in a crowded area and English is Xavier’s second language so I also transcribed this interesting interview below:
Mark- I am with Xavier Damman, the founder of Storify, one of the most exciting and interesting start-ups. They are really beyond a start-up right now and we are in the only quiet place we could find at SXSW — a hallway by a bathroom — and we will probably be interrupted by waitresses at any minute. So Xavier, tell us about your story. You are from Belgium originally – how did you get this idea for Storify?
Xavier - I was an early Twitter user back in 2006 and I realized there’s a lot of great content on Twitter but there’s also a lot of noise so I really wanted to find a way to surface and amplify the voices that matter. So that’s how I started working on this idea. I moved to Silicon Valley about 2 1/2 years ago and after about 6 months, I got the San Francisco Chronicle to use the program. So I thought I would get my co-founder involved who is an awesome person but was used to be a reporter with the AP for about 12 years.
So together we worked on this vision, this idea and came up with Storify which is basically kind of a new typewriter for this social media age. It’s a way to curate social media … select what we will say on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, whatever and use that to tell the story of what happens. It’s a way to tell your audience about your brand, what people are saying about you in social media and your social campaigns.
Mark – You mentioned to me that several companies, brands and even the White House have picked this up. How are brands using this?
Xavier - They are using it in different ways for example if you want to amplify the voices of their customers, saying different things about them on social media, Storify is a great way to do it. Companies also use it as a way to engage with their audience on social media. They will ask a question on Facebook or Twitter and say, “Hey, what do you think of this? And they will curate the best answers and people who participate appreciate the fact that they are being listened to so they are part of the story.
Mark – That’s awesome. Now, your journey from Belgium to Silicon Valley – was this difficult? I mean how did you find the money to start Storify?
Xavier - The beauty of this world is is doesn’t require a lot of money to start up something like this. There’s so much available for free on the Internet, and that’s awesome. I’m an engineer myself so I actually built the first prototype. The real effort was getting to San Francisco and trying to get to know people there and that’s when I met my co-founder and things grew from there. And people say, “Oh, those overnight successes of start-ups in Silicon Valley,” … but it actually takes time to become an overnight success!
We actually took about 18 months to raise our first money, we started with a venture capital partner about a year ago which was really great but it takes a lot of effort, a lot of iteration to raise money. But we know what we are doing, we are passionate about doing it and it’s so great to be living at this time.
Mark – That’s wonderful. Such an inspiration for entrepreneurs. How can people find you on the web, to learn more about you and your company?
Xavier - They can find us at Storify.com and we just released our new iPad app — which is a great way to use your fingers to curate social media and different stories
Mark – I can’t wait to try it. I’m seeing Storify everywhere now so congratulations and I appreciate you talking to me.
Why Google+ Needs to be Jay-Z
Apr 15th
Google+ is probably not gaining enough ground to go mainstream as a social media platform and to do so, they need to “go Jay-Z.” This is what I mean …
Has Google+ been successful in attracting a large and engaged audience?
Certainly there is a lively, passionate, and involved group of users — and it’s hard to cut through the hype — but there is some indication that the social platform is languishing with key demographics.
Yes many people have accounts, perhaps they even peek inside to see what is going on once in awhile, but I think the business case for Google+ right now is “Let’s be there … just in case.” As long as that is the major value of the platform, it’s going to be a difficult proposition to compete with Facebook.
Now, I know there are many passionate advocates who will say “but I LOVE it!” but we can look at some data to get an idea that Google+ probably is not making a dent in the core Facebook audience.
The line below indicates when Google+ was rolled out. You could logically argue that Facebook usage has accelerated since then:
Last week, Edison Research revealed that a staggering 80 percent of the U.S. population between the ages of 19-34 are active on Facebook. The report concluded that essentially Facebook IS the social web for this demographic.
But don’t just look at the research. Go out and talk to young people and see what they say. In the past eight weeks, I taught classes to about 350 business/journalism/design students ranging from 19 to mid-30s. I always try to get a sense of where they are with social media with a show of hands. About 25% had Google+ accounts. But NOT ONE had been active in the past week. Both Pinterest and LinkedIn had more signs of life.
So why is Google+ apparently struggling when industry titans like Robert Scoble, Guy Kawasaki and Chris Brogan are pumping it up like it’s social media crack?
The Kids. Don’t. Care.
Somehow, some way, Google needs to make Google+ “tip” with the cool kids. And by cool kids I do not mean Guy Kawasaki. I mean cool KIDS. The brand needs to be legitimately addictive and relevant enough to get young folks to move away from Facebook in droves. That is going to be extraordinarily difficult. But here’s one place they could start …
Celeb identity game
When my clients are in the process of defining their brand image, one of the tricks I use is to ask them, “If your product were a celebrity, who would it be? So, for example, a line of eco-friendly, cause-oriented fashion accessories chose Sheryl Crowe. So we began to explore the colors, images, textures, sights and sounds of Sheryl Crowe that could be incorporated into digital and brand imagery. This exercise provides a concrete, visual reference point for people working on the brand.
The celebrity I would associate with Google+ is “Tom Hanks.” Safe. Wholesome. Mainstream. Reliable. Somebody you would bring home to mom. The problem is, the age group they need to appeal to wants Jay-Z or Justin Bieber. Maybe both: Jay-B?
Today, Google+ does not fill any significant need that is unmet by Facebook. They don’t care about hang-outs or possible implications for SEO. Google+ is invisible to this generation. Kind of like Tom Hanks. Somehow, they need to get in a Jay-Z frame of mind.
Unless Google’s goal is to always be the “niche for geeks” they simply must break out of that Silicon Valley love-fest bubble and get out on the street with the kids. Google+ has to figure out how to appeal to the 19-34 demographic deeply, rapidly and NOW if it has any hope of really going mainstream.
And the winner is …
My hunch? They can’t do it. It’s just too far from who they are as a company.
Like so many tech companies, I think they believe if they build a better product they’ll win. That is not necessarily the case. History is filled with better products that lose. To win, you also have to build an emotional tie with your audience. Do you think the kids can better relate to Facebook’s founder, a college drop-out millionaire in a hoodie or the Google engineer with the Stanford degree in the button-down shirt?
What do you think? Can Google “go Jay-Z?” Is there a formula for them to win?
A Cloudy Outlook for Instagram. A {growtoon}.
Apr 13th
Join the growtoonists each Friday for a humorous take on marketing, social media, and current business events.
Kacy Maxwell is a guy who loves his work, family and a good challenge. See more of his cartoons at EverythingIsMedia.com.
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Grow your company, reputation, customers, impact, profits. Grow yourself. This is a community that will help. It will stretch your mind, connect you to fascinating people, and provide some fun along the way. I am so glad you’re here.
-Mark SchaeferFollow Mark
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