Archive for year 2012
AppleCat. A {growtoon}.
Jul 27th
Join the growtoonists each Friday for a humorous take on marketing, social media, and current business events.
Joey Strawn is a social media strategist that loves enjoying a good book and then drawing in it. Check him out on Twitter: @joey_strawn
Falling in love with Instagram
Jul 26th
I am a busy guy and I don’t have a lot of free time, especially for another bloody social media platform. But week by week I have been falling in love with Instagram. It offers zero business value, at least the way I use it, and I don’t want it to. It is just pure, pressure-free, lovely, creative fun.
If you haven’t tried it, Instagram is an exceedingly easy way to share, edit, and view photos. It is only available on mobile devices and is so easy to use, there are literally no instructions. Here’s why I love it:
My daughter and I via Instagram
Ultra personal. I am so very grateful for the many connections I have made through the blog but it is difficult to REALLY know people. On Instagram, people post little intimate glimpses of their lives as an art form. People snap photos of where they are, what they love, and who they love. I have learned that Kerry Gorgone has a passion for muscle cars and Joel Hughes takes amazing pictures of things in decay and I can see the view Brian Solis has from his hotel room in Europe. I get to “meet” the parents, grandparents and kids of my social media friends. I see where people live, what they drive, and their favorite places to relax. I feel like the relationships are becoming richer.
I also find that I “open up” more on Instagram and post personal photos that I would not put on other sites. I’m not sure of the psychology behind this other than since other people are opening up, maybe it feels safer for me too.
It’s an easy way to share photos. There is a modest editing utility on Instagram and after you edit a photo, it saves it on your phone so you have access the “better” picture later. With the push of a button, you can pump the pics on to Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr too.
It’s time-friendly. I can scroll through Instagram in a few minutes and be caught up. It takes hardly any time at all. And if I miss the photos of a friend, I can click on their icon and see all of their photos in one place.
It’s a creative challenge. If I’m in an interesting place, I start to look for interesting angles and compositions for my own contribution to Instagram. I only post 1-2 photos a day and I try to make them great. So for example, I was caught in a fierce storm in New York City and saw a scene that seemed surreal. It was an Instagram moment! Moving around life is more fun if you are always looking a little deeper, a little higher, a little wider at a scene to share with friends. It has really invigorated my love of photography and the creative process.
World view. I get to see pictures of people living their lives all over the world. Romania. Moldova. Croatia. Even Kentucky! It’s like a little National Geographic every day.
I hope you’ll give Instagram a try and if you do, please feel free follow me at markwschaefer. I’ll try to make your day a little more interesting and fun!
Why do YOU love Instagram? Have you caught the bug?
Following the leaders is not a recipe for social media success
Jul 25th
By Srinivas Rao, Contributing {grow} Columnist
If Brian Clark and Darren Rowse (some of the biggest names in blogging) started their blogs today and followed their own advice, they would fail.
It’s tempting to look at how successful people have made their reputations and copy their techniques. You may even get some results.
But what made them successful was originality. If you want to get results that other people haven’t, you have to do things that have never been done before. In order to do that you have to take everything you’ve learned and adapt it to your unique skill sets. You are not going to stand out by simply regurgitating what you’ve read elsewhere.
Experimentation
In my very first conversation with Mark Schaefer, he said something to me that has been fundamental to how I approach the online world. “The courage to experiment is at the heart of originality, and originality is the heart of success on the social web.”
The beauty of the social web is that experimentation is cheap and, in many cases, free. You just have to have the courage to do it.
I look at other blog posts and advice I read as ingredients in a dish that I’m cooking. If you want to create mouth-watering content that makes your audience salivate, you have to mix up those ingredients and add your own flavor.
Best Practices Might Be Hurting You
Everyday I watch so many brilliant people with invaluable life and business experience come to the blogosphere and approach it all as if they’re starting from scratch. You may not know much about blogging and social media, but if we could look inside your head and your heart, I think we’d find they are bursting with insights and wisdom that you may take for granted. Many of us remain blind to our greatest strengths. We take what we already know for granted!
As a result we become dependent on repetitive “best practices” and formulas. We forget that our most natural abilities give us the greatest opportunity to be outstanding in a world full of noise. I’ve had conversations with hundreds of bloggers, authors and entrepreneurs and if i have learned anything, it is that there is no one formula for success. Just because it’s a best practice, it doesn’t mean it’s best for you.
Originality is Underrated
I’m always a bit irked when somebody who is new to the blogosphere starts a blog about blogging or social media. It’s such a tragedy that leads to the death of their own authenticity before they even start the journey. What makes any blog unique or interesting is the person behind it. That’s why it’s essential to infuse your personality into everything you do. What makes any blog memorable is the author’s ability to invoke emotion in their readers and tell a good story.
If you’ve been following formulas, best practices, and scripts, and your results have been less than stellar, mix things up a bit. Try something you’ve never tried. Try something no one has ever tried. Start by breaking one of the so called “rules” of successful blogging. You might become the next big thing.
Srinivas Rao writes about the things you should have learned in school, but never did and his the host-co founder of BlogcastFM. You can follow him on twitter @skooloflife
Illustration courtesy of BigStock photo
Social Media, Conflicting Data, and the Search for Truth
Jul 24th
A few months ago, I hired an SEO company to do some work on behalf one of my clients. After just two months, there was an indeed a tick up in traffic to the site and the SEO company was using this data point to claim victory and justify a second phase of the program that would run my customer upwards of $10,000 a month.
I asked the SEO company, “How do you know that this was truly a result of your effort and not seasonality or normal variation in web traffic?”
“Well, you have to understand,” they said, “we have been doing this a long time and we have a feel for these things.”
“Did you use an appropriate statistical test to sift out variability? Did you compare this to historical data to see if there is a 95% probability that this result came from your work and not something else?”
They just looked at me with blank stares.
The lack of real data in this business is shocking.
This scenario is not uncommon. I am amazed at the shoddy state of research on the social web and what people are trying to pass off as “science.” Not a day goes by that I don’t see conflicting information about the value of Facebook “Likes,” the correlation between online conversations and buying behavior, whether blogging is going up or going down, and whether small businesses are adopting social media marketing or rejecting it, to name but a few.
Even the most “trusted” sources are taking shortcuts with the data to rush consulting services to market. One recent “research report” drew a conclusion from a 15% positive response rate from their sample population. If you looked at the numbers, that meant they were basing their new claim on the opinion of TWO PEOPLE! And yet this new insight was tweeted and reported and posted as fact thousands of times.
This is irresponsible. We are building our social media plans on a foundation of quicksand.
No place to turn
I realize that in our time-crunched, info-overloaded state, perpetually-stressed state of being, we need shortcuts and trusted sources and we don’t have the time to even question whether something we are reading is accurate or not.
But if you are trying to run a business, you cannot take shortcuts by taking a guess on data. Data is the heart of marketing, the soul of strategy.
It was time to stand up and do something about it. I’m part of a new project called The Social Habit and I’ve teamed up with three other folks who are also fed up with the state of data crap on the web: Tom Webster, Jason Falls and Jay Baer.
Here is what we are going to do: Change the game of social media research. We are bringing you real, actionable data backed by Edison Research, the company trusted by NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX and the Associated Press to be the sole providers for U.S. Election Exit Polling, and the authors of some of the most widely cited media research in the world.
In other words, they kick data ass.
Although The Social Habit has already put out its first free social media research, we are officially kicking off our website and new service offerings today.
This is a solution for us all
Whether you are a small business with no budget, an agency looking for a keen competitive edge, or a company sorting out the true value of its social media efforts, The Social Habit has something for you:
Free stuff. That’s right. free research! We will publish regular reports free for all to use, share, and enjoy. We are taking aim at the data hucksters and infusing data-backed conclusions and reasoned interpretation into the field of social media science.
Affordable research packages. By leveraging an experienced, highly-trained staff of Edison field researchers, we can conduct the type of quality research for you that used to be within the reach of only the largest companies and agencies. This valuable research can serve as a base for decision support for any organization seeking to optimize their social media efforts.
Custom questions. A truly extraordinary opportunity to tap into one of the world’s best research teams to solve problems, capture valuable brand insight, and discover powerful consumer attitudes and behaviors that translate into competitive advantage. This exclusive research will also provide brands and agencies with enormously valuable insights on where social media is going, and what they need to do to capitalize on both present and future trends. Examples of research topics would include:
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Usage of various platforms and how users interact with your brand.
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Interactions between brands and social influencers
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eCommerce and social shopping
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Mobile trends and usage patterns
- Correlations between specific social media behaviors and awareness, trial, purchase intent and brand advocacy
- Inputs for practical ROI calculations
You can be involved!
Now here’s the fun part. You can be part of our next research report. If you had one question to ask about social media that you could have answered in a national research program, what would it be? All you have to do is click here to become part of Social Habit Research
It’s going to be fun to watch this grow and evolve, but most of all, it will be refreshing to have a conversation about social media based on FACTS. I hope you’ll let me know if The Social Habit can help your business find the truth about your social media marketing efforts and your customers.
Illustration courtesy BigStock Photo
Welcome to {grow}
You’re in marketing for one reason: Grow.
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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