When I grow up I want to be microfamous
Please accept my apologies for disappearing over the last few weeks. Life has a way of getting busy with things like helping clients, producing a radio show, and performing my mission critical soccer dad duties. Somewhere in between I’ve been able to squeeze in a few hours building my microcelebrity (more like expanding my nanocelebrity). Over the last two weeks I broke the 1,000 followers mark on Twitter (OK, Limeduck I mentioned it in public so you can unfollow me now). Here are some of my observations from the 12 months of tweeting: The number followers doesn’t mean as much as quality of interactions and conversations. This is an obvious point that gets lost in Ashton and Britney’s battle for supremacy. I thank Ivan at Tipjoy for changing my mind on this. Twitter has helped me connect with really interesting people I never would have met in my World 1.0 circles (folks like @jeffcutler, @matthew_t_grant, @robertcollins). A milliscoble of social media infamy is no substitute for my longstanding professional relationships when it comes to new business development. Twitter is a bit like Vegas. Some thing are larger than life on Twitter. Also many things that happen on Twitter stay on Twitter. People can become in social media “experts” very quickly. You can find a ton of great info on Mashable and Techcrunch not to mention the blogosphere about social media channels. FOTS (Friends of the ‘Slice) have heard my regular rants that social media are just media that need to be tested like any other channel making “expertise” less important. I’ve met Chris Brogan three times (but I’m not sure he remembers my name). I want to dislike the whole “social media rockstar” schtick but he is a genuinely nice guy who blogs with a clarity that I admire. I also really like his dad’s poker blog. The credentials that give someone status in the business world (ie Harvard MBA, worked for Goldman Sachs or McKinsey, etc) are not always a big deal on Twitter. I guess you could argue that Twitter is more egalitarian than the real world. Twitter can be a powerful promotional tool. The Skeptical CMO team signed up 100 people for our first radio show back in May almost completely through Twitter. Did I miss anything? There are too many great people and conversations to highlight in one small post. Shameless self promotion: I’ll be on PermissionTV today discussion all thing marketing, social media and tangy. I hope you can join the conversation. Stay tangy my...
A post evangelic social media world
As a followup to my recent rant about faith-based arguments, I grappling for a better label for a social media proponent. Aside from the obvious consultant label (self deprecating barb), I came up with the idea of replacing “social media evangelist” with “social media pragmatist”. Imagine what Twitter would be like if people spent more time admitting that some social media were not adding much business value. Conversations could be less opinion based and more factual. We wouldn’t have to hear the same old tired stories about the hype spot of the day or that crummy low margin etailer who everyone loves because its CEO tweets alot. We could get down to discussing business transformation and measurable outcomes. Boring things like sales, leads and net promoter scores could become the only meaningful metrics. One can only...
Ten signs you are a skeptical marketer
You ask for goals and metrics before a project starts You search for analogous historical programs to give you sense of potential results You ask too many questions when a vendor uses jargon or overly technical terms You talk with others who have tried this type of marketing before You push vendors for CPA or pay for performance deals You make vendors give you the full volume price until a medium is proven You don’t believe the hype about anything that is hot You start with a low cost test whenever possible You believe in results over rate cards Your colleagues ask you to critique their programs to help improve results. Did I mention I am hosting a new webinar and podcast series for the Skeptical CMO ? Did I miss any...
Can I have a witness from the congregation?
Why is it that someone who is an expert in social media is often referred to as an evangelist or guru? Do we really need to resort to faith-based arguments to convince people that these new media are important to businesses and nonprofits? Well, I guess if we made stronger arguments based on “the numbers” then we wouldn’t need to ask people to blindly believe. In the B2B world, more case studies from prominent companies would help. Until pragmatic managers get a taste of higher customer retention rates, improved SEO, or increased online sales, then social media will be something that is optional (even if everyone is talking about them online). Try this next time you explain Twitter or LinkedIn to a friend – share a couple of stories about organizations who turbocharged their sales or customer service levels using social media. Then you won’t have to ask them for their blind...
And you may ask yourself-well…how did I get here?
The Talking Heads were playing on the radio as I made my trek to the train this morning. I imagine many people are asking this very question today about their personal and professional lives. What did I do to get into this situation? I guess the better question now is “what do I do to make the the most of my future opportunities”? All the cliches about hard work and “making our own breaks” aside, now is the time to think about what could happen before it happens. Many times in my professional life I am asked to help people locked up with too many “priorities”. My strategy is simple. Make a list of everything that is on his/her mind and force rank them by priority (A, B or C). I know we want it all but we can’t. It is better to make a decision about priorities than have it emerge based on unintentional neglect. The decision will be made now or later. Isn’t it more empowering to make it yourself than have it make itself? So what are you doing to make the hard...
