Marketing Talk

OMG, You Disagree with Chris Brogan?!? I don’t care.

So, I woke up this morning, bright eyed and bushytailed…I have a tail in the mornings, part of a lifelong curse. Anyway…I was awake. Being the savvy Social Media NinGuDi (that’s Ninja/Guru/Jedi all mixed in together…you can use it. You know you want to) that I am, I decided I’d check in to the new and exciting world of Google Plus while my coffee was brewing. You know, Google Plus, that place where everything is bright and shiny and new and different.

So, I was scrolling along and there was a post by Chris Brogan regarding a webinar he’ll be offering soon covering Google+. I scanned through the numerous comments and saw that there were a handful of people who were using their time to take absolutely pointless little picky shots at Chris Brogan.

Yep, you can’t see that on any other social media platform. Wait, this just in…you can see that anywhere in the online world.

So, before you roll your eyes and say, “Oh geeze, another person saying that big names can’t be criticized,” understand that you should read the rest of the post. Because I’m not saying that anyone is perfect. Personally, I agree with the idea that it might be a bit too soon to roll out a webinar about Google+. Then again, I haven’t been at the top of the social media game for like, a decade.

The issue I have with these exchanges is that they kind of make me nauseous, and I really don’t appreciate that. How can I enjoy my delicious summer salad if I feel sick? And the reason these exchanges make me feel sick is because the criticizers are not really talking constructively about the concept. They’re taking personal shots at another person. It makes THEM look bad. Then the big name responds, because no one likes being insulted, and that makes the big name look jerky too. So you end up with a big pile of people who aren’t really jerks but who kind of seem like it.

A Tale of Two Chiefs: You Finish This Post

by Margie Clayman

Once upon a time, there lived two great chiefs. One of the chiefs, who was very very powerful, had proven himself over the years. When he said it would rain, it rained. When he said the buffalo were coming, they came. When he said hard times were coming, they came too. It got to the point where the people would believe just about anything he said because he had always been right before, again and again. They would follow him wherever he went, do what he recommended, and believe in his visions of the future.

This chief was loved by everyone, but he also cherished his privacy, so people couldn’t talk directly to him very often. His teepee was on the very edge of the village, sort of away from everyone. When someone would come by to speak to him, a family member or one inside his circle would relay the message. Very seldom would he talk to someone directly or help someone directly. Doing so would show favoritism, he felt, and he didn’t want to create a stir, nor did he want to be bothered with petty complaints on matters like that.

Now, in the same village, there lived another chief. He was not as tried and true. There had not been any big battles during his lifetime, at least not yet, so he hadn’t gotten to prove his courage and bravery, even though a lot of people had confidence that he would do well when battle did come. This chief had also established himself to be a chief the people could trust and believe in. He had good ideas, and sometimes he said things before the other chief said them. He was not wrong very often either, but he hadn’t been right over a long enough period to earn the same stature as the other chief.

When do folks like me get a fair chance?

by Margie Clayman

You know that scene in Broadcast News Network (thanks Rich & Marianne) where everyone starts yelling out their windows, “I’m mad as hell and I just can’t take it anymore?”

Well, after watching all of the goings-on on Google+ this week, and after doing my best to give it a reasonably fair shot, that’s kind of what I want to yell out to the online world.

Here’s the thing. When news first came out about Google+, I thought, “Hmm, ok, so another platform that may go away as quickly as Wave and Buzz did.” Then I saw all of the action Google+ was getting from the males in the online world, and what some of those males were saying, and I thought, “Hmm, sounds like maybe women will have a rough time making it over there.”

When I finally got in to Google Plus, I thought, “Well, at least I’m coming into this with a fair amount of Social Media experience under my belt. I’ve established myself as a credible blogger and a credible tweeter. I have a chance of getting to do some neat things early on in this new Google+ world.”

[Read more…] about When do folks like me get a fair chance?

Oh Google Plus, Don’t Make Me A Jerk

by Margie Clayman

Have you ever watched the movie The Jerk, starring Steve Martin? There are too many scenes that are brilliantly funny for me to say I have one favorite scene, but there is a particular scene that I want to draw your attention to. And it’s right …. here.

In case you didn’t watch, it’s the “that’s all I need” scene. Martin’s character (the jerk) is leaving his mansion, his wife, and all of his possessions. Well, all of his possessions except for his paddle ball game. And his matches. And his remote control…and…well, you get the idea.

This scene popped into my head because of what’s going on between my brain and the social media world in which I live. Let me explain.

if you want to engage, know who you’re talking to

by Margie Clayman

Awhile back, I posted a survey here on ye olde blog. It was a very short survey and its purpose was simple. I wanted to learn a bit more about you. So I asked.

I know, it seems kind of strange, doesn’t it? So much of the online world seems based on hypothesizing and testing and guessing and then adjusting and testing again. I’m just downright lazy, I guess. I figured, “Well, why not just ask the people I’m talking to.”

I wanted to do this survey so that I could learn a little bit about who is coming here to read my content, and the hope/theory was that in learning a bit more about you, I could customize my content a bit better for, well, you.

Yes, I’m aware that if you didn’t take my survey this may not apply to you. I’m sure I’ll do another of these in the future 🙂

For now, here is a bit about you – my online community.

What I want you to learn from me

by Margie Clayman

Being a complete and total John Lennon nut along with being a possessor of a photographic memory, I happen to know that today marks a key and tragic day in Lennon’s life. You see, it was on July 13, 1958 that John’s mother was killed by a drunk driver. John was just shy of his 18th birthday. It would take years upon years for John to come to terms with this sudden and great loss. Even when he himself died tragically at the age of 40 (which is starting to look younger and younger to me), he had not been able to fully put this loss into a place where he could really wrap his head and heart around it. Even so, John attempted to help others deal with their pain. He did his best to try to help the world while he himself found life almost too trying to deal with. It is this ability to balance the outward and the inward that ultimately makes me respect John a great deal.

This is on my mind, in a round-about way, because I recently read a post by Amber Naslund called What I wish more people knew about me. Amber said a lot of people were writing posts along those lines these days. Her post is lovely, but it didn’t make me want to write a post exactly like that. Rather, it made me want to write a post about what I hope people learn from me, just like I learned from John Lennon (and others) that you can use your own experiences to try to help others who may be in the same situation or in more dire straits. It made me want to try to verbalize what I hope I leave with you when you take the time out to engage with me on a regular basis. It made me reflect on the legacy I hope I am building as I go day-by-day through life.

Ultimately, these things are things I learned myself, either by experiencing it and saying, “Oh!” or by learning at the feet of others. And in the end, while some of these things may be useful for business and may be relevant to a Social Media reality, what they really represent are things I’m trying to reach out and teach others around me in the world at large. Use at will.

So, with all of that in mind, here is what I want you to learn from me.

Marketing Talk

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