Posts over the last week ranged from actionable ideas for marketers and Social Media users to how to live life more fully to how to make a real difference in the world. I really enjoyed each and every one of these posts and am proud to showcase them here. I hope you enjoy them!
Marketing Talk
Engaging Ads: An Oxymoron?
If there’s one word in Social Media that seems to drive everyone nuts in a weird, Pavlovian kind of way, it’s “advertising.” Trying to talk to people fully enmeshed in Social Media about advertising is kind of comparable, I think, to walking into Woodstock saying, “Hey, check out these great books on accounting and life insurance!”
The problem is that these reactions are made at your peril. Advertising is still an important way to reach people, especially if you are working in an industry that has key trade publications, major conferences or trade shows, and information that needs the 3rd party credibility that a publication can offer.
So what are people really reacting to? Maybe the same problem we talked about yesterday in terms of websites. Maybe they feel like on the one hand you’re talking to them conversationally, and then sudden in your ad you’re just about the sale. Can these different types of communication and marketing tactics get connected?
I have some ideas to make it so.
A Social Media Revolution? Here are 47 ways to make it happen
A lot of people talk about Social Media as a revolution. It’s a revolution in how we market our companies. It’s a revolution in how we communicate. But like most revolutions, the revolutionaries may be getting kind of high on their success. That’s the bug that got good ole Napoleon. He kept becoming more and more sure of his success, declared himself Emperor, and ticked off most of the world.
I really don’t want Social Media participants to get to that point in the revolution, but I am worried that we are heading in that direction. So, I’ve come up with 47 ways to make sure we get back on track with a real revolution. Maybe a revolution in the revolution, if you like. Here they are.
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Are you engaging on your website?
If you are doing more than Social Media “stuff” to promote your company, products, and services, you may feel like all of this talk about engagement only relates to the Social Media part of what you’re doing. This can be a dangerous way of thinking, however. Just like you want to engage with customers and prospects the same way on Twitter as you do on Facebook (generally), you want to engage with your customers as you meet them in trade publications, on Social Media sites, and on your own website. Today’s post, and the next 3 posts for the Engagement Series, will talk about how to make other marketing tactics more engaging for your customers and prospects. Today, we’ll talk about your website.
It’s time for Social Media to grow up
I have been hearing a lot of buzz the last few days about something Gary Vaynerchuk said on TechCrunch TV. Apparently, Gary said that 99.5% of social media experts are clowns.
Not surprisingly, this created a rather large amount of blow-back, so Gary posted another video explaining his perspective.
While I’m not sure I would say that those who claim expertise are clowns, I would say this. Social Media – as a group of people, as a gathering place, as an entity – needs to grow up.
Transparency and authenticity defined
Sometimes, a word becomes viral and everyone starts to use it. In Social Media, words are going viral all the time. Bloggers use the word influencer, then passion, then transparency, then maybe authenticity, engagement *cough* and others. But here’s the thing. I am pretty sure we are all working on different definitions of all of these words.
Most of the time, that’s kind of okay. However, there are two words that I think might be leading people astray when it comes to simultaneously making money and engaging online. Those two words are transparency and authenticity. I thought I would offer you my definitions here, but these are in no way authoritative. I’m open to suggestions!