Marketing Talk

So I received my first question in the “Ask Margie” section of this site – from my oft-mentioned friend Ms. Susan Fox, aka @Gagasgarden. Susan asked about how to get lurking types to comment on blog posts.

The question takes me back to one of the first Blogchat chats I ever attended. People were talking about how to get more comments in general. I was getting to know some people, so I was talking about methodologies that I had heard other people mention. “Oh, I am only getting about 17 comments per post,” one person said. “Yeah, it took me a whole month to start getting a steady stream of comments.”

I had been blogging for about 2 months and still wasn’t getting any comments. I was feeling a little confused.

Flash forward, well, a whole year now, I guess. Several months later. I usually get at least one comment on my blog posts, and things have been going pretty well here. You all have been offering some really interesting insights that make this place more a meeting place than a Margie babbling place, which is good. There’s just one small itsy bitsy thing I’d like to confess to you.

I still have no idea what posts are going to generate conversation and which ones aren’t.

You call this an answer?

I know. This is not the type of answer you’re used to seeing, probably. A lot of people offer a lot of advice when it comes to blog comments. I’m certainly not saying that I know more than experts like Brian Clark and Denise Wakeman. I’m just saying that I think that getting people to comment on your blog posts is more art than science.

In fact, I have something I need to confess to you.

Some of my most popular posts have been posts that I threw together. I may or may not have taken the time to put a cherry on top. I was happy enough with them to publish them, but I didn’t think they would really garner a huge response. Wrong.

Okay, one more confession. There have been a LOT of posts that I was sure would catch fire. I literally waited with baited breath. Those tended to get no comments at all.

A few things to think about

I have some ideas that I’ve been kind of thinking about and working with, so perhaps these will help you too.

• Some people just don’t comment. I have done primary research on this (that is to say I’ve talked to people on Twitter about it). The sheer volume of blog posts that people read restricts their ability to comment. There’s not much you can do about that.

• Shorter posts seem to do better more often than not. This kind of makes sense. Again the time thing. If a person has half an hour to do blog type things, they could either spend that whole time reading 1 blog post or they could take five minutes to read your post and five minutes to comment. What are you hoping for?

• People need guidance. Personally, I prefer comments over retweets just because I like the conversation that can develop in a comments section – it seems harder to do that on Twitter. So I have started to gently nudge people towards commenting. If you want people to comment, let them know (it’s that whole expectation thing again).

• Are you talking at people or with people? When I first started blogging, I thought the key was to sound very … smart. Now, I’m not saying that you want to dumb down your content, but people tend not to respond, in blogs or in real life, if you are yelling and spitting at them. If you are conversing, people are more likely to um, to converse. So, even if you know a ton about something, rely on your readers to build out the content. Don’t tell the whole story yourself. Be willing to share.

The ever-moving target

There’s one more thing I would toss out in reference to Susan’s question. That is that just like on Twitter or on Facebook, your audience is constantly shifting. You have your subscribers, but then you have people who could be finding your site from all sorts of different sources. It’s really hard to tell if they are reading, why they chose to read, how much they’re reading, and all of the other details a blogger loves to hear about. Even subscribers may not read every post. With all of the talk about how full peoples’ RSS feeds are, a subscription is not a promise that every post of yours will be read. So, I have a key audience in mind with each of my posts, and I talk to that audience, to you. If you don’t catch this post, that’s alright. I’ll catch ya later. If someone new comes here and they dig my vibe, then that’s great! As the blogger, you set the mood in your blog house. As people come and go, they may see things they like, and they may comment. They may see things they like and go on their merry way. You just never know. People are weird that way.

Mostly though, it’s a mystery

For all of that, I still don’t really have a solid 100% answer. I’m still learning about the world of blogging. It’s still extremely gratifying for me every single time I get any comment, and I hope it always remains that way. When I write a post that resonates with people, well, that’s the gold, isn’t it? But you can’t hit gold every time, and you have to learn to roll with the punches.

If only you could tell where those punches are coming from…

Does that help?

Over the last couple of months, I’ve seen an awful lot of, let’s use Amber Naslund’s word, kerfuffles, in the online realm. Some of them have been about controversial blog posts. Others have been about controversial tweets.

These incidents have raised some questions for me, and maybe for you too. So I thought maybe we could talk about them.

• Have you noticed that a lot of people recommend stirring controversy to drive traffic to a blog site? Say it loud, say it mean, all that kind of stuff? So, why are we surprised when someone writes something that is controversial?

• Maybe you have also noticed, as I have, all of the blog posts, webinars, etc etc that admonish people in the Social Media world to speak their minds and be authentic. However, it seems like when someone voices, authentically, an opinion that doesn’t mesh with group A, group A responds with knives and pitchforks and civility goes out the window. So is the rule that you can be as authentic as you want as long as you agree with me?

• And finally, maybe you have noticed that if someone writes a post that frames an influential person in a negative way, it’s going to create chaos, a lack of civility, and overall bad vibes. It’s a sad fact, but it’s true. Supporters of the influential person jump in. Supporters of the blogger or tweeter jump in. So, why can’t we pinpoint this pattern and remain civil? Why can’t we talk about ideas instead of people?

If you’re here for business, online is at work

I love a good debate. I love researching to see if my own opinion actually has real legs to stand on. I love to be held accountable for what I say here and in my tweets. But loving those things also means a sense of responsibility. If I choose to write a blog post, like say, this one, I have to write it knowing that it can be read by absolutely anyone. I have to know that every word that I tweet is visible to absolutely everyone. When/if you Google my name (and why wouldn’t you?) my tweets show up right at the top. That means if a new client is looking at our agency, they will very likely see my tweets. If someone is looking to work for us, they will see my tweets, most likely. They may see this blog. They may see my Facebook page or my LinkedIn account.

That is on my mind all. of. the. time.

Because I care about you and don’t want anything disastrous to happen to you, I implore you to keep it that on your mind too.

Controversy is fine. Saying what is in your heart is the right way to go. But do not stir the pot without thinking, and always, always be aware that people may only see your side of the debate, without context. How do you look to those people who can’t hear the person you’re talking to?

Just something to think about.

Image by Dan Brady. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/danyul

I got a great comment from my friend Jill Manty regarding my post on agencies and Social Media boutiques. Her experience is different from mine in that she comes from the digital agency side of things. Her experience has been that “traditional” agencies are completely unprepared to build bridges with a digital agency. They don’t know how to work online. Some of them haven’t even had websites. Jill rightly asked how one could build a bridge or a cooperative relationship with an agency that is so under-prepared and so behind the times.

It’s a pretty good question, and one that represents things about the current state of marketing world that really make me sad. It all goes back to issues I’ve blogged about before – isolation, a lack of integration, head in the sand type marketing. The works. We can’t build bridges if some of us are building out of toothpicks and others of us are using steel.

Jill’s question made me realize that there are a lot of questions, related questions, that might be floating through peoples’ minds as they ponder Marketing Version 2011. So I thought I would shoot out some questions and then, being completely narcissistic, I’d also offer my answers. But of course, each answer is up for debate! All of these questions, and more, answer Jill’s question. Or at least, that is the intent.

So here we go.

1. What is Marketing? When I use the word marketing, I am using it to refer to any methodology of product or service promotion. Now back in the day, this was pretty much commercial advertising and press releases. These days the world has gotten a lot more complex. Are white papers marketing? Sure. Are websites marketing? Yep. Is Social Media marketing? You betcha.

2. Who Owns Social Media? I saw this question all throughout 2010. “Doesn’t PR own Social Media?” “I thought customer service owned Social Media.” “No no no, Social Media is clearly the territory for marketers.” Well, given my definition of marketing, these questions simply don’t make sense to me. In point of fact, asking who owns Social Media is like asking, “Who owns the concept of the screw driver? Is it just for carpenters?” Social Media is a tool. It can absolutely be invaluable to PR, marketers, content developers, and teenagers, too.

3. Isn’t Social Media a fad? It seems like some agencies, like the one Jill works with, are still burying their heads in the sand a bit when it comes to Social Media. “No, no, it’s not happening. It’s not the same as a print ad. We only do print ads.” Now if you say, “Twitter is a fad,” or “Facebook is a fad,” I might be more likely to give the question some thought. Lots of tools run their course and then kind of fizzle out. Then again, we were all laughing about the passage of MySpace a couple of months ago and now it seems to be redefining itself. Hmm. What can agencies learn from MySpace? The times are changing. You should change too. That doesn’t mean you need to change into something that’s dead, though.

4. How do I measure marketing success now? One particularly sad thing about traditional agencies who are burying their heads in the sand is that they are missing immense opportunities to make their efforts quantifiable. When I first started as a media buyer 6 year ago, a lot of magazines had little “bingo cards” at the end. People would go through and select products and/or companies that interested them. Companies would then receive these cards and could say, “Hey, we got x number of leads from this magazine.” It was tangible. As print started to mix with other marketing channels, the bingo cards went by the wayside, and agencies and advertisers were left with the feeling that their advertising dollars were being sent into the Gulf with the disappearing oil. Now, though, there are lots of new and exciting ways to bring quantification back. But you have to be willing to try new things. You have to be able to integrate web development, web analytics, maybe QR codes, and other new measurement tools. The possibilities are really exciting in this realm, though.

5. What is the ROI of Social Media? This is a very general question that you see a lot. My pat answer for 2011 is going to be a question in return. Actually, two questions. What is your objective? Question two: what are you investing?  The phrase “Return on investment” all kind of runs together now, and I think people don’t really weigh what it means. Return. on. Investment. If you are not investing anything in your Social Media efforts, you can’t really expect a return, right? Similarly, if you don’t know what you want your “return” to be, it’s going to be hard to wager what a “good” ROI would be for a Social Media campaign. Answer these 2 questions first, then we can talk about what your ROI is.

6. Isn’t B2B the wrong fit for…xyz? There was a lot of buzz in early December because Rick Segal, speaking at the B2B European Conference in Berlin, declared that B2B marketing was “obsolete.” I’ve already said my piece about phrases I’m hoping not to hear in 2011 – “is dead” is one of them. Obsolete is close enough. The fact of the matter is that B2B companies can use any marketing channel that a B2C company can use. It just needs to be thought of in a slightly different way. Instead of thinking just about an end-user, a B2B company may need to incorporate a sales force or a distributor network – or both. But that’s just an additional step, it’s not the gallows. The only new trend in marketing that I think might be a bit rough for *some* B2B companies is geo-location technology. You’re not going to wander by a manufacturer of auto parts and say “Oh, I think I’ll check in here to get a discount.” Most likely. You never know.

7. Is advertising dead? Like many things, advertising is not dead. I would even go out on a limb and say it’s not dying. It’s evolving. It’s changing. Agencies and advertisers need to make an adjustment to a world where advertising is a two-way communication system. I foresee an increase in interactive aspects like QR codes or “submit a video or a picture” or something like that. I see Social Media being integrated more into traditional advertising campaigns so that Social Media can remain ad-free while ads can do the selling.

8. Do I need to learn about that? I hope I don’t hear this question too often in 2011. I certainly am approaching this year as a time when I will try to learn everything I can about everything. That means if there are changes in SEO – I want to know about it. If there are changes in print advertising trends, I want to be ahead of the curve. If mobile suddenly peters out into nothingness because the Martians bring us mind control hats, I want to know all about that. I firmly believe that if you want to be a strong and efficient marketer in this decade/century/year, you need to be able to speak semi-intelligently about everything your client could need.

9. Don’t I need an expert? I think there is a growing distrust of the “expert.” At least experts who call themselves experts. First of all, there are too many areas where you can have experts now. I’m waiting to see who the golden child of the iPad application will be, or the Super Ninja of Groupon Marketing. Maybe they are already out there. In any case, categories of marketing are becoming more niche and more deep, and often more isolated, too. If you are an agency, digital or “traditional,” or if you are a marketing consultant – get thee to a position of being a hub (boy, “get thee to a nunnery” flows a lot better. Good call, Shakespeare). Gather experts around you and to you so that together, you can offer expertise on any subject. An expert in just one area is not going to be enough.

10. Isn’t PR/Customer Service/Content/Advertising/Social Media more important than marketing? Given my definition of marketing and how I work in the marketing world via our agency, you might sympathize with me when I say, “Uh…what?” I truly don’t understand this question. No matter what the specifics are. If you are doing things in what I believe is the “right way,” for what it’s worth, all of these things ARE marketing. Asking if PR is more important than marketing is like asking me, “Don’t you think the foundation of a house is more important than the whole house?” No, I kind of like the whole thing. Big picture kind of deal. Whole enchilada.

What would your question number 11 be? What would your answer be? Or would you like to shoot out a question 11 and see how others respond to it?

Or, maybe you’d like to take issue with one of my questions or answers. That’s fine too.

I’d love to hear from you.

1st Image by Marcelo Pascual. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/marcelo03

2nd Image by jacquet karine. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/chtroumfet

3rd Image by frédéric dupont. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/patator

I’ve been going through my followers list trying to make sure I follow back good people. As I’ve discussed a lot here before, I try not to be a Twitter snob, but I also try not to follow back everybody. I look at every follower – I analyze their tweets and their interactions.

Here are a couple of profiles I came upon in recent evaluations.

Yeah. That’s a profile. No tweets at all. For real.

Here’s another one.

That first profile is followed by 3,072 people. The second one is followed by just 870 or so people.

Now here’s the part that might hurt your feelings

One interesting thing that Twitter does is it shows you, when you look at a profile, people you know who are following that account. By name. I saw people listed whom I follow and who follow me.

I lost a little respect for them. I’ll be 100% honest.

Who you follow sends a message

One thing that I think we can probably agree on, regardless of our specific feelings about Twitter followers, is that your list of who you are following will say a lot about you. And everybody has different ways of interpreting that. Here’s what goes through my own particular head when I see people I know following blatantly robotic or blank accounts.

• You are too busy to really look at who you are following back

• Maybe you are not that interested in engagement

• Maybe you are using automated thises and thatses to get the job done in Social Media (nothing wrong with that per se, but it tells me something about your approach)

This is why numbers don’t matter

If you have “auto follow” turned on so that you can have a lot of followers and follow…ees, let the above profiles stand as exhibits A & B as to why that may not be the best way to go, especially if you are hoping to build a network or community for business. At the best, these accounts will not do anything but hold a place in your tally of followers or people you’re following. At worst, people like me will see that you are following them and be a little surprised and maybe a little disappointed.

Of course, in the end, it doesn’t really matter if I feel that way. It’s your account. I just thought I’d let you know how one person in your stream perceives of such things.

Incidentally, both of the above accounts are following me right now. I did not opt to follow back either one.

Do you have a different view on the matter?

On December 21, 2010, Jeremiah Owyang published a comprehensive post titled, “Trend: How Social Media Boutiques Are Winning Deals Over Traditional Digital Agencies.” Given that I work for an agency (I’ll get to the word “traditional” in a minute) the post attracted my attention. I think the post raises a lot of interesting points, but there are also some facets of the post that I really take issue with. So, I thought I would explore some of those thoughts and see if you agree.

The new traditional agency

I’ve been confused all year about how people define “agency.” It seems like everyone has their own definition, with the only commonality being that talk of agencies is often tied to disdain. This particular post refers to a traditional agency and a traditional digital agency, which I thought was even more confusing. So I did some research. I found this article from October 2008, which is called How to integrate a digital agency into a traditional one. Among some of the points that THIS post brings up:

• In a traditional agency, the creative personnel have no idea how to develop creative for the online world

• Traditional agencies are afraid of change (and programmers)

• “Hosting, Bandwidth, Email, Load Balancing, Database, Privacy Policies, Proofing Sites, Backups, Milestones, Testing – terms that traditional account management has never heard of”

Well, I of course can’t speak for all agencies, or really any agency other than the one I work for (which is my family’s agency). However, none of this accurately describes us, and I would venture to say that any agency that is striving hard to survive would not find these descriptions accurate either.

Factually, the new traditional agency is what one might call “full service.” Our agency does print ads, sure. We also do digital ads, news releases, e-newsletters, websites, SEO, and Social Media. That’s right. Social Media.

It’s not clear to me how “traditional digital agency” is defined in the context of Jeremiah Owyang’s post, but I am coming to it based on the understanding that a “traditional” agency is probably not traditional in the “old fashioned” kind of sense.

“Immature Brands Naturally Rely on Traditional Agencies”

This is where some of the wording started to rub me the wrong way. This part of the post basically says that:

• most corporations are not trying to engage with customers

• and therefore, using a “traditional” agency works just fine

The post states that traditional agencies might educate companies but that traditional agencies “lack flexibility or don’t have a business model for social engagement.”

This kind of painting with a broad paintbrush is what I find most disturbing in the realm of Social Media, not just in terms of talk about agencies but in terms of, well, just about anything. An agency can be good at this, a Social Media boutique can be good at that, so you need to pick one or the other.

However, there is some research behind this, so let’s dig a bit deeper.

Agency as hub

Let’s say that you are working with an agency but you really want to engage in an aggressive Social Media campaign. Let’s say that your agency has helped you create a great strategy and has helped you develop a corporate policy (yes, we can do that), but you need help with implementation. One advantage to working with an agency that people seldom think of is that we are able to use our expertise and connections to connect you with who you need. Think of us as a hub, and lots of different firms and specialists can plug into us on your behalf. An agency can work WITH a Social Media boutique or consultant. We can serve as liaison so that you don’t have to sit and explain your whole business to the firm. We can provide background information on where you are in your process, and we can help you monitor the Social Media campaign both as it exists on its own and as it interfaces with other marketing channels.

This is not to undermine the fact that an agency can also focus personnel on  your Social Media strategy. I know how to engage and build communities in Social Media, and I also know how to order space in a print magazine. Is that a weird disconnect? I don’t think so. I think, rather, that it’s an essential mix. I would feel I was doing a poor job if I dropped either portion of what my experiences have taught me. If you are a marketer in this world, I don’t think turning your back on any portion of what a client may need to do is a wise move. Absorb everything. Learn as much as you can. And pass it on to your customers.

Campaign versus Long-Term Goal

The kernel that I found most disturbing is under the sub-head, “Why Social Media Boutiques Differentiate, and Win Deals from Advanced Buyers.” The post contends that “corporations know they need these specialists” for several reasons, one of which is, “Rather than be “campaign” focused, instead are more long term focused such as building a community with customers for the long term.”

Hmm.

Suzanne Vara wrote a great post a couple of months ago called Social Media is Not A New Conversation. She points out that marketers have been talking to their customers for … well, forever. It’s a necessary part of the job. It’s just the method of conversing that has changed.

With that in mind, I don’t think it’s accurate to say that corporations can rely on agencies for “campaigns” but can only rely on Social Media boutiques for engagement and community. In fact, what seems to be missing from a lot of marketers’ toolboxes is the fact that your customers are the same people, whether you reach them via an ad or a tweet. Why start from scratch as if you are new to the market? Why throw the baby out with the bathwater?

Howdy, Partner

Social Media boutiques, PR firms, marketing firms, agencies, web development firms – we all have strengths and we all have weaknesses in this ever-changing world. The advantage that an agency can offer is that we can interface with you and with everyone else you need to work with. We can partner with you. We can partner with the Social Media Boutique. It does not have to be a situation where we are “winning deals” over each other.

What is your vantage point on this issue? I’d love to have a conversation with  you.

1st Image by Franci Strümpfer. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/1041992

2nd Image by Mohammad Salman Ehsan. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/graphican

OK, so to be fair, I was really not reading many blogs (I confess!!!) from January through March. So really, these are my top 100 favorite posts of the last nine months. But 2010 just sounds a lot better. The categories and the posts within each category are listed in no particular order, by the way.

Posts That Made Me Cry

1. You Need a Suzanne Vara, by Chris Brogan. Ok, I’ve mentioned this post a couple of times. I was of course beyond flattered that two amazing and special people would actually  be spending time talking about me, but more than that, I just thought this tribute to Suzanne, who has since become an even more dear friend, was just spectacular and well-deserved.

2. The Power of Not Giving Up – One Blogger’s Story, by Naomi Dunford. This was a guest post at ProBlogger, and not only was I moved by the post itself, but I was also at a point in my budding Social Media career where things didn’t seem to be catching – this post showed me that maybe I wasn’t crazy to think things would get better. If you’re feeling a little low, give this post a read.

3. Why are you scared to be outspoken? by Lisa Barone. A perfect mixture of using the personal to make a professional point, of showing vulnerability and toughness at the same time – and a great message running through it all.

4. The $10 Difference, by Jason Falls. A story of struggle, inspiration, and a call to action.

5. How Social Media Got Me A Message from Superman, by Cristian Gonzales. Cristian had found my #30Thursday posts and asked if he could submit this one. Um, yeah, you think?!? Shake my hand and make me bawl, why doncha? 🙂

6. Fielding Love: The Walk to Remember, from the Sweet Salty Blog. This was hard to read but I’ll never forget it.

7. What I learned about networking when I asked a stranger for a kidney, by Lisa Petrilli. You’ll well up and you’ll learn at the same time. What could be better?

8. Thankful for her unblessings – an astonishing video by Estrella Rosenberg.

9. A Veterans Day message, a vlog by Amber Cleveland

Posts that made me laugh

10. Food Glorious Food, by Molly Campbell. I love all of Molly’s writing, but this one just sticks out in my head.

11. Bring Your Whole Self To Work, by Tristan Bishop. What’s better than a brilliant dude imitating Shrek & Donkey, anyway?

12. The 7 Deadly Sins of Blogging, by Sonia Simone at Copyblogger. So funny. So smart. So Sonia 🙂

13. Growing Old Gracefully, by, well, Fadra Nally’s cat! Being a cat person, I loved this post!

Posts that blew my mind

14. It’s time to get to work. Arm yourself with knowledge, by Beth Harte. The amount of information and learning packed into this post is, like, woah.

15. The Social Network: Ecosystem vs. Egosystem, by Brian Solis. If you didn’t need to read this post twice, well, you’re smarter than I am!

16. How to use inception marketing on your blog, by Tommy Walker. A guest post at ProBlogger, this post was enjoyable as the movie!

17. Are we outsourcing common sense to the internet? by Fred McClimans. Brilliant post about the current state of the world, and a lot to think about!

18. The Marketing Solar System: Making it easy for customers makes them more loyal, by Debra Ellis. It’s “just” a picture 🙂

19 Why PR has its head up its ass, by Danny Brown. This blew my mind in a different way than some of the other posts, but it’s still a great post!

20. Socialopoly: The fictional mashup of Social Media and Monopoly, by Brian Rice. I debated whether to put this in the laugh category or this one, but it’s too freakin brilliant not to include here!

21. Confessions of a Narcissist, by Mitch Joel. This post really made me stop, think, and evaluate. I can’t believe I first read it four months ago!

22. It’s Micro-Local isn’t it? by Maya Paveza. Well, this post still has me puzzling. Maya’s post has ramifications for real estate, but also well beyond real estate. Really amazing insight here.

Perspective-Changing Posts

23. The Fine Art of Chunking, by Jonathan Fields. I’m a “grab the whole pie in your mouth with one fell swoop” kind of person, so the idea of chunking really hit home.

24. Oui Theory, by “Gaga” Susan Fox. I love this post, the tonality, and what it describes.

25. Personal Branding Basics for 2011, by Chris Brogan. Only Chris could use the word “basics” and have it change a way of thinking. Kind of disgusting, really 🙂

26. You’re Already a Community Manager, by Amber Naslund. And she should know!

27. Ask Better Questions, by Chris Brogan. Well, what can I say. I look up to Chris, and there’s a reason for it. Waddya gonna do ’bout it?

On Marketing

28. Marketing Outsourcing, by Stephane Poirier. A brilliant post, really and truly.

29. Dear Marketing and PR Pros: You’re Still Pushing, by Beth Harte. Beth is a great mind, and this post really exemplifies why. If you’re pushing, you’re not really all about the customer.

30. 12 Questions to ask BEFORE investing in mobile marketing assets, by Joe Ruiz. As mobile starts to catch on fire, this is a great fort of knowledge to reference.

31. When the Orchestra Plays Instead of a Solo, by Mary Biever. A truly great way to explain the value of integrated marketing.

32. I’ve Got a Number in Mind, by Dawn Westerberg. It’s not even just local anymore. It’s one on one, individual to individual.

33. The Three Amigos: Email, Blogging, and Social Sharing, by Jay Baer. A brilliant analysis of why using multiple channels at one time can really open the door to some amazing marketing.

Blogging (Yes, some of my favorite blog posts were about blogging. Let’s move on, shall we?)

34 What is the purpose of your blog? by Suzanne Vara. Seems like an easy question to answer. Not so much, though.

35. Still not sure about launching your blog? by Stanford Smith. This is one of Stan’s shortest posts. I also think it’s one of his best.

36. Why you shouldn’t just blog for yourself, by Stanford Smith again. He is the king of bloggy motivation, at least in my world. This post made me realize that this guy was going to be headed straight towards superstardom.

37. How to use a writing frame, by Chris Brogan. If you’re new to blogging, or if you struggle with writing in general, this post may be just what you’re looking for.

38. The Eminem Guide to Becoming a Writing & Marketing Machine, by Sean Platt at Copyblogger. Even if you aren’t an Eminem fan, you’ll find this post pretty amazing. I am an Eminem fan, so I enjoyed this post all the more.

39. Women in Blogging: 125 Fearless Female Bloggers, by Kristi Hines. Well, aside from the fact that I almost passed out when I saw I was on this list, there is so much to learn. Kristi did such a nice job of rounding up women from all different kinds of industries. It was an honor to be part of that crowd!

Social Media

40. Full Disclosure: I think Social Media Marketing is BS, by Tom Moradpour. An interesting blog title for a fellow who is involved a great deal in Social Media Marketing, non? I thought so, too 🙂

41. Did Social Networking Kill the High School Reunion? by Chase Adams. An intriguing thought that certainly has rattled around in my brain. What do you think?

42. Building Relationships that Matter, by Suzanne Vara. This was Suzanne’s response to Chris Brogan’s post about her. While some people would just gush, Suzanne sent out the light to other lucky people in her community, including me. It’s what Social Media is all about.

43 Let Your Voice Be Heard, by Amber Cleveland and Kay Whitaker. Such a simple message, again, but it’s true. Social Media has given us all a voice. Why not use it?

44. We probably wouldn’t be friends in real life, by Dawn Westerberg. I love this post, still, and I hope it resonates with you as much as it did with me.

45. We were right, most Social Media numbers are useless, by Mack Collier. The title pretty much says it all. Great points. Very encouraging if you’re new to this world!

Branding

44. Is there a crisis in crisis management? by Cheryl Burgess. This is more about the dangers brands face online than branding itself, but still, a very important read.

45. Why personal branding is not just an exercise in egoism, by Cristian Gonzales. Can you build your personal brand without becoming an egomaniac?

46. What’s your MO? Does your brand have conversation starters? by Tom Moradpour. Another jewel by Tom, and a way to promote Movember as well. Not bad, eh?

47. How to manage an enterprise Twitter presence: Avatars, account structure, and basic response methodology, by Olivier Blanchard (aka The Brand Builder). This also easily could have gone into my “Blows my mind” category, but, you kind of have to have Oliver in the branding section. I mean, really.

Influence

48. Google and Bing reveal that social influence bumps search engine results, by Mark W. Schaefer. A fairly recent post, but truly fantastic analysis.

49. Improve your influence, by Chris Brogan. Everything I believe about Social Media influence. He takes all my best ideas, I swear 🙂

50. 6 common habits of highly effective social media rockstars, part 1: The speaking circuit, by Olivier Blanchard. Some interesting points about what real rock-stardom could, or should, look like.

51. The Great Influence Debate – What if Watts and Gladwell are both wrong and right? by Jeff Wilson. I keep coming back to this post because it bowled me over. Give it a read!

Woman Power

52. I hope that you love- or despise – my book cover, by Carol Roth. A very interesting insight into the minefields out there in the publishing world.

53.  Twisted Sisters, by Tamsen McMahon. I love this post. It says so much, and it still resonates with me as strongly as it did 2 months ago.

Motivation – of all kinds

54. Entrepreneurs Share Their 95 Balls-to-the-walls crazy (BTWC) Business Goals, by Carol Roth. When you read some of these goals, you can’t help but think of your own.

55. Diary of a wimpy blogger, by Stan Smith. Read this, then get blogging. Immediately.

56.  Can we really just bury our failures? by Suzanne Vara. Inspired by her Jets, this post got me thinking about all kinds of ways Suzanne’s words could be used as motivation.

57. Your Trajectory and Course-Correction, by Chris Garrett (at My Escape Velocity). All of Chris’s posts are great, but this one has really stuck with me and resonated.

58. Don’t fear making the leap to new beginnings, by Lou Imbriano. This post is so beautifully written, so motivational, personal, and it has a great message to boot. My kind of post, Lou. Well done!

On Social Good

59. This is Tanner, a post by Catherine (HerBadMother). This was the background to the campaign run by Scott Stratten on Twitter, which was one of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed.

60. Air Canada Ignores Dying Boy Til He Goes Viral, by Lisa Barone. Sadly, Lisa’s community of commenters got nasty in some instances, but her post captures the power anyone who witnessed the Tutus for Tanner campaign felt.

61. Teens and Social Media Bullying – Why Find Help App is So Important, by Danny Brown. I found this post to be so helpful that I actually was able to base a chat around it on Twitter, and Danny, being a gentleman, joined in. Layers of good. Like a great cake!

62. Hope: the 1st update, by Megin for Elolam. Learn more about this group. They are doing GREAT things!

63. The New Deal for Charity – You can make a difference, by the ladies of Sterling Hope, Amber Cleveland and Kay Whitaker – using a new business to do social good, and blogging about it. Yep.

64. Thank you! a blog from Tom Moradpour reporting on the Didier Drogba campaign, another amazing Twitter campaign for good.

65. How to be a SuperDad, by Amber Osborne. A bit on our “MitchGiving” campaign for Mitch Neff and his family.

66. Becoming Visible, a post Chris Brogan wrote highlighting the immense good that Mark Horvath is doing in the world.

On Bullying

67.  I was Bullied, by Julie Mangano. A heart-wrenching, brave blog post.

68. Confessions of a Bully, by Kat Caverly. This is an amazing post, and I’m so glad Lady Greetums shared it.

69. On Bullying, by Jim Mitchem. An amazing post and a great perspective.

70. Was I a Bully? By Danny Garcia for The Online Safe House. I love this post. It’s like you’re jumping inside Danny’s head. Gently…

71. Bullying will never go away. So how can we minimize the impacts? by Patrick Prothe for The Online Safe House. Patrick was such a great help this year in blogging for my side project. I owe him a lot.

On Twitter

72. What Twitter’s $200 Million Cash Infusion Means to You, by Heidi Cohen. This is one of Heidi’s best posts, I think. Her analysis is spot on.

73. Being a Twitter snob is a good thing, by Mitch Joel. I still think about this post regularly. Sometimes I think I still disagree with it. Other times, I think I might be coming around a bit. Hard to tell 🙂

74. Bringing down the Twitter snobs, by Mark Schaefer. Of course, I still think about Mark’s response, too.

75. The #usguys, by Chase Adams. The post that outlined the first vision of this Twitter phenomenon.

76. Slinging #Hashtags at the Virtual Diner, by Karen Lund. This post could be in the “posts that made me cry” section. Karen did a beautiful job (unsolicited) of hitting all of the points that Stan and I were hoping for when we started #Tweetdiner on Twitter 3 months ago. Truly a lovely tribute, and a pretty darned good explanation of what Twitter communities can be about.

On Doing It Right

77. Are Real Estate Agents Interested in Doing Social Media Right or Just Doing It? By Maya Paveza. This post is specific to the Real Estate world, but I think the question applies for everyone.

78. What People Care About (Not Social Media), by Geoff Livingston. Of course, doing it right in Social Media may, just may, not be the most important thing ever. Ssssh.

79. You’re Doing it Wrong, by Chris Brogan. True, this post is from 2009, but Chris sure did link to it a lot this year. So, I’m counting it. Because, well. I am.

Miscellany Goodness

80. I am a marketing stylist, by Lisa Alexander. I just adore Lisa, and this post always brings a smile to my face when I think about it.

81. The College Drop-off: Can we cut the crying parents some slack? By Ann Handley. I just thought this was such a great mixture of happy and sad, proud and, well, sad. I think about it a lot when I think back on my own college days 🙂

82. The Future of Marketing, by Tommy Walker. Tommy talks about all of the new marketing techniques the scare the heck out of me but make him happy.

83. An Exercise to Develop Your Observational Skills, by Mark Dykeman. I still think about this post a lot. It says so much about the current state of our society.

84. You’re famous, by Seth Godin. I don’t usually find that a lot of Seth’s blog posts stick with me, but this one did. It’s such a positive message. I like positive.

85. The Privatization of Culture and the Illusion of Depth, by Julien Smith. In his most recent post, Julie makes fun of this post and says it was way too obscure. Well, I liked it, Julien. So there. Phhhht.

The #30Thursday Posts

For 86-95, check out holiday reading, a collection of these posts.

Some of these posts are in my top faves on their own, some are not. They’re all worth reading, for sure.

And five posts I wrote meself

I guess it’s okay to pick five of your own favorite posts too, right?

96. I never thought it would happen to me: lessons on community

97. Agencies Can’t.

98. What Lincoln’s Generals Can Teach Us

99. Where will you be 50 years from now?

100. and just for fun (and bitterness), My open letter to LeBron.

I hope you enjoy these 100 posts. I enjoyed reflecting on all of them. Happy Holidays, to those who celebrate.