I came across this graphic. If your organization is not using mobile, or considering using mobile, look at this Infographic on projected data usage via mobile in the coming years. Wouldn’t your company want a cut of those stacks? Can your company afford to not try? I feel like this document is game, set, match for those organizations on the fence about mobile. It is a no brainer!
Last week I had the opportunity to attend Cloudforce 2011 in Boston. Below you will find some of the main notes I took from the event, and some keynote video. I hope you find it valuable.
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I found this completely fascinating to read the real time Twitter thread during the US attack on Osama Bin Laden’s Outpost. News reporting truly has changed! This event staples home, that at any given moment, we are all on the spot to report what is happening around us. You and I are now officially news reporters. No pressure!
Check out the full thread:
The music industy is continuing to adapt using Social Media. Have a gander at this:
B9 Changes The Way Their Artists Are Consumed
Bridge Nine Records announced today that their new “premium” account is LIVE now! Members of the label’s social networking community, TheB9.com, can now access Bridge Nine’s entire catalog (100+ albums, new and old), have their own URL on TheB9.com, make playlists, hide/show users and features, and much more for the low cost of only $4/month or $30/year ($2.50/month!). Label owner Chris Wrenn commented, “The way people access music is continually changing. By launching this streaming player, we’re trying to change with it and meet the needs of our bands fans by not only making all of their music and releases more accessible, but to also by giving people an inexpensive way to show their support. On top of that, we’ve added bonus features on TheB9.com as gratitude for those who upgrade to the premium account with many more features to be announced soon – including Bridge Nine exclusives and limited edition items. Very exciting stuff.”
Since their inception in 1995, Bridge Nine Records has turned from a hobby to one of the biggest and best music brands in the world and is owned and operated independently to this day. What was once a one-man operation has grown into a nine-person full-time operation headquartered in Peabody, MA (just outside the label’s original home in Boston) with affiliates and distributors worldwide. The label launched their offshoot messageboard/social networking site, TheB9.com (previously known as B9Board.com) in 2002, and today boasts over 80,000 members in the community. In addition to being a messageboard, TheB9.com is also a recognized music news portal, marketplace (buy/sell/trade), tour database, photo gallery and more.
For more information, check out www.Bridge9.com or www.TheB9.com/premium-account.
Could this be a trend, and the beginning of a new way to cost effectively consume media, while still supporting the artists? Seems like a win win for all parties- if its scalable for the label. Will the revenue allow the label to do what they have traditionally done to support artists? Will the label get enough volume to make it worthwhile? This is a case study worth following……
Feeling guilty about not attending South By Southwest (SXSW)? Dont! If you follow any event’s #hashtag you will receive the following:
Honestly, outside of the networking and vendor showcase, I rarely feel the need to attend any event, including SXSW. Would it be cool to attend SXSW? Yes and I probably will, but ultimately I dont feel like I am missing out. Look at my right RSS feed for SXSW…follow the giant green arrow! See it?
Follow that RSS and check it about 2 weeks after SXSW. Everything you could possibly want will be there to get you caught up. If I am wrong, let me have it. 
As for other events, I encourage you to try this with events you cant attend, but want to. Just be sure to keep an eye peeled for session #hastags. Most them will have sub hashes- so be aware of that.
So lets be honest, Charlie Sheen is creating quite a fuss. His name is everywhere, so what did one mid-level band do? They went viral and recorded “Wild Thing” while in the studio recording their next record. All the while they have pimped out the “Charlie Sheen ” name so they can come up in Google searches and Google alerts for……..who else…..”Charlie Sheen”. Very viral of Chimaira dont you think? Check it out….
You know whats cool? In Chimaira’s first DVD, my website was proudly worn by the drummer during the show. How cool am I? lol
I had every intention of finishing this post prior to the Holidays. BUT- like most good intentions sometimes they go awry! With that said, I am finally fulfilling my commitment to speak up about four businesses I am quite fond of and the reasons why. So without further adieu -
Performant is a traditional agency that offers traditional agency services. But there is a catch! You hire them and pay for performance marketing. They align their interest with their clients, creating a long lasting and fruitful relationship. When an agency is paid based on the results of the client, the synergy becomes undeniable. Companies dealing with agencies has historically been a gamble…….not so anymore!
Contact Anders Ekman to learn more: info@performantww.com
@JanetAronica very eloquently wrote this about One Forty. Oneforty is an online community for people who want to review, discover and share social media tools. It’s the internets most complete and categorized listing of Twitter applications, featuring real user reviews for the tools. oneforty has an online forum, Answers where users can participate in any social media-related discussions. One of the most compelling and popular features is Toolkits, which are Twitter app lists made by community members showing collections of Twitter tools that they use. Toolkits are not only a clever way to bookmark your own apps, but it’s a helpful way to “see how others are doing it.”
Founded by Twitter for Dummies co-author Laura Fitton – @Pistachio – oneforty’s Twitter account is a huge focus of their community-building efforts and a well-known resource for answers to incoming Twitter app questions. If you use social media for your job in any aspect, both the directory and community aspects of what oneforty offers make this exceedingly valuable. Bookmark it.
As of this past October, studies indicate that Video usage on the web had doubled in 5 months. With that knowledge in hand, think about video in relation to your business. Now know about VisibleGains, the company that allows you to embed questions and qualify leads via video. Simply put, it is the perfect unification of video with your marketing efforts to drive leads, sales and pull business intelligence.
Additionally, the solution has its own analytics that can be data scrapped and inserted into your existing analytics dashboard. Not to mention, it functions seamlessly with 95% of marketing systems of today. If it doesn’t, you may want to consider a new system. Contact them today.
I was allowed to get the inside scoop on Yellow Robin- White hat SEO marketing. SEO has really evolved over the past 3 years; unfortunately most companies are still practicing outdated techniques that won’t be very effective in 2011. Yellow Robin was created to focus exclusively on white hat SEO & leveraging social media content into back links. The goal? To make SEO more affordable, accessible & scalable for small to medium sized businesses. Businesses not leveraging content into back links in 2011 is simply missing out. Keep an eye on these guys and contact them at aj@yellowrobin.com
My next post will involve a case study of Social Media success within the music industry. As a hint, have a gander at this bands website built on Ning.com: http://apalehorsenameddeath.com/ Happy belated New Year everyone!
Modest and humble? Nah..not my style! It is ok to share wins you are excited about….right? So with that, I am excited to announce that commonground is being considered for the Forrester Groundswell Award under the Business To Business- Support catagory. If you are new to commonground, it is a virtual community for everyone in the environmental and property due diligence industries to share ideas, ask questions and network.
Members can:
Success Metrics:
Growth:
Content. We now have:
Thanks for reading and feel free to visit the Forrester Groundswell page to review the nominations for all catagories, and feel free to visit the commonground page. I hope everyone is having a fantastic fall and watching plenty of Football. Stay tuned for a post on how Social Media is changing American Culture.
Last year I wrote a post called One Question for Ashton Kutcher and said:
Twitter is not a high school popularity contest. I, like many of the legacy Twitter users, utilize Twitter to learn from my peers to better be able to do my job. I/we use it stay in touch with valued thought leaders in the business industry in which we work. Ashton may have successfully beat CNN, but CNN’s value proposition is apparent. Their Twitter posts will keep me up to date on the news-real time! Ashton, what is your value proposition? Are you going to tell me who the latest person is you punk’d? If so, I will stop following you as quick as I followed you out of sheer curiosity. That curiosity is to see what you do with your million followers.
Needless to say, I have long since unfollowed @aplusk. Lets be honest- he uses Twitter exclusively to push his message. Yep, he is doing alot for Malaria- I get it. But he is also doing more boasting about how “cool” he is, and only mentioning his fellow celebs.
Enter Daniel Tosh. Now, before moving forward, here is a warning: @danieltosh is offensive. So don’t click on him if you are easily offended. But what he is, is hilarious and gasp- a celeb using Twitter the right way. He engages 24-7 with his fan base, and goes out of his way to answer virtually every tweet after his show. Want proof, see this purposely very long Tweet history- all to make the point:
Meanwhile, have a look at @aplusk‘s level of engagement- or lack therof. No comparison!
Here is the point. Share, engage, empower and thank- “SEET”. All the right ways to use Twitter whether it be for personal or business use. Daniel does that and Twitter is a staple of his show that ultimately lowers the cost of advertisement. Why? Because the engagement continues all week until the next episode on Comedy Central at 10:30PM EST. That engagement on Twitter keeps the viewers engaged, even when the show is not airing. The business intelligence spawns new ideas for the show. In the end, Tosh.O is a completely organic user generated television experience. Daniel is simply the moderator and facilitator. Brilliant when you think about it. One day businesses will engage their constituents in the same manner – maybe with a little less crass of course!
Thanks for reading, and let me know if I am remiss. Oh, and you are welcome for “that” part of the video embedded on the link above! If you watched it, you know what I mean! Yuck!
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I came across a very important post this week from Barry Libert entitled “Do you stink at being social?”. He makes the very solid point that companies need to knock the walls down and become truly social by being:
1. Transparent
2. Vulnerable
3. Showing WIIFM – What’s in it for me? (Value Proposition)
There is one layer that I felt was missing. If an organization is transparent about its wins and desires, shows off its warts and successfully portrays the value add for its customers and partners, the organization will build trust. Trust is the ultimate close! Real testimonials and positive sentiment raises the viability of buying without persuasion. Proven fact! 90% of consumers online trust recommendations from people they know; 70% trust opinions of unknown users. (Econsultancy, July 2009)
So with that, I made a slick slide. Use it as you see fit!
Finally, here are a couple new tools I stumbled across:
Hope everyone is making the most of the rest of their summer.
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