Greg Verdino

A buffet of delicious micro-media snacks

I've always been an information junkie.  I suppose you need to be if you want to stay one step ahead of the changes that happen just about daily in marketing nowadays.

Now that I'm working on my book though, I find that I need to be a lot more disciplined about actually keeping track of all the relevant news stories, interesting factoids, ideas, tips, tricks, case studies and concepts that might (just might) serve as useful background for a chapter, paragraph or sentence I might tap out months from now. 

Sometimes the tidbits come from traditional media, in which case they find themselves ripped from the sources and scattered about whatever surface I happen to be working on (see Exhibit A, above.)

But for the most part, I find my inspiration on the web. Shocking, I know.

If you're interested in getting a peek behind the curtains -- and into the cluttered anteroom of my mind -- as I tap my way through the manuscript for microMARKETING, you can keep tabs on my Delicious tags.

I've been tagging interesting articles and other people's blog posts "micromarketing" since April, and will continue doing so as I find things that may come in handy throughout the writing process. You don't get to shuffle through my stack of loose magazine clippings unless you stop by for a visit (or live here), but my Delicious bookmarks are the next best thing.

Don't get lost and try to leave things more or less the way you found them. :-)  And, if you're so inclined, feel free to suggest pieces you've read elsewhere that you think I might find interesting.

Twitter is my news feed

Even a few years ago, I got most of my marketing and business news from email newsletters and print publications.  After that, blogs became my preferred news source -- more perspectives, written by people living the news from the front lines (rather than by journalists commenting from the sidelines), served up in near real time by Google Reader.

But today, I get most of my business news and discover new marketing facts, ideas and opinions on Twitter. 

If you're a marketer and still wondering how to justify spending time on Twitter -- and building relationships with your peers and/or social media insiders isn't important enough to you (?!?!?!) -- you might consider that Twitter helps you keep your ear to the ground and serves up lots of information that you can use to do your job better tomorrow than you do it today.

In a distinctly Jaffe-inspired cavalcade of links, here are just a few of the things I heard first (and in some cases, heard only) from my Twitter network.

• The rise of social media and the democratization of content creation means, among other things, that everyone (no matter how small) can use the web to create and grow their own personal brand.  Lots of companies don't like this but, according to Forrester's Jeremiah Owyang, they had better get used to it. 
• Of course, companies can and should be tapping into the same social media tools to build their own brands too, assuming they can get it right.  Despite corporate America's efforts to establish some consistent blogging standards and best practices, most consumers quite simply don't trust corporate blogs.  To me, this says more about the general trustworthiness of the typical company than it does about the potential value blogging brings to the marketing mix.  Hopefully the folks who make corporate communications decisions will see it the same way.
• Now, if all this talk of blogging still confuses you, there's good news (or bad news, depending on your perspective) - you're not alone.  Most marketers are still social media beginners and have plenty to learn about how to participate in the conversation and how to measure the ROI of doing so.
• On the other hand, you shouldn't let the (perceived) lack of ROI keep you from trying your hand at social media marketing -- or at marketing through any of the other emerging channels we have at your disposal today.  One pizza chain has generated $1 million in mobile web sales in the past six months alone, and new data shows that even virtual world storefronts can be company revenue drivers.  Take that, haters.
• But even this doesn't mean that all is well in  Next Big Thingsylvania.  For example, even in Europe, 2008 wasn't the Year of Mobile and we still have a long way to go before mobile marketing hits it's stride.  Add this challenge to the list of stumbling blocks: when most people say "mobile marketing" what they really mean is "mobile advertising."  And that's a ship that will sink well before it sets sail (file under: square peg, round hole.)
• Wanna know what else doesn't work?  Viral marketing. Well, it works -- or at least it can -- but (repeat after me people) viral isn't a marketing strategy; it's one possible outcome of an otherwise sound campaign that's actually so good that people want to spread the word.  Viral is about people talking to people, and you can't cook it up in a Madison Avenue conference room.
• And speaking of things that don't work, Robert Scoble isn't a fan of Twitter's direct messaging functionality.  For those of you not on Twitter, direct messaging allows one user to send a private tweet to another user.  Scoble dislikes this piece of the service so much that he'd like to see Twitter do away with it altogether.  He's in the minority from what I can tell, but I kinda agree with him.
• So if direct messages don't work, how do you attract attention from a big time social media guru?  David Armano (a not-so-shabby social media guru himself, although you wouldn't know it from his mountain man beard and straw hat) thinks a new service called Bubble Comment might do the trick.  Bubble Comment let's you record and post a video message that will pop up, bubble like, on top of any web page.  It's freaky but fun -- it just might work...  Although I'm not sure what, exactly, has happened to Armano.  He used to be a nice Italian boy from Long Island.

So hey Twitterinos, what interesting, fun and useful facts did you learn from your Twitter friends this week?

My blog has entered the terrible twos

My blog turned two over the weekend -- on Saturday, October 4th to be precise.  But since it was out binge drinking and barfing all over its shoes, I figured I'd wait until today to write a post.

The time has flown -- and while two years seems like no time at all, I know that it translates into something like 1,100 internet years. So I thought that this might be a good time to offer up a retrospective of posts from the past 24 months.  It's a great way for new readers to get a sense of the things that have held my interest over the past couple of years -- and a good way for long time readers to relive the glory that is me (that last bit is written with more than a hint of sarcasm, of course.)

For me, it has been interesting to look back at everything I've written here and find that -- although the specific details, companies and pet peeves may have changed -- my overall themes have remained the same.  Depending on your point of view, that either means that I'm consistent or that I've fallen into a rut.  You can decide for yourself. 

Anyway, thanks to everyone who has stuck by me, remained a reader, linked to me when I've written something noteworthy, and spread the word to their friends and colleagues.  I appreciate it.  I really, really do.

And so, without further ado, here are 24 posts from the past 24 months -- charting the course from my blog's humble beginnings to it's just as humble present.  Let me know what still resonates, what you think is a load of crap and if there are other posts you've enjoyed as well.

2006

• Don't let ads kill the video star

2007

• Let's define the word "pull"
• Does your ad agency advertise?
• Be the content
• Are you at war with your customers?
• The social media disconnect
• Do you make your customers uncomfortable?
• Get off the scale
• Are you a giver?  Probably not.
• Social media: how much is too much?
• What did you expect?
• Frank Zappa school of marketing
• A t-shirt is like social media because...
• How are television ads like SUVs?
• Britney Spears school of marketing
• The 7 strands of "blog dna"
• Black Eyed Peas school of marketing

2008

• Beyond knowledge: head in the cloud
• Tweet or change the world.  Pick one.
• The 'you test' for social media agencies
• Twitter, shunning, Siberia and solitary confinement
• Hate to tell you, but Web 1.0 was social too
• Social media: lipstick on a pig or total makeover?
• Next big thing? First, master the last big thing

If I can ever find the time to put it together, I am hoping to collect these same posts in a free e-book so that I can share them with clients and colleagues that don't read my blog.  I'll let y'all know when (if) the e-book is ready to rock -- hopefully you'll have some friends you can share it with too.

Thanks!

links for 2008-09-03

• Web Strategy by Jeremiah | A Chronology of Brands that Got Punk’d by Social Media                
  A good resource from Jeremiah Owyang that details a bunch of negative examples - from brandjacking to foul ups to missed opportunities.  Good cautionary tales...
  (tags: web2.0 socialmedia marketing reference strategy)             

• Being Peter Kim | A List of Social Media Marketing Examples                
  A great resource - Peter has compiled a massive list of corporate social media examples.  If you see anything missing, be sure to drop him a comment.
  (tags: web2.0 socialmedia reference marketing)             

links for 2008-08-26

• Conversation Agent | Business Uses for Twitter                
  Valeria Maltoni riffs on Brogan's 50 Uses post, pulling out her top 3 starting points for businesses looking to pilot Twitter.  Good advice from a client-side marketer.            
  (tags: web2.0 twitter tools socialnetworking socialmedia microblogging marketing business reference)
              
• Web Strategy by Jeremiah | The Evolution of Brands on Twitter                
  Forrester's Jeremiah Owyang on how brands can get started and ramp up their efforts on Twitter.   
  (tags: web2.0 twitter tools socialnetworking socialmedia microblogging marketing business reference)
              
• Chris Brogan | 50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business                
  Exactly what it sounds like, covering everything from how to start, what to tweet and how to justify the investment of time and resources.
  (tags: web2.0 twitter tools socialnetworking socialmedia microblogging marketing business reference)

links for 2008-08-22

• Digital Nomads                
  DELL's community dedicated to helping virtual/remote workers be more productive and connect with other virtual/remote workers.  I haven't blogged about it because I haven't had a chance to dig in yet, but it seems interesting.      
  (tags: web2.0 technology socialmedia productivity mobile marketing internet digital socialnetwork)
              
• Peter Shankman | "Why Don'€™t You Do Some Work?"                
  Fantastic post about living and working "your way." As a remote worker who hears the "why don't you do some work" question all the time, this one really resonates.
  (tags: change ideas business)
              

links for 2008-08-08 [delicious.com]

• Fluent Simplicity | Twitter Brand Index                
  A good "living list" of corporate (brand, media, executive) Twitter accounts.  Nice reference for anyone looking to understand how companies are experimenting with presence today,          
  (tags: microblogging reference socialmedia socialnetworking twitter web2.0)
              
• BizBox Blog on Slate | Is Web 2.0 All That Different From Web 1.0?
  The BizBox crew riff on my Web 1.0 was social too post, adding some smart thoughts and pointers for small business owners.
  (tags: business community connectioneconomy internet change socialmedia relationshipeconomy web2.0 trends)             

• ZDNet | Social Giving for Charity Begets Social Giving for Community 
  Jennifer Leggio looks at my effort to give away a HubSpot-offered pass to Inbound Marketing Summit, as a logical extension to the social media auction that led to my speaking at the event.
  (tags: community speaking marketing socialmedia)          

• 25 Enterprise Social Media Platforms/Companies To Be Aware Of
  
  Not sure that this list is complete - or even accurate - but it still provides a useful list of potential white label social network vendors.
  (tags: tools technology socialmedia community business socialnetworks socialnetworking)             

links for 2008-07-28

• The Guardian | Twitter Searches for the Next Step
  UK newspaper talks with Twitter's founders about where the service is now, why they acquired Twitter search tool Summize, and where they might be headed in the future.
  (tags: blogging business future internet search technology socialmedia twitter web2.0)
• ZDNet | Video: Will Mobile Social Networking Fly?
  Haven't watched the video yet, but I'm working on a presentation about the future of mobile so I am sure I'll give this one a look.
  (tags: mobile mososo future socialnetworks socialnetworking socialmedia emergingmedia)
• InformationWeek | Wireless Social Networking to Transform Tech, Media, Telecom
  Coverage of a recent iSuppli study that advises companies to shift strategies to remain relevant to an increasingly mobile, connected consumer.
  (tags: marketing mobile socialmedia technology strategy future innovation research)
• ReadWriteWeb | Brandstreaming: What Is It & Who's Doing It?
  Interesting piece on how brands can use/are starting to use lifestreaming technologies and approaches to product and distribute a constant flow of content directly to consumers.
  (tags: advertising blogs branding brands business content internet media microblogging socialmedia web2.0)

links for 2008-07-21

• The Most Public Index | Most Influential New Yorkers
  News crowdsourcing site NowPublic includes me (#14) on a list of the most "public" NY influencers, in an attempt to quantify influence based on a combination of prominence, authority and active use of key social media channels.
  (tags: socialmedia statistics reference web2.0 influence)
• The Faces of PodCamp Boston 3
  GregPC set out to snap a portrait of everyone who attending PCB3.  Here's the Flickr photo set - 140 pics when I tagged it; not sure if he's still uploading.
  (tags: socialmedia web2.0 podcasting events)

links for 2008-07-07

• Liz Strauss at Successful Blog | Do Crayons Qualify as Social Media?
  I love this post from last week - Liz rightly points out that social media existed (and continues to exist) well beyond the web.
  (tags: socialmedia ideas connectioneconomy culture)
• Mediasnackers | Report | There Are No Natives
  Machine is Us/ing Us creator Prof Michael Wesch contends that social media platforms are so new that NOBODY (not even millenials) are really 'digital natives' or EVERYBODY is a native regardless of age.  Via Mediasnackers.
  (tags: socialmedia socialnetworking trends ideas emergingmedia digital web2.0 technology culture)