Face Value

November 30, 2009 By

David JacobsI have been fortunate enough to attend a few really great social media conferences in the past few months and while there I noticed something very interesting. It’s something I had experienced in years past as well. Several people that I came into contact with were familiar with me because of Facebook or Twitter and my profile picture specifically helped to jog that recognition. One person even commented how much he enjoyed my picture on Facebook as it includes my new baby Capella on my shoulders. He said it makes him smile every time he sees it pop up in his Facebook stream.

That’s a kind of brand awareness that you can’t purchase for anything. Traditionally we think of brand awareness as it is associated to a logo like the Nike swoosh or Apple’s Apple with a bite out of it. Logo branding is still a powerful tool and I help many customers crate or revitalize their logos but in this increasingly social world there is also a power in your own face. I guess they don’t call it Facebook for nothing.

Don’t underestimate the value of your face. Think carefully about all those profile photos on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and everywhere else. If you’re into this for building business and brand value, here are some tips to remember:

  • Make sure your picture is a good one. A clear close up view of your face. Make sure the exposure is good and the pose is comfortable and positive. Something that captures a little of your personality is always great.
  • Don’t use cartoon characters or other logos. If it is an account that represents the entire company, a company logo would be appropriate for that.
  • The background should be as clean and clear as possible. You don’t want anything to obscure or take focus away from what’s most important, your face.
  • Don’t change your picture often. You can change it now and again, especially if you get a better picture to use, but try to remain as consistent as possible.

I would not appear with anyone else in your photo with the exception of your kids. This could even be a debated point, but I chose personally to have Capella in my Facebook profile for a few reasons. My personal Facebook account is a little less business and more personal. My Connected World Media Facebook page uses the company logo. My kids are also a big part of my life and so much of who I am, I don’t mind showing that. That being said, I have recently changed my LinkedIn photo to a photo of just me and my Twitter profile pic is the same one although my Twitter custom background has the Capella and me photo on it. I try to use the same photo across all networks as much as possible, again for consistency sake.

As with most things there are no hard and fast answers. You have to discover what works for you and your company, but I hope I have given you some things to think about. As always if you want help in this or any other social media regard, don’t hesitate to contact me. I would love to work with you on your brand image online.

Filed Under: Blog, Marketing, Social Networks Tagged With: , , ,

See You At Gnomedex

August 15, 2009 By

gnomedexlogoI’m very excited to be attending my first Gnomedex conference this year. I’ll be there Aug 20-22 in Seattle. If you are going to be there, please contact me via Twitter or Email and let’s get together. It’s been several years since I’ve spent time in Seattle and I’m looking forward to it, it’s a great city. Gnomedex, if you’re not familiar, is one of the premiere social media conferences, hosted by Chris Pirillo. Many of the industry heavyweights will be there as well as hundreds of other not so known but equally as smart folks. I look forward to two days of great learning and insight as well as connecting with new people .

Filed Under: Blog, Marketing, New Media Tagged With: , ,

Social Media is not a Broadcast Medium

August 6, 2009 By

Martha Stewart recently announced she is giving up on Facebook in favor of Twitter. More bang for the tweet she says. Bill Gates also has stopped using Facebook citing difficulty keeping up with friend requests. I hear this from clients as well. Facebook takes more work than Twitter. There is also more nonsense going on with Facebook apps like Pirate games and thrown snowballs. There is nothing quite like the raw simplicity of Twitter. Also with Twitter, you can gain followers without having to do anything. They follow you by choice and you do not have to follow them back. No management required. I understand all this, but don’t underestimate Facebook.

For one thing, I find that more of my non-geeky so called “normal” friends use Facebook much more and sometimes exclusively over Twitter. If your goal is to reach a less bleeding edge audience, Facebook is really the way to go. Also, it’s a fairly easy to thing to get your Tweets to automatically populate Facebook, so there is really no need to completely abandon it.

As far as the reciprocity of Facebook friends go, that brings me to my second point. I wish I had the problem of having to manage more friend requests than I could handle. But it brings up the larger point that many of these stars aren’t interested in reciprocity. They don’t want to listen or converse, they want to talk. Look at Martha’s Twitter and you will find over a million followers but she only follows 35 people. Her tweets rarely if ever include conversations to other people and when they do it’s mostly to other stars. This is common for most big stars on Twitter. They are using Twitter like another broadcast medium. This, of course, is inherently wrong and against the very spirit of social media. They don’t call it social for nothing. It’s disappointing to see this because these stars have an unbelievable  access to their greatest fans. With a million people following you, I’m sure it’s hard to talk to everyone but I see no reason why they cannot at least make an effort  and do what they can.

Facebook takes more work than Twiter because it does more, but Twitter takes work to if you’re doing it right. It’s something my clients often don’t want to hear, this stuff takes work. But marketing your business takes work too and this kind of marketing can pay off in a much more powerful and long lasting way for all that effort.

Filed Under: Blog, Marketing, Social Networks Tagged With: , , , ,

Twitter is Like a Ball of Clay – Part 2

July 26, 2009 By

ClayConsider this a followup post to my original Twitter is like a ball of clay post. I saw a couple of videos tonight that gave me some additional ideas to further refine the concept and answer the question, why do many people still disregard Twitter as trivial messaging?

The first video is Barry Diller chairman of IAC. He has barely if at all used Twitter and says it’s not a “natural” advertising platform in addition to disregarding it as trivial. It’s also not natural for people to jump out of perfectly good airplanes, but many do and they get a singular experience that cannot be attained any other way. Nothing is normal or natural about social and new media either. That’s why it’s called disruptive and revolutionary. This new marketing world requires a new way of thinking that Barry Diller cannot grok which is ironic since IAC owns a number of great Internet properties.

The second video is White House press secretary Robert Gibbs mentioning that Twitter is, in fact, blocked from White House computers. He does so very casually and he indicates that, at least for him, it doesn’t really matter. It’s not as egregious as Barry Diller, but still somewhat dismissive.

So why? Why do these prominent people, and many others, view Twitter in this way? I think the answer is that Twitter is like a ball of clay. If you’re not willing to pick it up and try to do something with it, it will just be a ball of clay, which is not terribly useful on the face of it. And that’s the problem. People look at Twitter and say ” ok, it’s a ball of clay, I don’t get it”. If you’re not willing to look beyond the surface. If you’re not willing to pick up the clay and mold it into something useful for yourself, you will never, ever get it. Twitter is not some whiz bang social media, demographic, statistics dashboard from on high. It is not a spoon fed, pre-packaged marketing widget. This is what too many marketers want unfortunately. Twitter and much of the rest of social media is something you have to work with your hands. Yes, like working clay you have to get your hands dirty. If I can push the analogy maybe a little too far, this is a good thing because you get a real tactile feel for and a connection with your art (marketing) like never before.

Twitter is a tricky technology because it’s value runs below the surface. I will admit to not seeing it myself at first. I ignored Twitter for a few months thinking it sounded quite dumb. But I gave it a chance and more importantly I went deep with it. The more people I followed and that followed me the better it got. I was patient and it took time to build up to where I am today. It’s something else common marketers don’t have, patience nor the creative zeal to mold the clay and teach their clients to mold the clay.

And that’s what I do at Connected World Media. I teach my clients how to mold the clay. I teach them how to view Twitter for what it is, unlimited potential and how to tap that potential for their benefit.

Filed Under: Blog, Marketing, New Media, Social Networks Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Independent Media: Podiobooks

July 6, 2009 By

I am a big supporter of indie media of all forms. It is the primary reason I started my podcast Rock and Roll Jew Show; to highlight and support indie music, especially from Israel. I have also been a supporter of another new form of indie media called Podiobooks. Podiobooks are independent authors who podcast their books in audio form in order to build an audience. After they have build a dedicated listenership the goal is to convert a certain percentage of those listeners into real book buyers. This is right along the lines of what Chris Anderson has outlined in his new book Free: The Future of a radical price. Several authors have been able to land major publishing deals due to their podcasts as well. The model was pioneered by Scott Sigler who is also currently the most successful podiobook author. Scott was able to hit the New York Times best seller list with his second hardcover release Contagious. This from an unknown author literally coming out of nowhere just a few years ago.

I want to highlight here two other of my favorite podiobook authors who currently have books out. JC Hutchins began his podiobook career with the wildly successful 7th Son novel series. 7th Son: Decent, the first in the series, will be coming out this October in hardcover. JC’s first in print release is Personal Effects: Dark Art which I featured on Connected World TV #1. This is a scary horror/psychological thriller. It’s a very unique book because of the tangible items that come as part of the book. These items directly relate to what is going on in the book and include additional clues to the mystery in the form of phone numbers and websites you can visit. It’s being called a trans-media experience and it is certainly like nothing else I have ever seen.

Seth Harwood is a classically trained author who began his writing career with somewhat high brow short stories. Seth finally gave in to his real passions of crime drama, high action and kick butt characters and created Jack Wakes Up, the first novel in the Jack Palms Crime series. Seth also took the podcasting route to promote Jack Wakes Up and has developed a devoted following of “Palms Mamas and Palms Daddies”. Jack wakes up is now out in trade paperback form from Three Rivers Press. I have never been a crime fiction fan but this isn’t your fathers crime drama. Combining the best of Pulp Fiction, The Wire and The Sopranos, Jack Wakes Up is a completely modern crime drama complete with guns, drugs, car chases, and Czechs.

Fortunately both these authors have made available special previews of these books which I have included for you. Read the first couple of chapters and see if you don’t get hooked. If you do, both books are available at major bookstores or at Amazon.com

UPDATE: Phil Rossi, yet another great podiobook author is having his Amazon.com “rush” tomorrow, July 9 2009 to support his new release Crescent. This theory, which has been used successfully before and in fact helped launch Scott Sigler’s career is to get as many people as possible to buy the book on Amazon.com on a single day. This causes the book to attain a very high place on the Amazon.com rankings which brings notoriety to the book and it’s author. More than one author has used this technique to land a major publishing deal. This is new media gorilla marketing at it’s finest. Crescent is also available as a free preview so check it out. I listened to Crescent as a podiobook and I can tell you it is one of the scariest stories I have ever experienced. It’s Blade Runner crossed with Outland crossed with Alien.

Download Personal Effects: Dark Art Preview

Download Jack Wakes Up Preview

Download Crescent Preview

Filed Under: Blog, Citizen Media, Marketing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Connected World TV #2

June 22, 2009 By

Time has come out with a new experimental personalized magazine called Mine. I give you a look at it here and give you my perspective as to what it means in regard to the future of magazines and publishing.

Quicktime Version

Filed Under: Connected World Podcast, Marketing, Podcast Tagged With: , , , , ,

Connected World TV #1

June 12, 2009 By

Here is the debut show for Connected World TV. When I have something more visual to share, I will use the video medium. It also gives me the chance to experiment and learn more about online video. What happens when a struggling writer takes to the Internet and uses the power of social media? Good things. Make sure to visit JC Hutchins website and check out all his great fiction.

Quicktime Version

Filed Under: Connected World Podcast, Marketing, Podcast, Social Networks, Technology Tagged With: , , , ,

Karma and the Social Media Ecosystem

May 22, 2009 By

I believe in social media Karma. I also believe social media is an ecosystem of content and ideas. Like any ecosystem, there is a delicate balance that must be maintained to sustain the healthy state of the system. As we use social media, be it a blog or some content in Facebook, a Twitter we are putting things into the ecosystem. The more good and valuable things we add, the better the ecosystem is. Adding things of no value or worse toxic things (spam) the ecosystem and everyone in it suffers.

Some tips that I think help maintain a healthy ecosystem.

  • Don’t think promote first: If everyone simply promoted all the time, a take, take, take strategy, the social media ecosystem would be sucked dry. Think about giving first before you try to take. If you are a good social media citizen and keep adding value, social media karma will eventually kick in and start paying you off.
  • Be helpful: One of the best things about the Internet is there are so many smart people from all kinds of professional fields you can learn from. There are lots of people with different levels of expertise many of whom are looking for help or answers. If you can help people with your knowledge or advice or with a connection you can help them make, that’s another big deposit in the social media karma bank. One of my all time favorite quotes from Zig Ziglar is “You can get everything you want in life if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” Never has it been so true and never has it been so possible but with the connections that bind us on the Internet.
  • Don’t be a troll: The opposite rule to the previous one. Trolls are toxic to the ecosystem. They are individuals who seek to cause harm and damage to all they run into. A nasty comment on a blog, a vicious review on Yelp. Trolls want to tear down people and companies for no good reason but their own folly. There is certainly room for spirited debate and disagreement on the Internet, but be careful you don’t cross the line into personal or unsubstantiated attacks.
  • Care: I call this the Gary Vaynerchuk credo. One of the best things Gary always says as one of his secrets to success is to care. Care about your customers, care about your prospects, the people you work with. Care about the ecosystem and everyone in it.

My job as a social media professional is to help companies and individuals primarily outside the ecosystem interface with the powerful tools within the ecosystem to better run their business. If the ecosystem becomes damaged or dirty, my job gets harder. Please don’t poop in the pool.

Filed Under: Blog, Marketing, New Media, Social Networks Tagged With: , , , , ,

Essential New Media Books

May 22, 2009 By

I just finished reading a fantastic new media book called Groundswell that I am considering to be an essential new media business book. That got me thinking about other essential titles. So here they are, the new media books I consider to be paramount and essential reading for any business professional in this new marketing age.

The Cluetrain Manifesto

Cluetrain is like the book of Genesis in the standard bible. This is the one that started it all. These are the most fundamental concepts of new media marketing. Unflinching and direct, this is the book to start with and if you only read one book on this list, this is the one to read.

The Long Tail

This is your economics lesson for new media. Filled with lots of research and data, this book explains how some of the most successful Internet companies actually make money. You will hear the phrase “long tail marketing” a lot in presentations, blogs and other books. Here is where you find out what it all means.

Permission Marketing

Seth Godin is revered in marketing circles and his books are among the most popular business books. This is one of his earliest but possibly most important work. None of Seth’s other books make any sense without understanding Permission Marketing. The concept is also one of the fundamental pillars upon which all of new media marketing stands on. As a bonus, Seth’s other fundamental book is Purple Cow

Don’t Make Me Think

An unusual choice as this book is primarily about website design and usability, but way to many businesses that I deal with still make too many mistakes on their websites. All the new media tools aside, the most important business tool is still your website and it’s critical you get it right. You can actually learn a lot more than just web design and usability from this book. The concepts apply just as well to presentations and even advertising layout. If nothing else, you should ask any web professional you work with if they know this book. If they do, your in good hands. If not, give them a copy and tell them to read it before they work on your website.

I would love to hear from you about your essential new media books. What would you recommend not being without? Leave your choices in the comments to this post.

Filed Under: Blog, Marketing, New Media, Web 2.0 Tagged With: , , , ,
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