Posts Tagged ‘social media’

Is “The Conversation” Online Myth Or Reality?

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008
{I had some dreams..

Image via Flickr

If you follow the news or blogs talking about social media and networking online then I’m sure you’ve read terms describing the interactions between web sites and visitors as “conversations” and “discussions”.

It stems from the idea that the web has evolved from an Information Superhighway full of billboards–those static sites of old which simply allowed the site owners and webmasters to blast their brand and pitch to the masses–into a two way medium where site visitors are no longer guests but rather participants.

The idea is nice and a bit lofty in some ways, but is it true?

(more…)


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Using Social Media for Social Good

Monday, July 14th, 2008

Social Media for Social GoodI’ve commented here before about the fact that I’m one of “those people”, yep, a bleedin’ heart liberal.

I can’t help myself, I feel blessed in my life (after many years of not feeling so) and am compelled to try spreading the bliss where possible.

If you think about it, that’s partially the same motivations that were behind me starting this blog 2 years ago. I had helped some friends and family members start making money online (some as supplemental income and some have gone on to earn full-time incomes from it), and liked being able to help them to “get ahead” and started towards achieving their goals. This blog was just my idea for a path to doing that on a larger scale with others.

I’ve posted all of this here before, but I thought it was a good time to revisit the topic and maybe remind some fellow marketers (established or aspiring) that the methods we use to drive traffic and conversions to our sites and sales offerings work just as perfectly for sending traffic (and funding) to our favorite causes and charities–and everybody has a few seconds here or there to submit a social bookmark, submit an RSS feed or even spend a few minutes to make a blog posting for some organization or issue they feel passionately about.

Now, I could explain how from a business perspective this is 100% well-spent time with a potentially huge ROI; and give examples like how Roberta’s constant blog mentions and support for www.breastcancer.org has directly resulted in increased loyal customers of the women’s clothing site she makes those postings on… but I’d much rather that you take the initiative to use some of the tools, methods and techniques I talk about here to occasionally do some good for the causes you care about on your own.

But, just in-case you do need some incentive, let me remind you that online marketing isn’t about “hitting customers over the head with your message” any longer, it’s about having conversations and making connections.

Your online reputation is your company brand.

If people like and respect you they will want to interact and do business with you–and people tend to like and respect people who are truly compassionate, caring and giving. How’s that for incentive to do a little social networking for social good now and then? (even though I know you didn’t need any personal incentives)


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I Love Retaggr

Friday, July 11th, 2008

It’s no secret that I’m big on social media and networking services. If you know me or my story then you know I come from a retail management background. I managed stores of all sizes, from high volume discounters (Phar-Mor before the crash) to smaller specialty chains like BlockBuster Video.

And much of what I learned about product merchandising and cross-reference marketing in those days has been the backbone of my success online.

Unlike many of my peers who hated the part of their jobs that included dealing with customer service and would have preferred to just keep shoppers moving like cattle, I loved that part of the job. Meeting people, talking with them, helping them. Even the day when a crazy lady spit soda all over my shirt in protest of Phar-Mor (I never did learn what exactly she was protesting), I was able to make friends and laugh about it with the cops who carried her away.

So of course I love all of the new online venues that are sound and useful for people to connect online. Not just because I like being social, but also because as a marketer there’s nothing (imho) better than direct connections with the people that are my potential clients. Getting personal insights into their needs, desires, behaviors… it’s a bottomless gold-mine if used (and never abused) wisely.

I’ve recently discovered Retaggr, one such service, and I’m really blown away by it. Basically, Retaggr acts as a hub for your online identity, and allows your online profile to become portable across blogs or other social sites.

With a Retaggr account, anytime you post a comment (or posting on your own blog), or place a tag (or get tagged) on an image of a Retaggr enabled site–your profile is automatically attached to it.

To see this in action, just click on that little blue info-bubble next to my name in this link: Scott Bannon

Now that I have a Retaggr profile, anytime I leave a comment on someone’s blog (if they’ve enabled their blog for Retaggr) that blue info-bubble will appear so that my profile is connected to my comments.

Also, anytime I might mention someone here in a post, if they have a Retaggr profile, it will be attached to their name so that readers can get a better ideo of who I’m talking about.

But what I really like is having the profiles attached to the comments I leave. I’m always reading other blogs, and the comments that get posted on them, and all the time I think “hey, that person had something interesting to say”, but because they didn’t add their URL (or don’t have a personal web site to add) to the comment I can’t see what else they have to say about other topics in other places. With a Retaggr profile though, I would be able to see where else that person is participating in discussions online and could then follow along or even join in. In other words, blog comments with Retaggr profiles aren’t anonymous or random in nature anymore.

And since blogs are the foundation of Web 2.0 and online social networking, the fact that Retaggr specifically targeted blogs and blog comments from the start as they have impresses the heck out of me.

There’s enough platforms online for connecting and conversing, too many now in-fact and the conversations are getting thin and disrupted because of it. Centralizing everything you’re involved in with a single profile account like this is a huge step (in my opinion) of pulling everything together in a more orderly–yet still extremely portable–fashion.


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