Nick Cifuentes

A recent survey of senior marketing executives by Forbes Insights and MarketShare Partners said nearly seven in ten used analytics to measure the effectiveness behind their campaign efforts.

Marketers with large budgets seemed to be significantly more likely to measure their efforts, as compared to those spending less than a million; however many planned to adopt analytics at some point in the future.

This study is interesting, however it does leave the door open for some skepticism. It’s fair to say that if I have a $1 million + budget invested in a marketing program, I am surely going to want to understand the results of my investment. But then again, if I only have a small amount of budget to invest, (and I am not saying under a $1 million dollars is at any time small), I would certainly think a company would want to have proper measurement tools in place to ensure the campaign is drawing proper exposure for the brand and meeting any set KPIs. Naturally, when your budget is even smaller, chances are you are going to become more intensely immersed in your campaign - expecting great results.

The report also focused on how measurement is approached, internal vs. external parties taking on the responsibility. A high percentage of these marketers surveyed said they relied on internal parties to take on the measurement responsibilities. I understand this from a budget perspective, but I also question the authenticity of a campaign when internal teams are relied on, as sometimes numbers can be skewed, favoritism might play a role, and lack of objective expertise might factor in the final results. Bringing in a 3rd party to enforce your campaign’s results could offer stronger, and more exact results based on the type of system used, and of course, a bit more objectivity.

In the end, the study said more executives were happier with internal measurement programs than with external entities. However, they also claimed that most of them did not have a sufficient way to share campaign results with their fellow executives because a lack of process, continuity, and orderly way to present information.

All the more reason to consider a more processed and organized system that will measure your campaign results, and ensure that you are tracking EVERYTHING within your campaign. And these are more likely to be found within a 3rd party setting.

The Pew Research Center recently fielded a study focused on the future of social relations. The research study revolved around one statement:

“In 2020, when I look at the big picture and consider my personal friendships, marriage and other relationships, I see that the internet has mostly been a positive force on my social world. And this will only grow more true in the future.”

In the end, 85% of the surveyed audience agreed with the statement, while 14% took to the other direction and saw the internet as mostly being a negative force within their social world.

Although this recent study is no way mind-blowing, or anything too shifting that causes our culture to stop and wonder, it does open up the idea of influence and just how much a catalyst the internet is for creating shifts in our daily lives. With creation, cultivation, and the expansion of social relationships – we are able to touch a number of points & places in the world that just a short time ago we had scarce interaction with.

In the Pew study, survey respondents noted that with the internet’s many social positives, also came alongside a number of negatives. Respondents noted that tools such as email and social networks are & can be used in harmful ways. In addition, it can cost valuable face-to-face relationships; where communications are hidden behind computer screens and often never reach past a shallow conversation. The internet was also tied to the idea of being a place where individuals silo themselves and limit their exposure to new ideas. Privacy was also brought up as a key indicator, however, we hear of this constantly when mentioned alongside negative connotations, and yet we see little to no drop-off in growth, so I see this as something that will always be mentioned, but often ignored.

Many people who said the internet was a positive force noted that it “costs” individuals less to communicate with each other, helping structure new relationships over more geographical territory. Some respondents suggested that there will be new “categories of relationships,” a new “art of politics,” a sort of evolution in friendships if you so desire.

And most notably, as this plays out, people are just beginning to address the ways in which nearly “frictionless,” easy-access, global communications networks will alter how reputations are created, perceived and trusted. (Think of YOUR BRAND here)*

The Lonely Internet

The virtual world that exist, connected through computers, laptops, digital devices such as mobile phones, netbooks, tablets, and so on; offer us the ability to avoid a lonely internet. Think back to when you first were online, think pre-social networks and what type of interactions you had? The internet was used as a portal for just searching information, which was in no way as robust as it is now. Social networks and the internet are another utility for supporting social life. The idea of ‘thinking’ too much about social networks and the role they play in society will eventually dissipate, similar to as the telephone did when that was a new type of communication tool (*I know, this was a very long time ago :P), and eventually was taken-for-granted. You don’t see any individuals think the telephone is an alienating force; it supports your social life. And now as social networks and internet take to life, they too will eventually be assumed a basic daily utility. You see this happening now as a recent study had a 1/3 of women 18-35 checking Facebook before they even rolled out of bed in the morning.

Human interactions are always up for debate, and we see that the internet has helped extinguish some of these differences people have had and now it acts as a communications gold mine. By closing the geographic distance between family and friends, the internet now acts as a communicative tool that can function through instant-messages and video conversations; it frees up more time for individuals, as well as cutting costs on travel and other manners of communication that may cost more. Twitter & Facebook, as inferior these tools may sound to many, provide a wide range in forms of communication, that can offer comfort & encouragement, expand a person’s worldview, filter information and offer feedback on-demand.

The internet also breaks the shyness barrier, which is often in the very beginning stage of every relationship. Think of that person you were always nervous to approach, or maybe that event or new place you wanted to venture to, be it a restaurant, a concert, a movie, a large event, maybe even sky-diving! Think personal items such as clothes or electronics – you can ‘scratch & sniff’ now without even leaving your home. Point it, research can be done on-demand, whether you are at your desk or on-the-go, and often very quickly based on your insight, as well as other recommendations. In the end, your decisions are becoming easier to make, because they are being made for you with the internet and its social utilities.

Shallow Relationships

Those often against internet and its social utilities, frequently fight the battle of face-to-face encounters. The argument is valid and does stand as a cultural issue in today’s world with users spending more time behind the computer instead of communicating with “real individuals.” This type of exposure opens the idea of social networks promoting shallow relationships, which many see as a negative force in today’s world. You might know what your 30 friends had for dinner last night, but you don’t know whether any of them might be struggling with major life issues. If we live by this point, many people will have a hundreds of acquaintances, and very few friends. (*Not sure if acquaintancebook.com is available?)

One point I do consider, is what type of impact this has for a child born in this new age of information exchange. I, as an adult, became involved in the internet and using it as a social utility; I stress as an adult. In some ways I fear what might happen to children who consume this type of information exchange so early – what type of real-life relationship might they form, and how will they function when they reach a social reality outside of a computer? Children consume video games, the internet, reading books on their parent’s iPads & Kindles, etc. The question remains should this activity be arrested and pointed out, or do we continue and allow this type of behavior because it’s becoming accepted and well known in our culture. Something I can’t really answer…can you?

Conclusion

As time moves forward though, I truly expect technological advances to continue to change and shape how social relations take place online. As we see now, both sides to the argument prove worthy cases for and against the internet evolving as a daily social utility in our lives. In the future, we can only expect a more intense display of technologies and new ways to communicate, such as holographic displays, powerful visualization decision-based tools, permanent and trusted cloud archive storehouses, even stronger semantic web tools that predict our own behaviors and act for us.

But, as the Pew Research study pointed out, while our tools are changing quickly, basic human nature will most likely adjust at a much slower pace. It’s sad, but very true.

What are your thoughts on the topic, will social media improve your life in the future, tell me how? And feel free to reach out to me via email, Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook. I can also be reached @LoomisGroup via cifuentesn@loomisgroup.com

Foursquare – you’ve heard of it, probably even might be a member yourself. The quick-growing location-based social network is beginning to make reputable noise in the social space, and since August, traffic and user growth has soared for the new social noise maker.

According to co-founder Dennis Crowley, the platform is closing in on 500,000 individual users, with about 70% of the user base in the United States, and their international arm growing quickly – especially Tokyo, according to Crowley in an e-mail interview. These users are also checking in at an astonishing rate of 1.5 million check-ins a week.

If you are not familiar with Foursquare, the concept is simple – you sign up for an account and then you began the process of checking-in wherever you go; the majority of check-ins that are being done are through GPS-enabled mobile devices.

This social city-guide and game rewards you then for doing interesting things. The motive is to encourage people to discover new places and challenge you to explore your neighborhood in new ways. The rewards attached to this are tied to pseudo ‘badges’ a user is given for unlocking new places, times you check-in, how often, ultimately working your way to become the “Mayor” or “Deputy” of that locale.

In addition, the platform makes it very easy to connect your updates to your Twitter and Facebook profiles – seemingly synching your entire network with each update you post on Foursquare. Something that was not in place last year when Foursquare introduced themselves at the SXSW, but is working it’s way into a much more seamless process in 2010 and allows for a much higher engagement and viral distribution.

The concept is quite ingenious and despite it’s evolving stature; it is beginning to make quite the name for itself. Just in the past month, it’s been reported that Foursquare inked several major media partnership deals, including Bravo TV, Zagat, Warner Bros., HBO, the History Channel, ExploreChicago, and more.

These “branded” type of channels could be, if used and marketed properly, great engagement tools that focus around brand awareness, content sharing, and goes one step further and creates a physical presence with your brand using local stops where you instruct users to go. With the user taking part in the brand’s “game”, it allows the brand to create custom badges with Foursquare directly to keep user’s engaged and work toward further outreach goals.

Zagat @ Foursquare

Zagat’s official Foursquare page is calling the partnership “Foodie Love” and there is a custom badge to go along with taking part in the Zagat experience. The page offers people to follow Zagat and then take part and in various venues where Zagat wants users to check-in from, mainly a variety of restaurants throughout the country; check-in there, become a Zagat Foodie, and unlock the Zagat Foodie Badge. And through further engagement – Zagat is going to have a online video series on their website called “Meet the Mayor” where they will feature discussions with prominent Foursquare mayors.

Harvard @ Foursquare

The prestigious Harvard University has also partnered with Foursquare to create a channel where they list locations, experiences and ideas for students and visitors to go and check-in – taking part in the Harvard community; soon unlocking a custom Harvard Foursquare badge. Whether that helps with the admission process…I’m going to say doubtful – but hell of an engagement tool!

New York Times @ Foursquare

The NYT recently closed a deal with Foursquare and created a branded channel that is celebrating the 2010 Vancouver Olympics by sharing tips on what to see and where to go in Vancouver and Whistler. And if you check-in to two recommended venues you get to unlock the Olympics badge.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that Foursquare is growing quickly, with the focus mainly on gaining users, not revenue at the moment, according to Crowley; with now nearly 500,000 users, this number is likely to grow fast! After the Bravo TV deal was inked last month, a number of major brands, as shown above, came knocking at the door to work with Foursqaure, no doubt helping them earn some revenue. And with the ability for locales to offer up free food, drinks, discounts, coupons just for those who might become the “mayor” or “deputy” of their venue; being on Foursquare could soon become like being on Twitter…maybe? In addition, Crowley did confirm that Foursquare is working on creating actual incentives for users who garner specific badges and points in their account - not just pseudo “Mayoral” titles.

To that end, Foursquare is working on a set of services and tools, according to AdAge in early February, to begin offering paid services on a three tiers: one for small (local) businesses, one for retail chains, one for large marketers. Begin throwing these offers around, and soon Foursquare will move pass just the “engagement” level that these major brands are seeing above as far as click, follows and check-ins; and offer nailed-down analytics (impressions, clicks, friends, etc…) and deals could be sold against impressions such as web ads, clicks such as search ads, or even what Kunur Patel in AdAge said, “ a completely new model: cost per check-in.”

In 2010, the exchange between consumers and brands will in no doubt increase among new media marketing channels. Just in the first couple of months of 2010, I have already seen countless posts outlining CRM models that are stressing the point to consume ROI for Social Media and take action to begin integrating this into your brand campaigns that live within on and offline social media channels.

With so much stress to one observation of social media marketing in 2010, it’s important to make light of another key observation in the Future of Social Media blog series: The Resistance to Change Ending.

It was Benjamin Franklin who said:

“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

This quote, although philosophical in reasoning, is quite the pragmatic approach when applied to the idea of social media marketing. There have been countless charts and graphs that apply from reputable marketing research publications, such as eMarketer.com and 2010 Forrester Reports that point to all directions of brands shifting dollars into interactive marketing, with a focus in new (social) media – however, there is still hesitation among the masses when it comes to the decision of whether this type of marketing is a intelligent investment.

This drives me to think how and why a CMO would be hesitant to change their ways, and I believe between now and 2010 – this approach will change for the way brands who don’t consider social media or any type of new media an investment – to turn their eyes away from fear and begin shifting the paradigm. In light of this, I have come up with five reasons why it seems brands are resistant to change (this is an opinion – so I absolutely welcome comments)

• Reason #1: The brand is, in general, negative or against all that is new or different.
• Reason #2: The brand is not interested in change; they have other goals they want to pursue.
• Reason #3: The brand does not understand the message and/or the consequences that the change will have.
• Reason #4: The brand does not trust the person who communicates the initiative.
• Reason #5: FEAR.

Although these reasons are somewhat built around generalities, it’s important to recognize a few practical truths. Brands have taken time to absorb social media marketing into their programs, and that will continue to be the case, however between 2008 and 2009, U.S. Marketers alone using Social Media within their programs nearly doubled in percentages – an increase likely to continue.

Just alone in ad spending within online social networks worldwide, between 2008 and what is expected by 2011; the same type of increase is likely to continue.

Just another hint to where things are headed…

In the end, a brand is afraid to change, and will never make this type of jump overnight. The five reasons above, I’m sure, point to a number of individuals you might know, or very well could be at your organization; it’s very likely. The resistance to change is led by a faithful bunch, your typical ‘old style’ leaders who oppose the new digital spectrum, but slowly are adopting to the early styles of interactive marketing, such as email marketing because he/she is forced to. They could also still rely on patchy TV & radio spots, and could be very excited buy out page five inside a dying magazine publication – this exists; it’s hard to think this is an actuality – but it truly is.

This AdWeek Media Poll shows that the 45-55+ demographic are much more in tune to purchasing newspaper/magazine ads as opposed to the younger demographic. Is this because of they are cheaper these days? Yes. Is this because they are unfamiliar and afraid to commit to the digital space, definitely YES.

I’m not saying age is the key indicator, but it certainly is a diving off point when making certain predictions that pertain to driving home this thought of resistance to change. In all reality, and I’m not screaming from the weeds here, it’s fear. In a time of economic recovery, such as what we are sifting through at the moment – FEAR; scream it from the top of your building, or as high as you could possibly reach – there is a resistance to change because of a FEAR of what might happen in changing the way your brand is marketed - I can’t be any more forthright.

Prediction: By 2012, if your brand has not already begun shifting the marketing channel to a more open, two-way communicative, “social” environment; you could very well be left in the dust, watching the grass grow over you.

(This blog posts is also published on the Overdrive Marketing Blog)

As we now have buried our eyes & minds into a very exciting 2010, the focus on social media marketing will be ever growing. In fact, from this point on, I believe we are going to see a number of changes in marketing strategies, on and offline.

If you think closely, the world’s operating system is morphing. In the past, you have had a number of “closed” model marketing systems that prevented the singular idea that social media describes: collective interaction. In past years, marketing strategies have lived within specific business models and relied on “closed” channels to disseminate the message. For example, a newspaper would advertise a static ad, a direct-mail message would take a matter of days to make even a single impression. Once that message was delivered, the channel relied on a number of “closed” systems to tie into the medium properly, and the need to pause and wait for participation was often days, weeks, even months depending on the type and length of the campaign.

In today’s world, the operating system is being revamped, what took days, now takes seconds, and together this process of marketing evolution is pushing today’s marketing programs into an “open” system. This “open” system allows for instant connections with the customer, while the opportunity for response, collaboration, sharing, and growth increase tremendously.

Fundamental Shift

While this shift in marketing systems is underway, this “closed” to “open” environment is going to expand further beyond business into our everyday lives. Obviously, as marketers, we think of this in relevancy to the delivery of a message, in some manner. But, as time expands and social media begins to consume users’ lives online, the idea of an “open” system will fall into a number of funnels, including media and content, advertising, business solutions, education, legal environments, lifestyle, entertainment, love, religion, sex, etc…

And as this shift into an “open” system expands, a number of brands and individuals will be wary of moving so quickly into such an environment. A system like this is cluttered with a number of worries, such as “out of control”, “chaotic”, “risky”, or “feeling of being unsafe”.

This inescapable feeling of being in “risk” is common among brands, but learning to trust the system will be the hardest step to overcome starting in 2010 and moving beyond. If relating this change in marketing ethics to social media, the door must be swung open to attain any success. To what level you remain “open”, your business growth will be directly related.

Social Media: 5 Years Into the Future

12-18 Months: Social Media is CRM

As social media slowly becomes a part of everyone’s daily web interaction, this reality and change in systems means that YOU, your brand, must adjust and focus on agility instead of just optimization when it comes to integrating social media into your marketing programs. And as this becomes more of a reality, Social Media CRM systems are becoming a necessity, rather than option as more users begin to take part in social media and recognize your brand.

In the next 12-18 months, brands will work to close the gap on effectively managing dialogue with the market in terms of:

• sharing information
• fast-tracking problems
• responding to questions

Both internally and externally with customers, prospects, employees, other stakeholders, and the public.

Social Media monitoring devices such as Radian6, Visible Technologies, Buzzlogic, TNS Cymfony, Trackur, and other social media monitoring tools allow you to keep a finger to the pulse of your brand and see real-time data as social media mentions take place.

12-18 Months: Digital Jet Lag Goes Into Red Alert

As information already within social media is becoming clogged, expect a massive increase in the next 12-18 months with the uptick in both users and social media popularity. Because of this, expect filtering and curation to become a huge business. When it comes to finding methods to cull the information being pushed into the social networks and allow users to sort through it more efficiently, a step toward contextualizing and connecting with the ‘right’ information will step into the forefront with a number of new tools, platforms and systems to help control this excessive amount of content.

To be continued…

This post is part one of a continuous series that will be posted throughout the rest of January and February. Here is a sneak peak to some of the topics that I will be covering:

• Resistance to Change Ends?
• Privacy will become a MUST for Users
• Real-time, Social Mobile: Feedback, Rating, Comments, Tagging
• Uprising in Automated Social Agents
• Socially Augmented Reality
• FREE Access to a Global Network
• Social “Books”
• Smarter Social Advertising: Mobile, Online
• The End of One-Way Communications
• Social Advertising Budgets Explode
• The Extreme Reputation Economy
• The Importance of Social Capital
• The Global Social Brain

This blog series will also be posted on my work blog @ http://www.ovrdrv.com/blog

For the better part of 2009, Twitter and Facebook have been stealing the spotlight when it comes to discussions regarding social media “movers and shakers”. This is understandable as both have truly stepped on the gas in terms of increasing user base and improving functionality both in-house and externally through third party application development. Furthermore, both companies continue to dedicate significant time and research towards making their services useful for businesses, as we see new organizations join these networks daily and each with unique goals and strategies for doing so.

However, Flickr is a photo and video sharing social media channel that is also experiencing rapid growth and integration within many avenues of online business development and marketing, currently hosting more than 4 billion images, up from 3billion in November of 2008. With that said, Flickr should be researched and considered for use by many entrepreneurs as it too plays a large role within your company’s potential to benefit via social media outlets.

While there are a multitude of both personal and professional reasons to utilize Flickr, business owners should focus on implementing this platform to increase their level of personal interaction with current clients, build further awareness of their corporate brand, and perform strategic outreach campaigns to potential interested parties that would otherwise be unaware of their products or services.

Below are some simple starting points that will hopefully start your creative juices flowing as to how you can tailor the use of Flickr to your own company’s needs and strategies.

Flickr Facts for You & Your Company

• Flickr is an online web service and social community for sharing photos and video. As of October 2009, it claims to host more than 4 billion images, up from 3 billion in November of 2008.
• Flickr allows for user interaction, commenting, categorizing of albums, and building of contact lists (like followers or friends, if you will).
• Flickr allows users to sign up for a Pro-Account, which provides unlimited uploading of pictures and videos for $25/year.
• Flickr Groups are used to enhance social sharing based on location, events, affinity groups, etc. This is a large asset for businesses to further reach potential clients and customers based on interests.
• Within Flickr, users can create online Photo Contests to increase user interaction and visibility to the channel.
• Flickr provides a very resourceful analytics program that allows you to track your photo traffic and views by very detailed metrics.
• Ties in very well with other social media channels to cross update and draw traffic back to the channel.
• Very effective tagging, batching, editing and grouping functionality with Organizr.

How Can You & Your Company Utilize Flickr?

• Share all photos and videos from both in-house and user submitted material to act as a live-time online photo album.
• Utilize the highly effective keyword tagging features to get your company’s material visible to SEO searches, as well as internal searches from Flickr users.
• Join many Flickr affinity groups to gather interest from those who may not be familiar with your company’s products, services, location or values.
• Photo contests and special promotions can be designed and executed with Flickr as the vehicle used to facilitate these activities.
• Connect Flickr to current website, Facebook Fan Page, corporate blog, etc. to smoothly cross post content among all of of your company’s online assets.
• Flickr has great API and Widget based functionality that allows you and your technical staff to utilize Flickr functionality within your current online assets, displaying your public Flickr content in ways that work best for your brand, purpose or intended delivery to your audience.
• Learn more about your community and the values, activities, events and experiences your users or fellow businesses take part in.

A very important thing to keep in mind regarding your use of Flickr for business is this - do NOT oversell. This is highly frowned upon by the Flickr team and, more often than not, those companies who practice this have their account deleted from the site altogether. Flickr has constructed a very helpful, light-hearted and colloquial set of guidelines that will ensure you are fully aware of what the Do’s & Don’ts are for using this service.

Entrepreneurs must understand that Flickr is not a billboard, rather it is an online photo sharing community, a virtual scrapbook if you will, for you to further connect with those who you wish to gain a more robust idea of who you are and what you value as a business.

So, take a tour and explore the various features and uploading tools available. Search for groups that would be of interest to you or your market. Ask questions and share your thoughts here by commenting below. As you research its versatility and role within the world of social media, it could spark creative and helpful thoughts as to how Flickr can be useful to your company and overall brand identity.

Guest post by Business Development Consultant, Guy Mitrano (@guybby) Mitrano is a Gen-Y entrepreneur, and CEO of Burlington Boatyard, LLC & business consultant with strong awareness of the needs, strategies, & goals of fellow young entrepreneurs and start up companies.

According to a new report from Forrester Research, social media isn’t just for kids any longer. The new report notes that more than 60 percent of baby boomers are actually engaged in social media channels, such as blogs, videos, podcasts, and forums.

In 2007, the percentage of baby boomers consuming this media was at 46% for people ages 43 to 52, and 39% for people ages 53 to 63. By 2008, the number increased in a massive way, 67% and 62% respectively.

In addition, the number of baby boomers responding to content posted online increased as well. For the younger boomers, responding to content doubled from 15% in 2007 to 34% in 2008. According to Forrester, this is now at a percentage that’s high enough to target this group with social media applications and content.

When it comes to joining social networks, the activity has widely increased among baby boomers as well. Today, almost one in four of the younger boomers are actively engaged in social networks, up from 15% in 2007.

The one aspect of social media that is up, but not at a significant increase when compared to the other activities, is the aspect of actually creating content. Besides updating their online profiles and leaving blog comments, the baby boomers are still not heavily involved in writing blog articles or creating videos and posting them online. In 2008, 16% of younger boomers were involved in content creation (up from 12% in 2007) and 15% of older boomers (up from 8% in 2007). Both groups saw an increase, but it still remains the least popular activity online for baby boomers.

What Does this Mean?

According to Forrester’s suggestion - the best bet for getting baby boomers involved in your content is to create blogs or videos that relate to the life and/or work style of baby boomers. And creating these content channels without so many complex sign-up processes are most likely the smartest direction to take your ideas, as the numbers above show that baby boomer’s feedback is limited - so consider the sensitivity of your channel.

This research opens the door to start considering serious steps into creating social applications for this particular age group (ages 43 to 63). Although the group isn’t as active as the younger generations, their participation levels are now at a moderate level and increasing - very worth of a company to start to seriously consider marketing towards.

So when thinking about marketing to this age group, consider the social networks that many of the baby boomers now favor. Websites like Eons, BOOMj.com, TeeBeeDee, Classmates Online, and AARP’s new online community.

Fin.

“A picture is worth a 1000 words” is a well-known saying, and was coined to describe the idea that complex stories can be described with just a single still image. Images are crucial in today’s world, and more so in the presentation of ideas.

Images capture the essence of life, and without question, appeal to the emotions inside all of us. They make information more engaging and influential. An image can capture human emotions, uncensored reflections and a collection of beliefs that allows information to vocalize what message you are trying to convey.

Like videos, images can spread quickly and infect a population to the point where the message is no longer just an image with text, but more so an image with meaning. In turn, passing well beyond the ideals of human emotion and spreading the information virally into a person’s mind.

Visual representations, also known as infographics, are images that are created to attract attention and spread ideas. Similar to videos, images have the ability to be spread virally, and can capture an individual’s attention when they are presented cleanly and paired with text to present information.

The graphics are created to inform an audience, and construct a focused identity that supplements textual content. These infographics can stand alone on their own - acting as a presentation piece that explains a particular topic and acts as a citable reference.

Infographics have the ability to live on their own and can be spread virally to attract attention for almost any brand. When thinking about spreading information, consider an image weaved with information to create something ‘social’. Many B2B and B2C brands have trouble realizing how they can take advantage of the social space outside of the blogosphere and creating active social media profiles pages sometimes.

To take a look at some great examples of infographics here (courtesy of Princeton University)

Overdrive Interactive recently released an infographic in the form of a social media map that outlines the variances of the social web. The map is clean, concise, and acts as a clickable PDF - as it should because I helped make it…ha-ha. More importantly, it sits on a landing page designed with clickable chiclets that allows you to share the infographic directly on Twitter, Facebook, Digg and Delicious. This, in turn, gives the ability for a person to ‘share’ the graphic with their community of friends, making your simple graphic, more than just a pretty picture to review. It makes it ALIVE and more importantly - VIRAL!

Now that you’ve seen some examples - think how your brand might be able to incorporate an infographic. Think of it two parts. First, consider the content you want to incorporate. And then, secondly, in what display method will this content work? Could your information sit within a rich display like the first examples above, or live within a less involved design, such as the second example?

Either way, think about your branding possibilities with something like this…are you in need of an inforgraphic?

Fin.

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…

Wake Up.

This post has nothing to do with social media, online marketing or any kind of branding of the sort. This has to do with life, and I think sits well for an end of the year reflection and 2009 outlook we should all consider.

I think we all have taken this approach - a place where we ‘play it safe’. We think standing by our guards and doing the everyday over and over and over again is going to bring us our just rewards. It might…but in the longterm - is that going to make you happy? I know we need to understand the difference between what is the right thing to do, and what is the smart thing to do - that’s normal. But, think if you were to walk on the other side of the line for a moment - where chances are taken and risks are made - would that work for you?

Is making sure your 2009 budget is where it needs to be going to make you ultimately happy - or are you going to regret not allowing yourself to take those few chances, and speak up - and help push things further beyond a stable budget - all because you were afraid to say yes.

I am not trying to be Tony Robbins here, nor am I suggesting you sacrifice precious revenue on chance. But I am suggesting you think about your life and choices for a moment. How often have you regretted not doing something because you were afraid? Speaking up at a meeting or to your boss - jumping in on a business opportunity that might help your overall goal - even though you were unsure.

My point is not to ramble, but I think denying ourselves a chance at taking part in the conversation - even though we might be a bit timid at first, or might feel out of our element, it’s crucial to realize what you are missing out on, and more importantly, what you are withholding from yourself. There is chance for growth around every corner - even in a chaotic world as today’s is. Your business, your life, your every second is worth something - don’t scold those assets you have by not enjoying and saying ‘I want to do that’ instead of being too afraid. You have no idea the amount of opportunity you could be missing out on by not attending a function or going to a lunch, or just saying I will do it, even if you aren’t sure or maybe thinking this isn’t for you.

Stop Being Afraid.

I know I probably sound like I am rambling a bit - but I am just personally disgusted with those who don’t want to take control of their lives, instead of their lives controlling them. Spontaneity I believe is one of our greatest fears - the ability to take a chance every now and then, without having to ‘think’ so much about it. To go out your ’safety’ zone and experience life, instead of always trying to be the ‘comfortable’ self we seem to be OK with on a regular basis. Go out of bounds every once and awhile, speak at the panel you always been too nervous about, take those lessons you’ve always laughed at or been to nervous to try, open up that new location you are not sure is going to work, climb a mountain, fly a plane, get a tattoo, etc, etc…you see my point - loud and clear!

Stop running away from life, and take hold of what you are, and what you really want to be. Stand up and speak, and stop holding back - you are only hurting yourself. Whether this relates to your work environment, personal life, relationships, friends, family or whatever you believe this could be applied to, stop holding back. Be the person you’ve always wanted to be, stand up and speak your mind, take a chance and go for it!

I am so tired of the people who just do what they do without enthusiasm, or any kind of desire to be better. You are too comfortable - if that makes sense. You are too tied to the everyday and comfortable with that. Stop treading your feet and take chances, open up and take part in life - you will be amazed by what you could discover and what might come of that.

Everything you do is calculated, from the moment you get up to the time you go to sleep. I can’t understand how people can be so comfortable with that.

I say this too often to people I know, and now I want to say this to you: you have one shot in this life, one time to make the most of what you do everyday worth it. Stop holding back and quit being afraid to take chances. I promise, you won’t regret it!

fin.

Blogs. 

As an Internet strategist - my life daily is consumed with social media feeds, blog alerts, feedburner stats, google alert updates, monitoring, strategizing, execution - all of these overused terms and time consuming tactics certainly take a toll on you.  

But one thing I do often, as I do for all my clients, is research - taking notice of the growing digital space around me - thinking of ideas to implement innovative strategies among the community and with my clients.  

One of those key strategies that are a must in today’s Internet spectrum is a blog.  A blog is key in driving not only traffic, but interest to your brand, product, or company.  Blogs help you appear authoritative in your industry - allowing you to give views on the latest events in your trade, offer reviews, insights, and so on.  

This expands into relationship building tools, as you are able to speak more freely and in a more informal and personable style, as compared to how you direct the voice on your main website.  Through the blog channel, they are more likely to trust you, and then all the more likely to visit your main website and then click your links and possibly purchase your product.   

It also offers insight for your customers, and allows them to leave comments and ’speak’ to you on a key level. In addition, blogs are extremely search engine friendly - through thousands of possible keywords and fresh, updated content on a regular basis - blogs are simply great facets to have on your website today.  Your simply misguided if you think otherwise.

*Read More for a detailed blog breakdown of the popular clothing line Free People.

Read the rest of this entry »