Social Media Marketing Maverick

That’s a question I’ve asked for a while now and none of the pretty enlightened leaders I know seem to have a clue either. So, I thought it would be fun to plan to find them and when I do, they’ll appear in this category.

In 2006, I was a partner in a thought leadership publishing venture called 9th Element Press and we published our first award-winning business book, The Art of Original Thinking: The Making of a Thought Leader. It was written in record time by one of the most talented women thought leaders I know, Jan Phillips.

To become a thought leader, you have to be an original thinker because thought leaders don’t become that way by thinking someone else’s thoughts. (makes sense).

The Art of Original Thinking engages you in a 3 part process:

• Release the Past,
• Embrace the Present
• Create the Future

It’s truly a ground breaking business book that introduces you to some of today’s most original thinking companies (and I guarantee they aren’t ones you’re used to reading about) and how they are increasing global consciousness and doing well while doing good.If you know a woman who you consider a thought leader, send me a note and tell me why and I’ll consider adding her to this section…

James Ray’s new book, Harmonic Wealth, is definitely a good read. In fact, it’s a good multiple times read, because you will find nuances and distinctions each time you read it again.

The concept that interests me most is Phase Transition (similar to critical mass, the tipping point, or the 100th Monkey Theory.). If you want more explanation, grab a copy of the book, otherwise, I think I’m going to create a post to explain it in my own words later this week.

Check it out below, and if you have a blog, consider adding it too…

Who knows where this “global mind” thing can go?

Technorati Tags 100th monkey theory, critical mass, global mind, harmonic wealth, james ray, phase transition, tipping point

Talk about moving the free line!

Peter Shankman didn’t start out thinking that he’d be giving the well-known PR service ProfNet a run for their money when he decided to post emails he was already getting from reporters asking if he had sources for their stories to his Facebook Page. He decided to call this free service “Help a Reporter” - it helps hungry reporters looking for sources connect with hungry sources looking for publicity.

What is interesting is that he was already getting reporters emailing him to help them find sources, so he has some credibility and influence with this audience. They have recognized that he is skilled using a new resource - social media - which makes him attractive to say the least. (Let’s face it, besides us information marketers and life-long learners, most people would rather not learn something new, they just want the answers.)

So he decided to take action to help them by exposing them to his existing network, using his already existing Facebook profile. Free to use, simple to execute - reporters emailed him their queries, and he posted them on his profile. A lot easier than answering them all one on one.

Then word hit the street - freelancers (who obviously must have been a part of his network) started telling friends, then publicists (also probably already in his network) realized these were prime opps for additional ways to spread the word about their clients. He created some buzz by buzzing it on his own blog, shankman.com. An A-list NY Times blogger wrote a nice post (notice, at this point he still hasn’t asked anyone to actually help him promote this service)

The free service got so popular he had to move it off of his Facebook Page and onto it’s own site at www.HelpAReporter.com.

Now, here’s where the story takes a counterintuitive twist…because it’s STILL FREE!

He clearly could have monetized it, because it’s clearly meeting a huge want in the market - which he says doesn’t surprise him that reporters are seeking an alternative to ProfNet. He says they get tons of queries from their posts there, but so many of them are “misguided”. (and he firmly says he will dump list members who don’t send a response that is on target in his welcome email)

Reporters report that they get a lot more on-target answers from Shankman’s list. Another plus is they get fresh faces from many of the smaller PR folks and even entrepreneurs themselves who can’t necessarily afford the pricey ProfNet service.

Maybe at some point in the future he will start to charge. However, my guess is that he’s getting a lot more visibility and more business doing what he really loves to do anyway this way.

There’s a lot more meat to this story here:
Tired of ProfNet? Start Your Own PR-Journalist Service

What could you do that would provide a similar effect to your target audience? I’ve got some ideas now myself that would help my expert authors…stay tuned!

Technorati Tags free pr service, helpareporter.com, journalists, peter shankman, profnet

This is a prime example of what one person with a funny idea, and some influence can make happen using only social media.

He confesses that the idea came to him when he was very drunk…”What if everyone went out and PANIC bought carrots?” (why carrots? who knows, but if you visit the Facebook Group page and read the FAQs you will see why).

More importantly, the lesson here is that even though he was drunk, he took ACTION - he created a group on Facebook and enrolled people in his “vision”.  http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=9801981146

And notice the name of the group it’s appropriately titled  “The “On May 15th 2008, everybody needs to go out and panic buy CARROTS” Facebook group. He just named it what it is. No guesswork there

The result? 60,000 people have joined, and it’s been featured on the BBC of all places! To get the facts journalistic style, here’s one online news article:

Facebook users plot global carrot rampage

More than 60,000 people from an online group have pledged to swarm supermarkets and buy out their supply of carrots in one day in a bizarre mission labeled “impossible” by vegetable growers.

The “On May 15th 2008, everybody needs to go out and panic buy CARROTS” Facebook group was created earlier this month in London and now attracts more than 10,000 members a day — many of them Australian.

The moral of the story: What idea do you have around the topic of your book or your expertise that could tap into people’s desire to be a part of something fun?

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This just in my inbox from my friend Ben, (oops, I mean Howard Campbell).

I told him I thought it would be fun to share and I was going to post this onto my blog. Hey, where else could you get a $4,000 Stanford University syllabus for Facebook for free, become a world class expert on the psychology of Facebook, AND audit the class using their Facebook group, BUT online?

That’s why I love the internet.

Here’s the email:

Michelle,

Can you keep a secret?

This is a $4,000 course and I’m
letting you in the back door…

Psychology of Facebook
is being taught at Stanford

“For ten weeks we will focus
on persuasion psychology in Facebook.”
~BJ Fogg, Stanford University

If you put together
a college-level course
on social networking
what would you call it?

At Stanford, they call it Psychology of FaceBook.

Get the Stanford syllabus here…

( MP: Better look quick, before they find out)

If you are already a member of FaceBook,
then you can join their group online…

Join the Stanford class group on Facebook Here

The kids in this class paid roughly $4,000 each
and you can audit the class for free.

If they ask, tell them Howard Campbell
told you where to look. Shhh.

Ben
aka Howard Campbell

Technorati Tags bj fogg, facebook, social media strategy, stanford university

Here’s an interesting video called The Machine is Us/ing US, created by Michael Wesch.

It gives a really good summary of what Web 2.0  (and I have the easiest plugin for Wordpress called Viper’s Quick Video Tags, it makes it oh-so-easy to post YouTube videos

Technorati Tags the maching is using US, user generated content, Web 2.0, what is web 2.0

Okay, I’m borrowing a phrase from my good friend and colleague Mitch Axelrod. Caveat Vendidor is one of the tenets that underpin his philosophy “The New Game of Business”. He says that instead of the old game, where it was “caveat emptor” or “Let the buyer beware”, it’s now “caveat vendidor” or “let the SELLER beware”.

Case in point. Walmart.

The interesting thing about this David vs. Goliath WalMart story is that this is a case that Walmart won, and then an appeal actually went to the Supreme Court, who refused to hear it.

The Short Version: Walmart continued to proceed in it’s attempt to recoup $470k in medical costs for a now-brain damaged former employee because it’s policy allows for that if the person gets a settlement of any worth. However, in this case, the settlement ended up funding a trust to take care of this former employee who will never be able to work again.

So…somehow this came to light and one blog post, begat another post (you know the old shampoo commercial “she told one, and then she told one”?) begat a call for a boycott against and before you know it, Walmart bows down to the power of the citizen journalist.

To repeat: Walmart won this case. They let the family appeal it all the way to the Supreme Court and then bowed down to the bloggers! (See http://walmartwatch.com/)

And to think, I found this story on CNN, through following a Reuters Oddly Enough text ad link in my Gmail inbox “Children Find Woman’s Head on Beach” story (You know, I just can’t resist the power of a good headline sometimes- no pun intended!).

And now, for the rest of the story…

Wal-Mart: Brain-damaged former employee can keep money - CNN.com

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Technorati Tags blog-o-sphere, citizen journalists, social marketing, social media, walmart

Gotta love the guys and gals at MarketingVox.com - they vet all of the info and only give you news you can use.

Who are these wealthy consumers? They average 287k in income and have a net worth of 2.1Million, according to the Luxury Institute.  (and for the more skeptical among you, these survey results are weighted to match demographic and net worth profiles of the same audience according to the latest Federal Reserve survey of consumer finances.)

As overachievers, being connected is natural for them, their participation increased 5 times, to 49%,  they average membership in 2.8 (can we just say 3? How do you participate in .8??) networks, and have about 110 connections.

• 16% MySpace (really? how interesting - that site drives me nuts with it’s busy-ness and blaring musical profiles
• 13% Linkedin (per LI, a large percentage of CEOs visit daily)
• 11% Facebook (one of my favorites, it’s very interesting to see what my creative friends are up to - however, please stop inviting me to events in Australia, I’m NOT coming, but feel free to visit me when you are in Sunny San Diego, CA)

Most rapid acceleration is in the over 55 crowd (you know what they say about us boomers, we refuse to grow up LOL!)

For the rest of the story and links, go here:

Six in 10 Wealthy Consumers Online Use Social Networks - MarketingVOX

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I think this is fascinating. In this report from eMarketer, a survey of 1200 online users who shop online more than 4 times a year and spend over $500 indicates:

• 43% of read customer reviews most of the time before a product purchase and
• 46% required a minimum of 4-7 before they would make a purchase decision

These online buyers are also Web 2.0 savvy…44% of them also indicate that they wish that websites had more product videos, 39% wanted the ability to subscribe to email or RSS alerts, 39% want discussion boards or forums and 37% want the ability to personalize the site or create a personal profile.

Oh, and in case you wonder if having customer testimonials really makes a difference, 49% of these buyers want them.

Read it all here:
Online Buyers Seek Out User Reviews - eMarketer

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Online Video’s Record-Breaking Month: 10 Billion Viewed in December - MarketingVOX

In my opinion, niche topic professional speakers listen up - better yet, take action to find out how to capitalize on this ever-increasing trend of social video-sharing. You could be owning this medium in a big way to get your message out to a global audience with not much more than what you probably already have - video of you speaking. But you’ll have to shift your thinking to “content” and “contribution” …the level of thinking that got you where you are, isn’t deep enough get you where you want to go…

Technorati Tags nsa, Online Video, professional speaker, social media, social video, YouTube