Techno//Marketer - Matt Dickman on Digital Marketing and Social Technology

Travel tip: power up when you need it

This is not a gadget blog, but I do love a good piece of technology that solves a problem. If you travel and are in and out of airports like I am, do yourself a favor and pick up this little guy. It's the Monster Outlets To-Go power strip. It allows you to pack four outlets into one very small footprint and I love the simple, compact design.

Situations it has come in handy:

1. You are at the airport and somebody is using the only outlet in the whole terminal. You walk up to them and ask if you can uplug them for a second to plug in the power strip. You then run their laptop, your laptop and two of your friends with the same power supply.
   
2. Even when event planners think about supplying power for laptops, the outlets are still few and far between. At the conferences I attend nearly every person has a laptop fired up (some blogging and some checking email). All you need is to find a power outlet and you can be a hero to three other people giving them the needed juice.
   
3. At a number of presentations that I do, the venue runs a single power cord to the front of the room for the projector. I always have my laptop plugged in during presentations "just in case". The point is, no matter what happens, all you need is one power source and you're good to go.
   
4. You're in a hotel room with, for some unknown reason, one power outlet around the desk area (like the one I am in right now). This puppy lets me charge my laptop, camcorder, camera and phone.
   

I'll share some of my other favorite business travel tips from time to time. If you like little extras like this please let me know and if you'd rather I stick to marketing content let me know that too. I'm here for you.

Technorati Tags:
travel, tips

links for 2008-03-29

• How to save money running a startup (17 really good tips)
  Jason Calacanis provides 17 great tips on saving money running a startup.
  (tags: advice startup strategy learning leadership entrepreneurship productivity)
• Tom Peters talks about speaking
  Tom Peters on how he got started speaking and his lessons learned.
  (tags: tompeters speaking lear)

Five questions with Rohit Bhargava; "Personality Not Included"

When I met Rohit Bhargava at a conference in Chicago last year, I was immediately struck by how smart and approachable he is. His personality face-to-face is the same as it is on his blog. Over our subsequent lunch together he asked our group (David Armano, Herb Sawyer, Noah Brier and myself) some questions about a new book he was writing. The title and some preliminary artwork had just come across on his Blackberry and he wanted our thoughts. The title seemed right on the money and we couldn't really improve on his concept. That book is "Personality Not Included" and officially launched today.

When Rohit put out a call to bloggers to ask him five questions on the new book, I jumped at the opportunity. What follows are my questions and Rohit's thoughtful responses. I encourage you to read them and visit his listing page of over 50 other bloggers who wanted to be associated with this fantastic effort. If you're launching a book, you would be wise to watch how he's launching this.

MD: What makes a corporate personality and can it be different than the
personalities of the people involved? (e.g.; look at Apple vs. Steve
Jobs/Microsoft vs. Bill Gates)

RG: I defined a personality in my book as a combination of three factors, being unique, authentic and talkable. The interesting thing about writing a book on personality is that you first need to get people away from some of the history of the term. I wasn't writing about personality in terms of individuals (think Meyers-Briggs), but instead was talking about personality as an idea that describes a quality a company would want to have.

MD: Is personality something you can change or modify? How do you become aware of your personality

RG: Great question - personality is definitely something you can change. Chapter 1 is all about how to understand what your personality is and why you need one. Chapter 3 is how to define what yours should be and then putting in a plan of action to portray it. The first part of your question is one of the main questions I set out answer. You'll have to let me know if I managed to do it.

MD: Can you measure personality or the impact of personality?

RG: Absolutely - I think the strongest measure is through customer loyalty. I can't sit here and tell you that having a personality will give you 2% sales lift, because it's not easy to measure that. To a degree, it's the same problem with branding. Companies understand there is a benefit to branding, but it is tough to equate it directly to sales.

MD: Are authenticity and personality directly related? Could a
non-authentic personality work for a company?

RG: They are definitely related. Authenticity is a principle that can be demonstrated by having a personality. On the second part of your question, I would probably change the wording a bit. If by personality, you mean an individual - then I would say we all have personalities in the right situations, the problem is that some people work in a place where they feel they need to check their personalities at the door. Whether or not this is due to some policy - the main idea is that companies need to create an environment where it is encouraged for employees to have personalities.

MD: In social media, often the personality of a company is inferred through the efforts of those doing the outreach/community evangelism. How can companies use this to their advantage?

RG: The easiest way is to make sure and embrace those evangelists. Moleskine embraced Armand Frasco and made him a voice for the brand. Microsoft didn't act quickly enough to embrace Robert Scoble and he left. The other way to use this for advantage is to find ways to identify the newer voices that could become these types of evangelists and provide them the tools they need to grow into this role.

Thanks to Rohit for taking the time to do this. Please do stop by his blog and see the other posts in the series.

Making sure you don't miss the conversation

Once of the biggest challenges I have when it comes to Twitter is following what is being said. With nearly 700 people who I follow, it's easy to have hundreds of Tweets fly by in a matter of minutes. During the day I have to shut down Twitter when I need to focus on getting things done.

I have come up with a couple of options that allow me to keep tabs of what people are saying and staying engaged when I cannot be actively watching and listening.

Subscribe via RSS
This is my favorite at the moment. At the bottom of each user's page on Twitter have a small box that looks like this . That link is an RSS feed of the last things that person has said. I added it to my Google Reader in a category called Twitter Faves and it allows me to read them at any time. Using RSS in Google Reader also lets me search through them over time.

Use an application
Personally I use twhirl as my application of choice. I keep it open during the day and turn off the new Tweet notifications. When I have time I scroll through it and catch up. Twhirl also lets you do some cool filtering. You can filter by keyword or user as well as view Tweets by replies, direct messages, friends and followers. It also lets you search through the messages as needed. At the bottom of the window it shows if you have any replies or direct messages in the queue.

Use a web service
There are a host of new services such as Quotably that will allow you to track conversations by user and show you how they evolve over time. Keep in mind this is limited by the way that Twitter is set up (no threading, no groups, etc.) so it is of marginal value. You can also use a service like FriendFeed to keep track of what your friends are doing. Twitter is just one subset of information that FriendFeed tracks.

Services that consolidate and add value have a bright future in the conversation economy. There is a lot of opportunity out there to listen to, track the trajectory of and help people engage in conversations.

How do you listen? Do you accept the fact that people are talking and you can't listen? Do you use something that is not on this list?

Technorati Tags:
marketing, Matt Dickman, RSS, Techno//Marketer, Twitter, quotably, friendfeed

Launched: MyVegas

Launched is a new series that I am doing to highlight practitioners who are using social media in consumer and B2B campaigns. The goal here is to show you what companies are doing out there, no theory or rhetoric, just real world examples of social media in action.

This edition features a private, branded social network for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority called MyVegas. The campaign comes from the folks at Critical Mass in Chicago and is a great example of creating a social utility around an experience. The site also does a great job of adding value to the user experience by making trip planning something fun. The RSVP (Really Simple Vegas Planner) boils down hours of frustrating phone calls and website visits into one fun, interactive tool. The site also allows for users to customize the look and feel as well as invite friends (or "entourage" as they call it) to partake in the planning.

Here is a quick video overview:

[Feed readers please click through to the post if you cannot see the video.]

Key takeaways:

• Creating a private social network isn't for everybody, this works because it centers around an experience and it adds value to the user
• The look and feel and copy writing are very much in tune with the Vegas theme and convey the attitude they're looking for
• Fun and interactive elements add value by simplifying a very complex and laborious process into a couple of easy steps
• The site uses the social elements of a network to connect people around the theme and make the planning experience better
• I'd love to see more takeaways (applications or widgets) from the site that I could use on other networks like Facebook and Twitter

Overall this is a great example of how to do this type of branded network the right way. If you are launching a new site, application, widget or campaign let me know and I may feature it in an upcoming Launched post.

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Social objects as marketing

Shel Israel's new show on FastCompany.tv is now up and running. In one of his first interviews, Shel sits down with Gaping Void's Hugh MacLeod. In their discussion, Hugh talks about social objects, and their subset of social markers,  as the future of marketing in a social environment.

I tend to agree with Hugh and I love how this concept makes social media more attainable. You create something cool that benefits others and then let them know about it through social connections. If they accept your cool thing they will spread it around. If they don't like it the idea will die.

Per Hugh, a social object is:

the reason two people are talking to each other, as opposed to talking to somebody else. Human beings are social animals. We like to socialize. But if think about it, there needs to be a reason for it to happen in the first place. That reason, that "node" in the social network, is what we call the Social Object.

Similarly, the social marker is an object (person, place, thing) that allows two people to put a social object into context. If, for example, you are at a charity dinner and you start talking with somebody about venture capital, you both may drop some names to let the other person know you are in the same social sphere.

Here is Shel's video with Hugh.

This idea happens all of the time and is a great bit of ethnography by Hugh to bring it to light and give it such an approachable and simple name.

What social objects do you have in your life/business? Are you doing something cool enough to get people to talk about you? What social markers do you use to identify people with similar interests and ideals?

The future of advertising presentation

Many thanks to the members of the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association and to the students of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design for attending the presentation this past Monday. Also, a special thank you to Tim Brunelle for inviting me to speak and for being a great host while I was in town. Minneapolis has a very enthusiastic, warm group of people who were very gracious.

The title of the series of presentations is based around the idea of the future of advertising. I used my experience in digital marketing and PR to give a view of what I see as the future. I would love to hear what you think. The total run time is around 41 minutes. Just hit the play button and you can hear the original recording from the event. I hope you enjoy!

| View | Upload your own

More video content coming soon!

Those of you who have been following this blog for a while know that I love to produce video content. When I changed jobs earlier this year I lost access to some of the equipment that I was using which explains the lack of content over the past three months. Well, the wait is almost over. I have nearly rebuilt my hardware setup, and it's shaping up to be even better than before thanks to my very supportive new employer and to the fine folks at MarketingProfs (including an HD camera for more whiteboard sessions).

I do apologize to you all as I know many of you really get a lot of value through those quick overviews of new technology. In the next couple of weeks I will be back in full force. I've already shot a couple of videos and a demo or two that I will be publishing soon. Buzz Friday posts will also resume, though I am renaming them to "The Weekly Buzz" so I am not confined to do them on Fridays.

I invite you to send me sites/services/program ideas that you would like to see me cover.

In the meantime, here is a complete list of all of the videos I've done to date. Enjoy! (Videos with a * next to them are highly recommended if you have not seen them before.)

Techno//Marketer Interviews: This is a series of interviews that I will be conducting at conferences and trade shows to bring you new thinking on social media and emerging technology.

• Amy Dalton of Topix.com
• Reverend Lennox Yearwood, CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus
• Nic Fulton, Chief Scientist at Reuters
• Jean-Marc Colicaud, United Nations University

Inside//Out: These are more in-depth looks at sites and utilities that have been out on the market for a while. Sites include social networks, marketing sites and web applications.

• Inside//Out: Utterz
• Inside//Out: Digg
• Inside//Out: Jaiku
• Inside//Out: Google Orkut
• Inside//Out: OurThreads
• Inside//Out: LinkedIn**
• Inside//Out: del.icio.us
• Inside//Out: MySpace
• Inside//Out: Facebook
• Inside//Out: Mahalo
• Inside//Out: Bud.tv
• Inside//Out: Second Life**
• Inside//Out: Google Street View
• Inside//Out: Twitter**

First//Look: These are in-depth looks at sites that are brand new and are in closed alpha testing or are in beta release. This gives you an idea of what it will be and how you could use it when it comes out.

• First//Look: Hulu (beta)
• First//Look: Seesmic (pre-alpha)
  
• First//Look: Firebrand (beta)
  
• First//Look: Yahoo Mash (beta)
  
• First//Look: dopplr (beta)
  
• First//Look: Microsoft Taffiti (beta)
• First//Look: Pownce (alpha)
  

Whiteboard//Session: These are hand drawn explanations of complex technical terms or overviews of more technical sites.

• Whiteboard//Session: What is RSS?
• Whiteboard//Session: What is AJAX?
• Whiteboard//Session: What is an API?

Other: Videos that don't fit into the previous categories.

• Web2.0 for marketers

The future of advertising

Tim Brunelle of the agency Hello Viking and professor at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) asked me to speak to his class about the future of advertising. I'll also be speaking to the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association. I've come up with a presentation that I'll post on Slideshare tomorrow so you can see my take.

While I've never worked in an advertising agency, I have been exposed to their inner workings. I've also worked in pure digital shops as well as my current role in a PR company. Overall, I think this gives me a unique perspective on the future of advertising/marketing.

Here is the link to the Slideshare post.   

Technorati Tags:
advertising, marketing, Matt Dickman, Techno//Marketer, trends, MCAD, MIMA

links for 2008-03-14

• AOL buys Bebo: What it means for the future of social networks
  Charlene Li of Forrester looks at the AOL purchase of Bebo (via Jeremiah Owyang on Twitter)
  (tags: charleneli bebo aol socialnetworking socialmedia marketing)