Archive for June, 2008
Don’t be a social media optimisation (smo) H.E.R.M.I.T
June 30th, 2008
Social Media Optimisation (SMO), not to be confused with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) has been around since 2006. A gent called Rohit Bhargava was credited with inventing the term SMO according to Wikipedia. View his orginal blog post here.
If you want to learn more about Social Media Optimisation, I can recommend The Beginner’s Guide to Social Media Optimization.
Here are some other relevant posts I have read on the subject:
Ultimate Social Media Optimisation List
SMO (Social Media Optimisation) and Social Media Marketing – Case Studies in Viral Marketing
New Rules for Social Media Optimization
Just to recap the smo is an optimised site that can be more easily linked to and bookmarked, is highly visabile in social media searches, and has added and extra user generated content like embeddable videos, photos and podcasts ect.
Most of the blogs we follow in the technology field have got their Social Media Optimistation down to a fine art, resulting in small blogs being catapulted into massive, mainstream, must-have RSS feed subscription and go-to sites. Getting your SMO strategy right can launch you into mainstream media and beyond!
So remember if you don’t want to be a social media optimisation H.E.R.M.I.T you should:
H: Help your content travel
E: Encourage the mash-up
R: Reward inbound links
M: Make tagging and bookmarking easy
I: Increase your linkability
T: Think about great content
This diagram below sums up smo very well:
June 26th, 2008
Tactics are of course common practice in PR and Marketing, and are being more widely used for social media means.
I have put together a list of some of the more useful social media tactics posts for your reference.
To find out much more about social media tactics go to our social media research and resource page.
Is social media now mass media?
June 25th, 2008
 
Is the cross-over complete? Is social media now a part of everyone’s day-to-day lives, and does everyone now know what it is and how to use it? Has social media reached mass media status?
What I mean by mass media is TV, radio and the press etc that are common communications platforms. Mass media is traditionally one dimensional in terms of communication, and social media of course is the complete opposite.
Over the past couple of months, social media references seem to be wherever I look, being highlighted in varied aspects of everyday life. For instance, on the radio you hear musicians such as Maria Carey singing about YouTube and other social networks, mainstream TV programmes are mentioning the use of blogs in their storylines (Eastenders), and mobile phone company advertisements (billboards) with social networking features are now a powerful way of selling handsets. As I saw yesterday in Waterloo London train station, Vodafone has massive banners hanging from the terminal building promoting the social networking functionality on its handsets.
That’s just a few instances I have noticed, and I bet you have noticed some too!
Is social media mass media yet or just a flash in the pan?
Here is a little slide show with more on the subject.
Top Followed Tech Twitters And Their Tag Clouds
June 20th, 2008
Today I have been delving into the top followed Twitters Twitter statistics to find out what they talk about and the best way to visually do this is via a tag cloud.
First off, in no particular order we have Robert Scoble or the Scobleizer as he likes to be called, his Twitter bio says “Bio Tech geek blogger”
Click on the tag cloud to see the full size preview:
Next up we have Guy Kawasaki his Twitter bio reads “ Alltop, Garage, and Truemors”
Chris Brogan is next, his Twitter bio reads” Social media type, but love the emerging enterprise tech space too”
Jeremiah Owyang Senior Analyst at Forrester Research: Social Computing.
Loic Le Meur serial entrepreneur & blogger
What do these tag clouds tell us:
After a quick review of the tag clouds some of the most popular words seem to be Twitter, Google, Facebook, and Friend Feed. Other prominent words were related to their own products e.g. Seesmic for Loic Le Meur. There was also a lot of @ loving between each other!
If you want to find out about other Twitter tag clouds go to Twitter StatsÂ
June 19th, 2008
So who caught Mike Butcher commenting on the AP content issue on Sky News last night? Mike has linked to a recording on his post this morning. Well done Mike!
When digital content issues reach the broadcast media you know it’s either big, or has been going on for a while, and in this case it’s both.
To recap, Associated Press has announced that it doesn’t want anyone quoting more than four words from its articles without payment.
I’m sorry, before we go any further, have I just entered a time warp? Have we shot back a few years to the early days of blogging when all these arguments were vaguely relevant? Don’t get me wrong, I fully support everyone who is fighting AP on this, but why do it? Why now? What’s the deal? Surely this can only end one way?
Even if AP is successful in stopping everyone that uses more than four words without payment, which let’s face it is financially and practically impossible, what do they stand to gain? Hold back the movement of content? Freeze the evolution of open communications? Become the new hate figure for digital media?
Help me out here.
I’m not going to bang on about the ‘why’ this is so ridiculous – many high profile bloggers have already put the argument across very clearly and eloquently , such as Arrington and Jarvis and as Mike Butcher said last night on Sky news: “It’s absolutely pointless!” Oh and: “Bananas”.
The one good thing to come out of this situation is to see some of the highest-profile bloggers united in a shared cause. Just watch them go now! AP, i almost feel sorry for you!
Celebrities crash the social networking scene!
June 19th, 2008
We all know about celebrity product endorsements and celebrity’s never ending love of free goody bags from the latest parties or film premiers. So celebrity involvement in social media activity seems like a match made in heaven. Social media is mostly free, and they get to endorse a product, usually a social network!
Nick Lachey’s of newly-weds fame was the first well-publicised social network offering, followed by a whole host of others.
Mashable has a great post on celebrity endorsed social networks.
Here are some others that weren’t mentioned in that list.
WeMix fronted by Ludacris, the U.S. rapper, who has his own ‘Luda’s blog’. One feature that I haven’t seen before is the ability to send a voicemail that can be played back on the site.
Here’s what Luda has to say about WeMix:
Another is WuChess, this is how they describe it: ” WuChess.com is the world’s first online chess and Hip-Hop community. You can create and share profiles with your friends and triumph over enemies on the 64 squares. Not just against people in your neighbourhood but from all over the world.”
From a PR perspective it makes things a whole lot more attractive when you have a celebrity attached to the brand! From a social media point of view the celebrity/social media partnership sounds like the start of a trend. Watch this space for an influx of celebrity endorsed social media products…
Your Company Brand Or Your Personal Brand On Twitter?
June 17th, 2008
What’s better, promote yourself as an individual that works for a brand/company, or be the voice behind a brand/company?
Let me give you some examples of relevant Twitter profiles:
andymerch
Name: Andy Merchant
Location: Brighton
Web http://www.liberatemedia.com
Bio: Social media consultant for Liberate Media
seroundtable
Name: SE Roundtable
Web http://www.seroundtable.com/
Bio: The Pulse of the Search Marketing Community
xoost
Name: Xoost
Web http://xoost.com/about.php
Bio: Do you Search >100 times/day and you’d like to share your search skills? Xoost is the place for you! If you like join the BETA TEST PHASE!
I am the individual that works for a brand.
The second and third Twitter examples choose to promote their various brands through a user name and thumbnail.
What’s the best way to do it?
I could have quite easy had my username as Liberate Media and the Liberate Media logo as my thumbnail, but my feeling is that I would not have the same freedom of expression and speech if I was confined as a Liberate Media spokesperson. As an individual I am still linked to my brand/company and have its best interests at heart, but this way I have the freedom to create an online personality with the flexibility to go one step further than a corporate structure would usually allow me.
Tools such as Twitter have helped individuals linked to brands/company’s to grow beyond being just known as ‘so-and-so’ who works for ‘whoever’, into recognisable figures with online authority that are best known for their online presence.
Take a look at your Twitter followers. Can you tell me who they work for? Most of them still have day jobs.
To follow me on twitter click here and I promise to follow you back!
Comedy catches social networking bug
June 16th, 2008
After a relaxing weekend some of you might have the Monday blues – hopefully I can cure this and put a smile back on your face by pointing you in the direction of Constant Comedy, a social comedy site. It’s been around since the back end of 2007 and is exclusively for comedians and comedy lovers.
It’s a great example of people harnessing the power of targeted social networking sites to promote their singing, acting, cooking dancing skills, with some success!
Constant Comedy describes itself as “a website catering exclusively to comedians and comedy lovers. Whether you are an new performer, a seasoned pro, or just enjoy watching comedy, we hope to provide you with a stage.”
Could it be an online version of the classic TV programme New Faces? – “Press your buttons…. NOW!”
One of the best features of the site is the Constant Comedy Live section. You watch a video live with other users, give it the thumbs up or down, and depending on what the other users do, the performer receives a live rating of good or bad. You can also add comments while watching the act and then finally give it a star rating at the end.
I have to say some of the videos were hilarious, and if you’ve got a spare few minutes it’s worth trawling through the rated videos for quick chuckle.
Here is one of my favourites so far!
Metallica learn to love their web community
June 13th, 2008
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It’s been one of the longest running sagas in digital communications. The story of a brand so unwilling to accept the thought of digital communications being at the heart of it’s future, that it has taken unusually harsh steps to avoid any sort of web involvement, especially in relation to its music.
The brand in question is Metallica – the world-famous metal band, and as i’m sure you know their hate-hate relationship with the web started in 2000 by taking legal action against Napster, accusing it of violating copyrights and instigating piracy, a course of action which other artists, namely Dr Dre, also pursued.Â
However, where as other artists have not only embraced the web but flourished on it, Metallica’s uneasy relationship with the web has continued with a seemingly unending stream of ill-advised decisions when it comes to utilising, or in fact doing everything possible not to utilise, the web.
Fast forward to this week and Metallica were at it again, or so it seemed. The story goes that Metallica set up a listening party of their new album with music bloggers in London. Seems like a good idea to me..and a step in the right direction. But then, of course, the bloggers dared to post their opinions and reviews of the new album and consequently the Metallica web police took over.
Metallica’s management company requested that the reviews were taken down because the listening party heard an early mix of the album, which seems very strange considering they were invited to listen to it, and the vast majority of reviews were actually good!
This whole process seemed to be very much in keeping with the script, leaving bloggers and fans frustrated and spawning such headlines as: Metallica goes diva on the Internet…again, Internet ignorance leaves Metallica looking like cyber bullies… again, Metallica: A Tale of Lost Fans and those were the nice ones! UK music blog The Quietus takes up the story.
But then, in a move straight out of the social media crisis communications book, Metallica stopped what they were doing, and quickly communicated with their community via their website , saying it was all a mistake by their management team, they had been out of the country touring when it happened and immediately reinstated all the reviews, even posting them on Metallica’s site. Simple, honest, friendly and open!
Suddenly, we see Metallica in a whole new light, either they’ve finally taken some advice, or they are actually mellowing to the power of the web, which they should seeing working only too clearly with headlines such as: Metallica apologise for demanding bloggers remove reviews, Metallica “ear spanks” management, reinstates online reviews, Metallica allows fans to read about new album.
In one quick and simple move Metallica have gone a long way to rebuilding the bridges that they’ve burnt over the years, and although they need to work at it, the new site and new found attitude show they are on the right track.
Well done Metallica and a nice social media case study as well!Â
Have i got news for you? The insider perspective…
June 11th, 2008
Last week, I was lucky enough to be one of the chosen few (well around 500) who demonstrated Olympian-grade precision queuing in order to gain access to the filming of “Have I Got News For You” in London.
Even more luckily, I was placed at the far right of the studio for this final episode in the series, which meant I could see only Ian Hislop’s shimmering head occasionally. Watching the show’s progress on monitors (well worth the wait), three things struck me – how good the guest chairman, Jeremy Clarkson, and panel were at their jobs, the complexity of delivering a broadcast-quality show under tight deadlines, and how agile the production team was in refashioning the show for different end users.
Clarkson, Hislop and Paul Merton were relaxed both on and off-camera for the two and a half hours of taping, making life easy for their guests (BBC news presenter Kate Silverton and poet Ian McMillan). I had half-expected tantrums and explosions from the stars and technical crew but it was a really joyful atmosphere. I think that translated across to the TV screen and web the following night, with a speed of production which still amazes me. And it was a revelation to see Clarkson adding the disconnected links, revisions and intros to the extended programme version (More News…) and the webisodes. Add that to the online interview with Clarkson and the caption quiz (The Webaption Challenge – aaargh!) and the multi-platform package is complete. Same show but I would guess very different audiences.
The best gag didn’t make the TV edit –Merton keeping the audience entertained while the Clarkson finished his wrap-up work: “I went into a newsagents’ the other day and asked him “Have you got a copy of psychic news?”… “You tell me,” he said. Yep, I know, it’s all in the timing…