I get to do fun stuff and my new favorite, shiny toy is the honor of doing For Immediate Release correspondent reports. Yesterday’s, (#509) which I teased out a bit on Monday, deals with:
How YouTube has made it ridiculously easy to add closed-captioning to videos (a Section 508 requirement under the law – we government weenies have to do this); and
A ForSee survey, ranking government Web sites and comparing a few of them to private sector sites.
All of this is more important than ever because, with the passage of new and potential legislation, we are looking at moving millions of citizens from private sector Web sites to government sites. And that means, as social media practitioners in government, we must build Web sites around the needs of users. Period. Full stop. No excuses.
Please listen to the whole FIR report, but if you are jones-ing to hear my nasal, pedantic voice, my contribution comes at around the 37:00 mark (lower-case “m”).
One of my must-reads is Brian Solis’ blog, and having had the pleasure to meet Brian at BlogWorld Expo a couple of months ago, I found him to be a pretty modest, smart and very funny guy.
In his latest post, “Inbound Marketing: Get Found,” he reviews the book of the same name written by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah of HubSpot. Often, the most sophisticated observations and the most simple and elegant. I have not yet read the book (but am putting it on my Kindle list now), but I love the concepts laid out in Brian’s review:
This book is an exceptional guide to understanding the landscape of creating and maximizing presence. Inbound Marketing refers to the act of consumers discovering your brand through various forms of online media, without your direct engagement necessarily. In the interactive Web, I refer to this practice as SMO or Social Media Optimization – the art and science of escalating the findability of social objects within social networks and the blogosphere.
My dos centavos? This is directly in line with my personal experience. I suppose that it my own way, I have built a mini-marketing effort simply by establishing and maintaining a presence, first in blogs, and later in Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, del.icio.us and now on Posterous — which I am still playing with but I think has a lot of potential.
My biggest surprise and evidence of all of this was, without trying, I found myself on top of the Google search rank for “Mark Story.” I have a somewhat unusual name, but there are numerous other Mark Storys — a Kentucky sportswriter, a programmer (with the mark-story.com domain), a photographer and some a**hole who is parking the markstory.com domain and is probably a cyber-squatter.
How did I climb to the top of Google? By honestly attempting to engage people in online dialogue, and hopefully offering something of value. I simply did things that I love, played with new tools and gadgets that interest me, and whammo-bammo, there I was with a stream of inbound marketing. By no means do I consider myself an “A-Lister,” (I would say “D-Lister, but Kathy Griffin makes my skin crawl), but I have received offers to speak, opportunities to freelance write, podcasting fun as well as my latest gig, a correspondent to what I think is the best podcast out there for social media, For Immediate Release.
Again, I have not read the book — but will – but it seems to me that if one is genuine and dogged, if you do indeed build a better inbound marketing mousetrap, the social media world will beat a path to your door.
And Brian, being about a million times smarter than me, provided a quote for the book that nails it on the head:
In the social Web, we are presented with a privilege to establish meaningful dialogue and collaborative relationships with the people who define our markets. This is an incredible opportunity to establish relevance and discoverability. Remember, consumers have choices. We’re not part of those decisions where we’re not present. Inbound marketing serves as the bridge between those seeking information, direction and insight and those willing to provide guidance and support.
So be your own best marketing guru and provide an inbound path for marketing opportunities – without even trying.
Ok, maybe the title is a bit of an exaggeration, but when listening to Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson’s “For Immediate Release” this morning (congratulations, gentlemen on the FANTASTIC accomplishment of your 500th episode), the topic came up of what is likely to happen in the future of social media.
One of the terrific comments came from a listener who suggested that essentially the future of social media lies with teenagers. Yep. Teenagers. Those snarling, lovable little people. And when you think about this, this makes tremendous sense:
MOST teens:
Are on social media sites like MySpace, Facebook and Youtube – and completely comfortable using them;
Can multitask and Tweet on something like Tweetdeck with multiple windows open;
Text at an unbelievable speed and volume, while simultaneously publishing to other online meeting places lke the aforementioned Facebook and MySpace; and
Crave what is next, new and interesting.
Think about it. In ten years, or less, these teens will be hitting the workplace with an opportunity to make a difference. At 25, these folks might find themselves in an entry level or even mid-level position and bring with the the habits that they grew up with. In short, the more that they evolve as consumers of social media and their careers grow in the process, the more we will see integration of these aspects in the workplace.
And as Shel said, “At 30, they’ll probably be managers.” These now teens (or even tweens) will be in positions to make decisions and influence those both senior and junior to them.
Please start using social media in many of the ways that I recommend now, because like the factory workers of yesteryear, you can either update your knowledge and skill sets or find yourself on the ash heap of professional development.”
If you read this blog semi-regularly, you’ll note that I occasionally fill in for Chip Griffin as a co-host on Media Bullseye Radio Roundtable. It’s always fun and we always have a few laughs. And I always learn something.
With a guest who has forgotten more about podcasting that I will ever know, I have to admit that I was a little nervous. Have a listen and see if you think I pulled it off. And if the Roundtable folks had conducted random drug testing (read: Manny Ramirez) I would have been banned from the show because I managed to throw myself down a flight of stairs the day prior – and was in a slight percocet/flexoril/celebrex/neck brace haze.
Hope I did you guys proud, Jen and Chip. Or maybe I’m better when I’m higher than a kite? Jen Zingsheim sums things up much better than I can — her summary is below.
Mark
This week, Jen Zingsheim was joined by co-host extraordinaire Mark Story, and the very special guest was Neville Hobson, from the UK–of FIR podcast fame. The Roundtable discussed the recent results of a survey of FIR listeners, the World According to Mom blog-tag effort, and whether PR is suffering a slowdown borne of the recession, or if there are other reasons for budget declines.
First, the Roundtable spent quite a bit of time discussing the results of the FIR survey, calling out some noteable findings. Jen was surprised at the gender split (77 percent of FIR listeners are men), and Mark offered his thoughts as someone who took the survey. Neville provided a lot of insight as to why they collect this information–and why they make it publicly available.
Next, as Mother’s Day is this Sunday (still time to get flowers and a card, and don’t forget to call mom!) the group discussed Catherine Connors of Her Bad Mom, and the effort to “go around the world in 80 clicks.” This effort linking mom bloggers across the globe demonstrates the international power of community, and the ability to link to one another through a shared experience–motherhood–in addition to shared interests.
Finally, the group touched on an article that ran in the New York Times about PR facing a downturn during the recession. Is the recession really the reason for a decline in business, or is this a correction, and does it take into account the introduction of new tools, such as social media?
Roderick’s role is interesting. He spent nearly 25 years at the LA Times and now follows the paper, among other journalism-related activities on his blog. In a recent post, he cites Kinsey Lowe, former of the paper, as emailing:
Sorry ladies and gentlemen, but after nearly three decades I’m giving it up.
I support all your efforts but this latest affront is just too much to let it pass. Not the notion of selling advertising on Page 1, but the nature of the ad itself. What a desperately, astonishingly tired idea. It makes the Staples debacle look absolutely brilliant.
I’ve already strung along for far longer than was even convenient.
I still pay for the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, and maintain Variety and other paid online-only subscriptions.
I know this is a betrayal, and for that I’m sorry, but “they” won’t understand anything less.
There used to be a sort of truism about newspapers, that you could ruin a reputation overnight but it takes 10 years to build a new one.
So Georgetown students, here’s this week’s assignment. Listen to the entire podcast, and post your comment or question on our blog. And for that extra added element of intellectual curiosity, you may want to listen to the whole of Eric’s interview as well.
Posts are due no later than 5:00pm on Tuesday April 14th. Those panicking about not filing their tax returns may want to start this one early…
@DougH HEY DOUG! I've got this half-assed, harebrained idea and could use your free consulting advice that you get paid for otherwise!!! http://twitter.com/mstory123
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