6 mistakes of social media marketing

I wrote this initially on Twitter. When I tweet more than 6 messages in a row on a specific topic, I realize, I've got me a blog post. Maybe.

Here's the series of tweets, my micro-seminar for this week, or today.


6 Mistakes of Social Media

#1 treating online community members as sitting ducks for sales hype w/out real interaction

#2 thinking people join social networks to receive deals, opportunities, commercial messages

#3 fast results from inauthentic, non-altruistic, self-referential content, instead of value

#4 treating social networks as just another ad medium, instead of customer relations paradise

#5 mixing relentless inspirational quotes with sales messages instead of participating like a real human

#6 ghost contenting = pretending it's Guy Kawasaki but it's really a subordinate team you relate to

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Twitter @anywhere invades the web

At the veritable birthplace of Twitter, the SXSW conference in Austin, TX, Evan Williams announced his Next Big Thing. It's a proliferation of the Twitter instant micro-blog platform, a spreading of the interactive functionality to popular websites. Without "going to Twitter", you'll be able to engage in a Twittery online feedback and community functionality.

@anywhere -- the merging of Twitter with the mainstream web world.

Each participating company that features @anywhere will probably design the new communicative community tool to its own unique requirements, hopefully based on what customers want to do, or have been doing already, in another fashion.

The clients signed up for the launch of this service include Huffington Post, Amazon, AdAge, Bing, Citysearch, Digg, eBay, Meebo, MSNBC.com, The New York Times, Salesforce.com, Yahoo!, and YouTube.

The example given is being able to Twitter about a YouTube video, as you watch it, without interrupting your viewing of the video. Or click on the byline of a newspaper article and Following the writer on Twitter.

Integrating this fast, brief message service as a simultaneous experience as you view a website. making it easy to Twitter about something you discover, a product or a problem, on a popular site, this could have an downside as well as an upside.

How will the companies who integrate a Twitterish widget into their site deal with the spam, abuse, or complaints that may be generated? Will it be moderated? Will representatives respond to the customers or random visitors using the interactive tool?

Will questions be answered, orders taken? Will the stream of 140 character remarks be distracting to those who don't care for any conversations, and just want to conduct their normal business at the site?

This is a natural evolution of internet tech oriented toward people relating to each other and to corporate entities.

First came the internet, as a science research tool.

Then came tech blogoid objects, the early textual weblogs (logs on the web) of Robot Wisdom, Doc Searls, and Tim Berners-Lee, the "What's Next" pages.

Next came the commercial websites. All you could do is stare at them and buy stuff, basically.

In reaction to the monolithic, impersonal ecommerce and corporate presence websites, arose the mighty personal blogs, via LiveJournal, Xanga, Blogger, TypePad, WordPress, MySpace, and Facebook.

Finally, we saw Twitter and the other micro-blog platforms appear, offering faster, shorter, more spontaneous interactions between people, who linked to fuller, more complex blog posts when the topic was too large for 140 character bursts.

It took a long time for business to awaken to the fact that blogs enhance corporate credibility and can be used to increase customer satisfaction, by sharing expertise, announcing specials, and interacting with the public.

It'll be interesting to watch the problems and opportunities that @anywhere will generate in the realm of commerce.

Could your business add a SMS (small message service) functionality to your blog or corporate website?

Something to think about, for sure, since this format and platform is steadily growing in popularity. The very least you should do is start a Twitter account and use it as a way to gain fans, interact with customers, share expertise, link to your blog posts and videos, and let people contact you.

Social media - - the web's not just for sales hype and propaganda anymore.

Will @anywhere force corporations to invest more time, money, and effort into online customer relations? Let's hope so.


READ MORE:

@anywhere article on Huffington Post

@anywhere on Twitter

@anywhere Official Announcement on Twitter blog

@anywhere article on Mashable


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Str8 Sounds dandy night shirt VIDEO

Str8 Sounds "Dandy Night Shirt" from "Soft Thrill Default" CD.

Hooray
for the new
rainbow day
from Florida
and the old men say
it's going to be
something to parade and see
something to view inside me.

I want to enforce you
I want to divorce you
from the things trying
to destroy you.



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Naturally Yours Mini Tour 1 VIDEO

Naturally Yours Mini Tour 1


A brief overview of the pet toys, pet food, cleaning products, and organic produce available at Naturally Yours.


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domination systems vs social media

Social media is being mocked again.

With all the social unrest and uprisings that we see in the world today, the protests and attempted toppling of repressive regimes, it's no wonder the puppets of the domination systems are attacking social media.

Here we go with another round of "trivial" and "signal-to-noise" and "ROI" and "relevance" yapping, the sharpened barbs meant to injure and demote the public's involvement in online communities. Where sharing and caring are the key pursuits, quite in contrast to what governments, commerce, and institutions wish to inflict upon the people.

"As more people engage in online social interactions, the credibility, value, and relevance go right down the toilet", they seem to say and think.

Credibility? Value? Relevance?

How much of these prized values do we find in the field of the detractors of Social Media?

How great is the content of TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, books, films, video, CDs, mp3s, telephone conversations, and just plain old physically present mouth-to-mouth (or ear?) talking?

When you despise or fear what an entity is doing, you can criticize its overall content. Or categorize the participants by alluding to their weakest members ("just a bunch of weirdos, geeks, and college kids drinking lucid buzz drinks and gobbling pizza, in their pajamas").

We who use and enjoy Social Media often scold fellow participants for being shallow, boring, self-obsessed, hype-driven, mistaken, stupid, or crazy. But we also spent some time and effort learning how to connect with sincere, smart, altruistic, talented people. We focus on providing value -- insights, links, warnings, dreams, hopes, wishes, jokes, tips, videos, images, music, news, opinions -- and paying attention to those who do the same.

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Naturally Yours where kids love to eat VIDEO

Naturally Yours "Where Kids Love to Eat"

Glenn Beck attacks me VIDEO

4 am walk revisited VIDEO

Str8 Sounds james tate VIDEO

STR8 SOUNDS "James Tate - the storm & stress period" from Steven Streight on Vimeo.

Str8 Sounds adrienne rich VIDEO

STR8 SOUNDS "Adrienne Rich - the insusceptibles"

Filmed Friday March 5, 2010 in the lower industrial wastes of Peoria. Leading to resolution. From "Modern Poets Set To Music" CD.