e's Week in Review

August 24-30

At the end of each week I want to share with you the interesting things I came across through my "e's Week in Review" post. It could be anything; blog posts, tech products, new apps., quotes, etc. If you have found any interesting tidbits or news, please share in the comments below, I'd love to hear about them.

Three items of interest:

1.) Buzzstream: This application is a social CRM and monitoring tool that will automatically convert a blog post or any news story into a social profile. Check out a write up done by TechCrunch.

2.) Twikini: This is a windows mobile Twitter application. I just installed it today on a two week free trial period, it then can be purchased for $4.95. Though new to me, I have no complaints. I especially like how it utilizes all of your phones features. You are able to DM, tweet, RT, @Reply, utilize twitpic, GPS, URL shortening and much more.

3.) Go Cubs Go! I ended the week with a 3-day stint in the windy city, enjoying my first ever Cubs game. As an avid baseball fan -- it was amazing! We watched the game from a Rooftop out in right field -- 3639 Wrigley Rooftop.

Great view, great food, great drinks.

 

Trust Agents: Chs. 1 & 2 -- Great Start!!

Trust Agents: Using the web to build influence, improve reputation, and earn trust.
Chris Brogan and Julien Smith
















The intro and first chapter gives you a background on who a trust agent is and gives you an outline of what to expect throughout the rest of the book. The second chapter is really where my mind started to take actionable notes. This is where the motivation, aspiration, passion, and goal setting started to form. It really got me fired up in wanting to take my brand to the next level. At this time, my online presence is just that, I'm just there in a space with millions of others. Although I have made some connections and established some relationships through online networking, I want to take my brand/product/company to new heights. This chapter gives you that push. This push really sprang into action early on in the chapter when reading the following:

"When you conclude that talent, though not quite a myth, is certainly overrated, you start to realize that you never need to see yourself as below anyone. Instead, you should only believe that you don't yet have the experience that person does, then find a way to get it."

Experience and knowledge; just because and individual has more of these than you do, doesn't mean you aren't able to develop those same things, you just need to find a way to get it and exceed it.

Throughout the chapter I set myself a couple of goals; one is to be more transparent and not being afraid of how others may view it. I am genuine, I am authentic, but I need to be transparent. I need to express my opinions, beliefs and thoughts. I need to have insight on what it is I do. I need to be able to point others into the right direction with sound advice. Currently, my blog is more of a 'review' based platform and leads readers to different sites. Though I think this is highly beneficial, and still want to maintain this, I need to incorporate my own insights. In short, this chapter really gets the blood flowing and excites you for the rest of the book (which is a good thing right, to establish that early on before a reader gives up).

e's Week in Review

August 10-16

Not much going on this past week. The weekend was uneventful, which was actually nice -- relaxing and much needed.

A few things below caught my eye, all of which I have subscribed to or enrolled in.

1. Yellix: TechCrunch has a whole rundown on this new Facebook mobile app. In short -- upon downloading the free app. whenever a Facebook friend calls you their Facebook photo appears along with their real time status. It's a pretty cool feature... if it worked. I downloaded the app on my Facebook account and it's supposed to send me a link to download and install on my mobile. I have yet to receive the SMS. I contacted Yellix via email and twitter, no response. I'm pretty disappointed as I was so looking forward to this new Facebook caller ID feature. We'll see what happens...

2. GoodReads: This is basically your own personal online library. It's pretty nifty...I enjoy it. You can join book clubs, purchase books, browse tons of reviews and books. You are able to categorize your books into as many "bookshelves" as you'd like. It's a great resource for finding your next read. View my profile.

3. LifestreamBackup: As they say, it's not if it happens, it's when it happens. Be prepared for the unexpected computer crash. This backups all of your data for most of your social networking accounts. As of now it only supports Twitter, Wordpress, Delicious and a few others. There is a two week trial period and offers three different payment options. From my understanding they will be supporting more accounts in the near future.

Is Social Media a fad?

I came across a pretty cool social media video on Steve Buttry's site. Video created by socialnomics09.

Social media is not a fad, it's a revolution.

For those who are not joining the greatest industrial revolution are those who are going to be left in the dark. Those individuals are going to be compared to grandma and grandpa of today who can't check email or even turn on a computer for that matter.

Join in.

e's Week in Review

August 3-9

At the end of each week I want to share with you the interesting things I came across through my "e's Week in Review" post. It could be anything; blog posts, tech products, new apps., quotes, etc. If you have found any interesting tidbits or news, please share in the comments below, I'd love to hear about them.

Another fulfilled week. Below are a few items that caught my attention.

You have a choice. You can throw in the towel, or you can use it to wipe the sweat off of your face. -- Gatorade ad

1. Dropbox -- this is a pretty convenient and very easy way for file management and sharing through the use of multiple computers, USB, or retrieving files from work. Check out the video tour here.

2. Tweetdeck -- I understand this has been around for a little while now, but I finally downloaded the app and it works like a charm. I mainly wanted it so I could follow the professionals with my shared interest within my area more closely, to stay in tune with local events. It's great, check out the features.

3. Make sure you avoid this online branding fiasco. -- This was posted on the Personal Branding Blog written by Katie Konrath. This is a prime example of how to maintain your online presence/brand with consistency. If you lie or bend the facts just a smidgen, 8 out of 10 times a Google search will lead you to the truth.

Until next week.

Words from an unfamiliar voice -- Social media ghost writing

Companies have been using ghost writing services forever--it's just the way it's always been done. Now, with this new type of media, "social media", there are all kinds of discussions if ghost writing/blogging for companies and top executives should be taking place.

Is social media ghost writing ethical?

Photo provided by Matt West from flickr.com

 

We've reached a gray area in social media and my take is this--it is indeed unethical.

It goes against everything that social media is. Ghost writing for traditional marketing initiatives is completely acceptable, as it has been since day one. This type of medium (traditional) you are speaking at your audience--TV/Radio/Print. With social media you are speaking with your audience and are engaging in their existence. It becomes more of a personal relationship through being transparent and authentic. When companies rely on 3rd party agencies to connect with their audiences on their behalf, it's a hoax and there is no real connection--you lose trust.

With that arises another question: If the company utilizes ghost writing efforts, but is 'transparent' about it, is this okay?

This is tough. I think it's better, yes, but I am still NOT on board.

 
The main thing with social media is being authentic. People want to form relationships with the "real" person behind their profiles. They want to know what YOU are thinking versus some manufactured thoughts. Although being upfront and open on who's posting, there is still a feeling of disconnect and misrepresentation.

Take a gander at the scenarios below. Taken from MarketingProfs Daily Fix blog post written by Beth Harte:

A CMO at a non-profit decides they need a blog so they can increase donations and decides to outsource all the writing to a local blogging company that has just pitched him on their services (but he insists that he is listed as the blogger). After six months, the blog is doing really well, receives a lot of comments from the community and is up for an award. The CMO is so excited that he states to a local reporter: “I am very proud of my blog and all the work I’ve put into it! I really hope I win the award this week.”

A VP at an ad agency asks her intern to write in a witty, cohesive manner all of her blog posts and comments because while very smart, she is not very funny and lacks the ability to write thoughtfully. The intern also starts Twitter and Facebook accounts under the VP’s name so he can promote the posts and once in a while joke around with people. After a few months of blogging, someone posts the following comment: “I recently saw you speak and a conference and got a few minutes to speak to you afterwards…you seem to be a lot different in person than how you write.”

The manager at a Fortune 500 company is very busy, but thinks it would be really cool to have a blog and join a few social networks. He gets permission from the VP of marketing to kick off the blog. After a few weeks, the manager realizes that he actually hates writing and doesn’t have much to say. He knows he can’t stop the blog after working so hard to get permission, so he outsources the work and the comments on the social networks to his PR agency.

A president at a mid-market company has been pressured by her agency to start a blog. She tells them it’s fine as long as they don’t bother her with the daily work of it. The agency guarantees that they will diligently work with the marketing and PR team to make sure the content is accurate and factual. The next week several blog posts appear under the president’s name.

A CEO releases a post, under his name, in which he shares his company’s vision for the new year and changes that will affect the year’s coming revenues for the better. The post receives positive comments from employees, partners, investors and customers to which the CEO replies. Initially stock rises and sales grow. Six months later the company starts having financial trouble and when questioned the CEO claims he had no knowledge of the post or the comments because an agency was hired to write them all.

All of these scenarios are cases of misrepresentation and mismanagement, ultimately putting a damper on your brand.

In short, organizations need to better understand the intimacy level in which social media creates and not to mislead their audience. They expect to hear from YOU. There is a certain satisfaction a customer feels when speaking directly with the leader of the organization, thus, making the company unique through TRUST. 

What are your thoughts on ghost writing/blogging? Are there fine lines in the way you go about doing it that makes it okay? 

e's Week in Review

July 27-August 2











This past week has been a bit crazy, as any other week. This is what life seems to be for most people these days, not enough hours in a day and always on the go. I tend to, for the most part, like it this way. It keeps me on my toes and there's usually never a dull moment. With each day being as busy as the day before I make time for my social browsing. What would a day be without meandering through the web? This week I stumbled upon a pretty convenient financial management site and a couple of cool plug-in's.

1. Mint.com -- This site is very user-friendly and allows you to manage your money and graph all of your spending. You are able to track any of your credit card or bank accounts. There are tips on how to lower your interest rates, become debt free, consolidate your student loans, etc. The cool thing about this free online software is it's easy to understand and read. There are graphs basically for all features. There are some great features and alerts you can activate for any suspicious spending. I might be a tiny bit hesitant for security reasons only, just for the fact that all of my account info would be in one place. I would have to do a little research for some reassurance.

2. add-a-tweet -- mashable.com just recently did a write up on the new plug-in. You can find the article here. Basically, after downloading and installing the plug-in an add-a-tweet icon appears on your browser toolbar. Anytime you'd like to comment on a web page click on the icon and a threaded timeline appears to the left of the web page. You can either add a comment that only appears on that particular web page or you have an option to feed it directly to your public timeline on twitter. With the add-a-tweet thread you are able to sort comments to see only your followers on twitter or "authority", those who have the most followers. It also allows you to DM owners of a post, @reply them, or mark as spam. It's a very cool tool and a quick way to post comments, especially to those pages and articles that don't have commenting options. At the moment, this plug-in can only be installed on Firefox browsers.

3. Lifestream.com -- Eric Friedman, the author of Marketing.FM, just did a review of his own lifestream feed. Lifestream is a timeline of your social network activities, it displays your social feeds and photos. It's like you would see it on any other social networking site only this plug-in organizes the feeds in one central location. Though this is a wordpress plug-in only, it's very convenient and useful for digging up old posts. I hope in the near future to see something more universal. Click here to see an example of Eric Friedman's lifestream.