Wednesday, February 20th, 2008
When you have completed reading this post you will understand my babbling, but to do so I will tell you a little bit about myself.
Up until recently my favorite flower was a Yellow Rose. Something about a Yellow Rose was always calming. Maybe that was wishful thinking. Again that was until recently. Now I have lost all relevancy to them. We will not go into the reasons today…
As writing this I would have to say that the Dandelion has taken the place of the Yellow Rose as my flower of choice. When I see a Dandelion I immediately go back to my childhood. It has been over twenty years since I have seen a field covered in Dandelions. As a kid growing up on the outskirts of a small town in the Midwest there were not many organized things to do, so most of the kids in the neighborhood collected at a nearby field. The field was often covered in Dandelions. Each night as we were walking home from playing baseball or whatever game we happened to play at the time, the air would be heavy with the distinct aroma of smashed Dandelions. This smell has never left my memory even two decades later.
Now I would like for you to close your eyes for a moment and think of the sound that a Dandelion makes as you pop the head of the flower from its stem and the soft moist texture as you crush it between your fingers. If you have ever pulled one from its stem you know what I am talking about.
About now you should be asking yourself what in the world am I getting at? Why am I decapitating the heads from innocent flowers? If not, you may be the one with some issues. For those of you that did question what am I talking about read on.
The Collective Thoughts blog is about Social Media. Social Media to me is about using interactive elements of a website to get your proposed message across. What better way of getting into someones head then to let them see a little bit into your own mind. It is all about how you build your rapport.
So what is your favorite flower? I would like to know what your favorite flower is and why you would classify it as your favorite. Take this assignment with a small sense of seriousness. Don’t tell me “buds” are your favorite flowers and the reason is that you like to smoke them.
Today’s task is about building a rapport between us. So this is what I would like for you to do on your end. If you are reading this blog I am sure you have already installed the StumbleUpon toolbar on your browser of choice. I would like for you to use that toolbar to create a review of this post and in doing so tell me your favorite flower. In turn, I will write a small review for one of your sites in a future post on this blog.
So what are you waiting for? Be one of the first to have a review of your site on Collective Thoughts by Mark Laymon.
Posted in Social Media | 15 Comments »
Thursday, February 7th, 2008
Just released yesterday, Mixx has stepped up its growing social news site, now adding the ability to message other users within the site. Chris McGill spoke about these features being on the Mixx roadmap in our earlier interview with him. From the Mixx blog:
Mixx Mail Phase 1: Now you can send and receive messages to and from anyone in the community without ever leaving the Mixx. Mixx Mail offers some very handy little features, including:
* The icons of all Mixx friends in your address book—especially useful if you’re like us and remember faces/avatars better than names.
* Send a message to a Mixxer directly from that user’s profile page.
* Block overeager wanna-be groupies. That’s right—not only can you slam the door on their friendship pleas, but now you can block them from sending messages, not that you’d be so cruel. Right? Well ok then, just don’t block us.
* Opt to have a daily digest sent to your regular email and we’ll let you know how many messages you have waiting.
The recognizability that an avatar brings is taken into account here, as shown below:
There is also a new release on group message boards, a handy addition that Mixxingbowl, the unofficial Mixx forum, doesn’t entirely address.
These are welcome features and should certainly improve usability on the site.
Traffic is Still Mixx’s Weak Point
When you compare Mixx with a Niche Pligg-based site like Sphinn, the result is disappointing: even with a large spike in November/December, its visitor numbers have barely risen. Let’s look back at our own home-brew of those events, Google Trends like style:
To put things into perspective we can’t show you the graph between Digg and Mixx as Mixx visitor numbers are so tiny it’s barely more the a straight line. So instead let’s compare it to a large Social Media Blog like Dosh Dosh
Keep in mind that Compete.com numbers are to be taken with a pinch of salt but they are a good guide to trends and Mixx seems to be stuck in the mud.
On the flip side, social media is not just about numbers but reaching the right numbers. Mixx is developing its own diverse crowd, many of whom are active Stumblers and Diggers, making it a great spot to promote material that is ultimately aimed at these audiences.
Mixx as a site is technologically ahead of the game, its owners are well known and are in touch with their user base and their accountants. The question remains: is a business model based on poaching users a successful one? Can Mixx gain the traction needed to get out of the mud and when is there API coming?
This social media public service announcement has been a joint effort between the illustrious Brian “stop making me write long posts” Wallace and Tim “You got to write long posts” Nash. Thanks for stopping by, good citizen.
Posted in Social Media | 12 Comments »
Friday, February 1st, 2008
Yes, that’s right. StumbleUpon has just released some fantastic improvements to its review pages. Rather than having the old way of a Helpful? Yes/No next to each reviewer, there is now a much more comprehensive Flag This menu.
Don’t let the Flag this make you think it is only to report spam or offensive behavior.
Personally, I liked the Helpful yes/no since I could see who I marked as helpful or not if I chose too, whereas now I’d need to click on the dropdown for each reviewer.
This is definitely a step in the right direction for StumbleUpon. As for the uses of the new functionality: don’t flag as a spammer just because you don’t enjoy the topic, and don’t flag as violent/hostile/vulgar unless they really are.
Now you’ll have your say. Stumble responsibly.
Posted in Social Media | 14 Comments »
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
That was the content of one of Seth Godin’s recent blog posts, the title was:-
The more people you reach the more likely it is that you’re reaching the wrong people
It was a timely though very short post, I was still in the “collective thoughts” mode one usually is at the start of the new year, though mine was somewhat delayed by moving to a new house, and various internet connection difficulties.
My year really didn’t start until mid-January
Back in November I went through some of the strategic planning I would at least consider for social media marketing, in fact any online marketing.
Whilst Seth’s thinking in many ways defines niche marketing, what I was looking for was to reassess my niche and I came up with my own short form.
Customer vs Peers
This offers in many ways a perplexing contradiction – the content and social media interaction that might widen your reach by attracting peers at the same time might not be suitable for your customers. The content is effectively self-serving, not customer orientated.
The social media interaction might also be self-serving if it is centred around your peer group.
As an example it might be wrong for the BBC, Washington Post or New York Times to promote Digg, when their customers might find a better user experience on Propeller, Mixx or Delicious.
Which social news site should Microsoft promote?
I have made similar tough decisions recently – my most active social media activity unfortunately was not a good match for many of my customers, and many of my peers. It was self-serving.
Redefined Goals
By in depth metrics analysis of historical content, it is possible to determine which content was most suitable for your customers – a customer orientated approach to content development ultimately rewards the “who” and not the “how many”.
What is more valuable, a recommendation from a current or potential customer, or from a peer or professional colleague?
One strange though understandable phenomenon – customer orientated content seems more likely to attract links from customers than peers.
Posted in Social Media | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008
Today aimClear contacted the FBI regarding StumbleUpon cyber-harassment incidents, as they deal with Internet harassment. Justice Rules. We got one of the worst StumbleTrolls BANNED by complaining to SU.
Over the last few weeks, there’s been quite a sequence of exchanges between Internet Marketing types and StumbleTrolls.
A StumbleTroll is a social media dreg that follows authentic people around with death slogans and pseudo neo-Nazi meanderings of hate, evil, and terrible poetry. (more…)
Posted in Rants | 45 Comments »
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
As I was waiting with my son in his Doctor’s waiting room I started reading one of the many pamphlets that they had sitting around. I happened to pick up one of the pamphlet’s titled Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I smiled as I read it as I always felt that I was obsessed with Social Media. And, even though I haven’t been diagnosed with OCD I suppose having it might be a possibility. That possibility got me thinking… What if Social Media were a disorder?
And, the inside of the Pamphlet would read….
What is Social Media?
Social Media is the interaction of people on the Web. Unlike traditional media such as newspapers, TV, magazines, Books, Cds, and radios where there is no interaction between others… Social Media is human conversations via Internet Communities.
What are the Symptoms?
The use of, but not limited to, one or more of the following:
- Blogging
- Instant Messaging
- Participating in Forums & Message Boards
- Photo Sharing & Video Sharing
- Podcasts
- Social Networking
- Commenting on Blogs
What Causes Social Media Disorder?
The Need for:
- More Traffic
- Incoming Links
- Visability as an Expert in your Field
- Moving up in the Search Engines
- Interaction between Business Owners and Potential Customers
- Branding your Products Name / Business Name
- Passing the word around about your product or Service.
How is Social Media Diagnosed?
An Increase in one or more of the following:
- Traffic increase illustrated on Website’s Stat Counter (Visitors, Pages, Time Spent)
- Your Website being Mentioned Online
- Incoming Links / Trackbacks
- Increase in RSS Feed Subscribers
- Improvement in SERPS
- Sales Increased
- Comments Increased
Treatment
Once you have caught Social Media it is a Chronic Disorder. There is no way to rid it from your system. Unfortunately, there is no cure for Social Media. Fighting Social Media is extremely painful. The best treatment is to learn as much as you can about Social Media, so you can accept it and learn to live with it.
Posted in Social Media | 18 Comments »
Monday, January 14th, 2008
I read a nice little post by Brent Csutoras I had been pointed towards it by Brian who is quoted within. I have been preparing a post on Mixx since before Christmas for Collective Thoughts so was keen to see another perspective, I was pleasantly surprised but also a little concerned.
Sheer Volume of worthless traffic is still worthless
How you define worthless of course is the key. The argument put forward by Brent is that Mixx simply doesn’t have a critical mass (or activity) to produce enough traffic to make it worth while for marketers. He quotes some stats that are pretty close to mine in terms of sheer visitor numbers to his site and their he stops. The problem is that sheer volume is not a useful metric indeed in many respects rather then being a goal the traffic itself should be considered the cost let me try to explain.
The cost of Volume
Every unique visitor costs a small amount of money, they are taking up bandwidth and resources, the more pages they view the more they cost. A well designed site has a set of “Call to actions” be it to buy a product, subscribe to the RSS feed or comment on the post each of these provide a small ROI how much this return is depends on the action. Even if the return has no financial return it still has a cost implication.
Example
Joe has a blog he has two calls to action 1) advertisement (he wants people to click the links) and 2) Subscribe to RSS
His hosting costs and monthly bandwidth mean each visitor per page costs him approx 1c.
Joe gets 100 visitors – the cost of these visitors is $1 and 1 person clicks an advert he recoups $0.30 Joes total cost is $0.70 if he values RSS subscription at a $0.5 and some two people subscribe then Joe has a ROI of $0.30
Lets say Joe gets to the front page of Digg and has 10k visitors a total cost of $100 he picks up 100 subscribers and 20 people click the ads his total cost is $94 financially and a ROI (including subscribers) -$44
Now I made those numbers up, but the point I want to get across is that everything has a ROI which should be included in any metric. If you sell an Ebook which is it better to have 10 visitors of which 1 buys the book or 10k visitors of which 1 buy the book.
Social media in particular can drive vast amount of traffic with little or no effort but why would you want this traffic what was the point?
Every Goal has to be measured to have success
Working out success on pure visitor numbers is like working out your crop size based on locust population. If your site never had any set goals then it can not have any measured success, to measure success you need to first define your goals and how much reward such goals bring.
In my above example I used financial costs and rewards simply because it is the one thing most people understand but a cost and reward can be far more wide ranging. A good example of a non fiscal metric for blogs is Avinash Kaushik 6 methods for measuring blog success if your interested in looking at these on your own blog Joost has written a plugin at Collective Thoughts we have been using it for a while though it will take a few months before its data will be really useful.
Traffic is good, conversions are better
I love stats and I love social media I watch with joy when I see thousands of visitors on my site through the likes of StumbleUpon regardless of any goals so it seems hypocritical to suggest that traffic doesn’t matter but ultimately beyond a childish fascination it does not matter. What matters is if that traffic converted and achieved my goals.
Is Mixx ready for marketers peddling their wares probably not, is it ready for Link Builders hoping to get their stories in front of some of the most forward thinking people in social media quite possibly.
Posted in Productivity, Social Media | 13 Comments »
Friday, January 11th, 2008
Ladies and Gentlemen the votes have been counted the judges have been arguing, the Collective Thoughts ethics committee was called. Smoke was seen rising, had a new Ninja been selected?
The standard was very high and the participants came from all walks and backgrounds, some were well known already on the social media stage others were coming to the fore. Some were desperate for the title others more laid back.
Finally it was down to two, one had the most votes through aggressive marketing (social begging) the other a smaller voice but still impressive. What were we to do but choose both!
I present you with not one but two Social Media Ninjas for 2008 each ninja wins a unique prize suited to them as well as the right to call themselves social media ninja and to show of their new found status with the Social Media Ninja badge.
BartTheBear (aka Leonard)
love him or hate him, Leonard garnered the most votes. Leonard now holds the title of Social Media Ninja 2008
Leonard’s Bio: Why I chose “BartTheBear” – My real last name is Bartholomew. One of my favorite animal movie stars is Bart The Bear from “The Edge” with Anthony Hopkins. I am 6 foot 6 inches tall and built like a bear. I am told that I snore like one too. That is if bear actually snore when they hibernate. The last time I checked I about got my face tore off. I don’t necessarily like the conotation of “being a bear”, but it sure draws a lot of attention and is a lot of fun when it comes to blogging and representing myself in the social media sites.
SEOSmarty (aka Ann)
Ann also received a good amount of votes and definitely seemed to be a crowd favourite. Ann will share the title of Social Media Ninja with Leonard
Ann’s Bio: Well, I am 24, coming from Russia or Ukraine (as you prefer 
). I started as an affiliate manager for a celebrity poster e-shop, and that’s where I learned the basics of Internet marketing. I was then hired as a freelance SEO consultant. I started my own business about a year ago once I came to US. My company is really small (only 6 employees) but that’s great to be independent though! I started blogging and marketing at SM about a month ago, and got really excited about that. This resulted in a number of posts on my blog dedicated to social media rather than SEO – just because I can’t stop writing about that!
Congratulations to our winners we hope you enjoyed it and those who didn’t win will come back next year to challenge for the title Social Media Ninja 2009!
Posted in Social Media Ninja | 9 Comments »
Friday, January 4th, 2008
Wow, everyone! Thanks so much for your great entries to the Social Media Ninja Contest!
Although we said last time that we would only be advancing the top 10 to the next round, we felt that all 13 that participated should move on.
Edit: Here are the contest rules:
1 – Please only vote for one candidate.
2 – Votes must be received by Tuesday, January 8th, 2008 at midnight GMT.
3 – Candidates cannot vote for themselves.
4 – The decision of the Collective Thoughts team is final.
So here they are, folks. Which of the following should go on to become a Social Media Ninja?
TheGypsy (aka Dave)
Best Known at: Sphinn
Ninja Entry
BartTheBear (aka Leonard)
Best Known at:
Mixx
Ninja Entry
BookwormSEO (aka Gab)
Best Known at:
SEOMoz
Ninja Entry
WingnutSEO (aka Dave)
Best Known at:
Sphinn
Ninja Entry
Tom Critchlow (ya got a nickname, dude?)
Ninja Entry
Floppy (aka Mack)
Best Known at:
Sphinn
Ninja Entry
LocalSEOGuide (aka Andrew)
Best Known at:
Sphinn
Ninja Entry
Britopian (aka Michael)
Ninja Entry
SocialMediaMom (aka Kristen)
Best Known at:
StumbleUpon
Ninja Entry
SEOSmarty (aka Ann)
Best Known at:
StumbleUpon
Ninja Entry
Frozen2late (aka Stephanie)
Best Known at:
Mixx
Ninja Entry
Zaibatsu
Best Known at:
Digg (what are you, under a rock?)
Ninja Entry
Spostareduro (aka Kimberly)
Best Known at:
StumbleUpon
Ninja Entry
Posted in Social Media Ninja | 88 Comments »
