Holding the Hand of God - an ahamoment

I had two wonderful privileges over the past two days.

1. I got to meet, via an impromptu tweetup, the Crew from Mutual of Omaha's ahamoment tour.

Meet Gary, Natalie, Ben and Jessica (she's the boss). These great folks have the pleasure of touring the nation and listening to and cataloging the powerful and often emotional stories of extra-ordinary people. Their energy is contagious, their patience almost inexhaustible and their smiles electric. The #ahatour team is worth knowing.

2. I recorded my own ahamoment entitled "Holding the Hand of God." Drop back  later this week and I'll post a link to it for you to hear - once it is available and I've viewed it to make sure I didn't say anything too embarrassing  eh.

If you are living in one of the upcoming tour stops, make a point to seek these folks out. Your life will be better.

We had fun!

The Google vs Facebook War - Gone Wild!

Apparently, according to Blogger (a Google product), Facebook isn't even a word, much less a company.

See spell check screen shot...

The Secret to Social Media Promotion

What is Social Media good for? If I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times, "Social Media is NOT about self promotion!" I get it. I get it. Companies, businesses and self made experts shouldn't promote themselves. Social media consumers don't like pushy people.

Yesterday, I discovered a secret way, quite by accident, to use Social Media to advance your own cause. It worked. It's worked many times, almost every time. Interested?




It began with an innocent enough status update posted simultaneously to Twitter and Facebook: "I'll not be defeated by momentary discomforts."  Within a moment, a couple people responded. Then quickly, a few more. The statement was liked, commented on, Re-tweeted and shared. That alone was nothing special, it's what happened next. First, some back story...

Yesterday started out bad. My dog woke me up early. I hadn't slept well and as I got up,  I felt the familiar aches and pains of my aging limbs screaming a little louder than normal. I was out of my 'good' coffee. I started thinking of the difficult things at work that awaited me... Get it? Been there?

Later, as I drove to work things got worse. I began that mental spiral into the dark side, negative thinking, one sided emotions, grumpiness. I parked at the office and before I left the car used our friends over at Foursquare to check in at work and thought, "I'm not going to whine." Then I posted the update: "I'll not be defeated by momentary discomforts."

When the responses came an interesting thing happened. I felt better, supported, understood. I know many of the people who responded. I know that on a bad day, if they could, they would have my back. My day, and in a small but important way, my life advanced. Social Media promoted me.

Just for the record - if you're ever having one of those days, let me know. I'll gladly return the favor.

About Measuring Digital Marketing

Lauren Carlson over at Marketing Automation Software Guide recently sent me a link to an  article entitled "Going Beyond Opens and Clicks – Metrics to Measure" by Lisa Cramer. The article positions itself as a vote to move from less valuable metrics of measuring marketing success to more measurable and more valuable metrics tied to actual lead and revenue generation. The posture is that it is time to wake up to the need for more measurable marketing. I agree, in premise - and have some thoughts of my own. Surprise.

Let me state my bias. I work with a digital marketing agency, so my experience and focus is almost totally on online marketing. More than perhaps any other type of marketing, digital marketing is expected to be measurable. With all those technologies and codes, surely we can track the success of digital marketing. Lisa Cramer's title appears to be about the digital world - however her advice (and graphic) skews to the larger, more traditional world of marketing. I'm more focused on the digital end of things - what happens before it turns into a lead or a sale.

It is my experience that business owners (small and large), and marketing executives are already very aware of the need to measure the success of their marketing. I have never had a business leader tell me that they wanted to spend money in order to get more clicks or opens. They always want more revenue. If anyone is guilty of skewing the graph to talk about clicks and opens to measure the results of digital marketing - it is those of us who are in the industry and those who create the tools that measure that way.

What we need to be figuring out - and what businesses need to demand - is how we can best track the results of our digital marketing efforts across all platforms. Each platform or tool has it's built in analytics to measure it's results within the isolation of that particular platform. Email marketing tools will tell you delivery, opens and clicks. Social Media campaigns will report growth in fans and followers. Search Marketing will gladly calculate the number of visits to your websites. Then, your website analytics will track what happens on every page and link. The trick, and it is a bit tricky, is to practice the art and discipline of connecting each of the platforms so a cohesive line can be draw from each marketing tactic to lead generation. It is my opinion that this ability is what truly separates the few greats from the many in our industry. If you're interested in more about this, drop by and listen to a recent webinar I led for the folks over at Vortx.

Additionally, while we digital marketers are often guilty of measuring the trees (face it - tree counting is such fun) without considering the forest, companies are sometimes guilty of demanding measurement from us while failing to put in place the kinds of system integration of which Lisa Cramer speaks. The sword does have two edges. The best solution comes when both company and marketer can implement full integration to track and measure the activity and results directly related to their marketing efforts. Ms. Cramer gives several thought provoking examples of what needs to be measured once a lead enters the funnel. I would add that we need to be sure we are tracking exactly how those leads enter the funnel and the best digital marketing folks can deliver just that information.

A final nod of thanks to Lauren Carlson for sharing the article with me - now go read it if you haven't already!

An Exacting Dinner

Because of  my involvement with the Marketing Summit 2011 tomorrow in Greensboro, NC, I had the privilege of dinning with Jeffery Rohrs of Exact Target this evening.

Based on our conversation about Subscribers, Fans and Followers, I'm excited about his key note presentation tomorrow. I hope you can attend.

You may remember that the folks at Exact Target brought us one of the most viral info-graphics around last year.

I Need More Pressure!

A couple of years ago, I took a creative writing class. One of the techniques we discussed was the idea of scheduling  time to write everyday. The idea is that just as the sculpture needs a block of raw stone from which to create, the writer needs a block of raw words from which to create and develop their craft. I've practiced this technique off and on and have seen it work. Another way to 'see' this is to think of those regular pieces of writing as drops into a pool. Before we can swim we need to fill the tank.

Lately, when I sit to write I often experience something best described as emptiness...a lack of words and ideas. Reflecting on this I wonder this: I often tweet and write status updates when I am struck by a creative thought or idea that I think is worth sharing. Once it is shared, I tend to move on to the next thought. So, I wonder, does the instant sharing of nuggets of creative writing via Social Media rob the the creative mind of the inspirational pressure of accumulated ideas? Do we keep our vessel empty?

Have you ever experienced this?

Social Media is Different

Next week, I'm leading a workshop on Digital Media at the Annual Conference for the International Association of Conference Centers.

One of the exercises I'm having the group perform is to select which words, from the image below, aptly describe Social Media versus traditional advertising. Can you pick the right words?

Headed to Las Vegas for ASPDOTNETSTOREFRONT Conference. CYA!

If you need me this week, I'll be here: The Venetian.

I have the tough job of delivering a presentation at the ASPDOTNETSTOREFRONT Annual Conference this week. Topic Title: Social Media Sells and HOW!? - Leveraging the Uniqueness of Social Media for E-Commerce.

However, I will be voting for Scott all week and you should too!

Traveling Speaking Circuit for March

I'm not sure what stars and suns have aligned, but all of a sudden I find myself looking at a March of traveling for speaking engagements.

March 7-10 : I'm delighted to be speaking at the aspdotnetstorefront Annual Conference in Las Vegas. Topic: Social Media Sells and How?!

March 22-25 : Then its fun times in Virginia with the International Association of Conference Centers' America's Annual Conference where I'm leading an original workshop on Utilizing Digital Media for Marketing Your Conference Center.

And, to top it all off, I'm leading another LinkedIn workshop here in Winston-Salem, NC at Graylyn on March 31st.

Can you say "Happy as a Clam at High Tide?"

On Having Lunch at Panera - A Poem

On Having Lunch at Panera

The din resonates

Countless voices frantically

Proclaim facades and personas

Below the cascade

Simplistic souls stand

Wall flowers alone and longing

Within, a voice asks

Shall we dance?