Conversations Around Twitter

Wow, I think I've been abusing my subscribers on here lately by not posting anything new or of value. Well, that's about to change. I'm working through a sinus infection right now, on Day 5, hopefully it will be over soon. I wanted to post a few interesting tweets I noticed today that are very relevant to this blog's purpose and audience. If you care about conversational marketing then you'll enjoy these and I'd love to get your feedback on what you think or some other great quotes about this topic.

"Communities don't build themselves nor do they get built. There are always catalysts and champions, but no directors." MissRogue

"I hope Flickr never adds video, sometimes communities are just fine having only one cool object" Blueace

"I'm not into Second Life, but I hope people who live their online personnas in forums and communities will discover SL and move there." Randulo

"SmugMug's employees are simply nicer to people. So are Zooomr's. Which is why both have fanatical communities." Scobleizer

"Communities work like clubs and are closed to many outsiders" - I guess this is why they work at all" NewConversation

"Publics are the communities themselves, I like that idea. especially because it brings it back to value systems" Brunoamaral

These are posts from Twitter.com that I found via MissRogue's tweet and searched in Buzztter.com. These are the very expectations that we have as users and that companies need to be aware of when engaging us with their push marketing tactics. What all of these conversations reveal is that communities that are value-based and have a simple set of features will continue to grow with the help of super-connectors, passionate members who feel the need to spread the community to their own network. You can't control a community, forecast its growth, tell members to spread the word; it just happens. You just better be ready for it.

Is Being Green Just A Phase?

It's late, but I wanted to post this before I headed to bed to get some people's feedback on the whole green movement that has been happening over the past couple of years with The Inconvenient Truth, Grist, WorldChanging, Vanity Fair, Wired; the list goes on. I had the opportunity to be right in the mix of it all with the launch of BeGreenNow.com. It was a great project and we geared up for a big push, but the idea of carbon credit offsetting wasn't too appealing for mass market adoption. I just revisited the website today and it seems to have abandoned its entire social networking section, its Myspace page and even its blog (blog.begreennow.com) which was the best part as it was updated with Eco-tipcs, eco-living articles, seasonal trends and a wealth of information suited for any beginner tip-toeing into the world of green. The abandonment of some of the core online marketing pieces baffles me. This is a great lesson for any company that is leveraging multiple touchpoints via the online channel that you can't just give up on initiatives and leave your brand wide open for scrutiny, leave your Myspace page filled with empty images and a blog with great content just redirected to your site that is pretty much just an online store now.

Top Model: Missing the Offline to Online Conversation Continuum

So I must confess that I'm an avid fan of the DVR box as it allows my wife and I the ability to watch the shows we oh-so-love, well most of the shows she loves and they kind of grow on you. We're watching America's Next Top Model on the CW and I'm wondering what they are doing to leverage the online channel during season to bring that watcher/viewer relationship to another level. So I do a search for "top model" and what do you know, they are number 1 in Google organic search results. So then I click through to their microsite, which ends up being just a directory within the overall site architecture. Strategic move? Could be, why not create a more engaging environment with its own URL? You can brand the heck out of it with the CW brand. Sure it creates more content under the CW domain and it increases links pointing into the CW domain thereby increasing link popularity, yadda yadda. Okay so maybe they did it the right way, but I was looking for something that was as innovative as the show's title tries to be by bringing America the next top model.

The "directory" provides users with many options like photos, videos, a forum, a lounge to chat with each other, blogs for users and even shows featured members based on the most profile views. Something any typical community-based website does these days. Then if you do a little more research you find out that in the Pre-Launch marketing, America's Next Top Model lets you personalize a message from Tyra Banks to one of your friends. It's kind of like a Mad Libs for voicemail. The campaign leverages the Varitalk technology. I've seen this done before with 50 Cent and Sprite. But, I had to create one and send it to the wife! We'll see what she says.

So what could they have done better?
So here's some free advice to the CW crew ... It's great that you are creating a community around the show online. Truly a good use of the standard social media tools like forums, commenting, profiles, messaging, blogs, videos, etc. Yet, the community is lacking the authenticity of the viewer's relationship with the show itself and the models that they feel they most identify with. That's the key. Each girl/guy watching may in some way identify with the struggles/successes/failures that each of the models are dealing with on a daily basis as portrayed by the show. So why not leverage that "authentic connection" and continue it past the 60 minute episodes and into your online community. Why wouldn't each of the models have their own space to blog on? They all seem to be sitting there enough, laying around, drinking, smoking, drawing, reading; give them a place to connect with their true fans. Each of the models is creating their initial fan base through each episode, but it stops there and it's only once a week. The CW is missing an opportunity and whether they know it or not, it could provide a better integrated online/offline experience for their viewers. Come on CW, work it!

Discussion on Social Networking for Businesses

This was a discussion that I gave at an iMarketers seminar.


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