Monday, March 31, 2008

Conversation is Like the Weather

"Everybody talks about the weather,
but nobody does anything about it."

- Mark Twain

Well, that's not entirely true - there are a committed group of marketers, writers, citizens, and passionate people who are not only talking about conversation, but they're doing something about it.

Last year, I was among one of 102 other individuals who were hand-picked by Drew McLellan & Gavin Heaton to co-author The Age of Conversation. If you haven't bought a copy of this book yet, I highly recommend that you do. Just last Saturday, through the enterprising Chris Wilson and the support of the community, the book managed to rise to #262 on the Amazon.com charts. We'll soon know how much money was raised for the book's cause: Variety, the Children's Charity.

After that successful (but stressful) venture, the pair are at it again, but this time, they've outdone themselves. Not only have they gotten a majority of the original authors to return for Volume 2, but they've recruited almost three times as many: 275 people will be putting fingers to keyboard to crank out The Age of Conversation: Why Don't People Get It? (that is, why they don't get the concept, not the book - we hope they'll get that)

Now you can imagine that with nearly 300 ~~cats to herd~~ authors to organize, asking them to write on a single topic might be a recipe for disaster. Instead, there's been a bit of self-organization that Drew & Gavin foisted upon us. We've each been asked to select one of the following sub-topics:

Manifestos
Keeping Secrets in the Age of Conversation
Moving from Conversation to Action
The Accidental Marketer
A New Brand of Creative
My Marketing Tragedy
Business Model Evolution
Life in the Conversation Lane

I'm very excited about this - there's some really great potential here, between the topics and the authors, new & old, who have signed on to the project.

What's more, I'm looking forward to developing a kinship with my co-authors, as this is a very special initiative that bonds us together. If nothing else, the Age of Conversation has the ability to get us all talking with and learning from each other.

My fellow Conversationalists:

Adam Crowe, Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob Carlton, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Bradley Spitzer, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Clay Parker Jones, Chris Brown, Colin McKay, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Cord Silverstein, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Goldstein, Dan Schawbel, Dana VanDen Heuvel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Darryl Patterson, Dave Davison, Dave Origano, David Armano, David Bausola, David Berkowitz, David Brazeal, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Emily Reed, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, G. Kofi Annan, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Graham Hill, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, J.C. Hutchins, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeremy Middleton, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, Joe Talbott, John Herrington, John Jantsch, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Flowers, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kris Hoet, Krishna De, Kristin Gorski, Laura Fitton, Laurence Helene Borei, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Barnes-Johnston, Louise Mangan, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Marcus Brown, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Mark McSpadden, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Hawkins, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Monica Wright, Nathan Gilliatt, Nathan Snell, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul Marobella, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Beeker Northam, Rob Mortimer, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Cribbett, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tiffany Kenyon, Tim Brunelle, Tim Buesing, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Longhurst, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

Labels: age of conversation, books, conversation, news

Posted by Scott Monty at 11:33 PM

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Sunday, March 30, 2008

Launching a Book via Social Media

Book launches are commonplace. At least that's the thinking of Rohit Bhargava, author of the new book Personality Not Included: Why Companies Lose Their Authenticity And How Great Brands Get it Back.

Rohit opined that the usual tactics - PR releases, Facebook groups, live events, online mob flashes - while effective, are not necessarily the best at creating a conversation, which is his ultimate aim. Over the next few weeks and months he plans to discuss on his blog why personality matters.

So, in an effort to be innovative and conversational, Rohit reached out to a number of bloggers and asked each to submit five questions about the book or personality and he would answer them, providing a customized interview. All of the interviews that he does will be linked on his site and you can vote on the best one on Monday, March 31.

So here's my exclusive interview with Rohit Bhargava:

Scott Monty: Why a book? Why now? After all, the lightning speed with which our industry is evolving would seem to preclude anything with a 8-month lead time.

Rohit Bhargava: Great question, especially coming from a fellow blogger. Two reasons. First, because I felt that I had a big idea with the concept of the book and writing a book is still the best way to get an idea like that out there. I also believe that the concepts in the book will have a shelf life of longer than 8 months because I don't focus on one particular microtrend or technology that is likely to get outdated. The premise of the book is a strategic idea, instead of a tactical one, and that tends to have a longer relevance.
The second reason is that when it comes to building a career, there is no credential quite like being an author. I would never do an MBA as I don't feel its worth the time away from work or the expense. Writing a book essentially gives you an even more powerful credential ... and even better you don't have to pay someone else $50,000 for that privilege.

SM: What would you say to someone who requested, "Teach me to be authentic." (That's not a joke. Someone asked me that once.)

RB: It's not that difficult. Mean what you say and say what you mean. At the very basic level, that's all that authenticity is about.

SM: Who designed the dust jacket, and why is the one on your blog & Facebook group different from the one on Amazon? Which is the "real" version?

RB: Good question, the difference is actually due to the lag time between Amazon putting the new cover on the product page and us sending it. Apparently, they don't update that often. The one on my blog and the Facebook group is definitely the real version. I worked directly with the designers at McGraw-Hill (my publisher) to design it. We worked on concepting together, and then they designed and executed it.

SM: When you think about yourself, what do you consider yourself first: author? speaker? marketer? guru? blogger? something else? Why?

RB: Great question - that one makes me think for a while as they all apply. Let me go with one not on your list ... father. I've got two little boys (age 3 and 4 months) and I'd love to say that the first way I define myself will be as their father. Second to that, when it comes to business ... before the book I would always have said marketer. Now that I'm published, I might have to go with author (especially since I shared that was one of the reasons for writing the book in the first place!)

SM: American Idol: which are you - Simon, Randy or Paula?

RB: Definitely Simon, because he's authentic. Authenticity to me means not blowing smoke up people's behinds when you think they are stupid. I don't give false compliments to people, so when I offer a compliment, praise or feedback - I always mean it. Otherwise I usually don't say anything.

If you're intrigued by what you've read here and by what you see on Rohit's site, get on over to Amazon and order a copy of his book. I've been reading Rohit's blog since I started mine, and he's definitely got a personality that you should get to know more.

Labels: books, conversation, innovation, Rohit Bhargava

Posted by Scott Monty at 9:11 PM

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Saturday, March 22, 2008

Typing Personalities: How Do You Stack Up?

Sometimes I have a tendency to be competitive. Not in a malicious, destructive way. But I like to know how I'm doing with respect to the competition. But most of the time, I'm curious. I'm genuinely interested in what other people think, what makes them tick, and what they're up to. I like to ask questions and get facts, opinions and answers.

In this case, it's a bit of a combination of the two.

I remember being in high school and taking a typing class - from the very same old-school, hair-in-a-bun teacher that my father had a generation before. We learned all of the basics on the old IBM Selectric and I remember driving Mrs. Christian crazy by rrrrriping the paper out of the feed roller. But most of all, I remember her drilling into us how to learn to type with 10 fingers, without looking at the keys.

But these days, I wonder how the digital natives are learning proper keyboard technique. The Blackberry crowd is all about using their opposable thumbs, and the untrained typically use the hunt and peck method. How well will the next generation fare without training?

So my competitive nature challenges you to take the Speedtest to see how fast you can type and let me know.

85 words

Speed test

But the curious side of me wonders: how did you learn to type? And more importantly, how do you see the next generation faring - not only in the absence of typing training, but in other once-necessary skills that may still be relevant today?

Oh, and by the way: I must drink too much coffee.

Thanks to Gavin Heaton for suggesting this site.

Labels: conversation, Gavin Heaton, trends

Posted by Scott Monty at 6:54 AM

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Monday, February 25, 2008

Social Media for B2B Marketing: Don't Monkey Around

As a former classical studies major, I’m fascinated with etymology, the study of linguistics. The word that is the focus of so many marketing books – conversation – has its origins in the Latin word conversari, which means "to dwell, to keep company with." And this is entirely appropriate in the name of social media marketing, since having conversations requires spending time with people – namely, customers.

Too often in B2B marketing, we see the definition of the more personal "customer" devolve into the distant and cold "decision maker." Decision makers are relegated to the sales cycle, engaged in research and in need of information and education. The prevalent attitude seems to be that marketers develop the message and decide which information to share with decision makers. This is command and control, with unidirectional messaging at its core.

Is it any wonder then why B2B companies are slow to adopt social media as a marketing channel?

It's not that B2B customers are steering clear of social media. On the contrary, they use blogs, message boards, podcasts and online communities in their research for business solutions as well as in their personal lives. But B2B marketers don’t seem to be aware of – or worse – care about conversations that are taking place within the social media space about their brands.

Brands are being discussed, both positively and negatively; now marketers can follow the conversations and join in. Ignoring it won’t make the problem dissipate; indeed, businesses that continue to put off the decision to join the conversations will find themselves at a disadvantage.

But – to return to our etymology lesson – marketers need to spend time with their prospects and begin to embrace bidirectional conversation. A simple way to start is to listen. Keep listening. And listen some more. Take the time to explore the sites. Look around. Follow the conversations with RSS feeds.

Above all, resist the temptation to jump in until you understand the context. Businesses that attempt to harness the power of social networks or new media sites without realizing the generally accepted etiquette will find themselves unwelcome. It is only by listening and learning that B2B marketers will be able to start talking with their customers.

Note: this post originally appeared as a chapter in The Age of Conversation.

Labels: age of conversation, b2b, conversation, customer relations, Join the Conversation, Marketing, social media

Posted by Scott Monty at 9:50 PM

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Friday, January 25, 2008

Keep the Tip(ping Point)

It's funny. Just yesterday, I got notified by two separate people - one of whom is my colleague Greg Verdino - about an article that criticizes the theory behind Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point. One directed me to the Wall Street Journal's The Informed Reader post called "The Cast Against Marketing to 'Influencers'" while the other referred to the recent Fast Company article Is The Tipping Point Toast?

Gladwell's theory (echoed by Ed Kelly and Jon Berry in The Influentials) held that trends are influenced by a select few; word of mouth marketing efforts typically focus on those. But the articles mention that social networks are too complex to function like that, and that the influencer theory is kaput.

The reason it caught my attention is because both articles cite the research of Columbia University research scientist Duncan Watts. This is the same research I actually wrote about 8 months ago, in post called The Accidental Influentials. The concept was that ideas or trends can spread like a forest fire, and that it doesn't matter who applies the match - it's the conditions of the forest that make a difference.

There are two points I'll raise in connection with this.

In Social Media, Timing Is Everything
The first thing that struck me is that I hit upon this back in May of 2007. But the mainstream media is only getting to it now. Why? The topic is clearly in a field I'm interested in, so that might be one factor as to why I covered it early. The other is that I had initially heard about the study on a podcast. Given that new media is still struggling for recognition as a legitimate and viable channel, I'm not surprised it didn't make headlines then.

Watts is Wrong
As someone who works in the field of conversational/word-of-mouth/social media marketing, it should come as no surprise that I think Watts isn't quite correct when he claims that influentials aren't necessarily influential. I think that his research was flawed in that it only focused on email and a virtual setting, whereas now we have a variety of communications methodologies that account for the rapid spread of ideas: IM, video chat, and social networks of all kinds, to name a few. I won't go so far as to say he's 100% wrong - but then again, I don't think that Gladwell was 100% right either.

At crayon, we consult and advise on a variety of conversational marketing strategies that incorporate an element of influencer outreach (or "blogger outreach," as many call it). With the proper amount of time and attention dedicated to research, and using tools like Technorati and Alexa, it's fairly easy to determine who the major influencers are in any given segment. Where it gets difficult is figuring out how to interact with them. You need to know how each one communicates, in which social networks they participate, and on and on.

My Alternate Theory - The Boy Scout Analogy
I propose that a hybrid theory - Watts' and Gladwell's theories combined - makes more sense. We can agree that there will always be influencers, whether you call them A-listers, celebrities, or whatever. People will always look to these leaders and high profile individuals for cues.

At the same time, I think Watts is onto something when he uses the forest fire analogy. Yes, the conditions have to be right for an idea to spread. But he claims "any old match will do" to get it started. I don't think so. Someone might have wet matches or might not know how to strike one properly. It's the combination of finding the right conditions (social networks, communities, etc.) and applying the match (friends, members, followers, commenters, in those socnets & communities).

Once you've got the proper combination of communities and influencers and you understand the intricacies and nuances of how they work together, then you'll have the recipe for success.

As part of their training, the Boy Scouts have to learn how to make fires how to adhere to fire safety. Their official motto is "be prepared." I think the same should be said for marketers consider conversational marketing.

Labels: conversation, crayon, social media, strategy, study, trends, WOM

Posted by Scott Monty at 8:32 AM

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Wednesday, October 17, 2007

When a Community Unites, Great Things Are Possible

My friend and colleague Joseph Jaffe is getting ready to burn up the charts. His second book, Join the Conversation: How to Engage Marketing-Wearing Consumers Through the Power of Community, Dialogue and Partnership, is now available.

But keeping in the spirit of the book, Joe is using new marketing to prove new marketing. This Sunday, October 21, he is going to bum rush the charts at Amazon. "Do what to the what?" I hear you asking. He's asking that everyone wait until Sunday to buy the book and then hit that purchase button at once, helping to drive his book up the Amazon rankings.

This only works when you purchase one book at a time, so if you're at all inclined to buy multiple copies, please be aware that if you buy 5 books together, it only counts as a single purchase for the rankings. Tip: if you do want more than one copy, bundle each one with another book you plan on purchasing, in order to get Amazon's free shipping.

So, please join me in purchasing the book (no, I don't get an employee discount) on Sunday and showing Amazon what the power of community can mean.
.

Labels: Bum Rush, conversation, crayon, Join the Conversation, Joseph Jaffe

Posted by Scott Monty at 10:58 AM

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Sunday, September 09, 2007

They Almost Had Me

I don't know what it is, but I find that I always begin to succumb to blogger outreach efforts. Maybe it's because I like the attention.

But when it goes wrong - and it doesn't take much - I get turned off pretty quickly. About a month or so ago, my colleague ~~Scott~~ Greg Verdino wrote about his experience with a less than buttoned-up blogger outreach effort.

Well, I recently received an invitation to check out Flektor, a site that allows you to host all of your photos, video, music and text and to essentially create multimedia scrapbooks to share with friends. An interesting site, one that I might be tempted to review. What made it even more attractive is that the pitch was actually one of the smoothest ones I've received. Here are some things they did well:

They were specific - they named the blog that linked to my site (and it happened to be one that I know and respect)
Did their homework - they noted that I write about social media and innovation
Clear goals & objectives - they were very upfront about being in the midst of a social media campaign and wanting to connect with influential bloggers
They were empathetic - they noted that unsolicited emails can be a turn-off, so this would be the only one I received
Offered a two-way dialog - more than just a one-way pitch, they wrote they'd be open to comments, feedback, interviews and specifically stated their methods were "purely one-on-one interaction with people who like" the service
A decidedly human approach - they requested that I let them know if I decide to write something about the service, noting "we monitor, but nobody's perfect"

Sounds like a lock, right? Well, I got to the end of the email and it said:

I look forward to hearing from you!
Many Thanks, David!

'Doh! Looks like I won't be participating. Maybe they'll have better luck with David.

In this day and age - especially with form letters (which it turns out this was), such an error is inexcusable. The technology should be able to merge databases with forms. And if it's a personalized approach, then it shouldn't be happening. With a little effort and attention to detail, these errors can be eradicated, saving clients a lot of money in wasted outreach efforts. And maybe it even makes sense to put together something like Ogilvy PR's Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics.

Bottom line, this is more than PR 101 - it's common courtesy in any social environment: pay attention to people you're talking to, make them feel like they're important to you, and for God's sake, get their names right.

Has this happened to you?

Labels: blogs, conversation, ethics, Greg Verdino, outreach, PR

Posted by Scott Monty at 12:06 AM

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Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Where Does the Time Go?

Happy Birthday, Social Media Blog! I can't believe it's been a year - almost to the minute, as I look at the clock - since I started this little project. And to think that I had the foresight (?) to choose the bland but very distinctive title "The Social Media Marketing Blog."

A lot has happened in a year - a new job, being asked to co-author a book, being ranked one of the top 150 marketing blogs - in some ways it feels like I just started last month, but in other ways, so much has changed that I feel like it's been much longer than a year.

What's kept me going when the times were rough was the knowledge that I've had the support of fellow writers and marketers out there. Your comments and email have been an inspiration and I thank you for participating in the conversation here.

My only hope is that I can continue to create and discover content that resonates with you. If I'm failing you in that regard, please tell me. If I'm succeeding at it, I wouldn't mind hearing from you, either.

Labels: AdAge, age of conversation, blogs, conversation, crayon, news, social media

Posted by Scott Monty at 12:17 AM

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Friday, August 17, 2007

There's a Write Way and a Wrong Way

I was reading an e-newsletter (well, it's actually an emailed blog entry) today from Mobile Insider called My iPhone Needs a Gun, when I noticed something.

I actually read the entry in its entirety.

It may not seem like a big deal to you, but I consume a lot of information every day, which means I do a lot of scanning - headlines, first sentences of paragraphs. And if the copy or subject matter doesn't grab me, I'm outta there.

But this article was different. Why?

Put very simply: it was written the way I like to listen. That's not a typo. I mean that if someone was reading the article to me - or telling it to me as a story - I'd want to listen. And it made me keep reading.

Now I'm not an iPhone user, nor do I really care about what apps are working or not working for it - which was the point of the article. What had me entertained and focused was that this guy was talking as if we were joking in the hallway or sharing a beer after work. He used attitude infused with humor as a way to tell a compelling story about some iPhone features (or those he'd like to see). An excerpt:

I also get to spend time with the iPhone now at the beach, because lo and behold my 15-year-old daughter has evolved into the nightmare of every father — the cutest thing on the sand. The first time she walked into the water I actually saw teen boys point and move towards her like shards of metal towards a magnet, like puppies towards food, like detestable vermin towards a 5-star kitchen.

And another:

Luckily, the iPhone has a good camera and loads of memory, so I was able to take snaps of all these little felons just in case we need to run them with the FBI. I dug into the Safari browser in search of online sign-ups for the NRA. No one delivers firearms same day to the north beach of Cape May, I discovered.

And finally:

My daughter...was more interested in SeeqPod Music (seeqpod.com/iphone), which is a very nice index and front end for the thousands of MP3 tracks that are accessible for streaming directly from the Web. I am not sure about the legality of the rights management here, but the app uses the familiar iPod interface to slip through catalogs of artists and search for tunes that stream well into the Quicktime player. There are no ads here yet, but clearly there could be, and with people declaring their musical tastes so precisely, there should be some very targeted ad possibilities. "Ooh, look, they have Slipknot's 'Do Nothing Bitchslap,'" my sweet young girl said.
You know, when the mail-order gun arrives here at the beach, just shoot me with it.

Not the kind of writing you get from your friendly neighborhood traditional journalist, and certainly not the style you'd get from the typical marketing department. But informative and useful nonetheless. Which is a powerful reminder as to why blogs are becoming more and more legitimate and important in the media mix.

When you're preparing the copy for your blog, corporate website, brochure or direct mail piece, what style do you typically effect? Having worked in the b2b space previously, I can tell you there's a lot of dry, dull and seemingly overused copy out there. Corporate standards must be upheld, you know.

But what if you took that website or brochure and really made it sing? What if you wrote it the way people would listen to it? What if - just for a moment - you did something that was completely unexpected and out of the ordinary?

It might be slightly "off-brand," but you know what? The people that work for your company aren't all "on-brand," are they? What makes Corporate Communications think every microsite, every tri-fold, every newsletter has to be devoid of personality and as antiseptic and emotionless as a Stepford wife? Aren't rules made to be broken once in a while?

I'm sure no one is monitoring how your sales team interacts with customers in one-on-ones. They get to use their personality to persuade, inform and relate. Why shouldn't you?

Think about it. Don't make Steve Smith get the gun for his iPhone.

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Labels: blogs, brand, conversation, corporate blogging, iPhone, Marketing, rules

Posted by Scott Monty at 11:16 PM

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Friday, August 03, 2007

Want a Free Marketing Secret? Listen Up!

One of the key tenets behind my contribution to the Age of Conversation book is that in order to make a start in social media, marketers must first start by listening. Like so much of marketing, it's not rocket science, it's common sense.

Everyone probably has an older relative who at one time told them something like: "You were born with one mouth and two ears; use them in that proportion." Well, the same applies to marketing. Just think about how you can create brand loyalists by listening to your customers - and demonstrating to them that you heard what they had to say.

When I began reading my co-authors' contributions I began to see the word "listen" crop up a number of times. Since this is the more passive portion of conversing, I wasn't expecting much. Out of sheer curiosity, I took my e-book version (you can buy it as an e-book, paperback or hardcover) and did a quick search for the number of times "listen" was used.

Imagine my pleasant surprise when I found that this book about conversation by 103 authors contains 90 instances of the word.

But really, I shouldn't be surprised. These are 102 other people who get it. Now let's see if we can get the rest of the world to listen in with us.

Labels: age of conversation, books, conversation, customer relations, Marketing

Posted by Scott Monty at 11:27 AM

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Thursday, July 19, 2007

Crazy Eights

There must be something in the air. It seems to be meme season again already. The last one I forced upon my unsuspecting digital friends turned out to be moderately useful, in terms of getting to know our own content a little better.

The latest craze is instructive as well, but in the shadow of the great Age of Conversation, this meme is designed to build or deepen relationships we have with each other as we reveal 8 Random Things About Me. I was tagged by Ryan Barrett.

I'm struggling to come up with really good ones, because I feel like I've shared some already in various contexts online. Well, on the off chance that people haven't been paying attention, I'll repeat myself.

In graduate school, I won a student book collecting contest sponsored by the Friends of the Libraries at Boston University. I subsequently joined the group and attended many cocktail receptions, lectures and dinners where I had the opportunity to speak with celebrities at length, including Angela Lansbury, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, Claire Bloom, Prince Albert II of Monaco, Roddy McDowall, Saul Bellow, Anna Russell, Michael Chiklis, Dan Rather... At the event with Prince Edward, Lauren Bacall approached me and my wife, saying she wanted to hang with "the younger people."
I was trained classically on the accordion. Yes, I can play polkas, but I choose not to. I competed at the state and national level and took home many prizes over the years. I stopped lessons after high school - there's only so much ridicule a guy can take.
My range of vocal impressions is fairly exhaustive; I'd be doing voice-overs on the side if anyone took me up on it (see the right column under "About Me").
I am a clothes horse - I own over 300 neckties and 50 bow ties. In order to make it through the "rotation," at my last job, each week I celebrated "Bow Tie Monday."
You know Booger from Revenge of the Nerds? His real name is Curtis Armstrong and he and I are friends. If he were here he'd want me to point out that he was also in Ray, Akeelah and the Bee, Moonlighting, Better Off Dead and Risky Business, he's a P.G. Wodehouse and Washington Irving scholar, and he never gets tired of being called "Booger."
Growing up in rural Connecticut, before I was of legal age to work in typical high school jobs (supermarket, fast food joints, etc.), I spent two summers working on tobacco farms that produced cigar tobacco. The first summer was broad-leaf (the wrapper) and the second summer was shade (the filler). My parents thought it built "character." I think it made me realize I never wanted to do manual labor.
I was a Resident Assistant on duty the night Warren Towers had to be evacuated due to toxic fumes venting up from the sealcoating of the parking garage beneath. Over 1,500 students were displaced over October 11-13, 1991, as genius contractors thought the building would be at low capacity for Columbus Day weekend, and decided to use the toluene-based chemicals.
I am an investitured member of the Baker Street Irregulars, a literary society whose members have included Rex Stout, Christopher Morley and Isaac Asimov, and I serve as business manager of the Baker Street Journal.

I showed you mine...now you show me yours. Eight people I'd like to know more about:
Paull Young
LaSandra Brill
Mike Sansone
Todd Andrlik
Lewis Green
Tom Clifford
Ed Cotton
Mark Goren

Consider yourself tagged!

Labels: age of conversation, conversation, Friday Fun, meme

Posted by Scott Monty at 12:08 AM

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Monday, July 16, 2007

This One's a Lulu

Today is the big day! The Age of Conversation has officially launched and you order your copy online. You can select from hardcover, paperback or eBook - or any combination of the three.

Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton are to be commended. This is a project they initiated and shepherded through, toiling long hours beyond their day jobs.. I've perused the book, which I just purchased (authors did not receive free copies) and here's why I think you should consider buying at least one copy for yourself, a friend or a colleague:

Content
Great content is what it's all about these days. It's not about 15 minutes of fame any longer; it's about the amount of quality content you can deliver. Well, this book delivers on quality and quantity.

Over 100 authors and a singular topic: conversational marketing. In one location, you've got some heavy-hitters of the blogging world. Some people I 've been following for a long time are included: David Armano, Mack Collier, Mark Goren, Ann Handley, Karl Long, and my fellow crayonista Greg Verdino, to name a few. And there are a rash of new names who have some really great things to say about conversational marketing.

If you're still in doubt (you shouldn't be), you can take a look at the authors' qualifications for yourself. Arun Rajagopal has assembled a brief but comprehensive set of bios.

The Cause
From the very beginning of the project, Drew and Gavin were determined to make this a non-profit effort that would support a particular cause. All proceeds from the book will be given to Variety, the Children's Charity.

Variety was founded after a little girl was left at a theater in Pittsburgh on Christmas Eve of 1928, with the following note pinned to her:

"Please take care of my baby. Her name is Catherine. I can no longer take care of her. I have eight others. My husband is out of work. She was born on Thanksgiving Day. I have always heard of the goodness of show business people and pray to God that you will look out for her.” (signed) ‘A Heartbroken Mother’

Eleven people in the theater industry banded together to underwrite the child's support and education and the goodwill spawned an outpouring from the entire city. With more toys and clothing than Chatherine needed, other ophans benefitted from her situation. From this, the Variety organization was formed, so that now their mission statement reads:
Variety the Children's Charity is dedicated to improving the lives of children around the world.

Here's the breakdown of pricing / charitable contribution:
e-book: $9.99 ($7.99 going to charity)
paperback book: $16.95 ($8.10 to charity)
hardback book: $29.99 ($8.55 to charity)

Between great content and a great cause, what more do you need? Get your copy now!

Labels: age of conversation, books, conversation, New Media, news, social media

Posted by Scott Monty at 10:14 AM

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Saturday, July 14, 2007

This Could Be the Start of Something Big

We're closing in on the launch of The Age of Conversation. This amazing project, the brainchild of Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton (or Drewvin, as I like to call them), is a result of over 100 marketing authors banding together for a great cause.

The book will be available on Monday, July 16 in three formats:
Hardback $29.99
Paperback $16.95
E-book $9.99

And in addition to the power of 100 bloggers, the book has begun to receive mention in some of the trade publications: Advertising Age and Social Computing Magazine have both done pieces on the project. Add to that an Age of Conversation Contributors + Friends group on Facebook, and we're off and running!

The Age of Conversation - Teaser from mindblob and Vimeo

Labels: age of conversation, blogs, books, conversation, Drew McLellan, Gavin Heaton, New Media, social media