Conversational Media Marketing

Move over webinars and workshops...Twebinars and Plurkshops* are the new, fun ways to facilitate familiar business interactions.

Webinars and workshops are common business meeting practices. What if you could take these very familiar forms of interaction and combine them with the coolest, quirkiest, geekiest apps available today, and Plurk?

It's already being done. People are finding ingenious new ways to use these apps to congregate around topics of shared interest and have meaningful, even in-depth discussions in 140 characters or less!

(*I just reserved the domain name so you'll see a parked page.)

• ICANN HAZ DOT CAT? Get Ready For Another Domain Gold Rush!
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• Social Media and Public Relations Consulting – PR Squared
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• Andy Sernovitz's Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That!: Word of Mouth/Social Media Job Descriptions
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• Logic+Emotion: Social Networking Will Become Business As Usual
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• /Message
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• PR 2.0: Intel Insiders to Advise Intel on Social Media Strategies
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• The Challenge of the Social Media Executive Recruiter
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• Use Social Media for Consideration in B2B Marketing | Marketing Profs Daily Fix Blog
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• Marketonomy: We Don't Do Marketing With Social Media? ???
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My social media journey started with blogs, then LinkedIn, MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, a few other social networks, social sharing and bookmarking sites thrown in, then Twitter and, now, Plurk! Sound familiar? My, how the wheels of social media evolution do turn.

It's hard to keep up, isn't it? After all, who has time? Once you get locked in to a particular social networking site or application, why move on to the next newest and shiniest one that comes along?

Something my boss said recently in regard to a weekly Internet radio show we started for Bizzuka got me thinking. "What you're doing (in terms of the show) will not just help us create greater awareness among prospects, but among those considering coming to work for us," he said.

It caused me to realize that marketing, especially social media marketing, is not just about building a prospect list. Sometimes, whether intentional or not, it's also about attracting quality talent and/or wealthy investors.

• Referential Messages: How to Create High-Impact Information that Others Will Want to Share
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• The Most Powerful Persuasive Element of Blogging | Copyblogger
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• The Pendulum Swing? » The Buzz Bin
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• Broadcasting with 'Social' Media | Marketing Profs Daily Fix Blog
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Andy Kaufman and I go way back. We even worked for the same company at one time. Of all the Realtors I know, Andy is one who really gets social media marketing and at a granular level. Here are his responses to some interview questions I shot his way.

What is your opinion on Realtors and blogging? Is it a useful tool
to generate leads? Why?

It's tough, but if you can pull it off, it's a great tool to generate business. In addition to the obvious SEO benefits, it provides an amazing opportunity to build your brand in order to stand out from the crowd.

It's official...the IBNMA has relaunched and I am its president.

Several months ago I was approached by Rick Calvert and Jim Turner who asked me to consider becoming president of the International Blogging and New Media Association. After taking time to "count the cost" and after consulting with several trusted friends, I accepted the position.

But, there's more to this than meets the eye and I'd like to share the story if you're of a mind to read it.

• Terry Heaton’s PoMo Blog » Blog Archive » The changing relationship between blogs and the press
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• Business School for Bloggers | chrisbrogan.com
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• PR 2.0: The Art of Conversation - Thoughts and Observations
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You have to admit, we social media marketing and business bloggers have it pretty easy. I mean, we could be embroiled in the same type of controversy that media and political bloggers find themselves engaged in right now.

You are aware of the current debacle between the Associated Press and their legal action against bloggers, aren't you? If not, you should be, because it's cause for concern which could have implications across the entirety of the blogosphere.

Less than one-quarter of US Internet users ages 40 and over use social networking Web sites, so says a JWT BOOM/ThirdAge study conducted last month called "Boomers, Healthcare and Interactive Media."

This, at the same time a study by Interpublic's Universal McCann unit indicated "text messaging, blogging and social networking have reached critical mass with more than half of adults now relying on at least one of these Web 2.0 platforms for communicating with friends, family, or colleagues on a regular basis."

Why the disparity? Oldsters indicate privacy issues, lack of time and just not seeing the point as contributing factors.