Conversational Media Marketing

We're officially announcing the relaunch of the International Blogging and New Media Association today. This has been long in coming and I'm elated to see the day finally arrive.

Check out the press release and the blog post. If you feel so inclined, please help us spread the message.

One more thing...

I know there may be talk about how the executive board is comprised only of men, and middle-aged white men at that. And I understand. I can promise you the Advisory Council, which we will announce next week, is far from that. It's a diverse group in many respects as you will see.

Again, help us spread the word, the IBNMA is back Jack!

I finished reading Groundswell last night, the book co-authored by Forrester analyst Josh Bernoff and former analyst Charlene Li. I have to say it's one of the most important books on the subject of social media that I've read this year.

Research - The opinions shared, suggestions made and advice given are based on solid research. What else would you expect from Forrester, right? Everything is well-documented and appended.

Case studies - Charlene and Josh support the research with real world examples showing how organizations both in the for-profit and non-profit sectors are using the tools of social media to accomplish marketing and business communication purposes. They showcase larger organizations like Dell, Best Buy and M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, but do include a few references to small business.

Writing - The book is very well-written. Again, you'd expect no less from Forrester analysts.

Back in the day (circa 2004-2005), most of my blog traffic came from one of two sources: a) blogrolls and b) other blogger's posts. Nowadays, a lot of it comes from Twitter, Plurk, Friendfeed, Facebook and, yes, Google (thankfully).

What does that indicate?

1. The conversation is much more distributed than it used to be. Mack Collier thinks so too.
2. Blogrolls are less important that they used to be.

As to why I'm not seeing traffic from other's blog could mean that:

1. The value of my content is less than it used to be.
2. There are more of us talking now so less attention is paid to any one blogger. The competition for attention is higher to be sure.
3. I'm not spending enough time commenting on or referencing other's blog posts myself.

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.

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.

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.

When it comes to the use of social media tools like blogs, social networks and even Twitter for marketing purposes, Realtors get it. Well, at least some do. Let's put it this way -- those who get it really get it!

I'm starting a series of posts containing interviews done with some of real estate's cream of the crop. The first is with my dear friend and protege, Ines Hegedus-Garcia.

Ines and I have a special relationship. I was her coach for Project Blogger, a contest sponsored by Active Rain where veteran bloggers were paired with newbies.

While we didn't win, the contest provided us ample opportunity to learn from each other about how to use blogs for marketing purposes. I have to say I learned as much from Ines as she did from me.

Here's the interview...

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to participate in an interview with Natalie Myers, a reporter with MarketingSherpa, one of the leading marketing resource information sites on the planet, to discuss the topic of real estate blogging.

Fielding Natalie's questions reignited a desire to once again get involved with the real estate industry, even if it's nothing more than blogging about RE.net here at CMM. This week I plan to share some insights from several Realtors on how the use of blogs and other forms of social media has worked to serve the purposes of SEO and lead generation.

I also want to share some pertinent insights of my own, not only to Realtors, but anyone who's thinking about using a blog for marketing. Anyway, look for a series of posts later this week.

The more I understand marketing, the more I see the need for an integrated approach which spans a wide range of tactics. I've commented on the use of , but that's only one way. The kind of integration I'm referring to is something like that provided by companies like Eloqua. Truly sophisticated stuff.

Today, B2B magazine posted two articles with almost the same title, which is what got me to thinking about this:

• Businesses embrace blogging
• Businesses embrace integrated marketing

If I had my druthers I'd focus only on the blogging/new media side of marketing, for that's the new fangled stuff. But, more traditional, tried-and-true approaches like email, Webinars, whitepapers and microsites, while less sexy, are necessary to get the job done.

In my case, getting the job done means generating leads for our salesforce. And it's best done when the right hand knows what the left is doing (i.e. Information from all sources is integrated via a single database.).

So, while blogs, social networking, podcasting and video are all tactics we're putting to use at Bizzuka, I'm disciplining myself to make use of the other stuff too...then blog about how successful I am at doing so. :-)

This post is not about blogging so much as it is about the craft of writing and, even more, about three people who express themselves better than just about anyone I've ever read using their blogs as the method of delivery.

They are, in no particular order, Jane Genova, Ann Handley and Michael Hyatt.