Conversational Media Marketing

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.

I've been selected, along with some 274 others, to participate in the sequel to the wildly successful The Age of Conversation, a book about emerging media and marketing, collectively written by more than 100 authors from around the world.

Todd Andrlik calls the sequel "the most massive authorship undertaking in history. We’re talking Guinness Book baby!" It's not often one gets to help make history. Needless to say I'm very honored to take part.

In a subsequent post, I'll explain the purpose of the sequel in further detail. For now, I want to mention that tomorrow, Saturday, March 29, is what's being called Age of Conversation Bum Rush.

The idea is to generate as many touch points around the web as possible so that it will be hard not to spot the Age of Conversation activity.

So, we need you to...

1. Buy the Book & send others to buy the book. This is the #1 call to action, because this is where we want to see the most impact. NOTE: Please buy 1 copy at a time because Amazon counts bulk orders once, and please use this affiliate link, which will help us in tracking sales. Remember, all the proceeds from the book sales and referrals will go to charity. 

2. Blog About It - Make sure you have a prominent link to the Amazon listing so that readers can easily purchase the book. (Remember to use the affiliate link above. All of these earnings will go to charity as well.)

3. Twitter Commentary - You can follow @Freshpeel, @DrewMcLellan, @servantofchaos for tweets on this tomorrow. Also, any tweets you do on the topic, please use code #AOC so that it can be picked up by Twemes.com.

4. Trackback or Comment on the post that Chris Wilson leaves on his Fresh Peel blog March 29, at 12am CST, so that everyone can follow the conversation and help promote exposure on social sites (Digg, StumbleUpon, Del.icio.us, etc.)

5. Digg the posts listed on Chris' site and send emails and shouts to friends requesting Diggs.

6. Stumble the posts listed & tell friends to do the same.

7. Bookmark your posts on Del.icio.us

8. Add your post to other social media outlets ( Technorati, Ma.gnolia, Furl, BlinkList, Newsvine, Facebook, etc.)

9. Send an email to your friends about the Bum Rush for AoC.

10. Keep talking - Get on ooVoo, iChat, Aim, or where ever you like to talk, and start talking.

I'll never forget the day I attended Dr. Ralph Wilson's seminar on Internet marketing in Atlanta a few years ago. It consisted of a well-planned, logical progression of practical information on how to use the Internet as a marketing vehicle. In all the wealth of knowledge Dr. Wilson shared that day, one thing stood out, an illustration he used of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.

Dr. Wilson said that, if you looked closely at the wall, you would notice cracks between the blocks of stone that comprised it. He referred to them as "niches." He said the pilgrims would stuff these niches with slivers of paper, which were their prayers.

Dr. Wilson went on to recommend that we do the same thing in our marketing; rather than trying to scale the entirety of the wall, we should find an unfilled (or partially filled) niche and fill it. Brilliant!

I incorporated both the principle and his illustration into the book Realty Blogging, suggesting that blogs are good niche marketing penetration tools.

Not sure I get that exactly, but I've been called much worse. Don't know about Richard, however. Or, maybe the person didn't like the book, calling it a dog. Or, maybe I'm having some fun with you (yes, I am) and this is nothing more than just a link from a splog (spam blog), which it is. (but, hey, we'll take all the links we can get don't cha know.) 

PS: I promise it's not a link Richard or I set up.  We don't need to sell books that badly.

Realty Blogging, the book written in 2006 by my former business partner Richard Nacht and I is now available in the new Kindle edition. If you happen to be one of the lucky ones to have gotten one of the devices in the short window of time before it sold out, why not purchase your copy. It's less than $10, so what do you have to lose. :-)

I'm a tech gadget wannabe. I'd love to have the latest and greatest, but, alas, my budget won't allow for it. Something about paying a mortgage and car note I'm told.

Still, that doesn't negate the fact that I'd love to have an Amazon Kindle! Unfortunately, there is a seven month waiting list, according to one eBayer.

Get this... this guy is offering a Kindle for auction that he doesn't even own!

The only thing better than getting a copy of Seth Godin's new book Meatball Sundae...

...is getting an autographed copy!

My friend and work associate Brian Bille was able to arrange this. He attended SES Chicago where he had a chance to ask for the autograph. Instead of keeping it for himself, he gave it to me. (God, please bless Brian real good!)

I'm a little late to the party, but this past Wednesday a press release was issued announcing a new group, the Blog Council.

"The Blog Council exists as a forum for executives to meet one another in a private, vendor-free environment and share tactics, offer advice based on past experience, and develop standards-based best practices as a model for other corporate blogs." 

I hate writing press releases. I'm terrible at putting words in someone else's mouth (my term for the task of creating quotes someone else supposedly said, usually the CEO) and equally as bad writing in classic press release style.

Frankly, in this age of conversational media, I don't see that they have much relevance. I mean, if I can reach consumers directly using, say, a blog, why should I have to write something expressly targeting the media? After all, journalists reference blogs as source material anyway.

Can you tell I'm not a PR guy? Tho't so.