Five Must-Read Posts from Last Week

5 Must-Read Posts

Last week’s Facebook developer conference unveiled a series of upcoming changes to the Facebook platform. But the social web is not just about Facebook – there’s lots more out there and I suspect, there always will be. This week’s five must-read posts largely skirt around the Facebook avalanche which you can read elsewhere – except for #1. Enjoy!

  1. Interesting angle on the Facebook announcements from Noah Horton, CTO and Co-Founder of social media publishing platform, Involver. In this post he looks at The Semantic Social Web and ponders the question of value.
  2. Starting a new blog can be daunting – and Michael Brenner explains why with his post Content Strategy Visualized. But, as he explains, content can help you drive an inbound marketing approach – so long as you understand the connections between blogs, marketing, PR and social media. Good luck!
  3. Great post from Amber Naslund on the personal challenge of social media. It’s not just about creating and sharing knowledge and content – it goes deeper. It’s about being a wayfinder. And I couldn’t agree more.
  4. Short but sweet, John Haydon shares How to Get Heard.
  5. Julian Cole explains just how easy it is for digital strategists to learn Photoshop in 8 hours (note, I didn’t say “master”). Great stuff. After all, a bit of coding and some graphic design will take you a long, long way – and most don’t even know the basics. Get to it!

Five Must-Read Posts from Last Week

5 Must-Read Posts

Last week was a busy week for me – with travel, conferences and back-to-back meetings for what felt like a whole week. And while it was exhilarating and energising, it also left precious little time for much else.

These posts popped out of my RSS feeds as I was travelling between destinations. Be prepared, there is some great and challenging thinking ahead of you.

  1. What does the future of work look like? Will we continue to walk the work-life balance tightrope, or will global trends force us to change our thinking, disrupt our career plans and transform our futures? Bryce Roberts takes a 1000ft view of the job market and ponders the idea of continuous partial employment.
  2. Speaking of the future – or at least the near future, this week Facebook is likely to make a whole series of announcements at the F8 developer conference. Lauren Fisher previews the changes.
  3. While Facebook continues to innovate, so too does Klout – finding new ways to measure the slippery notion of online influence. Now, I am yet to be convinced – but Mark Schaefer mounts a strong case explaining Why Klout Matters. A Lot.
  4. Is social media right for your business? Drew McLellan says it is – but only if it makes you money or saves you money. He even gives you 20 questions to help judge for yourself.
  5. Has anyone ever offered to give you 110%? Have they ever delivered? Valeria Maltoni suggests that we need to be realistic. That we need to be clever. And that we need to listen to our clients, customers and bosses. Maybe they don’t want 110% – maybe they just want us to deliver on our promises.

Do You Read Your Past Posts?

Books, Innovation

Over the last half a dozen years I have written almost 1800 blog posts. That is about 300 per year and yes, almost one per day. I would hate to think how many words this translates into.

But there is more. I have also written articles for Marketing Profs, guest posted from time to time on other sites and contributed articles for publications like Marketing Magazine and for books, ebooks and so on.

I dare say I could find many others who have produced a similar amount of content. Or more. After all, there are many people far more prolific than I.

But whether you write one article a day or one article a month, I'm wondering – do you re-read your writings?

I know I do – but perhaps not as much as I should.

I am reading Steven Johnson's Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation, and I have been struck by the linkages between writing, review and breakthrough ideas. He uses the example of the "common place book" – a book of ideas, cross-referenced by the author to improve memory. Interestingly, Johnson explains how Charles Darwin's theories benefited from this process, allowing him to formulate, refine and build upon ideas over time. This is what Johnson calls the “slow hunch”.

Now, it seems that blogs with their readily available tagging structure and inbuilt search functions are like commonplace books on steroids. But who amongst us use them in this way? How many of us revisit a category area each time we sit down to write our next post?

Not me. But then, I think i'll change this approach. I have a hunch that I am going to unearth some valuable slow hunches in the process.

A Cup of Chaos #71: Don’t Risk Coal Seam Gas

Cup of Chaos, Videos

Having watched Gasland the movie late last year I was astounded to learn that coal seam gas mining was planned in Australia. Surely, I thought, we’d learn from the tragic lessons of others. Imagine my surprise then to learn that not only was CSG mining already taking place on a large scale – but that mining exploration rights were being granted in rich and fertile farm lands (you know the ones that feed Australia’s growing population) – as well as under the homes of Sydney siders.

In an attempt to provide an alternative view of the personal impact of CSG mining (the impact on families and on farmers – and even farming families), GetUp! have created this video. They are aiming to raise funds to have this appear on TV across the country – in part to combat the mining industry’s advertising blitz.

Using Fascination to Trigger Behaviours

Social Media, Storytelling, Videos

Let me tell you a secret.

It’s just for you.

Today.

I think you’re really going to like it.

This idea.

Concept.

Innovation in marketing practice.

In fact, better yet, read on. Read this. Buy it .

*****

Did you see what I did there?

Sally Hogshead, author of Fascinate, describes seven triggers that we can (and should) tap into to help us tell stories and engage our audiences. They allow us to go beyond the simple concept of “personal branding” – to a deeper, more authentic place.

The seven triggers can be woven into our stories and drive a response from our audiences.

  1. Power – Take command
  2. Passion – Attract with emotion
  3. Mystique – arouse curiosity
  4. Prestige – increase respect
  5. Alarm – create urgency
  6. Rebellion – change the game
  7. Trust – Build loyalty

Sally is presenting at the Content Marketing World conference, and thanks to Nate Riggs, we can see and hear a little of what she has to say. But don’t just watch this – think about what you can do today to impact your work. How can you put the power of storytelling to work? Which triggers can and will you use (and why).

I like this better than my own P-L-A-Y framework – or perhaps, in practice, I can see ways of extending that framework in new ways. I’ll let you know what I find out after a few experiments. But in the meantime, let me know how this works for you. Does it fascinate you and your team? What about your clients or customers? For it seems that telling the story of telling the story is, itself, one of the many ways to fascinate. Get to it!

Sally Hogshead Live at Content Marketing World from Nate Riggs on Vimeo.

How Advertising Works

Social Media, Storytelling

When I studied theatre I loved producing what we then called a “multimedia” production – the type that literally included multiple media mixed in amongst performance.

Intellectually I was working with “intertextuality” and experimenting with the points of intersection between these different texts (this was back when we talked about everything being a “text” that was “read”). But emotionally I was experimenting with layered storytelling – presenting one point of view, accentuating or limiting that point of view through performance, voice and body – and then challenging all that with visuals – usually in the form of slides or sometimes video projection.

It was a lot of fun and hugely challenging.

And this is what good advertising does too. It tells stories on different levels. It allows us to connect these stories, flattering us in the process. It can say one thing and mean another – all the while giving us a sly wink and a nudge.

Unfortunately most advertising is one dimensional. It pokes at us. Interrupts us. Irritates. As does a lot of branded social media. It’s about time we saw some sophistication in the planning and strategy of advertising and social media (ideally together). It really is.

And don’t blame the dog, we all know who is responsible.

Kiva Lights Up the World with Microfinance

Good Works, Social Media

I’ve been a Kiva supporter for some time. I love the way that this microfinancing system allows you to effectively invest in the entrepreneurial dreams of those who live in a completely different world. It also allows you to choose where (and to whom) your investment flows. This means that you can choose to support education initiatives for women or to help establish a retail shop in a village in Nicaragua – and you can do so starting with $25.

When I first started with Kiva, I saw it as a donation. I never really expected to see this money returned. But 50 loans later, this has changed. You see, Kiva is not about charity – it’s about entrepreneurship. It’s about helping people change their lives … and supporting them to do so.

Kiva have field partners who provide supervision and support on the ground. They work to ensure the loan is successful. And repaid. In fact, the repayment rate for Kiva loans is 98.84%.

Take a look at the video below. It shows how, since 2005, more than $240 million in Kiva investments have been made to over 620,000 entrepreneurs. More than 80% of these are to women entrepreneurs. And as the video also shows, the vast majority of these are repaid – and can then be reinvested as you choose. Seriously, if you ever wanted to change the world – here’s a way to get started. Start with Kiva.

Intercontinental Ballistic Microfinance from Kiva Microfunds on Vimeo.

The YouTube Creator Playbook is Your New Best Friend

Branding, Social Media, Videos

If you are like me, you will have done some experimentation with YouTube. Sometimes it works – and sometimes you have to delete your video before the world catches it and you become an unintentional (or unwitting) viral star!

But while there is no doubt that YouTube is an important part of your marketing mix – the question remains – how do you maximise the benefits and value of YouTube within your marketing framework? And how do you do so with limited (or no) experience in the production of video? Finally – what are the best practices that you can follow in order to not present yourself in a way that is a detriment to your brand?

If this sounds like you, then the YouTube Creator Playbook may well become your best friend. Check it out – and then send me a link to your most embarrassing video! (Oh and you may need to click the button to open the playbook in a new window – the resizing is not kind)

We’re All Talking, But Who Is Listening?

Uncategorized

Social media can be amazing – bringing people together from all parts of the world, opening conversations and creating lasting relationships. Just look at Twitter – we can have thousands of followers and can also follow thousands back. We are told that there are 200 million tweets published per day. That’s a lot of talk.

But add this into Facebook where we can be “friends” with many that are close and also with many that we have not seen in years. There are over 750 million active users and we each have, on average 130 friends. We spend over 700 billion minutes per month on the platform with the big blue top bar. But with all this connection are we missing something?

Clearly, social media has a powerful impact on our lives. It can be used to bring us closer to people we care about, allowing us to connect, send messages, updates and so on. But while we may read these updates, that reading is often done in silence. Without acknowledgement. Occasionally we may “like” an update or retweet someone’s message. If pushed we may leave a comment on a blog. But even “participating” in social media can be a lonely business.

That’s why I am such an advocate of #coffeemornings. It’s a chance to leave the technology behind and to get up close and personal with those who we are slowly transforming from “Friends” to friends. You see, while I enjoy social media, I also see that it can also be a way to push people away – to keep others at a distance.

This morning I was shocked to hear of the death of Trey Pennington, well-known marketer and social media advocate. And while we had not met, the shock waves sped around the planet and hit hard. What could have happened? I wondered if it was a car accident. As Kris Colvin explains, it wasn’t. It was, however, a tragedy.

TreyPenningtonGoodbye Depression is a powerful illness. My friends taking the Black Dog Ride across Australia aim to raise awareness of depression and its impact. My own efforts with The Perfect Gift for a Man – a book and ebook with 30 stories about reinventing manhood – and Ehon Chan’s Soften the Fck Up both seek to amplify alternatives. And we have Movember starting up soon.

But while raising funds is important, we need to go beyond this too. We need to check in on our friends. Even the ones that seem fine. We need to make the time for a phone call or a coffee. Share the link to The Perfect Gift for a Man free ebook – or better yet, buy a copy for someone you love – after all, research shows us that sharing these stories has a significant impact on people.

I’m saddened to hear of Trey’s death. I’m sad for his family and friends. And I am sad that while we can be surrounded by thousands, we can still feel isolated and alone. It seems that we’re all talking – but please, do take time to listen. Carefully. Someone’s life could depend on it.

Rest in peace, Trey Pennington.

If you feel you aren’t coping – in Australia – you can Call Lifeline’s 24 hour crisis line on 13 11 14 for support or dial 000 if life is in danger.

Two Degrees for Africa #2degrees

Good Works

We often talk about six degrees of separation – the idea that we are about six steps away from each other. But when tragedy strikes – serious tragedy – six degrees feels like way too far.

So what if rather than six degrees of separation we looked at two degrees of action? What impact would that have?

Take a look at the film below. This is not just tragic. In this day and age, it’s outrageous. The Two Degrees of Africa project aims to make an exponential impact. Very quickly.

My buddy, Jason Burrows asked 100 friends to invite 20 people to donate $25 to Save The Children. If this works, we’ll have over 42,000 people working together to raise more than $1 million. So what do you say? Can you make an exponential impact on the lives of kids in Africa? Sure you can. Start here.

Very Disturbing Footage of Drought in Africa from 2DegreesforAfrica on Vimeo.