social media Archives - Page 15 of 31 by Mark Murnahan

Why Disqus May Be The Best Social Network of 2011

Let's Disqus This Network

Even if you are the least tech-savvy person since my mother, it is clear that you will see this company popping up in more places during 2011. The name, “Disqus” (pronounced as discuss) is spread far and wide across the Internet, and its exposure is growing quickly as top tech and news blogs implement the service.

In November 2010 TechCrunch reported that there were over 500,000 communities using Disqus for more than 160 million conversations between 18 million profiles. According to Quantcast, Disqus is moving up quickly. Maybe you are not so sure about its importance just yet, but I am, and I want to share why Disqus is quickly climbing my list of favorite social networking tools.

I named Disqus a while back in an article titled “6 Essential Blogging Tools for Bloggers and Non-Bloggers” and that is certainly worth a read. Since the time I wrote that back in March 2010, my opinion of Disqus is better than ever.

The idea of using Disqus as a networking tool may sound completely off the wall to the many people who never heard of Disqus or took the time to understand its greater value. Likewise, sending a bunch of Twitter updates sounded pretty absurd in 2007, but we all watched how Twitter took off. I suppose I don’t need to say much about Facebook. The 650 million Facebook users pretty well sum up the public interest in that platform. So, how can Disqus be placed in the company of these massively adopted networks? I will explain, and I think you will have a much different view of the service by the time I am done.

Something many people may overlook about Disqus is how seamlessly it pulls together a broad picture of a user’s interests, and how well it can connect people.

Disqus will not become the next Facebook, threaten Twitter, or replace LinkedIn. What Disqus can do is to tighten people’s existing networks and create many opportunities for new and stronger network connections.

In the face of social networking becoming “looser” than ever for a lot of people, tighter networks of like-minded people are not only important, but something many Internet users are begging for. Disqus delivers on this need, in a big way, for people who choose to use it.

Let’s take an under-the hood look at Disqus for a moment. A lot of people may simply see Disqus as the commenting system on some of their favorite blogs, but completely overlook its best assets. First, let me explain what Disqus is, on the surface, for people who are unfamiliar. Then I will move on to the reason that Disqus is useful for networking, far beyond just its value to blog administrators.

What is Disqus?

Disqus is a service that is used by many blogs for moderating and responding to readers’ comments. It allows users to comment on blogs the “old fashioned” way, by entering their name, email, website address, and comment, or they can choose to use their photo and information based on a variety of other profiles, such as Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, OpenID, or simply their Disqus profile.

Optionally, readers can choose to share their comment, on a comment-by-comment basis, with their extended network. This is good for readers to share their point of view, and also good for bloggers who enjoy their work being shared. It is a win-win relationship.

Disqus provides for real-time updating of comments. In an active discussion, this allows readers to see new comments without even refreshing the page.

Disqus also provides options for users to receive updates of replies to their comments by email, or simply within their “Disqus Dashboard” where there is a section titled “Replies to you”. It makes blog commenting more interactive than ever, and opens a lot of possibilities for people willing to look three inches beyond their nose. It is a lot easier than other methods of subscribing to follow a thread, and much tidier for monitoring replies.

Disqus Creates Deeper Conversations!

Maybe you have hoped that posting a link on Twitter or Facebook to an article that you read will give people a feel for what you like, what interests you, and what you read. The trouble with this is when it leaves them hanging without knowing what you thought of it. Believe me when I say that most people are not going to dig through the comments to see what you said about something. Most of the time, they will not even click to see the article, but rather draw conclusions and comment on the title.

Maybe you can add in a little bit of flair with your commentary, but then the conversation is all broken up between the article, the shortness of a Twitter post, and your Facebook comments versus the comments of the other people who read the blog. That all tends to create a lot of off-topic discussion, and dilutes what you and others had to say about the topic.

On the other hand, if somebody sees it in your Disqus profile and follows what you read and have to say on a topic, the whole character starts to change. Disqus makes it very easy to follow other people. It is a chance for others to be more involved in your conversations around the web. If they like communicating with you, it can give a good feel for who you are and your points of view. It can also help you to gain a closer relationship with the people you choose to interact with. For example, if you happen to come across my political views, you may find that I am feisty but fair. If you come across my business views, you may find that I read carefully, think a whole lot, and try to bring a my ideas to the discussion.

It is noteworthy that commenting on a blog article reflects a greater commitment than most other social networking quips and snippets that people leave behind. Blog comments are commonly lengthier and more thought out about a specific topic than comments elsewhere. It really does generally allow for a closer sense of a person’s views on a topic. I invite you to see an example of this in my Disqus profile. If you click on “Activity” at the top, you can scroll through and see comments I have made here and on other blogs.

Turn Any Website Into a Blog

I can point out a lot of reasons that Disqus is growing quickly, and this is certainly a big one. Disqus makes it simple to add commenting to any existing website. With their simple “Universal Code” Disqus commenting system can be added to any web page.

Let’s say you have a boring old static website and you want to add commenting to a page, or a set of pages. There is more to a blog than the commenting features, but many people would consider comments the most obvious feature of blogs. Disqus makes it simple to add their commenting system to any boring old website, and has excellent code and documentation for many popular platforms. They have made it extremely easy, even for a relatively novice web developer.

Disqus Security Considerations

You can certainly post on blogs using Disqus with an alias, or anonymously, but the things you have to say are the things which interest people. It is really not much fun to have people like you for one reason, but then find out they think you are horrible when they dig a bit deeper. If you posted it anywhere on a blog and somebody wants to find it, they will find it. This is the Internet, and most bloggers do their best to be sure a lot of people will see it. I think of this in a way similar to my article titled “Facebook Privacy Fears Are Absurd!“. Living in the fear of your own shadow is something that will be there with or without Disqus.

I guess this realistic view of the Internet and social media is why “social media transparency” has become such an overused buzzphrase.

Disqus and SEO

I know that a lot of people wonder about how Disqus affects search engine results, whether as a blog administrator, or as a commenter. I would stop at simply pointing out that I use it here on my SEO and Social Media Marketing blog, but that may not be enough to comfort you.

Many people who comment on blogs really love those links to their website they leave behind. After all, more links is a good thing. Disqus still allows you to leave your link, and it is still as valuable from an SEO standpoint as any other commenting system … perhaps even better. I may write about this at a later time, but I can tell you that the comments are well-indexed in search engines, and the links associated with those comments are also just as valuable as any other commenting system.

What I think sometimes confuses people about Disqus links is in the layout for non-logged-in “Guest” users. Disqus simply shows a “post as” link, but once you type your comment, you have the opportunity to add your website link and your Gravitar.

Disqus creates multiple links. If you click on the thumbnail picture of a user, it will show you their Disqus profile information, including their other communities and even their most recent Twitter update, if they associated their Twitter account. If you click on their name, it will link directly to their website of choice. If they have associated their Twitter account with their Disqus profile and you click to share your comment on Twitter, it will also send a reply to their Twitter username.

Disqus Signup and Other Links

If you made it this far, you are probably pretty curious to look a bit closer at Disqus. Here are some links to get your started.

I could keep writing all day to help you understand the ways to get the most from Disqus. There are a lot of excellent potential uses. For example, you can search with an email address to see what a person is saying on other blogs … did you know that? I wrote a 140 page book about Twitter, but I don’t plan to repeat that with Disqus. Instead, I will share what they say in their own words, invite you to discuss this, and happily answer your questions and comments. Here is what Disqus has to say:

What is Disqus?

Disqus (dis·cuss • dï-sküs’) is all about changing the way people think about discussion on the web. We’re big believers in the conversations and communities that form on blogs and other sites.

Now what do you have to say? Here is your chance to use Disqus and jump in the conversation. Please add your comments and don’t be shy. Another great feature of Disqus is that if you screw it up, you can go back and edit the comment.

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Facebook Advertisement Declined: Is Facebook Nitpicking?

I have heard people question how Facebook can support 650 million accounts and remain free to users. Some people have even held the absurd notion that Facebook will someday charge users.

Funding Facebook is something that most users don’t give a lot of thought to, as they connect and have fun with their friends. Most people will easily overlook the huge volume of advertisement dollars Facebook generates from their ads. Advertising is a very successful business model on the Internet (REF: Google, YouTube, Facebook, and etcetera). It is how Facebook makes money, and those advertisements facilitate Facebook’s bloated $50 Billion valuation in January 2011.

Internet users are very accustomed to seeing advertisements. Many of us became relatively immune to much of the advertising, years ago. Yesteryear’s ads were not very well targeted, and many still are not, but that is not because of the tools.

As the Internet grew smarter, ad targeting platforms became smarter. Advertising targeting and reporting is vital to a campaign’s success, and so the tools have evolved to meet the challenges. Facebook has done extremely well in this area, and I commend them. Their system provides for excellent demographic, geographic, and psychographic modeling and targeting, and should not be underestimated.

Facebook advertising can be an excellent tool for business. Make no mistake about that! The information you can learn from Facebook’s ad reporting can provide great insight to a marketing campaign. I explained more about the value and usage of Facebook advertising in a previous article titled “Facebook Marketing: Pages, Customer Modeling, Promoting, and Awesomeness“. That article is great reading for anybody who wants to understand the value of Facebook marketing.

I like Facebook, and I even like the new Facebook profile.

An Unqualified Rant About Facebook Ads

Here is my unqualified rant. OK, maybe it is a little bit qualified, but I realize that some people will whine, snivel, and argue that I am wrong. I do that to people. I give them something to talk about.

I know Facebook ads well. I have used the Facebook ad system for client projects of many types, and I have had a mostly great experience with it. Facebook reviews each ad submitted to their system, and either approves or declines it, and they are doing a good job of it. When a friend recently complained of having his ads declined by Facebook, I thought he must be doing something wrong. After all, I never had an ad declined, but now that has changed.

I finally had my first declined Facebook ad a couple days ago. At first, I thought it was no big deal. Then I realized how silly their reason was for declining the ad. I will show you the ad, explain why it was declined, and also why I think it was nit-picking on Facebook’s part.

First, I will explain that this ad was intended to reach a targeted group of people as a part of my campaign to stop providing marketing consulting services. You see, I am not-so-secretly tired of selling what I do. I love doing what I do, but I do not enjoy the short-sightedness and lack of strategy that I witness with so many companies when it comes to their marketing. I said it well when I wrote “When I Go to Hell, They Will Have Me Selling SEO“. That is because selling the kind of marketing services I provide often makes me feel like I am trying to explain quantum physics to third graders. Perhaps more to the point, it feels like explaining the color blue to blind people.

This ad was targeted at headhunters. You know, those executive recruiting folks. It was to lead them to my aWebGuy Facebook page. Specifically, it was to lead them to the “My Tools” tab of the aWebGuy Facebook page.

I am not applying to companies for open jobs, but I am interested in a long-term objective outside of independent consulting. I know, it may sound like a big step backward. I just want to enjoy my work without having to feel like a third grade teacher while talking with new clients.

I moved far beyond the typical marketing job ages ago, and the type of work that I am qualified for is often not advertised on job boards. It takes a slow-burn approach, and so I want to be sure that headhunters recognize my name when they find themselves seeking to place a new Director of Marketing or VP of Marketing.

The image above is my proposed ad, and Facebook’s reason for declining the ad was explained as follows:

“The image included in your ad is not suitable to appear on Facebook. Before resubmitting your ad, please visit our Help Center for additional tips and examples compliant with our Advertising Guidelines.”

At first, I thought “It is just a picture of my birthday cake. How could that be so offensive?” Then I realized that it was declined for a violation of Facebook Advertising Guidelines section 5 d iii. You may wonder, “What is 5 d iii?” Well here you go:

5. Prohibited Content

d. Ads cannot contain, facilitate, promote, or reference the following:

iii. Tobacco products;

Stand Up for Facebook Ad Rebels!

Here comes the silly part. Based on the targeting criteria, and Facebook’s advertising guidelines, I could have used a couple hookers and a bottle of Scotch, but not my birthday cake. I guess I must just be a real life badass if my birthday cake is banned from Facebook ads, but that’s how I roll!

I love marketing for clients, and I serve them very well, but there is a unique challenge to marketing myself and my future. When it comes to marketing myself, the approach is quite long-sighted. That is because I must be selective about the buyer. This is where you come in, and I am asking you to stand up for my rebelion. Do you know any of those headhunters who should be aware of me? Pass my name along, will you?

If you think Facebook was nitpicking, please click my “Like” button and share this to show that even the rebels have a place on Facebook. Otherwise, you can “Lump” it and just keep reading my blog.

One More Thing! Do you find my birthday cake to be offensive? Go to the aWebGuy Facebook page to see the entertaining back story.

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New Facebook Profile Employer Information Catches Users Off Guard

Update Facebook Employer Information

Facebook recently made a big move with their latest profile updates, but it seems that a lot of people are slow to accept the change. Without a doubt, Facebook’s new profile design includes some pretty significant changes which will impact businesses. The impact can be very positive, but only for people who are paying attention.

Many people are reluctant to adopt the new Facebook profile, but what they often do not realize is what each of the people who did make the change see when they look at a profile. Whether you have updated yours or not, users of the new profile design will see your profile in a way that you, or your company may regret.

I wrote about changes and things to be aware of in a previous article titled “Facebook Profile Changes: Updates to Make Before Switching!“ with cautions of what users should know. Yes, some people listened, especially about the tagged images displayed at the top of the profile, but there is an even more profound matter at hand for businesses.

If you are unfamiliar with Facebook’s new profile changes, I suggest that you see what Facebook says, and also discover how many of your friends have already updated. To date, only 100 of my Facebook friends have updated their profile, but the only view that I have for all friends is the new version.

New Facebook Profiles Display Employers Prominently

The latest update of our favorite social network comes with significant implications for businesses. I think this was a really smart move for Facebook’s reach into business networking, but it will also come with some “growing pains” for users. Those pains can affect employees and employers, alike.

Whether you have updated to the new profile or not, if you have an employer listed with Facebook, it is likely being misrepresented to users of the new profile design. I see examples of this all day long, so if you care how your employment or your company is being represented, you should really pay attention to this matter. The new profile has been made optional, but we will all use the new profiles very soon. You should also note that once you switch, you cannot change back.

Facebook Employer Display in New Profile

In the new design, Facebook places your employer information just below your name. It also includes a link to that employer, and this is where a problem arises for many users. The link, which is automatically created from the employer name listed in your profile, points to a Facebook page which is generated based on the company name. Since it would be worse if Facebook guessed at whether it is the right company, it cannot just link to the actual Facebook page of a company.

Imagine how bad it could be if they linked all of the people who listed an employer name to a given page, and it was the wrong page. Somebody at First National Bank in Spokane could have their employer’s link point to the Facebook page of First National Bank in New Orleans. That would be really bad, but what happens instead is a page that is inaccurate, rather than the company’s existing Facebook page.

When I noticed that my wife’s employer link listed her cakes and confections work as “Owner / Chef at Mad Eliza’s”, I clicked on it to discover that, although we already have an existing Facebook page, there were a few people who had clicked “Like” on the made-up page created by Facebook. Now wouldn’t it be a shame to not take a moment and fix that?

The best way to fix the employer link is to delete the employer(s) and re-add them. Facebook will then allow you to select your employer’s Facebook page, and link to it accordingly. Here is the link to edit your employers. If you have already updated to the new profile, but you are not quite certain about this, just try clicking on the link listed as your employer. If it does not actually link to your company Facebook page, you should probably change that. It is a common mistake, and I have actually even seen this on a respected Facebook marketer’s profile.

If you are an employer, you would be wise to point this out to employees and encourage them to update their profiles. It may benefit both employee and employer to do so. This is especially true in cases where employer and employee are the same person.

How to Change the Employer Listed on Your Facebook Profile

For people with multiple jobs listed, Facebook does not provide an option to select which employer is displayed below your name, but it can be changed. I will give an example of what I found when I updated to the new profile.

Like a lot of people, I wear multiple hats. Yes, I work a bunch of jobs, and while you sleep, I am here keeping this Internet thing we all love up and running. When I switched to the new Facebook, my profile showed things all wrong. Not only did it reflect one of my “less important” jobs right at the top of my profile, it also linked to a non-existent page that Facebook created to represent the company name I had listed in my profile.

To explain how I encountered it, I will explain my jobs. I am the CEO of a wholesale Internet services corporation (2001-present), I am the co-owner of a cakes and confections company (2009-present), and I independently provide marketing consulting services to people who appreciate my marketing talent enough to pay me for it (2000-present). Before that, I was the bearded lady in a circus, but I didn’t include that.

Facebook looks at the most recent employer that is listed as current, then uses the text entered as the employer’s name and represents it as a link in the new profile view. Since Facebook’s system will use the most recent employer as the one to list just below your name on the main profile page, it may not be what you want. In my case, they are all present employers, but Facebook will use the one which started most recently. This makes perfect sense, in a résumé, but what if you want your favorite job represented on your profile home page?

To get the order the way I wanted it, I actually had to put a more recent starting date on my marketing consulting work, and even delete my cakes and confections company from the list. Yes, I lied by shortening my time on the job and deleting a couple of companies I own or have owned … I feel awful, just awful! The truth is that I really only feel a need to go back a decade, except in my formal résumé.

In my case, the most recent addition was “Mad Eliza’s Cakes and Confections“, which is a company my wife runs, but I am just a co-owner and taste-tester. I don’t want to represent myself as a cake guy … I am a web guy.

It is still important to leave some of the other jobs there, but I don’t want them staring everybody in the face. I just wanted my new Facebook profile to say what it does now: “Marketing Consultant at awebguy”, but it took a little tweaking.

It brings up a few questions for me. Have you had to deal with this, too? If so, what did you do? If you have not already switched to the new Facebook profile, do you know what people are seeing? Let’s discuss this … add your comments and let’s see what others have to say about it.

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Fisker Automotive’s “Fisker Karma” vs. “Social Media Karma”

Fisker Automotive is a startup automobile manufacturer based in Irvine, California that holds some pretty valuable cards in the future of “green” car technology. Like any startup, how they play those cards will close the gap on their potential to become a Ford or a Flop. First, I want to tell you how amazing the product is, and then I will share some reasons you may or may not see this 100 MPG powerhouse in a driveway near you. I will also offer some solutions. This should be a lesson to any company.

Fisker has developed an extended range electric hybrid car that I would describe as being so sexy it makes me want to take my shirt off and rub the Karma all over my body. I do not apologize if that gives you an awkward visual, because their Fisker Karma holds many of the same elements which car lovers, like myself, look for in a proper mate. It has amazing curves, it is strong at over 400 horsepower and astonishing torque, plus it looks fast standing still. I suspect that it even smells like a new car, and we all know how sexy that is, right?

Fisker Karma: The Car You Never Let Your Daughter Borrow

The Karma shares signature design elements with distant cousins Aston Martin DB9 and BMW Z8 Roadster; cars which were also designed by CEO, Henrik Fisker. Fisker may be an unfamiliar name to you, but he has a pedigree in automotive design, and has made some bold statements since his liberating personal venture into Fisker Coachbuild.

An added attraction which bolsters Fisker Karma’s market potential is that it treads lightly on our planet. In common short distance day-to-day use, the Karma is a plug-in electric car. Any true car-lover knows that electric cars have full-tilt torque-on-demand to plant you firmly into the seat in an instant. The torque, which is what makes car enthusiasts’ heart race, is mind-blowing. Don’t fret if the batteries fade, because it will automatically kick into gasoline-augmented “Sport” mode with enough power to whack your skull back into the headrest far better than your average hot rod. Bonus points come to play while the Fisker Karma can do this and still achieve 100 miles per gallon, and 300 miles between energy stops.

Fisker is Easy to Hate

The automotive industry is an easy target which many people love to hate. We love the freedom our cars give us, while we hate things like breakdowns, smog, and car makers who get bailed out while other economy-drivers eat beans and try to keep their companies afloat. Anybody who ever met a stereotypical car salesman has likely forged a few dire opinions about the automotive industry.

Karma: “the concept of “action” or “deed”, understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect”
Source: Wikipedia

Some companies are easier to beat up than others. It is often not because they are doing something wrong, but because they are not projecting enough that is right. With too little positive representation, a negative portrayal is much easier for critics to propagate. In the case of Fisker Karma, the automotive rumor shylocks have come to collect their pound of flesh.

Fisker Automotive has received a significant share of negative public attention for a company able to produce over $300 million in private capital followed by a U.S. Department of Energy loan for an additional $528.7 million (REF: US DOE Announcement).

Matters such as production delays, pricing increases, and gouges aimed at corporate officers are readily available, and even prevalent in their online media mix. I am not sure I would call it overly punishing just yet, but I consider it enough that people with the high stakes of founders Henrik Fisker and Bernhard Koehler, are wise to carefully monitor and attempt to adjust the brand image. I would also consider it punishing enough to speculate that large investors in founding partner Quantum Technologies (NASDAQ “QTWW”) have cause for any spoken and unspoken concerns.

It is not uncommon for a startup automobile manufacturer to have critics, but it is disappointing that the company does not appear as a significant participant in their publicity, positive or negative, thus far.

Thinking Points for Fisker Automotive Executives

I would like to offer a short list of solutions for the company. I also want to point out that these can be modified and applied to most other companies, as well.

Monitor: Monitor the Fisker Automotive brand. Act upon the horrid speculation and testimonies of others, using consumer-centric answers, instead of continued passive acceptance.
Qualify: Qualify benefits of issues such as price increases and production delays. There are clearly defined reasons, and they are not all embarrassing ones. The embarrassing reasons are the speculative excuses which people make up about Fisker.
Create: Create a respectable blog, for the sake of all things logical and measurable. Have a hub for the Fisker Automotive brand’s voice.
Strategize: Use Fisker’s massive technology, financial, and human assets to forge a strategy. “Sell more cars” or “Increase industry alliances abroad” are not strategies. Those are goals and tactics, but competing with Tesla’s Master Plan will require strategy.
Participate: Notice and participate in positive publicity. I have read a lot of good news about Fisker, too. In fact, I recently submitted a story to Digg.com about Fisker’s agreement with China Grand Automotive Group and watched over 40 Digg votes stack up within just a couple hours. In each of the news stories and online conversations I have read, I never witness any company participation to answer questions, but I have often seen the comments turn sour. In several cases, there is a correlation between that lack of participation and the souring of opinions.
Delegate: Be diligent in reviewing my qualifications and my drive to assist the company. My résumé is only a click away, and likely a great investment for Fisker Automotive.

I hope to see Fisker do well, and I am pulling for them. In fact, there is only a small list of companies flying this low on my RADAR for which I initiate prompts to review my résumé. Fisker Automotive is a company that I find a strong desire to work with, because I see their enormous potential, as well as their missing pieces.

The first step is to find out if Fisker is listening, and if so, whether they recognize a need to address their current and upcoming challenges of public opinions and brand marketing.

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Will Your Social Media Noise Withstand 2011 Filtering?

Toward the end of the year, it is easy to look back at the last twelve months, and to form new thinking of the year to come. We may try to do this all year, but let’s face it, as we see the clock tick toward 2011, it is easier to close one chapter and open another with a fresh mind. I want to share some of my social media observations of 2010 and look toward 2011. Please join me.

This year, as with past years, many people were frantic to learn the value of social media marketing for their business. During 2008, 2009, and 2010, social media experts in shining armor came riding along on their strong white steeds to save the day with theories from A to Z.

As we near 2011, there are about as many theories on social media as there are “social media experts”, and let me tell you, there are a lot of people calling themselves experts these days. In the past few years, the field of social media marketing took on the excessive noise of squillions of unemployed and starving advertising salespeople, public relations reps, marketing strategists, receptionists, real estate agents, automotive line-workers, and broom-pushers from around the world. Go ahead, shoot the messenger, but what I say is the truth.

Many newly self-appointed social media experts formed theories of what creates enough value in social media that they can sell their services to the abundant number of companies desperately trying anything to get their bills paid. A lot of these so-called experts agreed on things such as the best tools to use, the value of listening to the public, and engaging their customers and potential customers using social media. However, there has often been a huge disparity between the theorists’ ideas and their actions. Worse yet, they have often confused efforts with results.

A lot of people have claimed to have expertise with a given angle, such as how to become popular on Twitter (a very funny topic, by the way), or how to manage a Facebook campaign. Other experts will dig a bit deeper with topics of social media data analysis, and a smaller few experts engage the psychology of people in order to build upon their pack mentality and create a desired response.

As the experts came calling, so did their noise. Even the people who are reliably good at their jobs in social media found that there was a strong barrier of noise to overcome. What was often heralded as the most important factor, which was “engagement”, began to fade as people implemented a stronger filter to strain out the noise. A hazardous outcome of this was that many of the “experts” simply turned up the noise, rather than to create a new strategy and new tactics.

Making a Whisper Heard in Social Media

Social media is a very noisy place, and most of what people will encounter on a daily basis is easy to consider “junk”. That is because it is junk to them. I urge you to remember the old adage that says “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” and it goes both ways. Your treasure may be their junk.

The Internet is inundated by noise (people are noisy, after all), and there is likely only a small percentage who will see value in your “junk”. What I have to say is certainly “junk” or “noise” to the mango farmer in Navsari, India who just needs to find a new truck to haul his crop of mangoes. He is not my target, and thus, I keep my noise level down so as not to bother him. If he needs me, I am still here, but I am not going to bug him.

Where many failed social media campaigns sealed their losing fate is by simply adding to the noise. Failing to reach a specific target audience is not only wasteful, but leads to a significant filtering-out effect. As a marketing professional, myself, I have been stunned by how many people contacted me in 2010 to try and sell me their SEO and social media marketing services. They would actually even email me through my blog’s contact page where they have to enter a captcha code to send their email. This indicates that it was not just automated, but actually a live person entering their sales pitch to sell me the same services which I provide. Before you waste time with this approach, you should at least note the title of the blog.

These people who approached me had no idea of a target, and they added to my filtering-out of the majority of others in their industry … my industry. People approaching their market in this way made so much noise that many people’s “noise filters” went into hyper-drive and tuned them out. This was not limited to my industry, either. The noise level of the Internet as a whole is higher than ever, and with noise-filtering becoming more important, often times a whisper is heard above a shout. This means that the challenges are in careful targeting and balancing volume with value.

Social Media Balance of Volume vs. Value

There is an easy assumption that the volume and reach of a message creates value to a company. This is what we have all be taught through years of commercialization. It is true that there is a strong correlation, but there is a big backlash, too. In the realm of social media, there is a very common outcome of being filtered out.

A better solution is to be filtered-in by proving your value rather than just your volume. Anybody can create volume, and it is quite evident online. It does not take a marketing genius to promote something online and put it in front of a lot of people. Doing it in a way that gets you “filtered in” instead of being “filtered out” is a lot trickier.

Can I claim that this will be the most important piece of your social media strategy to address in 2011? I am not going that far, because there is already plenty of argument on the matter. There are many points of your social media strategy which should constantly be analyzed, criticized, and adjusted. What I can say regarding volume vs. value is what I have experienced. If you wonder if I actually mean what I say, simply look at my frequency of blog updates and usage of other social media for my answer.

I have been claiming it for years that volume alone is often wasted effort. Reaching a good balance of volume and value is important. I believe that as 2011 moves on, the balance will become even more important than ever while people continue learning to filter in good information and filter out noise.

Just as before, but with more prevalence than ever, targeting your message more carefully to reach your market influencers and discovering what they want will factor heavily in the success or failure in many social media campaigns.

Social Media at a Whisper

In summary, it is my continued belief that careful targeting and keeping value high will trump the importance of volume in 2011, just as it has in past years. As such, I invite you to filter me in and subscribe to my blog by RSS or email. If I do not have something to offer which I believe you will find useful, I will keep the noise to a whisper.

Photo Credit to Joe Shlabotnik via Flickr

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