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By Vegasbab, December 6, 2009 1:24 pm

Every once in awhile, I enjoy reminding myself it’s okay to not keep up. Yes, it’s important to stay up to date with some of the latest and greatest, but, you also have a valuable and existing toolkit just waiting to be tweaked. As Bill Marriott says, “Success is never final. We can always do better with what we already have.”

In his post, Stop Looking for the Next Twitter, David Armano, puts it succinctly – “‘yesterday’s Twitter’ needs some care and feeding before you start looking for the next Twitter.”

Trust me, spinning your wheels looking for what’s next isn’t going to generate as much ROI as tweaking your current path to conversion or being more strategic about your customer relationship management (CRM). Make fixing your current strategy a top priority, and put trying to figure out the next “big” thing on a back burner. Unless of course, your current strategy is already 110% perfect

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By Vegasbab, November 21, 2009 9:13 am

I’m really enjoying the videos from Socialnomics. The first one was great and made quite an impact. It’s also been referenced so many times that it makes me puke This is part two and focuses on some ROI stats. Enjoy!

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By Vegasbab, November 1, 2009 10:58 am

I feel a bit dirty jumping on the bandwagon and writing about Twitter Lists, but alas, they were shiny and intrigued me for a day. Now? Not so much. Well, at least not till Tweetie updates their app to include them

1. For most, Lists have become another way to feed the ego. It’s another thing to beg for and another thing to show how “cool” and “popular” you are. When will #FollowFriday turn into List recommendations? PS – the fact that that meme still continues shocks me. And yes, I have followers that still get upset when I don’t tout them in a #FollowFriday tweet… even though I haven’t participated in it for months!
2. Oddly, you can’t see @replies in lists, even if you follow the same people. To me, this is a downfall. I enjoy watching the back and forth conversations between the people I follow. Also, you’re missing the social piece of twitter.
3. Lists allow you to follow without following. I’m curious as to how this effects blocked users. In fact, I’m curious as to how this will play out altogether. Will you no longer hit the follow button and just add someone to a list? If you add someone to a private list, they’ll never know. Stalker much?
4. Like everyone else has hinted, Lists change your follower count. But, do they? Sure, people have created lists, but are they truly being utilized? Right now, lists are the new shiny object. But, they also require effort. You have to navigate to a new stream. You have to be on the twitter website (for now). Until Lists are integrated into the apps most commonly used or people change their twitter browsing behavior, I’ll take a follower over being on a list.
5. With lists, I think you’ll see a lot more replies and retweets that aren’t real time. Will lists change the real time dynamic of twitter?
6. Originally, I think Lists were meant to help filter and cut down the noise. But, when you’re twitter list consists of 100, did you really cut down the noise? Maybe. Maybe filtering everyone into the same category helps people digest information faster (I think that’s been proven somewhere). To me, it’s kind of boring. I like the randomness of twitter. I like my news interspersed with humor and my favorites? Well, too much a good thing, isn’t always a good thing
7. The interesting thing for brands? Lists puts brands in an grouping with their peers aka similar brands. Now, more than ever, brands will be measured and compared to what XYZ Brand is doing. It’s an interesting dynamic both for the marketers and the consumers.

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By Vegasbab, October 19, 2009 12:04 am

BlogWorld Expo was in Vegas this week. What’s that saying? The more things change, the more they stay the same? Yep, that about sums up BlogWorld. It was certainly very different from the iMedia Brand Summit I recently attended and, not in a good way. Maybe I’m just not cut out for social media conferences, as many others commented that it was their best conference of the year. Either that, or they don’t get out much

Let’s start with the Conference itself:

1. Completely disorganized. Sure there were some tech improvements for registration and monitoring who attended what session, but that was about it.
2. On a plus note, the Exhibit Hall was much larger than last year.
3. 99% of sessions sucked. What a let down. Panel after panel of people who had prepared ZERO, weren’t great speakers nor had practiced what little material they did bring. When it was decent, the audio didn’t work or you couldn’t see the presentation.
4. Scheduling. BlogWorld tried WAY too hard to pack in too much. Four to six sessions at once with no repetition. What did this lead to? One session being jam packed and the other three-four being practically empty. Not only does it suck for participants and speakers, but I was also embarrassed for them. Who wants to prepare a presentation for five people?
5. The conference was filled with more motivational, self-help-like sessions vs. Interactive Media. I guess that’s what happens when you ask social media “experts” to speak. No real campaigns equals no real knowledge.

Now, for the Attendees:

1. Sure, there were some cool, down-to-earth people that I really enjoyed meeting or seeing again. But, for the most part, attendees were overly cliquish and full of themselves. I guess the Social Media Boys Club translates to real life.
2. Every hotel, restaurant and club in Vegas was vying for this group’s attention. It was a little sick, okay, it was a lot sick. And, boy, were the majority of attendees RUDE. I’ve never seen people act with such a sense of entitlement. As a Brand Marketer, I highly doubt that I will provide half of what I did this year. If I do, my strategy will certainly be different. Unless BlogWorld changes their format, I think they’ll have a rude awakening next year.
3. Having a blog or a million followers does NOT exempt you from saying please or thank you. No, I am NOT sending a limo to pick you up at the airport. And, NO, your party is not cool enough for me to get local celebrities to attend it. And yes, both these questions were asked more than once.
4. I have never seen so many non-celebrities with “handlers.” OMG. Seriously?! You can’t manage your schedule or get yourself from Point A to B without someone holding your hand? Get over yourself.
5. The ass kissing circle jerk of RT’s or @ replies was OUT OF CONTROL. OMFG. I didn’t just throw up in my mouth, I threw up all over the floor; for 4 days straight.
6. On a nice note, I got to meet @Comcastcares (Frank). He’s just as cool, nice and down-to-earth as he seems.

Thanks to my BlogWorld experience, I’m looking forward to iMedia Breakthrough now more than ever. Now, that’s a real conference.

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By Vegasbab, October 18, 2009 11:26 pm

I love this post, Your Boss Doesn’t Care About the Conversation, by @MackCollier. It’s been sitting in my favorites for months, waiting for me to expand on it.

The piece takes no prisoners; just tells the truth – no boss cares about the conversation. What do they care about? MONEY. If you’re a smart marketer, you should also be caring about MONEY. And, if you’re truly a smart marketer, you’ll do the following:

1. Figure out how to talk to HIPPOS about social media in terms of money
2. Figure out how to turn that talk into action by measuring social media AND making money off of it

And right there lies the problem with most “experts.” They can’t do one nor two. Sure, they’ve done a great job with their virtual “personal brand,” but few (if any) can translate that into $$$ for a big brand. When they do, maybe I’ll actually hire one

To sum up Collier, STOP talking about “joining the conversation” and start figuring out what happens AFTER.

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By Vegasbab, October 4, 2009 7:59 pm

At the beginning of the year, I wrote about the Top 5 Things I’m Already Sick Of. Rereading them, I realize these things haven’t abated and I’m still sick of them. But, here’s a few more things I’m getting sick of.

1. Social Media Boys Club. They seem to be getting worse. They’re everywhere. In every industry. Watching people (or brands) do the circle jerk makes me puke.
2. The economy sucking. It has sucked the fun out of every. single. job. It has also forced businesses to focus on short term vs. long term goals. Goodbye innovation, hello panicked, reactive choices.
3. Whining that you your idea was plagiarized. Give me a break and get over it.
4. Strategy Planning. In theory, I love it. But, what a total waste of time. If you’re not focusing on long term goals, why bother? Leave me alone and let me make the stupid, panicked, reactive movements you’re crying about. Oh yeah, and we’re stuck making these decisions because the HIPPOS refuse to focus on anything that could be remotely classified as a long term goal.
5. Being sick. ‘Nuff said.

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By Vegasbab, September 20, 2009 9:57 pm

I know, I’m using a Sprint tag line as my title to showcase an AT&T commercial. Ironic, huh Regardless, I love the ease in which this commercial exemplifies how today’s technologies help people connect faster and easier than ever before. In this example the social net is used for good. But, what happens when it’s used for other things? What impact is it having on business models and marketing? Will we see the “big” shift that everyone is starting to buzz about?

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By Vegasbab, September 20, 2009 7:53 pm

I gotta admit, I’m starting to get scared. In a post-twitter world, the whiners have come out of the closet like bees to honey. In these days, the mommy bloggers and twitterati’s heads are growing. Their sense of entitlement has exploded.

More and more, I’m seeing stories like this one about Wynn and a Maytag Washing Machine. To many, the customer service ending is certainly a wow, but personally, these stories make me nervous, especially in this economy.

Let me relate a story… fancy steak house. Cheap diners. They order steak, sides, wine. They eat it all. At the end of the meal, the man calls the waiter over and says, “My steak was awful. It was very rare and I asked for it well done. I want it removed from my check.” The waiter of course is puzzled. The man ate every last bite. But, because he’s complaining, not only is the steak being removed from the bill, but they also got a comped dessert. In reality, the dinner was good. Maybe not phenomenal, but good. Good enough to eat it all.

 Now, take that scenario and instead of complaining to the waiter, the man complains to his online friends via twitter, facebook, yelp, whatever. What will this do to a restaurant’s reputation? Especially a restaurant that doesn’t deserve negative comments.

Now, take this sceanario for every time someone has to wait in line for five minutes or doesn’t get exactly what they want. Yes, in this post-twitter world, I’m starting to see a lot of whiny, entitled people gearing up to ruin reputations that don’t deserve to be ruined.

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By Vegasbab, August 18, 2009 6:47 am

Last week, the article Where are the Women in Tech and Social Media created quite the buzz. The author argued that while women made up 50% of social media / internet users, on average, only 25% were speakers at these conferences. The author argued for more diverse speakers, aka she wanted more women speakers. Since she was petitioning due to a specific conference, I have a feeling the post was  a little biased Really though, who still goes to a conference with “Web 2.0″ in the name?

Of course, in the other camp you had the people vehemently arguing for no quotas; that any choice should be based on the quality of work submitted. Get real.

Here’s the thing. I don’t wholeheartedly agree with either of them. Here’s a few whys:

• - If people / conference leaders truly wanted to judge solely on the body of work, then the presentations should be submitted stripped of any identifying information. If not, then you have biases galore. Think about it. If Chris Brogan submitted the ugliest, worst presentation but it had his name all over it, would you still vote for him to speak? I’m guessing yes. Now, take that same hideous presentation and strip his name away. Would the presentation get a “yes” vote? I’m thinking not.
• - In a similar vein as the above point, what’s the difference between gender biases and biases towards friends or people you want a favor from? How many friends and/or idols of conference organizers are speaking at that next conference for this reason?

How I see it? Who cares HOW you got in? Race, color, gender, friend, celebrity, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is if you can cut it once you’re there. If you can’t, both you and everyone in the audience will know it. A great example… thanks to Title IX, a lot of female athletes got scholarships, myself included. At the time, were all of them fully qualified? Would they have gotten the scholarship if they had to be evenly split between males and females? No. But, the ones who worked their asses off? The ones that made it to Olympic Trials or placed at Nationals? Yes, in the end, they deserved it. They proved their worth. Would they have gotten a chance to prove themselves if not for a bias? I doubt it.

The lesson? Stop trying to control the biases. Stop worrying about HOW people got in the door because of who they knew or their gender. Start worrying about what they do AFTER they’re in. The strong ones? They’ll rise to the top. The weak ones? They’ll weed themselves out all by themselves.

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By Vegasbab, August 4, 2009 10:36 pm

I’m cranky. I feel like I’m on some crazy Reality Show. I hate blogging about Twitter. Yep, this is going to be one snarky blog post

Let’s give you the background:
ESPN says no more twittering about work stuff

Why?
They just don’t see the ROI

Why this is dumb:

1. I feel like no goal or strategy was thought out
2. If you put some thought into it, Twitter is totally monetizable and trackable. Sometimes it may require effort. Gasp! The Shock! The Horror! God forbid I lift a finger
3. Somewhere today I stumbled on a quote that went something like, “We no longer search for news. News finds us.” If ESPN isn’t finding me, I’m not the demo visiting ESPN.com. I did though when it popped into my twitter stream
4. The sports fanatics? 140 characters will not be enough. It will only whet their appetite for more ESPN more often
5. Other sports sites aren’t doing it. Yet. Kudos ESPN. You’re probably not breaking news
6. Congratulations ESPN. You’ve alienated your sports fans and cut off new ways of garnering additional traffic. Just keep running those display banners. That 0.02% CTR is sure to bring tons of traffic in.

Usually, I enjoy playing Devil’s Advocate and throwing in the pros of some one’s decision. But nope, not tonight. Does ESPN have some valid concerns? Sure. Do I intend to talk about them? Nope. Every one’s a moron tonight.