Archive for December 2009
Moms Who Blog...And Make Us Laugh
Last Friday, December 4th, The Tree House Social Club hosted a night celebrating Beth Feldman’s “See Mom Run” book tour. What made the night special was live readings from her host of contributors; all innovators in the world of blogging. Out of deference for their talents, I will refrain from the catch phrase “mommy blogger”. In the course of the evening and after a few conversations it became clear that these dynamic women had no agenda to be part of this pigeon-holed part of the current internet landscape. Now despite this, the book and the readings still wound up celebrating motherhood and we can certainly celebrate THAT!
Beth Feldman
Beth’s reading was an insane account of her pregnancy within the few days preceding the birth of her first child. It reads more like Hunter S. Thompson than anything else and although out of my league, I was hooked. Following her were readings from Beth Blecherman of (http://TechMamas.com) who reflected upon the needs for family time at odds with her online commitments exacerbated by a power outage wreaking havoc on both matters. Ciaran Blumenfeld (http://popshopology.com) read an amazing tale of potty training run amok with such vivid descriptions that I am inclined to hold my nose just writing about it. Then Jenna McCarthy (http://jennamccarthy.com) almost gave Ciaran a run for her money with another well-humored tale of children and their bodily fluids. This, of course, involved travel and using available clothing to deal with the mess only to set Jenna up for a close run with an indecent exposure situation at Target. By now, I, possibly the only non-parent in the house was in stitches. Lenore Stoller, aka Role Bubbe and Beth’s mother, read and shared in a way that brought the wisdom to the table. Her tale of her son’s leaving the nest for college and somehow reappearing with laundry on weekends was a truly unique take on the mixed emotions that come with watching your children grow up and travel through the stages. Sue Levine Kupcinet shared valuable anecdotes about her numerous “light bulb moments” and how they each fared differently to bring her both some hard knocks as well as great successes. Beth closed the night with a fun song, yes a song!
Also enjoying this entertaining evening were Debbie Lavdas ( http://peaceloveandmomminess.com ) and Tree House partners Jeannine Chanin and Tricia Leight Ficher. I was very much entertained by the “venue” and the inner-child in me was screaming with envy as kids rode the slide and played in the tree-fort (all indoors).
Everyone needs a watch monkey...
The “Moms Who Blog” world is both massive and influential. It’s also rife with humor, wisdom and mind-boggling resourcefulness. There was not one person I met or saw that night who has not mastered the management of many things at once. See? I didn’t say “multi-tasking”. THAT is something women have been doing for, hmmm, ever? The new Mommy Blogger (ok, I said it) cosmos is grand and to be celebrated. I’m glad I stuck around. Please visit
Visit this link for the best collection of images. Most of my photos were inferior so I have only posted two: Beth and the resident orangutan. The group image used is from Ciaran’s Whrrl entry.
Bernard Yin
* Top photo courtesy of Beth via http://whrrl.com/experience/story/18713009?wref=per_1_7_ttl&sharer=17097631 *
When someone else talks about your stuff, it's earned media
What exactly is earned media? I’m glad you asked. But first, let’s define paid media (sorry, it’s the best that Wikipedia had to offer). Paid media is just that. Exposure that you pay for whether it be television, print, radio, outdoor or online. If you paid someone to put your message there, it’s paid media. Don’t get me wrong, paid media is absolutely necessary and crucial to an integrated marketing mix. And, with the controls available today, you can reach a very targeted audience exactly where you want them for smaller investments than ever before. But, nevertheless, it’s still paid.
Earned media is the result of coverage, comments and conversation produced by press releases, chat threads, Facebook posts, Twitter tweets, blogging, commenting, reviewing, rating, social bookmarking like Digging, StumblingUponing (I made that verb up so don’t hate), Deliciousing (see previous parenthetical note), and video posting (I still love “Will It Blend?” and applaud Blendtec for doing it the right way) among other user-generated and brand-owner content development. Earned media is not completely free. You will most likely pay an agency like ours or an employee of your company to create, craft, post and manage earned media. If you are bootstrapping and doing it yourself, it still costs in terms of time and effort that could have been spent elsewhere. But let’s face it, you’d be paying to create the ads or media for your paid media on top of the actual media costs anyway. So, earned media still costs less.
Even better than costing less, earned media is more valid, engaging and connecting than paid media in a myriad of ways. It can come via a trusted third party – a friend, a media source, a blogger or a community you respect. It, by its very nature, sparks a dialogue that can open the doors for deeper connection. And, it engenders credibility (when done right, mind you) by offering information and conversation versus a come-on or enticement.
Word-of-mouth can be sparked by great paid media, but it’s the following earned media that makes it viral. Keep that in mind when you are planning and the word “viral” pops up.
1.Business Becomes Social
With widespread adoption of social media for marketing, advertising and customer engagement, 2010 will be “the year social media goes corporate.” This means all types of agencies (advertising, digital and PR) will continue to look for ways to help clients participate in social media. But the real trend is the increasing number of Small Business owners who are using social media to attract and retain customers.
2.More Places To Share Video
Video is exploding across all communication platforms and will continue to play an important role in social media. As more and more blogs include links to video content and as mobile devices expand the use of video, we will see even more video content in all aspects of digital, mobile and social media.
3.Mobile Becomes The Viewing Choice For Social Media.
With approximately 70 percent of organizations banning social networks and, sales of smartphones on the rise, more and more people are turning to their mobile phone to connect with social media. As a result, we will see more mobile versions of social media sites.
4.Smartphones Make Websites Smarter
With more consumers using smartphones, websites will start to recognize when a user is viewing content on a phone and be able to deliver more specific, personalized, local content to mobile users.
5.Status Updates Fill Jobs
In 2010 more and more jobs will be posted through social networks. With the increased use of social networks, companies are realizing that announcing a job on an employee’s social networking site is easier and more cost effective than paying $400 for a 30 day job posting and getting 95% bad candidates or paying a recruiter 30-35%.
6.News Feeds Influence Investors
An increasing number of retail and institutional investors are using financial blogs and social networks to communicate and drive investment ideas. Although companies have been slow to adopt, 2010 will be the year that companies understand the opportunity and importance of embracing these channels and engaging with their investors and stakeholders.
7. Customers Speak Up On Fan Pages
Social media is being used to improve customer service. In 2010 more companies will start leveraging social media platforms to gauge the
customer mood, gain insights about specific groups, test products and improve customer relationships. Sites like Facebook will be used to run tailored marketing campaigns to change consumers attitudes, address problems and give customers a chance to share true feeling on a fan page.
8. Social Networks Spend More Time On The Phone
Mobile social networks and communities continue to grow at a staggering rate. Social networking and consumer generated media are no longer limited to a wired computer. Separate reports from M:Metrics and ABI Research show a surge of social media activity via mobile handsets. According to mobile research firm M:Metrics, mobile social networking is projected to grow to over 800 million users worldwide by 2012.
9. Everyone plays Together
More and more platforms are becoming complimentary of each other (ie. Twitter open API model) increasing integration of social media platforms.
As more companies adopt some type of integration with major social platforms, niche social platforms will need to work on mobile, Facebook and Twitter to gain major traction. In particular, the market is just begging for an app where a user can manage all social platforms in one place, for both aggregating and disseminating content.
10. Social Networks Work For The Government
Many government agencies are already using Twitter and Facebook for crisis communications. However more and more federal, state and local government agencies will start using to social media. G-Commerce will evolve. New applications will be developed to directly deliver services and benefits to citizens via smartphones.