Remember Casey Nestat?

He did, in February, this excellent short on Chatroulette that became the official explanation of what is the site.

Casey has now published his new video in the same style as the previous video sums up the controversy about Facebook’s privacy.

The very title says: a movie for anyone who is the “blue social network” – Facebook.

A Movie for Anyone On FaceBook from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.

Related posts:

1. Is ChatRoulette worth the time? ChatRoulette ChatRoulette could cause a lot of controversy and be...
2. Facebook users not taking advantage of privacy controls. A Facebook glitch points up more security problems on the...
3. Facebook sends more traffic to broadcast sites than to newspaper sites Although Facebook does send more traffic to News and...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I wrote  many posts about the power of LinkedIn for Social Media Strategies and business.

Everytime I’m speaking on an Internet Marketing Seminar or teaching Social Media Classes I always listen to the same question:

“I’ve got limited time to invest in social media, but there seem to be a million sites out there. How do I know which one is worth my time? If I only have time for one, which one should it be?”

Generally I try to explain that all tools available should fit into your strategy and your level of commitment – either time or content production- and I then explain how I use my various online presence and my expectation with each one of them.

However every single time I end up talking about LinkedIn and my fixation with this tool.

What is Linkedin?

LinkedIn is a website that allows professional network with over 70 million members globally.

LinkedIn is one of those sites that tends to get brushed aside in the sexy, shiny world of social media. It’s not flashy, we rarely hear buzz about billion dollar valuations and you don’t get a billion email reminders to visit because your contacts on LinkedIn are not encouraged to write on your wall, send zombies after you or take lengthy and inane quizzes.

What are LinkedIn Features?

Linkedin has many handy features but one I like to use most are their groups. A powerful networking strategie along with seeding content strategy.

LinkedIn Groups allow you to:

* Quickly discover the most popular discussions in your professional groups.
* Have an active part in determining the top discussions by liking and commenting.
* Follow the most influential people in your groups by checking the Top Influencers board or clicking their profile image to see all their group activity.
* See both member-generated discussions and news in one setting.
* Easily browse previews of the last three comments in a discussion.
* Find interesting discussions by seeing who liked a discussion and how many people commented.

LinkedIn has now rolled out few changes to their groups making it more social and more engaging.

Watch the video below.

Related posts:

1. Social Media Execution a lesson from Black Eye Peas It seems that there are no limits for the...
2. Social Media Resistance – Breaking the Shell There are way too many articles about Social media benefits,...
3. Social Media Club Meets Social Media Bloggers Experts After 2 months, we are back with the 3rd session...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

After 2 months, we are back with the 3rd session of Social Media Club Melbourne.

This time in great style. After having the guys from Lonely Planet (1st event), and 3 of the most well known entrepreneurs in Australia (here, here, here) we are now bringing together 3 of the most prominent bloggers in Australia.

Meet Melbourne’s Global Power Bloggers

Darren Rowse aka @problogger, and The Inquistr’s Duncan Riley are big players on the world stage; rounding out the bill is Pip Lincolne, aka @meetmeatmikes, Australia’s number one female blogger.

When: Tuesday 8th June, 6-9pm

Book Here to listen to Australia’s Power bloggers.

MC for the evening will be Yvonne Adele (aka @IdeasCulture), a popular blogger and prolific Twitterer who also happens to be one of Australia’s most sought-after speakers on the subject of ideas generation.

This will be a ripper.

SMC Melbourne is part of the global Social Media Club organisation. The club’s mission is to “connect media makers from around the world to advance media literacy, promote industry standards, encourage ethical behaviour and share lessons they have learned”.

In Melbourne the organisation is represented by Nikki Bannatyne, Simon Small , Tim Beveridge, Trevor Young and me Lucio Ribeiro.

@SMCmelb on Twitter

Related posts:

1. Social Media Resistance – Breaking the Shell There are way too many articles about Social media benefits,...
2. Social Media Execution a lesson from Black Eye Peas It seems that there are no limits for the...
3. Things to do Before ad:tech Sydney 2010 Things to do Before ad:tech Sydney 2010 As my part...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Things to do Before ad:tech Sydney 2010

As my part of being Social Media Manager for ad:tech, I want to help my readers get the most out of the event. So I’m providing you with some tips to prepare yourself before attending.

There are many things you should do before attending ad:tech if you want to be prepared and make the most of the conference.

I’ve broken them down into three main categories for you: research, connect, and plan.

Research for ad:tech Sydney 2010

The very first thing you need to do is research.

You need to have a look through http://www.ad-tech.com/sydney/adtech_sydney.aspx to make sure you know the dates (16^th and 17^th of March), and have a look through the schedule to see which presentations you want to attend (I strongly suggest to attend Jeff’s-Cadbury case).

If you haven’t already had a look, you’ll see there’s always three different presentations running at the one time, so take note of the ones that interest you the most.

You should also have a look through the sponsors, exhibitors and speakers at the event. Have a look through some of their websites to see what you know about them, if they’d be of any value to you – i.e. a prospective client, or a coonection to a prospective client.

It will also be very beneficial for you to have an idea of who is going to ad:tech Sydney, and what they do.

And to do this you can use the hashtag I mentioned last week #ATSYD to search and you’ll be able to see many names – well Twitter accounts – of people attending or you can just head to the list on ad:tech Sydney Twitter list.

Then you can look through them to see if any of them could be beneficial for you to know or just to talk to at the conference. It’s always nice to know something about the person before you meet them, and they might be very impressed or flattered that you know just one thing about who they are or what they do because you’ve taken your time to read their blog or visit their website.

Similarly, I’d also recommend reading up on as much industry news as you can, the more you know about the latest digital marketing and advertising news, the more impressive you’ll sound when you’re networking at the event.

Connect

Connect or die.

Once you’ve found the people you think will be the best people for you to meet and talk to at the conference, start connecting with them through social media now.

A simple tweet to say hi breaks the ice a bit and you get to introduce yourself before meeting them. This means when you do meet them at the conference, they will probably have looked through your website/blog to find out who you are.

Another great way of making a small connection with someone influential in the industry if you’re not game enough to tweet (or e-mail, Facebook them etc.) is to leave a comment on their blog.

People will always read people’s comments on their own blog as they want to see what feedback and discussion they’re receiving.

If you leave a comment to engage in conversation with them, discussing their blog posting they’ll probably reply to you and you will already have started that connection. Then once at ad:tech, you’ll be able to tell them you’re the person who was having a discussion with them via comments on their blog. They will be very impressed by this – assuming you’ve posted intelligence comments with valid points on their blog – and you’ll receive a great first impression from them.

Plan

Plan

Think about how you want people to remember you. Think about and plan a little introduction speech, so when you meet people instead of introducing yourself in a monotonous boring way, think of something interesting you can say about yourself. This will help people remember who you are, instead of you becoming just a face of one of the many hundreds or thousands of people they meet over the course of the event.

Also plan what types of conversations you want to be having. This means you won’t be talking to someone and after the introductions have nothing to say, making it awkward for both of you. This is why you need to research as I mentioned earlier. It will give you ideas of good conversational topics you can raise with people.

You also need to make sure your business cards, website, and resume are up-to-date. The last thing you want to do is get there and realise you have out-dated, amateur looking business cards that you feel ashamed to be giving out. Remember, people will judge you on your business cards, because apart from anything you may have just said to them in the few minutes you’ve been talking to them, they have nothing else to judge you on yet – and we all know how important first impressions are.

Also think of technical issues that you may forget about later. i.e make sure you have extra batteries or power supplies for your laptop, remember to bring your phone and laptop charger. All the little things that are essential, but you may forget you need to write a list or pack them early.

Doing each of these three steps: researching, connecting and planning will give you the competitive edge.

People will remember you, you’ll create far more meaningful and powerful contacts, and you’ll get the most out of the conference.

Hope to see you there

Lucio

on Twitter

on Facebook

on everything else.

Related posts:

1. ad:tech Sydney 2010 What are the advantages? Is there still value of attending conferences in today’s...
2. Social Media Resistance – Breaking the Shell There are way too many articles about Social media benefits,...
3. False Reviews? It can cost you more than SEO damages. Since my last post about business and google Maps, I...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Lately, Digital Media has been receiving all the spotlight but it’s nice to revisit how old school creative marketing with a business strategy, clear objectives and defined target can produce a great cost/efficient, measurable response, with clear ROI.

This is the case of a Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore campaign for Singapore Navy Services.

Problem:

Singapore navy service was struggling to attract high-level, intellectual professionals with a combination of mental aptitude and strategic thinking. Even though they were receiving thousands of applicants, most had not the combination of skills necessary for the position.

Challenge:

To attract  5-10% of top graduating students who might never consider a career as a naval officer and one day would command a multi-million dollar, state of the art frigates.

The idea:

Working with a selected database list rather than a fancy app on facebook or a pushy broadcasting account on twitter, they decided to work in a direct, clear and selected database list which targets the top 5% of graduating students from universities.

The agency selected the best university minds in the country and sent them a direct mailer pack, which contained the actual Naval Officer’s uniform including medals and decorations. This awe-inspiring uniform is revered and respected the world-over.

The crisp, fancy white Naval uniform instantly appeals to the prospect, giving them a 5 minute opportunity to live the experience. The life-sized uniform could be held up, allowing for a real-life experience. As a last token a business reply card was placed in the pocket.

Mechanic:

6000 direct mailers sent.

Response:

5% response – 300 applicants – a much higher rate compared to previous numbers + the time saved recruiting and avoiding wrong applicants.

Champion!

(Click the image to enlarge)

Cheers

Lucio Ribeiro

Post published on www.marketingeasy,net

Related posts:

1. Social Media Resistance – Breaking the Shell There are way too many articles about Social media benefits,...
2. Social Media Execution a lesson from Black Eye Peas It seems that there are no limits for the...
3. Things to do Before ad:tech Sydney 2010 Things to do Before ad:tech Sydney 2010 As my part...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

It seems that there are no limits for the Black Eye Peas when it comes to Social Media.

The social media explosion started when a happy boy in an Apple Store, and various bizarre versions started to pop up.

On September 2009, 172 communication students at the University of Quebec at Montreal videotaped a lip dub video of the song, which was posted to YouTube the following day. Because of the video’s raw choreography it was able to be filmed in a single take. The video went immediately viral and gained over 1,300,000 views within two weeks. The video was featured on a CNN news report on October/2009.

Bang! The song was already number one on the charts and climbed directly to number one on Itunes with the most sold singles.

If that wasn’t enough, earlier this month Oprah had a Kickoff party for the 24th season of her Talk Show.

This was all launched by a unique performance by the Black Eyed Peas.

Black Eyed Peas altered the lyrics slightly for their hit single “I Gotta Feeling” to tribute Oprah in a big performance on the streets of Chicago.

What Oprah didn’t know was that the 21,000 fans were not just there to watch the kickoff, but to put on a show for Oprah.

So how did they managed to get 21,000 people together to dance in a perfect synchrony?

Answer: Social Media Strategy.

Phase 1 -

Without the show host’s knowledge, Peas star will.i.am teamed up with choreographers  and the show producers to create a dance routine for the band’s “I Gotta Feeling” hit and then called on 800 fans using twitter and social media channels to help him execute the spectacle on TV.

The 800 were taught the moves.

AMAZINGLY everyone did it in such perfect unison.

1st Video – the training session

Phase 2 – After the first selection of dancers had their first session of training the dancers used their own contacts on Facebook, Twitter and other social media channel to engage more people

Video 2 – a more engaged crowd

Just before the show started all the previously trained dancers were dispersed into the crowd to quickly teach it to the rest of the people who became aware of the show through Social Media messages sent out by the dancers, B.E.P’s and Oprahs producers.

Result:

21,000 of Oprah’s biggest fans perform one of the biggest dances in the world to the Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling.”

Who said there was no way for the phonographic industry to ramp up sales and take their piece of revenue on social sharing websites?

Are they still seeing as a threat or is it a start of a new strategy?

The song has so far sold 3,000,000+ digital downloads in the United States, Internationally, “I Gotta Feeling” has become the Peas’ most successful single of their career, topping the charts in over fifteen countries so far.

Lucio Ribeiro

www.marketingeasy.net

Related posts:

1. Social Media Resistance – Breaking the Shell There are way too many articles about Social media benefits,...
2. Understanding Why You Need SEO Guest Post by Danny Sullivan Lucio’s Ribeiro note: It...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

There are way too many articles about Social media benefits, importance etc.

Even though we all know Social Media can be used for business in different ways (sales, research, customer services, branding, etc) when reality knocks on the door it is a different story.

A simple search on Google will present tons of how/why/when to use Social Media, but (with all respect) most of these guides have been written by users for users.When it comes to selling internally for your company the story changes.

Recent research by EMarketer lists where the level of resistance to Social Media in organisations is higher.

Not a surprise as the higher the executive position the more Social Media Resistance will be found.

You are probably wondering why resistance to Social Media is higher among CEO’s?

My instant response would be, it’s his/her ass on the line. If something goes wrong, they are the first to blame.

People are creatures of habit and CEOs are no different.

It’s just natural for human beings to try to preserve the status quo and to avoid changes leading to  places they don’t know. Fear of the unknown, can manifest in excuses / barriers.

Though 70% of US marketing, management and HR executives say they plan to increase social-media use at their companies, more than 80% say  they are concerned about the risks, and most do not have policies or training in place to avert reputation mishaps or lost productivity.

From a management perspective, the common Global (American) business culture (top-down) might be a tough environment to achieve full social media internal engagement.

Too often I hear consultancy agencies speak about how ’social media’ can be used to achieve a ‘flatter’ organisation. Well, it’s true but the key is to have leaders who understand that they have to adjust their management / leadership habits to allow innovative thinking and to support the process of it, and that’s exactly where the attrition starts.

From MCharts

“Ignoring the need for responsible guidelines can leave an organisation open to unnecessary risk and can impede efforts to use social media proactively and competitively in the marketplace,” said Carol Russell, CEO of Russell Herder.

“Rather than bypass the social media opportunity, organizations should embrace it while taking steps to educate their team about internal guidelines and best practices,”

According to Ethos President David Baer, good social media policies are organisation-specific, but must take into consideration the form, substance, philosophy and culture of the organisation.

Good policies should include “the need to respect confidential and proprietary information; as well as the sensitivity of potential conflicts of interest,” he added.

A recent study by Nucleus Research found that social networking costs employers 1.5% in lost productivity.

Ok, companies should embrace it, but what to do and how to sell it internally?

Companies should be more methodical in their approach to social media, better educating themselves on risks and benefits, and putting into place plans and policies to produce benefits while also minimising risk.

You still need to overcome the internal resistance, how?

From Chris Brogan

“You’re probably the most passionate person in your company when it comes to social media. When it comes to explaining this to your senior leadership, a different approach is required. They’re busy. They have other concerns. They might not be as studied up on the tools as you.

Here are some suggestions.
1) Start strong – “I’m thinking that a blog will improve our marketing efforts and overall SEO. I’ve built a plan that shows rough costs, time involvement, and my predictions of what we’ll get for our efforts.”
2) Explain things from the senior view.
3) Use case studies.
4) Find and keep a senior sponsor for the project
5) Finding your top competitor already using the tools, that’s won several social media enthusiasts the chance to get things going.”

At The Online Circle we always find that showing what competition is doing is highly appreciated by CEOs’.

It does 2 things:

1) It gives them a sense of safety and reliability

2) It arouse their sense of competitiveness

After that we then guide them through a logical process, bringing to the light some normally over-looked aspects (liability, IT, Human Resources, etc)

To break the shell isn’t easy, but approaching CEO’s and high level executives with a different language, with a non clear plan and without a solid real case is almost asking for a big No.

SUN TZU on The Art of war:

Now the general who wins a battle makes many
calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought.
The general who loses a battle makes but few
calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations
lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat:
how much more no calculation at all! It is by attention
to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose.

Related posts:

1. What’s happening with Google? We’ve been so busy at The Online Circle lately with...
2. Just another day at work. A conversion story John calls our office, “Hi, I’ve heard you guys work...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.