Unified Studies - Portland Social Media, Web Design, and Web development

New survey from Razorfish - 40% of People "Friend" Brands on Facebook

40% of People "Friend" Brands on Facebook...that is one of the findings from a new survey from Razorfish who questioned 1000 "connected consumers". ReadWriteWeb does their usual excellent breakdown and analysis here.

Another crazy stat from the survey....33% of respondents report they get their news from Facebook. That is both amazing and....hard to believe...but there it is!

Simple takeaway...brands/businesses ignore the social web at their own peril...true this survey is "connected consumers" but...it won't be long before that category includes just about everyone.

Social Media - ROI

From Dag Homboe's blog, a spreadsheet to help you in calculating your ROI in regards to your Social Media plan.

Dag says" For this research, we identified 13 parameters that play a role in determining the ROI of Social Media.  It is not necessary to include all parameters in a ROI calculation – pick the parameters that make sense."

Dag also goes to the trouble of explaining thoroughly his reasoning in the build-out of the spreadsheet, and also how to best use it.

Social Media ROI spreadsheet

The Thought Bubble - 25 Must Read Social Media Marketing Tips

Most articles/blog posts on social media marketing are short churns of phrase. The motivation being..."Gotta post something today, keep the page views up, become a thought leader, add some followers, engage my hoped-for audience"....and 90% of the time the post is merely a regurgitation of the acknowledged fundamentals of social media marketing. The dearth of actual original thought in SMM "thought leaders" is...I would say "alarming" but it doesn't warrant the use of a word that should be used in conjunction with something far more serious.

I'd like to start a meme today about how so much of the writing today on SMM is based on nothing. The same people saying the same things to each other in....well, it's either an echo chamber or a vacuum. It's the same, conceptually, as the NASDAQ bubble, the housing bubble, etc., a whole lot of activity, word churn, energy and money swirling around a mountain of expectation and perceived (or imagined, or hoped for) value.

We shall henceforth call this "The Thought Bubble".

Sure, SMM, and social media and the conversation is all good stuff. And I love, and agree with Gary Vee-WineTV, yes, it's a revolution. But an economy cannot be built on a lot of experts singing to a bunch of other experts the same old song in the hopes that a few companies will hear the siren song and pay to hear it as well. There's a lot of back-slapping and McLovin' going around.

Now that I've said that...here's a great article on Social Media Marketing from a bunch of the usual suspects! Seriously though, it's a long, pretty in-depth read. A lot of it, of course, can be boiled down to "Learn to Listen", and many of these thought leaders lapse into agency-speak that is tortuous, and comic. Hey, expert, read your thing out loud. Does it sound smart, or like a load of crap-speak? OK...it sounds smart...still, does it mean anything other than learn to listen? If not, just say learn to listen  and leave the 10 dollar words in your novel.

One of the good points made in the article is from Geoff Livingston - Senior Vice President at CRT/tanaka.  He speaks to the importance of companies having a larger communications strategy that social media is a part of...he says, in part:

I think they should nail down a higher strategy first.  It’s a common error, and one I face often where I have to unify and re-activate littered social media properties that have been abandoned due to little interest. Going back to that core strategy, that core value an organization has to offer is the heart of where social media strategy begins.  Not playing with Twitter because it is hot.

The best stuff in this article is from actual companies talking about their challenges/successes i/r/t SMM, like HP...but it's all worth a read.

25 Must Read Social Media Marketing Tips

Videodash V_2

In Japan since Friday night. Currently in a small working class town an hour out of Nagoya. Wonderful host making us feel welcome. About to hop a train to Nagoya where we will stay at the Nagoya Crown, a nice hotel with an onsen. Looking forward to a hot onsen soak. Our down time here so far has allowed me to catch up on some long overdue writing, thinking, planning. Right now, and since yesterday, writing up business plan for re-launch of Videodash network, Videodash_V2 so to speak. Mea culpas included free of charge. Very exciting, illuminating, and informative to analyze in detail the last year of trying to launch Videodash on a shoestring. I am considering posting here in installments.

It is a great exercise to stare in the mirror of ambition, see the true reflection, and not flinch...just evolve.

Social Microfunding and Microgiving

Already becoming the trend to watch in 2009 is Social MicroFunding. Microfunding, and Microgiving, for charities and causes is an idea whose time has come...at the very moment that the economy is faltering, there seems to be an increased awareness that we must start working towards doing good...even (maybe especially) in small and manageable ways.

The WellWishes Twitter campaign is one that has gotten quite a lot of attention. The campaign hopes to raise as much as $25,000 or more to put toward building wells in impoverished areas so that children can have clean drinking water. The believe they are more than halfway to that goal now.

Israeli Consulate holds Twitter press conference

The Israeli Consulate held a press conference via Twitter today.

The response was so overwhelming that they had to promise to answer more of the questions on their official website by tomorrow.

This is an amazing and telling use of social media tools...many have predicted that Twitter would go "mainstream" in 2009...hey, we still got a couple of days to go before the New Year.

Here is their Twitter account:
http://twitter.com/israelconsulate

and the first round of questions and answers:

http://tinyurl.com/95wu7d

Predictions 2009 - Social Media - from Trendspotting

Social Media Influencers Predictions 2009 By Trendsspotting

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: social media)

How To Do Almost Anything With Social Media from MASHABLE

Pretty amazing and comprehensive post with a selection of Mashable’s social media How-To articles from 2008

How To Do Almost Anything With Social Media

Politics, the Web and the Midterm Elections

The tools of web 2.0 are quickly being harnessed by the world of politics...candidates and advocacy issues. This from beet.tv. "One of the most high-profile campaigns in this election cycle pits the incumbent Joseph Lieberman against the blogger-backed challenger, antiwar unknown Ned Lamont. According to political consultant Joe Trippi, Lamont’s quick rise in visibility and fundraising is emblematic of how new media tools like blogs and viral video are impacting political campaigns and movements. " Joe Trippi, in the above referenced video clip, goes on to discuss the ways that social networking sites like YouTube and MySpace are becoming powerful forums for political movements.

lately

Watched City of God again. Beginning to think this might be the best movie of the last five years. Seems flawless.

Just went to the CD release party for Rumblefish's Sacramento to Seattle compilation. Done in conjunction with Umpqua bank. Paul Anthony and Rumblefish continue to break new ground with their business model based on helping companies with their "sonic branding".

Haven't eaten at ClarkLewis since..you know. Tommy Habetz, late of The Gotham Tavern, will be opening The Pork Store at 47th and Hawthorne...I will go there ASAP.

Best new band in Portland? Maybe The Ones

Punk/pop rock in the tradition of The Jam. (In my opinion.)