5 ways to make your blog less human
Word of mouth is spontaneous, uncoached, unrehearsed, non-commercial, un-incentivized reports from a user of a product to a potential user.
Word of mouth marketing is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms.
This is what many of us have been fearing: a wholesale, widespread usurpation of the authentic, unbiased, user-to-user recommendation network of blogospheric buzz.
The Word of Mouth Marketing Association is an example of such trust-web hijacking.
I've already voiced my disapproval of WOMMA on their site, and debated the CEO. There seems to be a large orientation to "how can companies take advantage of blogospheric buzz?"
Word of mouth marketing is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms.
This is what many of us have been fearing: a wholesale, widespread usurpation of the authentic, unbiased, user-to-user recommendation network of blogospheric buzz.
The Word of Mouth Marketing Association is an example of such trust-web hijacking.
I've already voiced my disapproval of WOMMA on their site, and debated the CEO. There seems to be a large orientation to "how can companies take advantage of blogospheric buzz?"
Tags: consumer, mouth, user, product, reports
October 22, 2008
Share Economy and Sacrifice Marketing
For those who fear Blog Purists and Blog Police, here comes your second worst nightmare. CBO has re-awakened from golden slumbers and counting sleeping sheep. Chief Blogging Officer. Looking forward to his Mission Statement and some roughshod enforcement of blogistic laws. Does Your Company Belong in the Blogosphere? [Harvard Business Review]. Word of Mouth Marketing?
Tags: marketing, blog, enforcement, blogistic, laws
October 22, 2008
SEO vs. spam vs. spontaneity
Want to de-personalize your , make it seem stiff and unnatural? It's easy! Everybody's doing it, and now--you can too!
By following these tips, you can erase your humanity from your blog, destroy it's easy readability, and ruin its altruistic integrity.
How to Remove Your Unique
Personality and Credibility
from Your Blog:
(1) Liberally sprinkle Search Engine Optimized (SEO) keywords and search phrases into your blog titles, posts, and comments.
(2) Myopically blabber on and on, ego-maniacally, post after post, about your conferences, your business, your products, your seminars, your books, your affiliates, your expertise, your opinions.
(3) Be so cold and grimly business-oriented, your blog sounds like a dry and dusty textbook.
(4) Use artificial posting strategy: post only on topics that are already high traffic generators. Forget the needs of your current readers, and pander to the strangers out there who haven't visited your blog yet.
(5) Use your blog to push product, sell services, or hype a company, with little concern for giving readers any real, substantial, useful content.
By following these tips, you can erase your humanity from your blog, destroy it's easy readability, and ruin its altruistic integrity.
How to Remove Your Unique
Personality and Credibility
from Your Blog:
(1) Liberally sprinkle Search Engine Optimized (SEO) keywords and search phrases into your blog titles, posts, and comments.
(2) Myopically blabber on and on, ego-maniacally, post after post, about your conferences, your business, your products, your seminars, your books, your affiliates, your expertise, your opinions.
(3) Be so cold and grimly business-oriented, your blog sounds like a dry and dusty textbook.
(4) Use artificial posting strategy: post only on topics that are already high traffic generators. Forget the needs of your current readers, and pander to the strangers out there who haven't visited your blog yet.
(5) Use your blog to push product, sell services, or hype a company, with little concern for giving readers any real, substantial, useful content.
Tags: blog, post, product, easy, readers
October 22, 2008
Why WOMMA is wrong ma
"Sure, I understand what you say about universal content utopia and business karma, Vaspers," Slow To Leap said.
I frowned in a professional doctor sort of way.
"But I'm a special case," he continued. "It costs a lot of money, time, and effort to produce my music, and to make CDs of it. I'm not about to throw away my creative work, just to try to please some passing kids who'll just use my music for their own purposes. Free mp3 albums and net labels, it sounds insane to me."
"You're not special, you're slow, sluggish," I fired back. "A psycho-perfectionist who remains firmly dissatisfied with your own output. Nothing is ever good enough to try to distribute or market. You're stalling as a way to avoid criticism, bored looks, and apathy from hostile, jaded music consumers. You're hiding in a pseudo-overachiever disguise, so prevent the pain of other musicians and record companies laughing at your mediocrity and lack of imagination."
Share Economy means you cheerfully and abundantly give away FREE samples, FREE products, FREE information, FREE services, FREE functionalities, FREE code, FREE consulting, FREE help, boon or benefit of some sort.
Until now, I've been calling it Share Economy. Not based on Martin L. Weitzman's The Share Economy: Conquering Stagflation, in which share economy is described as a two wage system, salary and profit-sharing, to stave off bad economic conditions and avoid downsizing.
No, I refer primarily to (1) you share freely and abundantly (2) others share with you (3) you and others improve due to sharing (4) you and others, separately or collectively, develop Paid Content/Product/Services to market to those who have been flooded with high value FREE Content/Product/Services.
You know what you're doing? You're sacrificing something. Time. Energy. Production. Distribution. In a greedy Old Economy outlook, that stuff is wasted by giving things away for free. To a psycho-capitalist, free merchandise is stolen, it's stealing profit from you, free is destructive, and self-defeating.
But we know better.
We know that nothing goes viral faster than FREE.
And once you go viral, then you've got a pre-prepared audience, who loves you, and wants more, at whatever cost. Then you can continue the free floodings, and also offer Paid Stuff for more advanced users, or for more complex applications.
You sacrifice the FREE to attract the buyers of the PAID.
It's a magic formula that actually works. Try it.
I frowned in a professional doctor sort of way.
"But I'm a special case," he continued. "It costs a lot of money, time, and effort to produce my music, and to make CDs of it. I'm not about to throw away my creative work, just to try to please some passing kids who'll just use my music for their own purposes. Free mp3 albums and net labels, it sounds insane to me."
"You're not special, you're slow, sluggish," I fired back. "A psycho-perfectionist who remains firmly dissatisfied with your own output. Nothing is ever good enough to try to distribute or market. You're stalling as a way to avoid criticism, bored looks, and apathy from hostile, jaded music consumers. You're hiding in a pseudo-overachiever disguise, so prevent the pain of other musicians and record companies laughing at your mediocrity and lack of imagination."
Share Economy means you cheerfully and abundantly give away FREE samples, FREE products, FREE information, FREE services, FREE functionalities, FREE code, FREE consulting, FREE help, boon or benefit of some sort.
Until now, I've been calling it Share Economy. Not based on Martin L. Weitzman's The Share Economy: Conquering Stagflation, in which share economy is described as a two wage system, salary and profit-sharing, to stave off bad economic conditions and avoid downsizing.
No, I refer primarily to (1) you share freely and abundantly (2) others share with you (3) you and others improve due to sharing (4) you and others, separately or collectively, develop Paid Content/Product/Services to market to those who have been flooded with high value FREE Content/Product/Services.
You know what you're doing? You're sacrificing something. Time. Energy. Production. Distribution. In a greedy Old Economy outlook, that stuff is wasted by giving things away for free. To a psycho-capitalist, free merchandise is stolen, it's stealing profit from you, free is destructive, and self-defeating.
But we know better.
We know that nothing goes viral faster than FREE.
And once you go viral, then you've got a pre-prepared audience, who loves you, and wants more, at whatever cost. Then you can continue the free floodings, and also offer Paid Stuff for more advanced users, or for more complex applications.
You sacrifice the FREE to attract the buyers of the PAID.
It's a magic formula that actually works. Try it.
Tags: share, economy, product, music, content
October 21, 2008
podcasts are still poor communication tools
Podcasts are catching on, sort of. But are they any good? Most are boring and too long to keep anyone's interest.
Usage numbers are escalating, but most internet users are not getting it yet. I think shopping, news gathering, photo sharing, music downloading, video viewing, and text communications (email and blogs) are still the primary online activities.
According to a new Pew Research podcast usage report, in the Pew newsletter that entered my email inbox today, only 1% of internet users download a podcast, on any given day, for later listening. But 17% of internet users have downloaded a podcast at some time in the past. I would be more interested in how many have subscribed to podcast channels and how many are doing their own podcasts.
My guess is that people are far more interested in hearing music, than in hearing lectures, interviews, and other verbal ramblings. Why download a podcast that you'll only listen to one time, and maybe not the entire thing if it gets boring, which most are?
Podcasts violate just about every rule for effective communications, and the perpetrators seem to not care. Thus, most podcasts seem to be done by egotistic people who think we hang on every word that comes out of their mouths. (See my recent post on "Mouth as Weapon").
Podcasts are ill planned. Poorly recorded. Way too long. Don't contain much meat. Have very little of value to others. Podcasts are mostly "me me me". Podcasters screw up more than bloggers or videocasters do. Podcasts waste time introducing people or rambling on myopically.
Since I have to interrupt my computer usage and lie on the floor every 1/2 hour, due to Steve Ballmer-type back and geek neck problems, I seek interesting, relevant, instructional podcasts to listen to while I'm resting my spine. But you know, I usually just read a book or listen to music.
I like the Jason Calacanis podcasts, because he has a nice voice, good guests, and relevant, marketing oriented topics. The podcasts are really long, but sometimes I'm in the mood for a long sonic adventure.
I have suggested to Jason that he group all his CalacanisCast podcasts (in Beta now) in one place, in a category on his blog sidebar. It is a pain to try to hunt through his blog for all the podcasts. I am downloading and saving them all.
For myself, I'm gravitating more to podcasting, and away from video. Even though I believe in video as a more powerful medium. It's just that I cannot figure out how to effectively use video. I feel much more at home in a writing medium or a talking venue.
Usage numbers are escalating, but most internet users are not getting it yet. I think shopping, news gathering, photo sharing, music downloading, video viewing, and text communications (email and blogs) are still the primary online activities.
According to a new Pew Research podcast usage report, in the Pew newsletter that entered my email inbox today, only 1% of internet users download a podcast, on any given day, for later listening. But 17% of internet users have downloaded a podcast at some time in the past. I would be more interested in how many have subscribed to podcast channels and how many are doing their own podcasts.
My guess is that people are far more interested in hearing music, than in hearing lectures, interviews, and other verbal ramblings. Why download a podcast that you'll only listen to one time, and maybe not the entire thing if it gets boring, which most are?
Podcasts violate just about every rule for effective communications, and the perpetrators seem to not care. Thus, most podcasts seem to be done by egotistic people who think we hang on every word that comes out of their mouths. (See my recent post on "Mouth as Weapon").
Podcasts are ill planned. Poorly recorded. Way too long. Don't contain much meat. Have very little of value to others. Podcasts are mostly "me me me". Podcasters screw up more than bloggers or videocasters do. Podcasts waste time introducing people or rambling on myopically.
Since I have to interrupt my computer usage and lie on the floor every 1/2 hour, due to Steve Ballmer-type back and geek neck problems, I seek interesting, relevant, instructional podcasts to listen to while I'm resting my spine. But you know, I usually just read a book or listen to music.
I like the Jason Calacanis podcasts, because he has a nice voice, good guests, and relevant, marketing oriented topics. The podcasts are really long, but sometimes I'm in the mood for a long sonic adventure.
I have suggested to Jason that he group all his CalacanisCast podcasts (in Beta now) in one place, in a category on his blog sidebar. It is a pain to try to hunt through his blog for all the podcasts. I am downloading and saving them all.
For myself, I'm gravitating more to podcasting, and away from video. Even though I believe in video as a more powerful medium. It's just that I cannot figure out how to effectively use video. I feel much more at home in a writing medium or a talking venue.
Tags: podcast, long, video, time, internet
October 21, 2008
How To Deal with People Who Talk Too Much
First, in my obsessive eternal teaching mode, let me state that I was going to title this "Dealing Decisively with Psycho Blabbers", but changed my mind. I figured it would attract more traffic if I cleverly used SEO technique of stating the probable phrase that a typical user might type into a search engine to find info on this topic.
Okay, so I call super aggressive, domineering or bullying, obsessive chatterboxes, who refuse to shut the hell up -- I call them: Psycho Blabbers.
Let me repeat: I'm not making fun of "the gift of gab", salesmen, extroverts, charismatic leaders, drill instructors, teachers, eccentric poets, la la landers, or lecturers.
I'm talking about the boring, narcissistic, exhibitionistic fool who sadistically, and freakishly, inflicts his nutty personality and materialistic bragging -- a faith or unbelief system, a hobby, a political idea, a dietary oddity, a form of government, a sexual quirk, an operating system, a programming language, a movie, a taste in music, a philosophy, a prejudice, or whatever -- on everybody in the universe, indiscriminately, inappropriately, tyrannically, non-stop.
Being an incurably lazy type of over-achieving and inspirational but modest genius, let me also state that a grandiose delusional personality is always involved. My antidote for that self-impressed trait within me is simple self-loathing, auto-parody, and deliberately stupid posts like "Deleting the Entire Internet".
And being a 20 work-day loafer, who nearly never contradicts himself, I must now quit being so original and just lazily quote comments from my related post "Mouth as Weapon", to finish this post.
Seriously, this is a rather important topic, and we are rarely fully prepared when faced with such bizarre psychopathy. Many encounter it around the winter holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's.
[QUOTE]
Okay, so I call super aggressive, domineering or bullying, obsessive chatterboxes, who refuse to shut the hell up -- I call them: Psycho Blabbers.
Let me repeat: I'm not making fun of "the gift of gab", salesmen, extroverts, charismatic leaders, drill instructors, teachers, eccentric poets, la la landers, or lecturers.
I'm talking about the boring, narcissistic, exhibitionistic fool who sadistically, and freakishly, inflicts his nutty personality and materialistic bragging -- a faith or unbelief system, a hobby, a political idea, a dietary oddity, a form of government, a sexual quirk, an operating system, a programming language, a movie, a taste in music, a philosophy, a prejudice, or whatever -- on everybody in the universe, indiscriminately, inappropriately, tyrannically, non-stop.
Being an incurably lazy type of over-achieving and inspirational but modest genius, let me also state that a grandiose delusional personality is always involved. My antidote for that self-impressed trait within me is simple self-loathing, auto-parody, and deliberately stupid posts like "Deleting the Entire Internet".
And being a 20 work-day loafer, who nearly never contradicts himself, I must now quit being so original and just lazily quote comments from my related post "Mouth as Weapon", to finish this post.
Seriously, this is a rather important topic, and we are rarely fully prepared when faced with such bizarre psychopathy. Many encounter it around the winter holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's.
[QUOTE]
Tags: post, topic, type, blabbers, call
October 21, 2008
7 podcast tips for more effective communications
Here are 7 vital tips on how to make your podcasts more effective.
Keep Your Podcasts...
(1) Short.
Only arrogant ego maniacs make 45 minute podcasts of random ramblings. Only amateur business people start with long introductions of participants or interview subjects. Get right to the meat of your presentation. People simply cannot focus on audio messages for long stretches of time, no matter who it is or how interesting the topic. Mind is restless. Mind is easily bored.
(2) Relevant.
Avoid going off on tangents. Stick to the topic. Stop a wandering podcast and start over again, or edit the finished podcast. Please remember that users have millions of other things they need to do, or enjoy doing. They are not hanging on every word you drool.
(3) Identified by Title and Time Duration.
Never call your podcasts "Podcast #1", "Podcast November 21, 2006", "Podcast Beta 6", etc. Think of some title for it, something that indicates what it contains. And let users know how long it is. Standard form is (4:12) for 4 minutes and 12 seconds. This is something I almost never see done. But many people will skip a podcast if they don't know what the time investment is going to be. To omit a title and time duration is sloppy, lazy, and amateurish.
(4) Introduced by Brief Textual Summary.
Again, think. Ponder how to best sum up the podcast content in a brief statement, or a few sentences, whatever it takes to entice people to listen to it. Even better, provide a summary that conveys the meat of your message, so busy people can get the gist of it, without having to listen to the whole thing.
(5) Divided into Topic Segments.
It's pretty much impossible to "search" the contents of a podcast. The only way I know of would be to provide a timer or a scale that indicates position of various parts, then providing a key, like (0:00 - 1:50) = web design comments, (1:50 - 5:37) = usability tips, (5:37 - 7:15) = credibility enhancements, etc. This would help users find relevant information and skip irrelevant discussions.
Another way, much easier, would be to simply break the long podcast into shorter segments, then label them, like this: "Web Insights 1: Design", "Web Insights 2: Usability", "Web Insights 3: Credibility", etc. Don't forget to provide the time lengths and summaries.
(6) Defined by Audience Targeted.
In some cases, where it may not be obvious, indicate what your audience for the podcast is. Like: "For advanced bloggers", "For C ++ Programmers", "For web developers". Or label the podcast as "comedy", "political commentary", etc.
(7) Clear and Pleasantly Listenable.
Be sure to check and double check your audio volume levels and sound quality. I have often re-done a podcast, started all over again, because the background music was too loud, or my voice volume was not loud enough, and so on. Don't just rush into a podcast, assuming that the levels are right.
Keep Your Podcasts...
(1) Short.
Only arrogant ego maniacs make 45 minute podcasts of random ramblings. Only amateur business people start with long introductions of participants or interview subjects. Get right to the meat of your presentation. People simply cannot focus on audio messages for long stretches of time, no matter who it is or how interesting the topic. Mind is restless. Mind is easily bored.
(2) Relevant.
Avoid going off on tangents. Stick to the topic. Stop a wandering podcast and start over again, or edit the finished podcast. Please remember that users have millions of other things they need to do, or enjoy doing. They are not hanging on every word you drool.
(3) Identified by Title and Time Duration.
Never call your podcasts "Podcast #1", "Podcast November 21, 2006", "Podcast Beta 6", etc. Think of some title for it, something that indicates what it contains. And let users know how long it is. Standard form is (4:12) for 4 minutes and 12 seconds. This is something I almost never see done. But many people will skip a podcast if they don't know what the time investment is going to be. To omit a title and time duration is sloppy, lazy, and amateurish.
(4) Introduced by Brief Textual Summary.
Again, think. Ponder how to best sum up the podcast content in a brief statement, or a few sentences, whatever it takes to entice people to listen to it. Even better, provide a summary that conveys the meat of your message, so busy people can get the gist of it, without having to listen to the whole thing.
(5) Divided into Topic Segments.
It's pretty much impossible to "search" the contents of a podcast. The only way I know of would be to provide a timer or a scale that indicates position of various parts, then providing a key, like (0:00 - 1:50) = web design comments, (1:50 - 5:37) = usability tips, (5:37 - 7:15) = credibility enhancements, etc. This would help users find relevant information and skip irrelevant discussions.
Another way, much easier, would be to simply break the long podcast into shorter segments, then label them, like this: "Web Insights 1: Design", "Web Insights 2: Usability", "Web Insights 3: Credibility", etc. Don't forget to provide the time lengths and summaries.
(6) Defined by Audience Targeted.
In some cases, where it may not be obvious, indicate what your audience for the podcast is. Like: "For advanced bloggers", "For C ++ Programmers", "For web developers". Or label the podcast as "comedy", "political commentary", etc.
(7) Clear and Pleasantly Listenable.
Be sure to check and double check your audio volume levels and sound quality. I have often re-done a podcast, started all over again, because the background music was too loud, or my voice volume was not loud enough, and so on. Don't just rush into a podcast, assuming that the levels are right.
WOMMA does not define signal of mouth advertising, thanks to it's an oxymoron. It can't be defined minor deconstructing itself mid the in reality hit to dispose itself. It is illegitimate from the get-go.
How, exactly, do they attempt to supposedly \"unleash the terminology of the consumer\" and \"sire it simpler thanks to friends to proclaim friends over provide they such\"?
I prefer the Consumer Reports methodology. They accept no undue influence, aka advertising, to keep their opinions, their content, pure and reliable. Consumers seem to agree with that strategy, judging by the success Consumer Reports has had over a rather long haul.WOMMA is the opposite of Consumer Reports. They teach companies how to exploit blogospheric conversations for commercial gain, and I just know how well that's going to fly in blogoland. We simply do not wish to hear from paid enthusiasts.
Infinity it's not over heinous until covert, undisclosed product publication or dis-endorsement, disguised being friendly, authentic, no-agenda approximation (over medially the stealth trading of a PayPerPost), it's along not an action that aim win separating the pronounced dimensions.
WOMMA states they hand companies \"amplify additionally facilitate\" conversations, Also \"empower the mother tongue of the consumer\". Due to marketers to indicate to \"harness\", \"leverage\", or \"profit by\" this continuity seems self-defeating along anti-blogospheric to me. I esteem the best strain to \"impress\" the influencers is bygone contributing your expertise to a mother tongue, with genuinely no associating dictionary, due altruistic engages.
This altruism besides sincere bull market intent produce good intention. But to lick to coax a blogger to indicate before long turf conventionally your product, or to postal service comments at blogs halfway a spammy, self-serving procedure is not how viral transacting is meant to check. Such self-serving along with exploitation of the blogosphere craving eventually backfire furthermore gorge cull to the moreover helpful still selfless contributors of fraternal moreover helpful substance.
..but what do I be cognizant? I'm nobody in individual.
But now, I have to append "I'm not getting compensated in any way for stating this" whenever I praise or recommend a product spontaneously on a blog comment or post. What a drag.