Conversation with b5media's Jeremy Wright

• • No Tags

I had a chance to talk with b5media‘s President, Jeremy Wright, when we were at Gnomedex.

Justin Kan by Laughing SquidWe opened the conversation with a discussion of b5media’s sponsorship of justin.tv’s cap. (Justin Kan auctioned the space on the front of his hat during his presentation at Gnomedex. Jeremy paid $750 to have b5media’s logo on Justin’s cap for a month.) Bottom line: This type of stunt generates buzz among opinion leaders and influentials.

Jeremy also discussed the potential for bloggers to make a living from their blogs. It’s possible, but to make a full-time living you have to work at it full-time.

Finally, I asked about b5media’s growth plans. Look for Jeremy to mention in the last minute of the video that he’s working on licensing the b5media platform and deals to provide b5media’s ads to other large blogs.

[MEDIA=10]

Other related content:

Digging into b5media’s secrets

Blogging for Dollars

* Thanks to Laughing Squid / Scott Beale for the Photo of Justin in the b5media cap.

Linkworthy – Ma.gnolia, Gnomedex, Budget surprises

• • No Tags

Why Ma.gnolia is one of my favorite social bookmarking tools

LinkworthyThomas Vander Wal’s post caused me to take a second look at Ma.gnolia as my preferred social bookmarking tool. Thomas says,

“In the past year or less [Ma.gnolia has] become more social in insanely helpful and kind ways. Not only does Ma.gnolia have groups that you can share bookmarks with but there is the ability to have discussions around the subject in those groups. Sharing with a group is insanely easy. Groups can be private if the manager wishes, which makes it a good test ground for businesses or other organizations to test the social bookmarking waters. I was not a huge fan of rating bookmarks as if I bookmarked something I am wanting to refind it, but in a more social context is has value for others to see the strength of my interest (normally 3 to 5 stars). One of my favorite social features is giving “thanks”, which is not a trigger for social gaming like Digg, but is an interpersonal expression of appreciation that really makes Ma.gnolia a friendly and positive social environment.”

Chris Pirillo reflects on Gnomedex past and future

I attended my Gnomedex for the first time this year. And like many others, I found it was a fantastic conference on the basis of the quality of the participants and the interactions in the hallways and lobbies. An eclectic group of smart, interesting people.

The experience in the conference proper was something different. It had some fantastic highs – Darren Barefoot, Guy Kawasaki, Gregg Spiridellis – mixed with some sessions that just didn’t cut it. So, a very uneven program.

Chris Pirillo (who has poured his heart and soul into giving people a great experience) has a very thoughtful post about this year’s conference and how to build on the experience to deliver a relevant, challenging conference next year. Chris’ intelligence in looking at the larger picture and his penchant for looking at things from a fresh perspective make me want to attend Gnomedex again next year. Even if you’ve never been to Gnomedex, link over to his post. I think the odds are that, when you do, you’ll find yourself subscribing to his feed. To read even a smattering of Pirillo makes you want to read more.

How to avoid budget over-runs

One of the worst experiences for both a creative firm and the client alike is to have a budget exceeded. It’s unpleasant to have to raise this with the client and definitely unpleasant to receive a call about this. The Canadian Marketing Blog offers some practical advice on how to lay the groundwork in advance to ensure that budgets don’t get blown away.

Robert Scoble on social media

• • No Tags

Robert ScobleI had a chance at Gnomedex to ask Robert Scoble about his approach to the ecology of social media. How does he decide which social media to spend time with and what’s his current view about which tools are best for what functions.

Robert looks for the “doubling pennies,” the applications and sites that are growing rapidly and at an accelerating rate. His intent is to alert us to those hot spots. Right now, he sees Facebook as the most important of the new applications.

[MEDIA=9]

By the way, I apologize for the lighting. I’m still learning how to take decent videos. But I hope that you agree that the quality of Robert’s content compensates for the crude production values.

Related items:

BlogOrlando – the social Social Media conference

• • No Tags

blogorlandoIf you can make it to Orlando at the end of September, don’t miss BlogOrlando.

The second BlogOrlando is scheduled for September 27-28, with a day at Disney World September 29. Demonstrating that the gift economy is real, social media thought leader Josh Hallett is bringing together a list of speakers for this one day free conference that other conferences rarely match. Really. I’ve paid hundreds of dollars to hear a lineup of speakers with less to say than Josh is delivering in Florida for free. And Disney World the day after for the family!

If you are interested in learning more about this great conference, watch this video interview I conducted with Josh when our paths crossed at Gnomedex earlier this month.

[MEDIA=7]

I plan to be attend and I know I’ll learn a lot and have spend some time with great people. So, you know I’m sincere about this. If you are anywhere near Orlando at the end of September, don’t miss BlogOrlando!

Oh, and did I mention that registration is free? Thank you Josh Hallett for putting your experience and network to use to benefit Florida and anyone who can attend or read about this great event!

Related items:

Canadians on the Power 150 Next 100

• • No Tags

AdAge Power150 from Tod Andrelik

Last week, I wrote about the Canadian marketing, public relations and media bloggers who appear in the AdAge Power 150. Dino Demopoulos left a comment on that post pointing out that there are several other Canadian blogs moving up toward that ranking – including his own blog, Chroma, at #151.

Lists like this are very valuable for allowing us to discover new and up and coming voices. So, to help this, I’d like to point to the hard charging Canadians who appear in the Power 150 “Next 100.”

I hope that you’ll invest five minutes clicking over to some of these blogs. If you do, I’m sure you’ll find new and engaging voices. And when you do, subscribe and join the conversation with them.

  • Chroma: Dino Demopoulos brings his perspective as a planner and communications strategist to media, culture digital lifestyle and marketing.
  • Buzz Canuck: Sean Moffitt explores all things connected to Word Of Mouth marketing. Practical. Intelligent. Leading edge. Sean’s part of my daily must-read list.
  • Common Sense PR: Eric Eggertson demonstrates that you can see a long way from the vantage of Saskatchewan as he writes about the latest developments in business communications. A b5media blog.
  • PR Works: David Jones, half of the Inside PR podcast team with Terry Fallis, is always trenchant, funny and irreverant in his comments on public relations and marketing. (Disclosure: David is a former colleague at Thornley Fallis.)
  • Student PR: Chris Clarke first started writing his blog while studying PR at Fanshawe College. It was pretty good. In fact, good enough that it caught the attention of the gang at Thornley Fallis. We hired Chris on the strength of the insight his posts showed.
  • Transmission: Mark Goren puts a human face on his Montreal-based marketing agency’s blog.
  • Social Media Group: Maggie Fox writes and podcasts about social media and marketing on her company blog. She joins Kate Trgovac as the second ranking female blogger on the list.
  • The Client Side: Michael Seaton looks at marketing from his perch as Director, Digital Marketing at one of Canada’s major banks, ScotiaBank. Michael has been a champion of new media in corporate Canada and he`s one of Canada`s leading Digerati.
  • Canadian Marketing Blog: The Canadian Marketing Association`s blog draws on contributions from a stellar cast of CMA members.
  • The New PR: Ryan Anderson looks at public relations in the online world from his position as marketing director for an interactive marketing firm.
  • Experience Planner: Calgary-based Information Architect Scott Weisbrod blogs about multi-channel customer experience, planning, design and management.
  • Praized: Sebastien Provencher brings a strong background in local search to his blog.
  • BPWrap: Barry Welford brings another Montreal voice to the party.

I said earlier that lists like this provide an opportunity to discover new voices. And in writing this post, I discovered some new blogs that I had not yet read. So, if my descriptions are a bit brief in a couple of instances, I apologize. But I’ve discovered and subscribed to all of these now and I’m looking forward to following each author through his/her voyage of discovery. I hope you’ll join me in this.

Linkworthy – BlogNation Canada, Publish2 and Blogscope

• • No Tags

LinkworthyA set of links about start ups:

BlogNation Canada launches

Tris Hussey edits the new BlogNation Canada. There’s lots of interesting things going on in Canada Web community. So, Tris should have a steady stream of posts.

Publish2 Manifesto

Scott Karp announces his new venture, Publish2, “a social network and 2.0 platform … which aims to put journalists at the center of news on the web by creating a journalist-powered news aggregator.” Grounded in the belief that humans make better news judgments than humans, who better to make these judgments than journalists, including practitioners drawn from old and new media. Should be interesting.

A look at Blogscope, a new measurement tool for blogs

Jeremiah Owyang looks at Blogscope, an “analysis and visualization tool for blogosphere which is being developed as a research prototype at the University of Toronto.” In Jeremiah’s view, “The most interesting thing about BlogScope is that it’s feature set is available for free, so if you work for Nielsen, Cymfony, Factiva or others, … you should pay attention.”

Technorati and David Sifry – never say die

• • No Tags

TechnoratiI use Technorati. And I use Google. Each is good for different things. As a blogger, Technorati still gives me a better indicator of who is linking to me. Yes, I think that Technorati’s notion of “Authority” is nothing more than popularity. And in my business I know that profit is not the same as success (success is much bigger and broader than simply being profitable.) But, it’s still the best, most available indicator to me of whether my blog is having any influence, as measured by the people who think enough of my posts that they link to them.

So, as a tribute to Technorati’s relevance, I offer this set of links to posts about David Sifry’s departure from Technorati – as recorded by Technorati at 8:26 PM on August 17.

Sifry’s alert

David Dalka’s take

TechCrunch is less than sympathetic

alarm:clock posits several theories for what happened

Jason Calacanis’ assessment from a person who has been there done that.

Mathew Ingram‘s perspective

Brian Oberkirch gets the last word.

Build Pyramids for Good

• • No Tags

One of the highlights of this year’s Gnomedex was Darren Barefoot‘s presentation on using your online presence to do good.

Darren pointed to several sites that enable individuals to sign up to make a personal contribution.

For example, naburr links you to causes that could use your skill set, icouldbe matches mentors to teens, and geekcorps draws on the skills of internet technologists to help expand Internet use in emerging nations.

Other sites, however, leverage people`s desire to make a contribution by providing them with the infrastructure and support necessary to extend the campaign directly into their community. For example:

  • Nothingbutnets is an online appeal for to help control the spread of malaria in Africa by sponsoring the purchase and distribution of mosquito nets. The site provides not only a means to make a personal contribution, but it also encourages donors to recruit teams of their friends and family to join them in extending the fundraising appeal. It features not only an onsite registration to create a team or sign up as a team member, but also offers a toolkits, posters and other paraphernalia that can be used by local organizers.

  • Givemeaning is building a community of contributors who identify causes and needs from anywhere around the world and then organizes appeals to support tangible projects related to these projects.

Darren`s message: Your impact can scale tremendously if you build “pyramid schemes for good.” Build infrastructure that helps others to do good. Don’t stop at making a personal contribution. Build something that encourages and assists others to contribute.

I recorded a brief interview with Darren after the session. I think his message is inspiring. I hope you do too.

[MEDIA=6]

Guy Kawasaki on the Art of Evangelism

• • No Tags

The team of Web developers and designers I work with at 76design have got the social media bug. And they’ve been developing some neat applications and widgets to help people create, share and mash-up content.

I’m enthused about what the 76designers are doing. And when they are ready to launch their apps, I want to play my part in telling the world about what the they have done.

1078254913_4c08ae7d43 So, Guy Kawasaki‘s Gnomedex presentation about how to be a good evangelist spoke directly to me.

Guy charted out his ten rules plus one for effective evangelism: 

1. Evangelism starts with the desire to make meaning. The root of great companies is in making meaning, not just money. The people who start with a desire to make money often fail because they attract the wrong kind of co-founders and investors.

2. Make Mantra, not mission statement. Mission statements are often meaningless. Instead, a company needs a simple 3-4 word mantra that captures the essence of the company. For example – Wendy’s: “Healthy Fast Food.” eBay: “Democratize commerce.” FedEx: “Peace of Mind.”

3. Roll the DICEE. We want to touch things that are golden. To identify this, look for something that is Deep (Reef sandal that includes a bottle opener on the bottom), Intelligent (Panasonic flashlight that takes multiple battery sizes), Complete (It’s not just the Lexus auto you buy, it’s the total experience of service), Elegant and Emotive (Harley Davidson).

4. Niche thyself. Strive to achieve both value to the customer and a unique quality to the product or service. In other words, to be a successful evangelist, you need to be promoting something that offers real value.

5. Let a hundred flowers blossom. When you have a product or service, don’t assume you know who will use it and for what purpose. Be open to the unplanned. And follow those who are enthusiastic.

6. Make it personal. Relate directly to how the product or service affects the individual. How does it help you?

7. 1078289131_981a1020ea Find the true influencers. People who have imagination, can use a product and will have a passion for it. This is not likely to be in the C-suite.

8. Enable test drives. Give people a chance to try the product at no cost. Experience of a good product or service will sell that product or service.

9. Look for agnostics, not atheists. Never try to convert an atheist. It’s unlikely to happen.

10. Provide a slippery slope, an easy way for someone to say yes or to engage with you.

11. Don’t let the bozos grind you down. Believe. Be prepared to make mistakes. Keep going.

After Guy’s presentation, one of the audience members asked him about his earlier admonition that, when developing software, you should “ship then test.” Guy underlined the need to get software out to the community as early as possible so that they can play with it. Everything will have its share of bugs. But users will quickly identify them and you can fix them as they do so. He wouldn’t recommend this approach for life sciences (!), but it works great for software.

Good advice from Guy Kawasaki that I know I will refer to again and again.

*Thanks to Josh Hallett for the Guy Kawasaki photos. For more great photos, check out Josh’s hyku photostream on Flickr.