Vanity vs. Blog

Came across an interesting post by Suzanne Vara, Managing Partner at Kherize5, titled “Is Vanity Killing Your Blog?“  It’s good… go read it.  I’ll wait.

The point about the pressure to constantly strive for more, create fresh new content, put forth more “conversation and connecting” into the WWW is incredibly timely.  Essentially, with all this talking, who is listening?

We all have been taught that the way to be the most interesting person at the party is to be the most interested (in others, the host, the food, etc.), which means asking questions and enabling the next logical and engaging comments from the other person (in other words, basic etiquette).  Gut check:  Does this type of etiquette happen on your blog?  On your Facebook fan page?  In your Twitter stream?  Hmmmm…

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WordPress or Woodstock

Over the weekend, my sometimes-partner-in-crime, V. Scott Ellis, wrote a post for WebLogTools Collection called “Exploring the GPL, Viable Models, and Business Risk.”  WebLogTools is a blog about blogs, blogging, WordPress and best practices therein.  It is extensively read and contributed to by the WordPress (WP) developer community, and since Wendistry and all our client sites are built on the WP platform, I (being non-technical) feel the need to wander by this site once in a while.

First, a definition before you start reading the post:

GPL– General Public License; GPL is one of the most commonly-used open-source sofware licenses.  The distinctive feature of the GPL license is that it requires that any code derived from GPL code also uses a GPL license.  What that means is any plug-ins or bolt-on applications that are created for the WordPress platform ALSO must be open-source.  If you are a developer, that doesn’t mean you have to give them away for free.  However, it does mean that if I create a widget for WP and I sell it to Person A for $29, once A pays for it, A then has full legal right to turn around and sell it on A’s web site for $25 (under-cutting my, the creator’s, price).  If A sells only 2 widgets, not only has he recouped his investment, Person A has made a profit on MY work.  Now, let’s take this further…

Person B buys Person A’s widget.  Now, Person B turns around and sells the widget on his web site… for $20.  Again, same principal.  B now has undercut me (the creator and person who did all the work) and Person A.  Eventually, the whole model breaks down because you finally end up with a product that Person Q paid only $1 for and is perfectly willing to give it away for free.

Now, I agree that money is not the only reward for hard work done well, but as the widgets/ plug-ins/ bolt-ons for WordPress become more complex, the need for deep expertise and ever-increasing amounts of support enter the picture.  At some point a person’s (or organization’s) ability to match the demand will not scale.  The need to make a living or support your family though other means becomes the top priority.

When that happens, by default, the amount of time a developer can dedicate to writing more code or providing support tapers off.  If a developer has provided something of particular value, then the WP community suffers when that developer can’t be there, and it’s especially sad when the main reason is because he/she can’t afford it.  The more complex these things become, (expertise required) the higher the barriers to entry.

Free “love” and free items work perfectly well in a small, “community-like” environment (like the WordPress community has been so far) with limited market size and limited complexity involved in widget/ plug-in/ bolt-on creation.  Where all this gets sticky, and the reason why this discussion should be read by business owners/ founders/ designers/ creators, no matter the industry, is because BUSINESSES EXIST TO MAKE MONEY. A commune is not a sustainable business model.

Finally, to show how truly passionate and committed Scott is about supporting developers financially, he launched “Make a Donation to Your Favorite WordPress Developer on March 1st” before the opportunity for him to write this post on WebLogTools even came up.

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Companies and Corporate Social

Where social media and marketing collide, we’ve got a new brand of communication called social marketing.  Capitalizing on the community-building strengths of the early Internet, companies can be empowered to reach audiences in a deeper way.  However, the double-edged sword is the price for companies that are hesitant to participate.

While social marketing has been around for years among early adopters, it is still not widely embraced by large enterprises.  Marketers (trapped?) within these companies are starting to push and ask their senior management when they can get involved, but many feel they lack the knowledge to take bold steps in this realm.  To many, there are more questions than answers:

• What is all the buzz about?
• Where does this fit into the marketing mix?
• How does it apply to my company?
• Should we participate?
• What is the cost of participation?
• What is the cost of NOT participating?

Wendistry agrees that social media strategies are NOT mainstream, yet.  The weak economy adds to the level of risk most businesses are willing to accept.  However, it is those businesses who put off planning and defining a social media strategy NOW are at an even bigger risk.  Marketers (and companies) who are absent from these new conversations are missing out.

Not just another marketing program to add to your list of options, social marketing is about engagement which is touching every aspect of our society and every level of a company’s communications… from public relations and internal communications to customer support, e-commerce and loyalty programs.  Social media enables and even deepens the conversation and what you need to realize is if you aren’t using social media to create these discussions with your customers… your competitors are.

While there is an inherent urgency, applying social marketing is not a decision to be made on a whim and without a plan.  In fact, just setting up a Facebook fan page and/or a Twitter account could be detrimental and/or devastating to your brand.  If your business doesn’t have the internal resources to develop and devote to a well-executed strategy, please don’t even venture online in this new media space until you do.  Another factor is having other priorities, such as updating an old web site, or perhaps your target audience isn’t involved in social media.  I’m thinking of industries like manufacturing, industrial, farming, chemical, etc.

Many companies may be hesitant to enter the social marketing realm because they are afraid of failure.  However, in waiting until they gain a better, more thorough understanding of this territory, they are losing out on “first-mover” status.  Now, is possibly the best time to get started… realize that this “trend” is not going away.  Consumers still find it interesting and refreshing when brands reach out to them in a conversational and friendly way through social media.  Consequently, companies are earning respect and good will by trying to participate.  Customers are also more forgiving right now than they will be in the future when the expectations are higher.

Social marketing requires new skill sets that can only be learned through experience.  Unlike traditional marketing, social media marketing demands a customer-centric approach that is focused on lifestyle content instead of product content.  It also demands that organizations learn to be comfortable with more transparency.  Both of these criteria take practice and time to develop.

Finally, if the customer loyalty and brand affinity reasons for developing a social marketing program aren’t enough, the financial benefits are extremely compelling.  The ROI studies are revealing phenomenal numbers.  According to Next Century Media, 66% of online community participants are likely to purchase as a result of their social experience with the brand, and 85% are likely to recommend the brand to a friend.  These numbers demand serious consideration, especially when compared to other marketing methods.  Time and effort spent now in considering social marketing’s potential could yield tremendous results and a multitude of positive changes beyond anything marketing professionals have experienced before.

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Evian Roller Babies

With a tagline live young, the Evian web site continues to reflect its brand of fresh snowy French Alps mountain water.  “Water is essential to life.  It’s a fundamental element to your health and well-being,” says Evian, and to me, the pictures of beautiful mountains and beautiful people reinforce this message.  Cool, soothing, blue, and icy whites just scream health and freshness.

Which is why I’m also surprised by the “Fun Stuff” tab on their site.  Here you can use your cursor as a finger to draw on an icy, fogged over window, to create your specially designed snowflake storms, or to drag-and-drop a “skier” on the slopes and watch him ski down.  Is this video (or any of these tactics for that matter) ON BRAND?   Let me know what you think…

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Economics Rap

Since I was an Economics major at UT, I do believe that there is no such thing as a “market failure.”  Only the failure of badly run companies with lots of political connections, bailed out at? taxpayer expense.  That’s not a “market failure,” that’s standard government operating procedure.  Market interventions always distort the market.

In “Fear the Boom and Bust,” John Maynard Keynes and F. A. Hayek, two of the great economists of the 20th century, come back to life to attend an economics conference on the economic crisis. Before the conference begins, and at the insistence of Lord Keynes, they go out for a night on the town and sing about why there’s a “boom and bust” cycle in modern economies and good reason to fear it.

\”Fear the Boom and Bust\” a Hayek vs. Keynes Rap Anthem

Get the full lyrics, story and free download of the song in high quality MP3 and AAC files at Econstories.

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