Archive for the 'social media' Category

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I’d like to thank the academy…

Published on April 21, 2007 in misc and social media. 2 Comments

When I started blogging a year and a half ago, one of the goals I set for myself was to be nominated for one of the blog awards. I was delightfully surprised when I was checking my email this week to find that I’d been nominated for Best Marketing Blog, Best Design, and Best Blog Host (not entirely sure what that one means to be honest). So, a minor goal – but a goal accomplished none the least.

I really do appreciate the comments and emails generated by this blog. It has developed into more than I could ever imagine. And so, to you the readers, I say thanks. I hope to commit more time to writing in the near future. There have been some professional developments on my end that I think you’ll enjoying hearing about.

PS. and yes, I did have to vote for myself. Hey you never know, it may come down to that one vote. Remember Florida???? I hope we can keep the digital “chads” to a minimum.

The never-ending 5 questions meme

Published on February 1, 2007 in social media. 1 Comment

I’ve watched this go across the blogosphere and thought I might be left out, but no luck – not that I mind.

Lyn Chamberlin of the brand dame tagged me on the 5 questions. This one is slightly different – everyone answers the same questions. So here goes:

  1. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED SO FAR FROM VISITORS TO YOUR BLOG
    I’ve learned that there are a lot of people interested in the nexus of design and business. When I was working as a marketing manager for a Fortune 500 firm, I felt like I was on an island most of the time. People weren’t used to a “creative” that could also think strategically.
  2. IF SOMEONE OFFERED TO PAY FOR A COURSE (OR MORE) FOR YOU, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
    I’d go for an MBA from a world-class business school (Oxford, Harvard, Wharton) to see how different the educational process would be from my ~4 years at a state university.
  3. ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH WHAT YOU HAVE ACHEIVED IN 2006?
    Ha, trick question. I had a good year, but I’m rarely satisfied. I’m always striving to learn more, try more and get better results. It’s almost a compulsion.
  4. HAS BLOGGING CHANGED YOUR LIFE IN ANY WAY?
    Like most bloggers, I love the way blogging has democratized publishing. It’s very much a case of the ants have megaphones – and that’s a good thing. Sure there is a ton of crap in the blogosphere, but as a collective, it’s power is almost unfathomable – and we’re just starting to see the potential. We’ll look back at 2006 as the year of the blog.
  5. IF YOU COULD MEET THE ONE PERSON IN THE WORLD THAT YOU TRULY ADMIRE, WHO WOULD THAT BE?
    I’d choose either St. Peter or St. Paul. Jesus would be just a little too much to handle. But to be able to talk to someone that personally witnessed the most revolutionary years in human history would be awesome. I would love to hear the teachings straight from them – and probably be a little shocked how much it has changed and been watered down over the last ~2000 years.

So, now I’m going to tag Marc Sirkin,  Suzanne Sowards-Hamm, Robert Kingston, Derrick Daye, and Matt Bailey.

Answer the same questions please.

technorati tags: marc sirkin, suzanne sowards-hamm, robert kingston, derrick daye, matt bailey, lyn chamberlin

Marketing (r)evolution Carnival #2 – Submission Request

Published on January 30, 2007 in advertising, branding, marketing, marketing (r)evolution, social media and strategy. 0 Comments

Marketing (r)evolution Carnival

The intial Marketing (r)evolution Carnival went over so well that I’ve decided to host one on a regular basis.

The 2nd Edition is scheduled to launch on Feb 19, 2007. You can submit articles in the following categories:

  • marketing
  • branding
  • creativity
  • strategy
  • advertising

The submission deadline is Feb. 16, 2007. If you’ve never participated, this is a wonderful way to gain exposure for your blog and be introduced to some of the thought leaders in this space. And you don’t even have to write anything new – you can submit an existing article. Submit your posts now, the list of authors & articles is growing by the day.

Press Release 2.0

Published on January 23, 2007 in ROI, advertising, branding, business, management and social media. 0 Comments

Stowe Boyd of /Message has been stirring up a hornets nest on how the traditional press release fits into this new world of social media. If you’re responsible for corporate or marketing communications you owe it to yourself to check out his posts.

Original Post

Follow Up Response

As this social medium matures, I think it’s important to realize that for the time being, social marketing avenues are just one of many marketing tools. It’s far too early for most businesses to abandon everything but blogs, ratings, and user generated content. And it’s still a little early to hang your hat on RSS. There are decades of infrastructure and communication channels that businesses leverage to get their message out – though few will argue that most do a poor job of communicating effectively.

Having said that, the sooner that traditional businesses get up to speed with this “trend” that is quickly becoming mainstream, the better off they’ll be (i.e. their brand communications will be more honest, more human, and more effective).

Power 150 – Top Marketing Blogs in US

Published on January 15, 2007 in branding, business, management, marketing and social media. 1 Comment

Power 150 Graphic

Todd Andrlick put together a Power 150 list of American marketing related blogs. I thought, “this will be great, all the best marketing blogs in one spot.” And guess who’s #103? Little ol’ me. What an awesome surprise. Todd’s blog is a great read itself and I’m honored to be included in the list – in fact it looks a lot like my Google Reader RSS feed list. I’ve seen my subscription #’s and views go up steadily over the last year. It’s nice to know that others are paying attention and value my thoughts.

technorati tags: power 150, marketing, blog, todd andrlick

Blogger getting better – no more blogspot.com

Published on January 13, 2007 in social media. 0 Comments

One of the reasons why I switched to Wordpress from Blogger (though there were many) was the fact that you had to have “blogspot.com” in your website URL. My old site was at http://nickrice.blogspot.com. There are a lot of splogs on blogger and I didn’t want to be associated with that. Well they recently implemented a new feature that allows you to use your own domain name. So if you already own a domain for your website, like www.yoursite.com, you can use Blogger software to power your blog while using your domain (www.yoursite.com/blog). This will help with integration into an existing website. Even though it’s free, most businesses do not want to co-brand their blog with Google. And it will help with Google page ranking because you’ll have more pages and consistent publishing your own domain name. This isn’t enough to make me go back. That would take a miracle – Wordpress rocks. But I am happy to see them moving in a direction that is appealing to more serious bloggers. It’s not like the medium is going away – and they need to regain some respect from the established bloggers to offset their reputation.

Social Media Research

Published on January 6, 2007 in business, management and social media. 0 Comments

A small collection of white papers and presentations for those wanting to learn more about how social media is impacting marketing strategy. This list is by no means exhaustive, but it is a great start on learning the basics to take advantage of current trends. Social media can be a great addition to your marketing toolbox.

BrandCamp by Tom Fishburn

Small business and social media discussion

Published on January 3, 2007 in advertising, business, marketing and social media. 0 Comments

On Monday, Jan 8, I will be talking at the ISBO (Independent Small Business Owner) monthly luncheon on “The Impact of Social Media on Marketing”. This should be a great group to present to. Social media is a great way for small businesses to take advantage of market conversations. I know I’m preaching to the choir in the blogosphere, but a lot of small companies haven’t gotten on board yet – and the primary reason why they haven’t is that they don’t know how or didn’t know it was available. I hope to open a few eyes to why mainstream media and advertising isn’t the best bet for budget dollars.

If you’re in the area, feel free to join us:

The private room at the Golden Buffet Chinese restaurant on Richmond Rd, Lexington, KY, 12:00p on Monday 1-8-07

Z-lister explodes

Published on December 25, 2006 in branding, business, design, marketing, social media and strategy. 3 Comments

I’ve watched viral web pieces gather steam and take off like a rocket to the moon. But I’ve never been a part of one until now. This all started with Mack Collier wanting to spread a little link love to a few blogs that he thought deserved a little more attention. A few folks added a few more links until it became a monster unto itself.

My story is an interesting case study in Technorati logic. I had been debating whether or not to move from Blogger to Wordpress. One thing that had always stopped me was the fact that I would have to lose my links and ranking. But I made the move anyway (looking back I should have done it much earlier).

When the z-list meme began, I had 2 blogs linking to me and a Technorati rank of roughly 260,000. After a week or so of the meme blowing up across the internet (including postings from marketing guru Seth Godin and Digitas Creative VP David Armano), this blog now has 67117 links and a new ranking of 49,372 25,448. Seth is even attempting to leverage the new functionality in Squidoo called Plexo for user ranking. Though is particular Plexo is turning into its own mini-Technorati, the technology is cool, if not a little slow. As of right now, Strategic Design is setting at #48 of 262.

But the best part isn’t the numbers, it’s the new blogs and people that I’ve been introduced to. As the blogosphere continues to grow, it gets harder and harder to find good content. And while I’ll probably never be a Top 100 blogger, it has been nice to let the power of the web do a little natural marketing for me.

z-list

Marketing Evolution Carnival Submission

Published on December 20, 2006 in advertising, branding, marketing, marketing (r)evolution, social media and strategy. 0 Comments

Ok readers, I’ve set up a new Blog Carnival. It’s called the Marketing Evolution Carnival.

Please submit your blog posts related to the future of marketing, strategy, branding and creativity. Carnivals are a great way to expose your content to a broad audience. On Jan 2 or 3 I’ll post all of the submissions on this blog with links to each article. So I’ll need your post submissions by Dec. 30th.

So find your best marketing/branding/strategy 2.0 writing and submit them for the Carnival. After that, I’ll do all of the work and let you know when it’s live.