The Seven Deadly Sins of Social Media

David Griner, a social media strategist for Luckie & Company in Birmingham, AL, just published what I see as the definitive outline of rules for beginning -- and more importantly -- continuing and profiting from a social media program.

With the very catchy title "The Seven Deadly Sins of Social Media," Griner's article is both fun to read and a real eye-opener. So click on it here and let me (and David!) know what you think!

Rupert Murdoch "Gets It"

Newspaper maven Rupert Murdoch just appointed Jonathan Miller, recently of AOL, as his head of digital operations. This includes a wide range of products, including MySpace, Photobucket, and Hulu. Miller's job is to make sure Murdoch's News Corp.'s online assets are "central to, not separate from, the enterprise."

Instead of newspapers bitching about how the Internet is killing them, perhaps they'd do better to look to the vision that Murdoch seems to possess. Yes, old Rupert "gets it" -- media convergence is here to stay.

Now you tell me: if a 78-year-old Australian can figure it out, why can't the New York Times?

Newspapers that think their old tried and true model (sell ads, build subscription base, take money to the bank) will work in the 21st Century are sorely mistaken. And, no, it's NOT enough to just put your content up online and sell a few Internet banners. It's time for a fully integrated strategy. Newspaper content has always been superior. How about starting THERE and leveraging that as an advantage?

If Facebook Were a Country...

...It would be the 5th most populous on the globe!

Yes, Facebook just passed the 200 million (!) mark in active users. For those of you who STILL think Facebook is the 21st Century equivalent of passing a note in study hall, it's time you shifted your thinking.

If you are NOT on Facebook, you might want to give it a try.

Time to Stop Using "Time" in My Post Headlines

Just looked back at my blog and noticed that I seem to constantly be telling people what time it is. If you are depending on me for this, perhaps it's time you bought a watch!

Time for Newspapers to Charge for Online Content

Rupert Murdoch said last week that he thought that newspapers would have to begin charging for their content for economic survival.

Now isn't that a novel idea -- actually charging for your work!

The New York Times website is one of the most visited, quoted, linked to, and credible sites on the Internet. People all over the world seek out their content. And why not? For all of the bellyaching of the far right, the Times is still the "paper of record" in the United States.

And yet, The Times is losing money.

It's time for newspapers to adopt an economic model that makes sense. Just about nobody this side of Rush Limbaugh wants to see newspapers go the way of the dodo bird. If we need to pay a little for our newspaper content -- especially important papers like The Times -- then I say let's go for it!

Time to Act Courageously

A colleague, Ken Jacobs, just posted a very thoughtful and inspiring piece as a guest blogger on the ThoughtLEADERS.LLC Blog. It is on leadership in these trying times, and is well worth the read. Check it out here.

A real shout-out to Ken Jacobs for (once again) hitting the nail squarely on the head.

Time to "Re-Balance?"

OK, so the economy sucks, and we've all lost a good amount of money in our investment portfolios. And yet, a whole lot of television commercials, billboards, print ads and radio spots are hounding us about "re-balancing our portfolios."

It got me thinking. Shouldn't smart marketers also consider re-balancing their marketing budgets as a result of these trying economic times?

Just because you've ALWAYS done something one way doesn't mean you need to go on repeating the same thing over and over. Remember Einstein's definition of insanity -- doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

If you want to change your marketing results, it just may be time to re-balance your marketing portfolio.

Several new and existing clients have come to us recently asking us to take a look at their overall marketing expenditures. In every case we were able to point out a large number of wasted expenditures -- primarily advertising buys that remain on schedules because they've "always been there," or because "the ad rep buys me a bottle of Maker's Mark every Christmas."

But the world has changed. Unless you are confident that ALL of your marketing and communication expenditures are delivering a real return on your investment (and not just another cost headed straight to the wrong side of the balance sheet), it's probably time to change your way of thinking too.

In flush times, it's easy to just continue doing what you've always done, because, well, we were all making good money, right? And what "worked" from a marketing standpoint wasn't nearly as critical as it is now, during the "Great Recession."

I am 100% confident that a sound, strategic PR program delivers substantial ROI -- well in excess of its cost, and far greater than many advertising-heavy plans. Ping me if you want to learn more.