What Are You Thinking, Steve Rubel?

By Mark Evans in Blogs, Social Media 1 Comment Tags: , ,

So Steve Rubel, one of the thought leaders within social media, has decided blogs are no longer a viable platform for anyone looking to have a strong online presence.

As a result, he’s making the leap to Tumblr, driven by the belief Google is paying more attention to social signals. For whatever reason, Rubel thinks blogs are passe while Tumblr is a more attractive and logical digital option. In the process, he’s deleting hundreds of posts from two blogs.

To be honest, I think it’s dumb. It’s like chasing the hot, new girl (or guy) at school because they have six fingers rather than five. It doesn’t make the new girl/boy better, just different.

Keep in mind Rubel proclaimed two years ago that he was jumping away from blogging to embrace Posterous because life-streaming was the new way to go. Either Rubel has a commitment problem or he’s searching for digital nirvana.

Don’t get me wrong, change is good. But chasing the digital dream by jumping from service to service strikes me as a Don Quixote-like exercise.

I see a few things wrong with Rubel’s thesis. First, trying to play to Google’s search focus is like trying to hit a moving target. As much as Google is the dominant player, it changes the rules and tweaks its algorithm on a regular basis. In embracing Tumblr, Rubel is playing a game of digital whack-a-mole.

Second, Rubel doesn’t control Tumblr, Tumblr does. If Tumblr decides to update or change its service, Rubel has no control. In contrast, Rubel controls his blogs. It’s a personal digital asset as opposed to an online service. Rather than own a digital home, Rubel has decided to rent an apartment.

Again, it’s a decision he thinks makes sense but strikes me as way too idealistic.

I wish Rubel luck but I’d bet you a dollar he’ll be jumping on something new in a year or two.

GigaOm’s Mathew Ingram has more thoughts on Rubel’s “scorched earth” approach.

What Startups Should Not Do When Approaching Bloggers & Reporters

By Mark Evans in Social Media, Uncategorized 1 Comment Tags: , ,

SpotlightWhen you’re a start-up, there’s a hunger to capture the spotlight. When a start-up is scrambling for users, the chance to be get some coverage from bloggers or reporters seems like nirvana. To paraphrase “If we build it, they will come”, start-ups enthusiastically buy into the belief “If we get covered, users will come”.

While trying to attract attention is obviously a good thing, it’s difficult to make it happen because there is so much noise and competition. A blogger with even a modest amount of traffic is probably inundated by start-ups and PR agencies, while reporters are swamped.

In a previous post, I offered eight tips on how to get bloggers and reporters to give you the time of day. Today, I want to look at what start-ups should avoid when they approach bloggers or reporters. This post was inspired by a start-up that sent me an e-mail recently that suggested “We’d appreciate your support by introducing us to the world on your blog.”

While I give the start-up credit for reaching out and using my name to personalize the e-mail, the biggest problem is the message was all about them rather than being about me. They provided a nice overview of their service but it was missing insight into why I should be interested and how it would be relevant to my blog or readers.

In an ideal world, there would have been some information that would illustrate why their service would fit into my editorial focus or interests. The personalization would be included a statement linking the problem the start-up is solving with how the service would make my life easier, more productive or convenient.

Now, it may sound selfish to force start-ups to cater to my needs but it’s a competitive landscape with many start-ups battling for a piece of the attention “pie”. Unless you’re doing something extraordinary, a start-up needs to nail its pitch to bloggers and reporters.

It means start-ups really need to think through what they are pitching and, as important, who they are targeting. It could mean investing their time going after a small target group rather than using the shot-gun approach in which you hope and pray that a few of your blasts get picked up.

It’s not good enough to do an average job when you pitch bloggers and reporters because there are too many other companies playing the same game.

It can be a major challenge for start-ups because telling their stories effectively is often not part of their core competency. Even if they spend the time to tackle it properly, their skills may lie elsewhere. This is where using a third-party could make a lot of sense.

The other consideration is balancing the need to capture the spotlight with the need to make sure your service or product is kick-ass. At the end of the day, great stories and pitch need to sit on a rock-solid foundation of a service or product that delights or solves a problem.

Calgary, Here We Come!

By Mark Evans in Social Media, Uncategorized No Comments Tags: , ,

Screen shot 2011 06 07 at 8 23 00 AMFive years ago, five guys walked into a bar….

It may sound like the beginning of a good joke but the punchline is the five guys decided to create a conference so people could talk about all the exciting things happening on the Web. The conference, mesh, has become a lot bigger, and we’ve branched out by adding more events (meshmarketing and meshU) but the core of what we set out to do in 2006 still holds true today.

As much as mesh has turned into a business, what motivates the five of us is being able to feed off our enthusiasm about new trends, development, start-ups and interesting people to put on conferences. These events are a lot of work but terribly satisfying.

We always thought about mesh as being something for Canada, even though none of us imagined holding events in other cities. After all, we were five guys with no conference experience. Tomorrow, however, mesh takes a big step forward with the launch of meshwest in Calgary. It’s a one-day event that we hope will help us establish a presence in Western Canada and, as important, make mesh truly national.

In some ways, it feels daunting to being adding more events given we all have full-time jobs. On the other hand, it’s exciting to watch something grow and evolve into something you never imagined.

We’ve got a great line-up of speakers at meshwest, headed by a keynote conversation with Shopify.com co-founder Tobias Lutke. What’s nice about meshwest is there’s a good balance of speakers coming in from out of town, along with local talent such as Greg Hounslow, Doug Lacombe, Tony Rino, Allyson Simpson and William Bakker.

We’re looking forward to a great day of conversations and new connections tomorrow. If you’d like to join us, tickets can be purchased here.

mesh ’11: Armano on Influence

By Mark Evans in Social Media No Comments Tags: , , ,

Last month (was it really last month!) at the mesh conference, I had a chance to sit down with Edelman’s David Armano about the growing focus and importance of influence within the social media landscape. David provides some thoughts on what’s happening, why there is so much interest, and the tools to harness influence and influencers.

The influence panel with Armano and Valeria Maltoni was a good conversation but it felt like a good meal in which you later feel hungry. There was terrific insight and discussion but what I think the panel illustrated is influence is still an elusive beast that no one has a handle on yet.

The biggest challenge with influence and influencers is they’re moving targets. While there are some people who are clearly influencers due to their stature or following, the influence landscape is fluid – influencers come and go, they emerge out of nowhere and then disappear just as quickly. This makes identifying and engaging with influencers a constant challenge and struggle.

And although there’s plenty of excitement about influence tools such as Klout.com, there is no definitive or dominant tool…yet. A growing number of companies are approaching influence in different ways so I expect the market will start to evolve much like the social media monitoring market slowly emerged and then exploded.

David Armano on Influence from Mark Evans on Vimeo.

Here are some of my other thoughts on influence:
- The Fascination with Influence and Influencers
- A chat with Klout.com’s Joe Fernandez

GroupOn IPO, Anyone? Count Me Out

By Mark Evans in Advertising/Marketing, Social Media 2 Comments Tags: , ,

GrouponSo, GroupOn is jumping hard on the IPO bandwagon in a deal that values it at $30-billion. There’s no doubt it will attract a flurry of investors hungry to get a piece of the action.

This group will not include me. Why? Despite GroupOn’s high profile and 83 million e-mail subscribers, I’m not convinced it has a rock-solid business or enough of a competitive edge to justify its valuation,

Truth be told, GroupOn is an e-mail marketing company that has enjoyed first-mover advantage to become the industry leader. These days, however, there is no lack of competition. The barriers to entry are low, many players are also well-financed, and niche players are appearing to make competition even that much intense.

Another thing that would trouble me as an investor is whether GroupOn’s service will remain appealing to companies using it to drum up more business. Sure, there are success stories of how a muffin maker attracted thousands of new customers by offering a free muffin via GroupOn. But there are also lots of stories about companies that have taken a financial bath because they were forced to offer incredible deals to satisfy GroupOn’s needs.

In other words, consumers love GroupOn because the deals seem so good – assuming they actually take advantage of the purchases they make – while companies struggle whether GroupOn makes sense economically.

At the same time, GroupOn has demonstrated it is a business that can’t easily scale. Last year, it had $710-million in revenue but it also employs 7,000. To support its growth, GroupOn needs to hire more people. At the same time, GroupOn also needs to aggressively spend on marketing to attract consumers and businesses.

There is no doubt GroupOn is an interesting business experiencing strong revenue growth. With a $30-billion valuation, however, I’m far from convinced it is a good investment or a slam-dunk long-term business proposition.

For more thoughts on GroupOn’s IPO, check out Business Insider and GigaOm’s Mathew Ingram who asks if “Is Groupon Selling Tickets to the Bubble Parade?” while highlighting that GroupOn continues to spend aggressively on marketing while it racks up losses.

For some other thoughts on the GroupOn IPO, check out this video. What struck me was someone who asked why GroupOn was in a rush to do an IPO because “we’re way beyond paying the mortgage here”.

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Web Design is in the Eye of the Beholder

By Mark Evans in Advertising/Marketing 6 Comments Tags: ,

Web designI’m in the process of redesigning my corporate Web site, which has not seen a lot of love or attention since I launched my digital marketing and social media consulting business two years ago.

Having looked at thousands of Web sites (an occupational and personal hazard) and helped a growing number of clients develop and design their Web sites, I have a pretty good idea of how I want markevans.ca to look and what I want it to do. The challenge I’ve discovered is turning a vision into reality is challenging and, at times, frustrating.

At the same time, it has been really insightful to be on the other side of the table. It has given me a new appreciation about a client’s needs and how the process of creating a new or refreshed Web site needs to be structured.

One of the biggest lessons is that simply having a vision isn’t good enough. Nor is it enough to talk to a designer about the look and feel that you want. The problem is neither approach gives a designer enough insight and information about what you want or like. Design is a very subjective and personal thing so one person’s idea of good design can be radically different than other person’s.

Here are a few “rules” about Web design that I consider essential:

1. When you’re deciding on a Web designer, review their portfolios to see if their work and style aligns with your vision. Be critical. If you don’t like what you see, move on. If their works catches your eye, ask for a meeting to get a sense of fit, including how they like to work and the processes they use. Ask for references to get more information and insight about how other projects happened.

2. Before you launch a project, select a number of Web sites you like. They don’t need to have similar themes but it helps to pick Web sites that have the look and feel you’re striving to achieve. At the time, you can pick Web sites that have particular features you like. At the same time, ask the Web designer for Web sites they like to get a better sense of their taste.

3. Make sure there is a structured process that starts with an initial meeting, followed by a brainstorming/information session, and then by wireframes and mockups before you get to actually creating the design. Along the way, there needs to be opportunities to change things, although there should be limits, otherwise you’ll be change/edit hell.

4. Don’t be afraid to speak up if you don’t like the work being done. At the end of the day, it’s your Web site and you want it to work for you. It means if the process or design isn’t hitting home, speak up or forever hold your peace.

5. The cost of a Web design can be small or huge depending on your needs. Establish a budget before you start so a designer knows what they have to work with if, in fact, they decide to work with you.

To get a better sense of the Web sites that I find appeal, here’s a mini-list:
- MailChimp
- Rogers Ventures
- Orange Sprocket

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