2011 was an important year for this blog. A few months ago, I published my 100th post. And, each post represents an opportunity to learn, improve, and experiment.
Social Media ReInvention Blog's Most Popular 2011 Posts
And, She Weighed in at a Happy and Healthy 6 Pounds, 9 Ounces. From mid-August to early November 2012, I literally dropped out of sight from any new blog posts or social media participation (you may or may not have noticed). The birth of my daughter is the reason why. My wife and I also have another daughter who's seven (7) years old.
Our family grew. And, we are so blessed.
But, Little Blessings Can Be Mentally and Emotionally Consuming. Fatherhood with a newborn is both humbling and rewarding. You learn quickly how sleep deprivation makes it difficult to construct a coherent thought or sentence.
It took four (4) months / early November to start feeling normal, productive, and effective.
The Epiphany: Blogging Really Makes Me Happy
A Newborn Quickly Imposes Prioritization (Whether You Like It or Not). During that four-month time frame, I realized I couldn't maintain my past routines in working on this blog. And, that frustrated me a lot.
I Missed the Process. I felt something missing. And, I had to keep reminding myself this sacrifice and setback is temporary.
I missed everything about the writing and blogging process:
It's a great way to practice writing (which is important in my full-time work)
It's introduced me to interesting, smart, like-minded people
It's not to make money (because I make no revenue from blogging)
It makes me happy
Yes, It Makes Me Happy. And, I hope the time you spend reading my blog makes you happy (or makes youfeel like it's time well-spent). With each new post, I hope you feel the content is improving.
And, I hope you'll continue sharing the content with others. When something I write is shared on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook, I'm always surprised (and humbled).
Thank You. Thank you indulging me in sharing a memorable year. Thank you for subscribing to this blog and sharing its content with your social network connections. And, thank you for sticking with me when I temporarily dropped out of sight.
Here's to a safe, healthy, and happy 2012 for all of us.
Bottom Line: I highly recommend studying Newsjacking. It’s informative, quick-to-read, and filled with insightful how-to-examples. In fact, both books are required reading for any marketing/PR executive, business owner, or brand manager who wants to capitalize on media opportunities generated by the real-time Web.
And, We All Can Do It! David defines “newsjacking” as publishing your personal angle, ideas, or perspective into a breaking news story / event to earn media coverage for your company, brand, or products / services.
Help Journalists Write Their Second Paragraphs. When hot news strikes, journalists scour the Internet via search engines (i.e., Google) and social media (i.e., Twitter, blogs, etc.). Why? They’re seeking additional content (e.g., details, opinions, etc.) that can differentiate the point-of-view in their individual news stories.
That differentiating point-of-view or compelling content is the “second paragraph.” Journalists seek second paragraph material that:
Delivers credible, authoritative, and valuable information / perspective
Describes “why” something happened
Interprets the event’s impact and future implications
Credible Second Paragraphs Can Earn Massive Media Attention. Be fast, use targeted keywords, and provide valuable context in your Tweets and blog posts so journalists can find your contribution to a story with Google searches. Quickly writing an informative blog post and shrewdly publicizing it with Twitter may take an hour or less.
And, the impact can be huge:
“With a single hour’s work many people manage to generate more media attention than a whole year’s return on a substantial PR budget.”
“I’ve been a marketer for two decades now, and I have never seen a technique as powerful as newsjacking.”
2. Newsjacking Favors Faster, Smaller Players
Real-Time Speed is a Newsjacker’s Bread and Butter. Speed, decisiveness, and execution drive successful newsjacking. And, you must respond within the hour of a breaking news story. That’s why fast movers are great newsjackers.
David Can Trump Goliath. Plus, smaller firms can outplay their larger competitors. The Fortune 500 has the same opportunity to successfully newsjack as any other organization or individual. But, their corporate hierarchies and approval processes are handicaps.
Therefore, smaller firms can outplay their larger competitors:
“What’s abundantly true is that newsjacking is easier for nimbler players than its is for the lumbering giants of the corporate world.”
“To successfully newsjack or fend off a newsjack, you can’t wait for approval. You just have to do it.”
Newsjacking Lives and Dies by Speed. The graphic below describes the newsjacking process. Notice how speed drives the entire newsjacking process:
Tracking and staying on top of breaking news
Deciding quickly on your response
Publishing / Publicizing the response instantly
3. Chapter 6 – Ka-Ching: CEO Bags a Cool Million with a Single Blog Post
A Classic, Must-Read Newsjacking Blog Post. Joe Payne is the CEO of Eloqua, a company specializing in marketing-automation. When he learned and verified Oracle entered his industry space, he quickly wrote this blog post: Oracle Joins The Party.
There are multiple reasons why this blog post and the surroundingcircumstances make it a classic, newsjacking case study:
The post provides a valuable and quotable industry perspective
Payne crafted and posted this blog post quickly
The blog post contains verifiable details and statistics
He outflanked a larger competitor (e.g., Oracle) using new media tools
Payne’s Blog Post Earned Major Media Attention, Credibility, and $1 Million. When industry analysts and journalists searched Google for news about Oracle, they found Payne’s content-rich blog post. And, they quoted it verbatim.
In the following examples, I attached the hyperlink to the actual media coverage if the page still exists:
Business Week – Eloqua Guarantees Success for Market2Lead Clients Affected by Oracle
The aforementioned media coverage (and other coverage) increased Eloqua’s credibility. In addition, Payne and his team combined the blog post’s media coverage with immediate, next-morning business development follow-up. These combined activities brought Eloqua software deals worth $1 million in new revenue among six (6) new clients.
That’s a great outcome especially without the luxury of a multiple phase PR campaign or massive advertising budget.
4. Chapter 7: Become the Go-To Gal (or Guy) in Your Industry
Blogs Are Powerful Newsjacking Assets. Long form content achieves four (4) things:
Provides keyword rich content for search engines to index
Increases the probability journalists will find your blog post when searching Google
Delivers context rich details (hard to do in Twitter and Facebook)
Positions newsjackers as reputable and credible reputable industry authorities
Here’s a direct quote from David: “If a blog develops a reputation for serving up informed, insightful, authoritative, articulate, quotable and timely commentary on issues in your industry, journalists will learn to seek you out when issues arise.”
Knowing Your Issues / Topics Cold Leads to Long Term Credibility. Newsjack the issues and topics in which you are well-informed. That knowledge will make your newsjacking perspective valuable, credible, and authoritative.
Long term credibility is vital in building an authoritative reputation and relationships with journalists. Even more importantly, that credibility and reputation dictates why journalists may or may not seek your input in future news stories.
Why Amdocs and Jeff Barak Are Telecommunications Billing and Customer Care Industry Authorities. In Chapter 7, David describes how Amdocs and Jeff Barak used their company blog to comment on regulatory changes in their industry. Barak wrote this blog post, No Need to Be Bill Shocked, while the FCC conducted meetings in late 2010 to discuss legislation about bill shock.
Journalists searched Google for the latest news about this FCC legislation and found Barak’s blog post. His post earned coverage from industry publications (like this one from Penton Media’s Connected Planet blog post — Not Being Shocked by Bill Shock).
5. Learn from Newsjacking Mistakes: The Golden Rules
The Golden Rule Objective (Direct Quote).“When intervening in a news story you should add value – information or insight that contributes to the public’s understanding of the situation.”
The Four (4) Golden Rules. Kenneth Cole didn’t have the benefit of David’s advice before sending out that tweet. We now have that luxury:
* Be dignified and statesmanlike. See the Joe Payne / Eloqua Case Study Above (#3)
* Be positive and upbeat, never mean or vindictive. Again, see the Joe Payne / Eloqua Case Study Above (#3)
* Write articulate text in full sentences without chatty slang, industry jargon, corporate-speak (i.e., mission-critical or cutting-edge) or social media shorthand (e.g., IMHO)
* Don’t get too cute or clever — especially where human suffering is involved. See aforementioned Kenneth Cole tweet
6. Newsjackers Monitor News 24/7 Via RSS Feeds
RSS (Real Simple Syndication) Feeds Are a Newsjacker’s BFF. David describes how setting up RSS feeds to your favorite news sources, analysts, industry publications, and blogs enables real-time news monitoring. And, staying abreast of leading news events gives you the competitive advantage to respond fast. David mentions these RSS services in his book:
Google Reader
Newsfire
Fast Responders Earn Attention. Here’s a how-to video I made two years ago on using RSS (e.g., your iGoogle Home Pages) to monitor postings of your favorite blogs to increase your chances of being an early commenter on new posts. Why? Early commenters earn the author’s attention (especially if you’re the first commenter).
The same principle applies when monitoring news sources in real-time and responding quickly to capitalize on a newsjacking opportunity:
7. Learn How to Maximize Twitter’s Real-Time Capabilities
A Newsjacker’ Must-Have Weapon For Monitoring News Flow. Twitter’s real-time capabilities make it the ultimate rapid response, news monitoring tool. You can find great second paragraph content and breaking news stories by:
Catching key phrases by creating columns in Tweetdeck and HootSuite
Using Twitter’s search function
Setting up a “news” column in Tweetdeck or HootSuite (i.e., a dedicated news column focusing on all the news sources you follow)
A Powerful Fast Response Distribution Channel. When it comes to publicizing and “pushing out” newsjacking blog posts quickly, Twitter rules. Remember, journalists search Twitter to find differentiating second paragraph content.
Use Twitter Hashtags (#). Therfore, include hashtags (the pound key – #) in your tweets to mark them with the unique identifier about a particular subject (i.e., #Cairo). Remember, the hashtag, makes it easier for journalists to instantly locate in Twitter all references to a particular topic. Plus, tweets with hashtags are curated in reverse chronological order (i.e., most recent first).
Twitter Can Help You Directly Contact a Journalist. Most journalists provide or publish their Twitter ID (i.e.@firstnamelastname). Verify their Twitter ID with a quick Google search. Then, include his/her Twitter ID in your tweet so you can directly point him/her to your blog post.
3. 800 Million Users. Facebook has 800 million users / members.
4. 81% Revenue Increase. Facebook's display advertising revenue is expected to grow by 81% in 2011.
5. 50% Increase in 2011 Overall Revenue. Facebook's overall revenue is smaller than Google's. But, Facebook's overall 2011 revenue is expected to grow by 50%+ (compared to 2010's $2 billion overall revenue).
6. 30% of App Revenues. Facebook takes 30% of the reveunes app developers (i.e., companies like Zynga) make on its online platform.
7. $80 Billion IPO Valuation. Facebook is expected to top an $80 billion valuation at its much anticipated initial public offering (IPO).
8. 155 Million Monthly Unique Visitors. Facebook's estimated number of U.S. monthly unique visitors.
9. 400+ Average Monthly Minutes. Comscore says Facebook visitors spend an estimated 400+ average minutes on Facebook.com.
10. 27 Years Old. The age of Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's CEO.
11. 60 Days. Mark Zuckerberg called on Facebook engineers to work nights and weekends for 60 days when word leaked in summer 2010 Google was developing a "Facebook Killer."
12. Four (4) Facebook Executives. Four (4) of Facebook's to 11 executives are ex-Google employees.
Google Statistics
13. 31,353 Employees. Google's estimated number of employees in 2011.
14. 2,600 Employees. In third quarter 2011, Google added nearly 2,600 employees. That's just 400 employees short of Facebook's entire workforce.
16. 41% of $31 Billion (or $12.7 Billion). Google currently captures 41% of the $31 billion U.S. online advertising market.
17. 34% Revenue increase. Google's display advertising revenue is expected to grow by 34% in 2011.
18. 30% Increase in 2011 Overall Revenue. Google's 2011 overall revenue growth is predicted as 30% on $38 billion in forecasted overall revenue.
19. 180 Million Monthly Unique Visitors. Google's estimated number of U.S. monthly unique visitors.
20. 250+ Average Monthly Minutes. Comscore says Google visitors spend an estimated 250+ average minutes on Google's sites (e.g., Google.com, YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps, and other properties).
21. 40 Million Users. As of the publication of this article, 40 million people signed up for Google+.
22. 4 Months. Google+ acquired 40 million users during its current 4-month launch period.
23. 100 Features. Google has introduced 100+ new features since Google+'s June 2011 launch.
24. 598,000 Google+ Followers.As of this article's publication, Mark Zuckerberg has 598,000 followers on Google+.
25. Four (4) Previous Attempts. Google made four (4) previous attempts to launch and establish a successful social network before succeeding with Google+ in June 2011.
Orkut (2004)
Open Social (2007)
Google Wave (2009)
Google Buzz (2010)
26. 5% of App Revenues. Google takes 5% of the revenues app developers make on its online platform.
27. 38 Years Old. The age of Larry Page, Google's CEO.
28. $10 Million in Equity and Cash. Google offered its top engineers and executives $10 million in equity and cash to remain at Google.
29. 20 Years of Government Monitoring. Google accepted 20 years of government monitoring after Google Buzz exposed Gmail users' contacts to others. This public misstep triggered a Federal Trade Commission investigation forcing Google to revamp its privacy policies and accept the government monitoring.
The new Google+ tv commercials are all-of-the-above.
Looks Familiar Doesn't It? And, it's not coincidental how these Google+ commercials resemble the "show us something" marketing philosophy of another successful Silicon Valley company:
The article provides several insights on how Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google, compete in numerous industries.
Plus, there are a number of great facts and statistics about each company. If you’re looking for an article packed with facts and figures about these companies, read on …
Here are some favorites:
1. 49 Days Before Killing H-P's TouchPad. H-P’s foray into the tablet market with its TouchPad lasted only 49 days.
2. $100 Billion in Revenues by 2015. When Amazon doubled in size from 2008 to 2010, it hit $34 billion in annual revenue. Analysts expect Amazon to achieve $100 billion in annual revenue by 2015, faster than any company ever.
3. 17,000 Motorola Mobility Patents. Google acquired Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion (along with Motorola Mobility’s 17,000 patents).
4. $30 Billion in Revenue. Google’s advertising business is on pace to earn $30 billion+ in 2011, almost double 2007’s revenue.
5. 250 Million Facebook Shares Daily. Facebook members share 250 million+ pictures a day.
6. 800 Million Facebook Members. Facebook has 800 million+ members (as of the article’s publication).
7. 11 Industries. Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google are disrupting eleven (11) diverse industries (and compete against each other in many of these industries):
Mobile
Communications
Advertising / Marketing
Local
Retail
Payments
Entertainment
Music
Gaming
Publishing / Media
Cloud
8. $1.5 Billion from the Cloud. Apple’s iCloud service is projected to generate $1.5 billion.
9. $28.57 Billion in One Quarter. Apple generated $28,571,000,000 or $28.57 billion in the third quarter of 2011 (nearly double the $15.7 billion it booked in third quarter 2010.)
10. $1.6 Billion in Advertising Revenue. Facebook’s ad revenue business for the first half of 2011: $1.6 billion (double the amount during the same period in 2010).
11. 400 Million Facebook Members Log-In Everyday. Facebook’s membership is now 800 million+ users. 400 million+ users log in every single day.
12. 2 Billion Facebook Likes or Comments. 2 billion Facebook posts a day are “liked” or “commented upon.”
13. Apple and Android Rule Smartphones. According to Nielsen, Google’s Android powers about 40% of smartphones; 28% run Apple’s iOS.
14. $368 in Profit Per Phone Versus $10 Per Year Per Device. But, Apple makes a $368 profit on each iPhone. Google, on the other hand, makes less than $10 annually per device for the ads it places on Android phones and tablets.
15. 28 Projects Dead. At the time of the Fast Company article’s publication, Larry Page (Google's CEO) killed 28 underperforming projects.
16. 30% Growth. Google’s traditional ad business is averaging about 30% growth in 2011.
17. 64% Market Share in US Search. Google commanded 12.5 billion of the 19.5 billion total searches in the US in August 2011 according to comScore. That’s a 64% market share in the US.
18. $70 Billion Markets (Domestic Advertising and Cable TV). Two (2) key markets Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google each want a piece of the $70 billion in domestic ad revenue AND $74 billion in cable-subscriber fees.
19. 6,000 Patents from Nortel. A coalition that included Apple and Microsoft spent $4.5 billion to outbid Google for 6,000 mobile-related patents owned by Nortel.
20. 2,000 Patents from IBM. Google paid an undisclosed amount to purchase 2,000 patents from IBM.
21. 21 Years for Amazon Versus 34 Years for Wal Mart. Analysts predict Amazon will hit $100 billion in revenue by 2015. This achievement will result 21 years after the Jeff Bezos founded the company. In contrast, it took Walmart 34 years to achieve this benchmark.
22. Amazon Prime Means $900 Per Year Versus $400 Per Year. Amazon Prime customers spend an average of $900 per year on the Amazon site. In the year before a typical Amazon customer joins Amazon Prime, he/she spends $400 per year. Growth in the Amazon Prime customer segment is 50%+ annually.
23. Will $24 Billion Grow to $200 Billion? Facebook and Google directly compete in the $24 billion online display advertising business. Google believes this market will be a $200 billion per year market in the next few years.
Note: I added numbers 21 thru 23 a few days after I originally published this post.
I studied Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel from cover to cover. And, I loved every word. My one regret: I didn’t start reading / studying it sooner.
An Important and Valuable Book. Don’t make my mistake. Six Pixels of Separation belongs in the digital marketing and leadership library of any Fortune 500 executive, small business owner, or entrepreneur who is driven to forge an organization on the principles of trust and community.
This review focuses on seven (7) pearls of wisdom from the book. But, there are so many more.
I hope this review inspires you to:
Purchase the book and study it
Share it with your family, friends, and colleagues
A 3-Pronged Approach: Building, Differentiating, and Auditing Your Personal Brand. Chapter 7: You Are Media (pages 124 – 142) is the most important chapter of the book. It focuses on how individuals can create, promote, and differentiate their personal brands by publishing digital content.
Mitch provides detailed guidance on these key branding activities:
Build a 3D Personal Brand (pages 134 – 135)
Differentiate Your Personal Brand Via a 15-Point Personal Brand Questionnaire (page 129)
Audit Your Personal Brand in the Online World (pages 139 – 141)
In the following video (timestamp 1:53 to 3:10; note there's a short advertisement in the beginning), Mitch describes how organizational brands or individual brands can market themselves in online channels by:
Participating in online conversations
Providing valuable content
Helping other people connect and engage with others
You Are a Broadcast Network. Page 137 states why we are all individual media companies:
“Individuals are creating content; the individuals are the media. The media they are creating are also a form of advertising.”
“It made me wonder: why would Robert Scoble accept a “friends invitation” from people he does not know? Why do you want to be connected to people you don’t know and alert them to stuff you’re doing? And then it hit me! Robert Scoble is media. He’s building his own broadcast network. He understands that media is completely fragmented and, by participating in all these new social communication vehicles (blogging, Twitter, Pownce, Facebook), he’s aggregating readers and viewers, thereby increasing his penetration and his worth as media.”
2. We Are All Intrinsically Connected
Six Degrees of Separation Applies to Traditional Media. On page 4, Mitch explains that today's technology and digital channels enable people to know everyone because:
“We are all intrinsically connected through technology, the Internet, and our mobile devices.”
“We are all a click (or pixel) away from one another.”
“This means that building relationships and turning those relationships into an online community is more important than ever before.”
He describes the Six Pixels of Separation Concept in the following video (timestamp: 0:08 to 1:37; note there's a short advertisement in the beginning):
Geographical Boundaries No Longer Apply. Watch the following video. It describes the true story of how the rock band, Journey, found its new lead singer via YouTube. The new lead singer lived in the Philippines (and didn’t speak a word of English). The story starts around 40 seconds into the video:
3. Digital Marketing Is About Being Slow
In Praise of Slow. Pages 31 – 34 contain my favorite Six Pixels quotes. Why? All of the lessons reinforce a long-term approach / attitude in building a credible digital presence. The misconception about digital marketing versus traditional marketing is digital results could be achieved faster and cheaper:
“Yes, you can make fast decisions, see fast results, and optimize and change things on the fly, but real tangible results take time. You can’t quickly start a blog and get results right away. It takes time to build your content, find your voice, develop a community, and earn trust and respect.”
Time Invested Drives New Media Opportunities. On page 5, he describes how the time invested in building online communities and reputations determines success in online channels (not how much money is dumped in advertising and PR):
“The new online channels will work for you as long as your are working for them by adding value, your voice, and the ability for your consumers to connect, engage, and take part.”
Eight (8) Years of Blog Posts and Hundreds of Podcasts. Mitch started publishing the Six Pixels of Separation Blog in 2003. At the time of the book’s 2009 publication, the Twist Image Team published 200+ podcasts.
On pages 184 to 185, Mitch comments on the time and and work invested:
“None of this was easy to accomplish. It was (and is) hard work and very time consuming, but we have achieved great results from these efforts, and it has differentiated us and brought us out of the bloody red sea of interactive agencies and into a blue ocean (even though, on some days, it feels more lie a pond) of what the agency of the future should look like.”
Watch This Interview About In Praise of Slow (time stamp 2:30 to 5:00). Pay special attention to what Mitch says about In Praise of Slow along with his blog’s role in lead generation and client acquisition:
4. Influencers of Content Value: Time, Search Engines, Linking, and Sharing
Content’s Slow, Steady Process and the Link to Search Engines. Page 33 contains an important lesson on how content earns favorable search engine rankings:
“The older the content, the longer it has been online and searchable through the engines, the more people who have linked to it, shared, and tagged it, the more valuable it is. Content that ranks at the top of Google does not get there because of how new and fresh it it is. Content rises to the top of Google based on how long it has been available and how valuable it has been to the online community.”
“It’s a slow and steady process that makes content rise to the top of the search engines.”
Speed Is a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tactic. Page 33 discusses why speed is important in online publishing. Key points about speed include:
* Speed gets your content is indexed in search engines as fast as possible.
* The sooner your content is available through search, the sooner people will find it, and the sooner it will become valuable.
* Posting your content fast means you can gain the efficiencies of content’s slow, steady process faster.
5. Attention Does Not Equal Trust
They’re Not the Same. Think about celebrities, politicians, athletes, etc. who garner significant attention. Do you trust them? Probably not. Being the center of attention is not a sustainable long term strategy.
Digital Marketing Is Not a One-Night Stand (page 34). It’s about TRUST. It’s about building real, genuine relationships with both your current consumers and potential consumers.
“There’s no such thing as an overnight sensation. Everything you’ve seen in business as an overnight sensation was, in effect, decades in the making.”
“The digital social spaces are built on trust and trust alone.Trust is always built slowly over time.”
Earning Trust. Pages 167 to 169 discuss earning and sustaining trust once your online participation receives attention. Mitch writes “to use the Web in a human way.”
* Be Helpful. Helping others online is how you turn attention into trust. Remember, the Web is built on reciprocity.
* Be Sincere. Helping others without expecting anything in return is the right attitude. Helpful and sincere people are valuable community members – just like in the real world.
6. Traffic Does Not Equal Community
Be Wary of The Mass Media Complex. Driving more traffic is good. But, the ultimate goal is not solely about achieving large numbers.
In the following video, Mitch discusses the mass media complex (e.g., appealing to everyone or trying to attract millions). Pay attention to his explanation from time stamp 0:40 to 0:57 (especially about how Six Pixels of Separation targets the digital marketing and social media community):
Focus on Building Community. The thought here similarly applies to the one about attention does not equal trust. On page 166, Mitch writes:
“Keep in mind that many people who have lots of traffic really don’t have much community at all. In fact, hunting for the traffic can be a game of diminishing returns. To really evolve and maintain, focus on the five new community members (who will, we hope, become lifetime customers) versus the 55,000 who might float in and right out simply because of an orphan link that someone posted somewhere. Namely, they were interested in your content for about five seconds, but now they are gone.”
“The long-term game of sustainability in the online channels is one of quality versus quantity.”
7. The Golden Rule
Say Thank You. Pages 41 to 42 and 210 to 212, reinforce the importance of (1) monitoring mentions of your product / service AND (2) expressing thanks to the people sharing your content:
If someone mentions you, it is now your duty — at the very least — to leave a comment back on their blog (or email them directly), letting them know you are reading, paying attention, and most importantly, appreciative of their mentioning you.
As much as you physically can, respond and be thankful to everyone who takes the time to mention you.
Make this your golden rule, and make a commitment that you will never break it.
It Shows You're Human. Practicing The Golden Rule shows others you're listening, responsive, and appreciative. In all human interactions, isn't that the goal? Make it the norm not the exception in your digital interactions.
And, Mitch Joel is a Man of His Word. These acknowledgements from Mitch show how he practices The Golden Rule:
The New York Times Reveals Major Florist Brands Paid for Links
Another Linking Scheme Exposed. The New York Times article, Trying to Game Google on Mother's Day Flowers,' says these major florist companies participated in linking buying schemes to improve their organic search rankings during the week of 2011 Mother's Day:
Teleflora
FTD
1800Flowers.com
ProFlowers
Teleflora's Organic Search Rankings Rose from 7th to 4th. According to the article, Searchmetrics, a seller of analytics software, conducted research showing Teleflora boosted its ranking for the search term "mothers day flowers" which translated into a significant increase in visitors per day to its website.
Teleflora's Site Traffic Per Day Improved 43% Increase. In March 2010, Teleflora received 20,000 to 25,000 visitors per day. The week of May 2nd – May 6th, 2011, the number of visitors improved to roughly 35,000 visitors per day.
Searchmetrics believes Teleflora started its link buying in February 2011. The New York Times quotes Searchmetrics CEO, Horst Joepen: "There is a possible correlation between the backlinks and the increased visibility of the site. But, without more research there is no way to be sure."
Floral Companies' Responses to Inquiries from The New York Times
Makes Me Wonder. Here are direct quotes from the article regarding the floral companies' respective responses:
* ProFlowers: "Did not respond to requests for comment."
* 1800Flowers.com: "A spokeswoman said the company would not discuss the links."
* FTD: "An FTD representative said that the vast majority of its links were on Web Sites owned by FTD, adding 'If any of our practices to have moved outside of Google's guidelines, we will certainly address them."
* Teleflora: "Corporate policy is not to pay for any links that would violate Google's guidelines. After closely reviewing the Teleflora links you provided, we believe are in compliance with Google."
Did Google Punish These Firms For Their Alleged Paid Links?
The Top 5 Organic Search Results for "mothers day flowers." As of Sunday morning, May 15th, the page-one Google search results for "mothers day flowers" are:
Look at Organic Search Result #10. It's the May 6th, New York Times article exposing the alleged paid links scheme for these companies. I'm surprised this story ranks below Google's organic search results for Teleflora, FTD, 1800Flowers.com, and ProFlowers.
Even though the article lands on Google's front page, you'd think the search results for the aforementioned firms would rank in pages where you can't find them (i.e., pages 6 through 10).
Conclusion
Why Isn't Google Penalizing These Firms? The New York Times sent Google representatives a list of 6,000 links to the floral companies that were built in the last month. Jake Hubert, a Google spokesman, replied with the following statement:
"None of the links shared by The New York Times had a significant impact on our rankings, due to automated systems we have in place to assess the relevance of links. As always, we investigate spam reports and take corrective action where appropriate."
Apparently, Google doesn't feel like it has to take any action in this particular case. And, I find their lack of action and consistency perplexing. Here are two other blogs commenting on the New York Times piece:
Is Google Thumbing Its Nose at The New York Times? The placement of the New York Times article as organic search result Number 10 with the offending firms ranking at slots 1, 2, 4, and 5 appears more than coincidental.
Along with the issued company statement, the article's current placement appears to be Google's way of saying, "Whatever."
I checked my laptop's Twitter stream around 10 PM Sunday evening for real-time news feeds. And, that's when Twitter informed me of Osama bin Laden's death in real-time.
Our Consumption and Participating in Real-Time News Drives a Traditional Industry's Transformation. I've reflected on the media activities of the past 48 hours. The picture above symbolizes more than the aftermath of September 11, 2011.
It galvanizes how we are both consumers and participants in the transformation and reinvention of a traditional industry (especially how we interact with news content):
#1: Social Networks are Our Real-Time News Channels
More People Found Out About bin Laden's Death Via Twitter and Facebook.Mashable conducted a poll with 20,000+ respondents. Twitter and Facebook easily outdistanced television. Even broadcast television lacks the real-time impact of online media platforms.
Facebook's News Function Goal– Become "The People's Newspaper." I mentioned earlier how I consult Twitter for real-time news updates. It's no coincidence that Facebook also recognizes real-time news as a competitive differentiator.
Journalists on Facebook Page.The Journalists on Facebook Page is part of the company's strategy to build relationships with journalists. Notice how several status updates pertain to the bin Laden story:
#2: Mobile Devices are the Accepted Real-Time Publishing Platform (Especially the Smartphone)
Urbahn Broadcasted the Tweet From His Smartphone. I'm not surprised Urbahn broadcasted the news on Twitter. But, notice the news broadcasting platform — his smartphone. Maybe, I'm old-fashioned in thinking the publication of a major news event requires a computer keyboard and wireless Internet connection.
Looks Like Page 29 of David Meerman Scott's Real-Time & Marketing PR Book. Here's the graph from the TechCruch article. Notice how the spike in Google search queries correlates with the real-time announcement on Twitter and eventually trails off:
#4 The Real-Time Marketing & PR Law of Normal Distribution
Notice how this graph shares several real-time attributes David Meerman Scott describes in his book (my notes are in red text):
Breaking News
Triggers
Excitement
Peak
Old News
Done
#5: The Blurring of Trusted, Traditional News Sources
Non-Traditional "Hard News" Sources Provide Diverse Points-of-View. Each of these organizations or individuals is a trusted news source pertaining to technology and online media. Their points-of-view blended their niches with this traditional "hard news" story:
An Important Historical Artifact. The TechCrunch article further states this image is probably the fastest viewed photo on Flickr. The image achieved its viewer volume in less than 38 hours.
Conclusion
How Did You Learn About the Osama Bin Laden Announcement? Were you on Twitter, Facebook, or another social network? Did you head right to Google News or did you go straight to a traditional news source (i.e., New York Times, BBC, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Bloomberg, etc.)?
I would love to understand your views on how the news unfolded.
A Historic Moment. This event marks an important time in United States history. Its unfolding in real-time portrays how we choose to publish, search for, and share historical events.
And, our use of social technology during this event reinforces the forever-changing, transformation of all media.
* Number of Members: Tens of thousands of companies, agencies and institutions worldwide
* Audiences Served: Thousands of media points through satellite delivery, tens of thousands more through email and fax delivery, more than 600 television stations, and reporters and bloggers from 27,000 news organizations registered for PR Newswire for Journalists, http://www.prnewswire.com/media, plus the general public and millions of investment professionals through more than 5,500 websites, online databases and financial networks.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Benefits. Earning coverage and an inbound link from PR Newswire provides important SEO and Google Rank benefits. Each one builds authority in Google's search engine algorithm:
* SEO Benefit #1: The PR Newswire inbound link equates to an influential and authoritative online vote because many websites link to PR Newswire's site.
* SEO Benefit #2: PR Newswire's inbound link helps increase Social Media ReInvention Blog's online reputation and credibility in social media marketing, social media strategy, and public relations strategy.
* SEO Benefit #3: Social Media ReInvention Blog's exposure to PR Newswire's wide audience increases the likelihood of more people discovering this blog.
What a Way to Start the Weekend! Achieving this online milestone is both thrilling and humbling. It's taken hard work and commitment. And, that hard work and commitment will continue.
Members of the Social Media ReInvention Blog Community understand I'm an enthusiastic student and fan of David Meerman Scott. In numerous posts, I've referenced David and his latest book, Real Time Marketing & PR.
1. The New Competitive Advantage is Speed & Agility
Leverage and Respond to Real-Time News Events. Companies and individuals who leverage current news events to instantaneously communicate with customers (as these events unfold) hold a distinct competitive advantage over larger, bigger budget rivals. These larger rivals value size and scale (not speed). And, that distinction provides significant opportunity for competitive differentiation.
Real-Time Responsiveness Differentiates Important Service Capabilities. Applications of real-time competitive differentiation include:
Using direct and swift communications in customer service
Preparing for and moving quickly in crisis communications (aka disaster recovery situations)
Developing and testing new products / service offerings
Creating an organizational culture valuing speed and open communications
The Link to Important Business Objectives. All of the aforementioned capabilities achieve one or several of the following business objectives:
Acquiring new customers (e.g., enabiling additional lead generation)
Strengthening existing customer relationships
2. A Mindset of Real-Time Competitiveness
The Real-Time Mindset Means Thinking Differently. Here's my graphical interpretation of David's description of the real-time mindset (page 34):
Blink and You've Lost the Advantage. Gaining (or losing) the competitive advantage depends on WHENyou react/respond to breaking news events. Pages 29 thru 31 explain why ultra-fast, first movers win in real-time deployment:
The Real-Time Marketing & PR Power Law
The Real-Time Law of Law of Normal Distribution
3. Select Your Real-Time Platforms Carefully
Real-Time Differentiation and Capability Isn't Always Obvious – Just Ask Twitter Co-Founder Evan Williams. I conducted a back-of-the-envelope analysis of the real-time tools most often cited in Real-Time Marketing & PR. Hands-down, the real-time winner is Twitter.
"We didn't know what we were at first. I think it's pretty clear now that Twitter is a real-time information network (e.g., any previous confusion about Twitter being a social network or Facebook is now over)."
Throughout his book, David provides several examples describing how Twitter, TweetDeck and HootSuite are used for important real-time functions:
Monitoring conversations
Responding directly to current customers or new, potential customers
Directing Twitter audience members to long form channels (i.e., the company blog or YouTube) for more details
The New Media Life Cycle Helps in Evaluating the Right Real-Time Platforms (and Avoiding the Wrong Ones). Pages 131 to 135 highlight input and data from Andrew Davis, Chief Strategy Officer at Tippingpoint Labs. Davis explains the New Media Life Cycle as the adoption of any platform (blogging, microblogging, photo sharing, or live video streaming) or content distribution channel (YouTube.com, Slideshare.com, Flickr.com, or Twitter.com).
The New Media Life Cycle openly tracks and analyzes an online platform's current life cycle phase in seven (7) distinct phases:
Experiment
Adopt
Gestate
Escalate
Monetize
Consolidate
Maintain
Early Adopters / First Movers Win. Early adopters understand The New Media Life Cycle, and exploit it to their competitive advantage. They know participating early in an emerging social network matters. Page 134 expains the secret to becoming well known on a social media network is to participate in one that's growing quickly, but is still in the early stage. A perfect example is the fast-growing Empire Avenue – The Social Media Exchange.
Remember Second Life? They're not a Real-Time Player (but Twitter is). Tippingpoint Labs and Google Insights provide data driven examples showing why Second Life is already past its prime (page 134). But, Twitter continues growing and is an outstanding real-time platform (page 135).
4. Managing Crisis Communications Means Real-Time Speed
The Money Insights of Real-Time Marketing & PR. The insights shared on crisis communications and disaster recovery are worth the purchase price alone. Why? The situations described in the book can happen to all of us. No one is immune in a digital age.
In my opinion, these sections require careful study:
Chapter 7: Crisis Communications and the Media (pages 71-81)
Chapter 8: What are People Saying About You This Instant? (pages 92-94)
Build Your Media and Journalist Contacts NOW. David explains how too few organizations (particularly the larger ones) fail to build media and journalist relationships before they need them (i.e., contacts with analysts, editors, and reporters).
Credibility and Trust with Media Contacts Requires Time. A communications crisis requires speed and focus (so you have little to no time). In addition, you compound risk by introducing yourself to your media contacts for the first time.
Five Ways to Build Media and Journalist Relationships. Build your media and journalist relationships before you need them. David provides the following suggestions:
Follow the Publications and Its Journalists
Comment on Their Stories and Blog Posts
Introduce Yourself Via Email
Follow Journalists on Twitter and Engage Them in Conversation
Earn Their Respect by Providing Valuable Content and Information (e.g. No Spam)
When Disaster Strikes, Refer to the Real-Time Communications Checklist. David provides a 9-Point Crisis Communications Checklist. All of his suggestions should be implemented before the crisis hits:
Assigning a crisis communications team
Gathering and storing key contact information inside and outside your organization
Delegating who's the organization's lead communicator
Responding through multiple real-time, online channels (i.e., company blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc.)
IMPORTANT: Respond in the same online medium spawning the crisis. If the event happened in YouTube, respond with your own YouTube video.
5. Real-Time Organizations Have Communication Guidelines
Developing Real-Time Communications Guidelines and Roles in Your Organization. Pages 171 -172 provide an 8-Step Checklist for creating and implementing guidelines. In addition on pages 175 – 176, David introduces his take on a new senior executive position: Chief Real Time Communications Officer. On page 176, he explains the job description in a 14-point bulleted list.
IBM, The U.S. Air Force, and Telstra Succeed as Real-Time Communicators. Pages 161 – 173 describe how each organization uses real-time communications, empowers their employees, and publicly shares their guidelines. IBM's guidelines are shared on pages 162 – 170.
Here are hyperlinks and titles of the communications guidelines for these organizations:
Fortune 500 Executives Please Read This Book. Real-Time Marketing & PR is essential and required reading for C-Level executives, communications, marketing, and public relations professionals. As stated earlier, the disaster recovery and crisis communications advice shared makes it a worthwhile investment (especially if you hold that responsibility for a Fortune 500 organization).
Leaders of Small or Medium-Sized Can Outflank the Fortune 500. David describes how small and medium-sized businesses are practicing real-time communications and ringing their respective cash registers. Their commitment to real-time marketing and PR is how they're outflanking their larger Fortune 500 competitors.
Have You Read This Important Book? If you haven't, you're at a key disadvantage relative to competitors. If you have, I'd love to read your comments. Please let me know what you learned (especially the points I failed to capture in this review — there are so many)!
