DigitalAgency

Why Google+ is keeping me up late, and getting me up early:

A weird thing has happened over the last few weeks, I've become obsessed, nay besotted with Google+

Exploring how I can use it, how my clients can benefit, my Missus, my dogs, (really), the possibilites are epic.

To be honest when I first started using G+ I had a hard time getting my head around it. Circles, Who sees what, Hangouts, Ripples, Sparks, Huddle..enough already! etc, etc

And then the penny, or several of them started dropping like Billy-O.

And I had some revelations.

1. In exploring ways to use G+, via Circles hangouts, photo sharing, search etc I was looking in the wrong place. There's a killer-app feature staring us all in the face, but very few folks are using it.

2. Author rank (in my humble, what-the-F-do-I-know way), is going to blow the doors of search. (And as I by-product, I wonder aloud, also kill-off Klout, Kred etc.? I was never a fan truth be told.)

3. It is still a bit, (oh okay a lot) of a ghost town, but that's to miss it's essential attraction. It's not the numbers 'inside' on G+ that matter right now, but the numbers 'outside' on Google Search. And with sign up numbers everyday,(for obvious reasons) going high and to the right, it won't be a ghost town for much longer.

4. It's Google. IT. IS. GOOGLE. Enough said.

5. I think the Google Wave and Google Buzz fiasco are reasons why + will succeed, not indicators of history repeating itself. Did someone just say, (rightly) your last chance is your best chance?

6. I don't know if you're old enough to remember and have been a user of Friendfeed, before it got bought over sadly by FB. It was before it's time/ahead of the game and awesome. Most of my friends who actually used it, got as hooked as me. I think G+is somewhat similar. The more you use it the more you get into it.

But one thing I have noticed when you hover over the profiles of many who've signed up, you get the Google equivalent of the tell-take Twitter 'Egg' profile/avatar. i.e Not yet fully converted/convinced default banner/cover/masthead.

Looking at how anyone uses G+ is a bit like looking at a Linkedin user profile.

When you know what to look for you can look inside a person or a brands 'social soul' and see whether they do indeed 'get' it or not, in about 37 seconds. 

7. Chrome Extensions like 'Extended Share' mean you can reverse plumb your social work from G+ to Linkedin, Twitter, your blog etc a really effective way not just to 'Manage the Message' but also 'Manage the Messenger'.

Expressed way better than me here by +Mike Elgan :http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9218283/Elgan_How_Google_ends_social_networking_fatigue

Anyway, I know this has all ben a bit rambly and fan-boy'y, so I ask your indulgence and will wrap up here.

I'll maybe get a bit more specific further down the G+ track, along my learning curve to mix if not mangle my metaphors.

But thanks to G+ my 80 hour weeks have ramped up to 100 hour weeks. Not complaining, not bragging. Just time well spent.

Blogging less, tweeting more, AudioBoo:

A review of the Vodafone Netbook:

A couple of months ago, I blogged about the vodafoneliveguy project created by Dare for (not unsurprisingly, er), vodafone.

If you don't know the back-story, vodafone demonstrated the go-anywhere, super-portable aspects of the Dell Mini 9 Netbook by sending a chap called 'vodafoneliveguy' out and about to 11 cities across the UK.

Anybody in these cities who sussed out where he was, deduced from clues left in real time online via Twitter, YouTube, his blog etc, could win a Netbook by tracking him down and challenging him f2f.

I was determined to be the first person in the UK to track him down, as he kicked off his nationwide tour in Edinburgh.

How did I get to him first?

I cheated of course.

Sending him a DM via Twitter inviting him for a coffee at Edinburgh's Social Media HQ; Centotre.

Incidentally, I also excluded myself from winning a Netbook, I hasten to add, as I wasn't playing by the rules. (Nothing new there then. Ed.)

He sportingly turned up for a chat, along with Alastair from Dare who was riding shotgun for vodafoneliveguy throughout the trip.

And what a good chat it was, I was particularly interested in the marketing strategy, the planning and creative that had gone into the project, how many in the team on the road and back at base, etc. (Full credits here.)

I also shared a few names of pals in other cities who might give them 'social support' in spreading the word, if needed. (Shout out here to @ewanmcintosh, @realfreshtv, @martinsfp, @JohnBradford.)

Once vflg had hit the road to other cities I tracked, searched, shared, blogged and tweeted the story; for a couple of reasons:

1. To support the cause, I really did buy into the idea. (Altruism.)
2: I thought at the end of it, there might be some recognition of my contribution from a brand to a blogger. (Self-Interest-ism.)

And guess what?

Over Christmas, I got a call from Dare asking me what my house address was.

They wanted to thank me for the support during the campaign and were sending me a Netbook.

"Wooooo, Flippin' Hooooo!"

(I know this is geekily sad in the extreme, but I couldn't resist doing a flickr unboxing set.)

Arriving all gleamy, shiny and new early in the New Year, I couldn't believe my luck, (or, if you will and that's the way your mind works; my Machiavellian genius.) .

Result.

(Incidentally, over the course of the campaign, I also got a massive spike in traffic to my blog, and more than a fair few new Twitter followers. = Result. + Result. Even had there been no Netbook swag in the pipeline.)

So what do I think about the Netbook, having given it a fairly rigorous work-out in the 10 days since first opening the lid?

(Full and frank disclosure: I am a Mac nut.)

Well, it it's small and hellish portable that's true. Very light, runs windows XP, has Bluetooth, wi-fi and of course the built-in vodafone mobile broadband.

How have I used it? Well, I've pretty much taken it everywhere, giving my MacBook Pro a rest for a while.

I was out shooting some digital stuff yesterday, hooking my camera up to the Netbook to get the shots online.

A few recent train journeys where considerably enhanced by having the NB to hand.

It even fits in the back of my cycle jersey to check Google maps, (and tweet of course), while out riding my bike. (Mainly there though for posing points/bragging rights with other roadies.)

It's dinky size is also a heck of a conversation starter in wi-fi spots.

And in some ways, it's a more practical alt to my iPhone, which is my usual mobile internet device du jour.

For my size hands and erratic typing style, I did/do make quite a few typos when using the keyboard, but as in many areas of my life I do need to s-l-o-w down, and I'm sure my accuracy will improve.

The only real bad news for and from me, (and something that has nothing to do with the Dell hardware or vodafone's connectivity), is that, of course, this little puppy runs on Microsoft Windows.

Just a personal thing, if you are cool with the Microsoft OS, and software, (as over 90% of the planet is, I hasten to add), no problem.

But me, I'm a Mac I'm afraid.

And find XP, er, wanting.

However even this is no biggie, as I tend to run most of my online life via the cloud, so once the browsers up and running, (I installed FireFox), I'm a happy bunny.

Then the only thing to remind me it's a windows bit of kit is that I keep forgetting where the @ symbol is on the keyboard.

So overall, does the Netbook float my boat: Definitely.

Would I pay my own money to have one: Very probably.

Did I actually pay for this one: No.

Fitting perfectly between my mobile phone, and 15" laptop, it's a heck of a handy addition to my Social Media armoury.

So thank you Vodafone. And thank you Dare.

BigMouthMedia's Social Work:

I was a bit grumpy yesterday.

To cheer myself up I had a really good cull of my subscriptions to online newsletters, raggedy feeds, and followers/rubbishy mailers/pokers/and shabby app pushers on some of my social networks etc. (Always makes me feel a bit better, a bit less inundated, a bit 'lighter'.)

One of the newsletters I hit unsubscribe to was from Search specialists BigMouthMedia.

(No offence to the quality and regularity of the newsletter, more a realisation that I'm increasingly time poor and rarely get round to reading many email newsletters nowadays. (And as someone so sagely said recently, "If stuff is really important, it finds me anyways, through some channel or other".)

Soon after hitting 'unsubscribe' in my mail reader, I got a really nice email back from BMM's Head of Search; Andrew Girdwood.

Not only was this response a terrific social gesture, un-automated, personal and lighting-fast, but it also let me know that I could, as alternative, follow BMM on Twitter.

Which I did immediately.

If only more online brands were as switched on, pro-active and social as BigMouthMedia.

Whereas my experience has been that too many vendors of online solutions, (including ad agencies, digital agencies, social media 'experts' etc) are increasingly being infiltrated by spivvy chancers jumping on a currently convenient social bandwagon. Names and details withheld. But in the dark watches of the night, you know who you are.

(Oh dear, I must still have a bit of the grumps lingering from yesterday. Better wrap it here.)

Anyone for: 'Social Media Management Fees'?:

Though not strictly speaking a GoogleWhack, I'm both pleased and dismayed, (is that possible?) that the above search phrase has turned up absolutely nothing.

Pleased because it's a 'first' and I might be on to something. (Well, I can live in hope can't I?)

Dismayed because I would have thought 'Social Media Management Fees' would have been a key revenue stream for the world and his digital brother in pr, advertising and web agencies right now. (And consequently show up as a popular search return on Google.)

Of course, most Marketing Directors are aware that Social Media is a big deal for them. And keen to use it for the benefit of their brand. However, many are also confused about the ROI, unsure how to use the tools, and perhaps most important, undecided who to trust for guidance.

This has led to something of a bun-fight/turf-war between a brand's advertising, pr, digital and design agencies, not to mention their web developers, seo people and even media buying agencies.

With many of them claiming; "Yeah, we can do that social media stuff." (Or 'gubbins' as I once heard it described by the Director of a web developer I visited.)

But can they?

A switched-on client's response would be: 'Great. Send me links to your blog/flickr sets/YouTube channel/LinkedIn profiles/Tweets/Friendfeed room/delicious bookmarks/slideshare stacks' etc, etc, etc.

And they'd be able to see online, in an instant, who's just talking the social media talk, (i.e. bullshitting), instead of walking the walk with authenticity, integrity and commitment.

(No returns on this search? Shurely, schome mishtake?)

However most clients probably don't think to do this, and so some social media 'vendors', who are ill-equipped to help a client, actually get the business/'gubbins'.

And then suggest, develop and implement all sorts of made-up-on-the-fly/painfully out of date social solution cobblers.

To wit: An ad agency account man rang me last week asking if I wanted to work on a well-funded web 2.0 project for a high-profile client. At first I said yes please, lovely. He told me the client; to which I said; 'You can have my first born if I get to work on this.' Then he told me he'd pre-sold the client on spending a not insignificant wad of cash building a 3D environment in Second Life.

As you can imagine, my initial, eager, salivating 'yes', quickly became a firm, definite, get-off-my-porch NO.

IMHO, I thought Second Life was a dubious concept well over 12 months ago when you couldn't open a browser without reading about it being an industry game-changer, now I'm more than dubious,  I think for most brands it's a positively barmy/barking idea.

But the problem is, too many clients are being sold 'past their sell-by solutions' by those who don't get social media in the first place. (Far less, actually use social media themselves.)

Yet, so many comms outfits today want/need/are desperate for the business. But unfortunately for all concerned they haven't a scoobie about how to actually help a client engage in social media.

It's all a bit like IFA's mis-selling pensions. Which in my book, and on my blog come to that, is a poor do.

Of course, the classy digital agencies do get it, and in the main are leading from the front. (You know who you are. Oh I've made you blush.)

Some ad agencies, pr and design companies too are doing great work.

But the vast body of the marketing and comms industries have a hell of a way to go until they can honestly start charging clients Social Media Management Fees.

So what should the ad, pr, design and digital agencies who don't yet get social media do?

Well, since you ask, my advice would be:

1. Realise that social media prowess isn't an overnight thing. It takes time and consistent effort. (But is fun along the way.) For now, forget ROI. but think ROT; Return On Time. Start playing with the tools. Sign-up. Build profiles. Devour all the stuff that's out there. Get an iPhone. (Seriously.) Audit what your competitors are doing.

2. Look for the 'social stars' in your agency. You'll find them. Great photographers/flick fans, brilliant bloggers, mini-dv maestro's, terrific tweeters, networking nutcases, booking-marking behemoths...(okay Mike enough alliteration, they get the picture.) Build a 'social-taskforce'. And give your social stars the opportunity to shine. (Perhaps even provide a bit of Google 20% time.)

3. Go balls-out to use the full range of social media tools in-house, in your own agency; test blogs, build flickr sets, share bookmarks, appoint a blip.fm house dj, get your head around tags, everything and anything social that takes your fancy, then point these strengthening skills outwards; circulate online at the social media party.

4. Now you're ready to take your new found social media knowledge, evangelism and coaching to your clients and work/collaborate with them. Repeat steps 2 and 3, for the benefit of their brand, (And for the benefit of monthly SMMF's for you.)

Here endeth todays lesson.