New Media

I must confess, I’ve been a bit of a hermit when it comes to social-media focused events ever since Northern Voice wrapped up. The last Vancouver Blogger Meetup was a while back, so I’m excited to get back into it with a bang. There are already 40 cool bloggers RSVP’d for the next Vancouver Blogger Meetup happening at the Network Hub!

What’s happening at this event? We’ll have pizza and some bevies (non-alcoholic) and it’s just going to be a friendly, fun place to get to know your fellow Vancouver bloggers. Come meet with web pundits, online scribes, photobloggers, vloggers, social media mavens and more. See you there!

I’m a believer in social media marketing for business, not least because that’s how I often get referrals for my own SEO web copywriting and corporate communications business.

I was recently researching the cost of social media — what it takes to hire a blogger, run a Facebook campaign or get a social media marketer in-house. Gradually, the article evolved into How to Get Social Media to Work for Your Business, published on Techvibes. Here’s a little blurb:

Blogs are a popular (some would say critical) social media tool, offering the ability to boost brand and advertise deals to bring in actual sales. Remember that “funny” gets eyeballs and there’s no profit in “playing it safe”. The point is to get noticed.

Open Road Communications Ltd. are the Vancouver-based maker of social intranet software called ThoughtFarmer. The company derives 100% of its business from inbound leads to its website, with customer deals ranging from $10,000 to $200,000. The objective of their campaign was to boost the number of sales leads. They used a blog, targeted at IT workers and managers. It was funny, at least for IT professionals. And for $7,000 for an outside firm to set it up, it worked.

“Of those visitors, we can see that 474 then proceeded to our website,” McGrath explains. “At our typical conversion rate, those 474 visitors will result in about one sale, at an average sale price of $30,000. Our sales this quarter shatter all previous records and are a 270% increase over the same quarter last year,” suggesting multiple sales from the campaign.

 

Wow. Sooooo many people I know (well, not personally, but many of those I interact with online) would benefit from reading this article: Tips for Not Appearing Crazy on the Internet. An excerpt:

Now, I’m not going to try to tell people how not to be crazy anymore. That’s a long, involved process of correctly identifying the internal things making them angry in their own psyches that they instead project onto external things. And it sounds hella boring. Instead, I’m only going to tell you how to conceal your craziness. I’m going to teach you how to take your freak flag and fold it up and put it in your back pocket. If you’re successful, people are going to have to really read your points before understanding that you’re crazy. They might even miss your crazy entirely and really consider what you have to say (e.g., “This guy makes some interesting points; maybe I should find out more about this ‘Ron Paul’ person”). Doesn’t that sound great, you social outcasts and conspiracy nuts?

The perfect viral mash-up no one saw coming: French philosophy plus Star Wars.

I’ll be at the IIMA Fusion Conference 2011 this Friday in Vancouver. What’s it about?

Fusion 2011 brings you some of the most influential people in online marketing, social media and search engine strategy for 1 power packed day.

So why am I going? I’ve got 5 reasons, actually (read them all here). The first is the lineup: presenters including employee # 10 at Facebook, Director of Marketing at Mint.com and Founder of Appsumo, Noah Kagan Founder & CEO of Hootsuite, Ryan Holmes and Global SEO & Search Strategy Gurus Rand Fishkin, Stephen Spencer and Rob Woods.

Register for the IIMA Fusion Conference today