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14 Oct  Recently I wrote about Pinger and how it was a useful tool for using your voice to send "voicemail-based" text messages to individuals as well as different groups. I still use it for very specific messaging with my various teams. In addition to Pinger, there's a new service which I can't seem to stop using. And, since I'm on the road quite a bit these days, it is helping me keep pace with my workflow as if I were in the office. I have to confess, I "was" a compulsive text and drive kind of person. And, using the iPhone, I must admit, it was no easy task. But I'm happy to report that I've since retired the dangerous practice thanks to Jott and Pinger. The truth is that in order to keep up with today's social economy and the break-neck speed of innovation and the business of news, texting, emailing, twittering, and calls consume a greater part of my day. Using Jott, I can now make one call and dictate a blog post, record my ideas and tasks, create reminders, and also share my thoughts with one or many people via text, email as well as microblogs. Jott is a voice services company that translates your voice into text, aka Jotts, across a myriad of useful applications. Simply make Jott's dial-in number a short-cut on your phone and it will recognize your account through caller ID and then rest is a painless and simple process of following instructions. After a few calls, you get the hang of it and are able to vocalize instructions without waiting for prompts. For example, I've been using Jott to send reminders to myself, which post on Jott.com as well as sending an email reminder of my action. This comes in handy especially since the iphone doesn't yet offer a voice recorder option for notes, reminders, and tasks. Jott as replaced my task list Outlook and is keeping my on top of my game not only at Jott.com but also at 30boxes. But it's much more than a simple list of action items and reminders. Jott offers the ability to create folders to save and organize information for future reference and simplified accessibility. For example, I create reminders and tasks across my folders for client work, bub.blicio.us as well as PR 2.0.  Jott not only helps me stay organized, remember events, and tasks, it also improves how I communicate with those around me. Similar to Pinger, you can create groups to update specific people without having to individually text or call everyone. I've created groups for project teams, writers, friends and family, so that I can phone-in one message and have it sent simultaneously to those I need to reach. I can also text individuals anywhere, anytime, by pressing "Jott" on my favorites list and saying the person's name I want to reach. One of the more interesting uses though, is the ability to phone-in updates to Twitter or Jaiku from the road. Similar to Dave Winer's Twittergram, I can simply call Jott and say "Twitter" or "Jaiku" and then record my message. Within moments, my voice message is converted into text and then posted onto Twitter. With Twittergram, my friends can hear my voice recording direct from a link that is posted on Twitter. I would love to see support for Tumblr. And from what I understand, there is a kit to help developers connect their apps to Jott. Examples:  briansolis Testing Jotts ability to convert voice to text. from Jott Testing Jott on Jaiku
Jott supports many popular external "Jott Links," which I'm sure will expand over time. In addition to Jaiku and Twitter, Jott also connects directly to Yahoo Groups, Zillow, and 30 Boxes. As I mentioned earlier, Jott provides the ability for you to dictate blog posts for those times when you need to share a thought with the world but don't have the ability to type. Jott already supports the more popular blogging services including Blogger, WordPress, LiveJournal, and TypePad, covering a fair share of the potential services for bloggers. In fact, this entire post was phoned in while I was driving earlier today. OK, not really. But according to several friends, Jott is pretty good at getting a first draft out there. Up until this point, Jott was a very interesting, productive and fun tool to use - beyond experimenting with it for an article. After checking out the Jott Labs tab on my online dashboard, I found a link to Jott Express. Using Adobe's Air, Jott provides a desktop-based applet that duplicates the online experience, making it easy for me to create, review and organize Jotts. So far, I have noticed that Jott struggles with small accuracy issue. The first handful of phoned-in Tweets were published at about 90% recognition. Of the 10 or so I phoned in, for both Twitter and Jaiku, about 50% of them wouldn't publish at all, simply sending a note reading "Instant Jott" but providing a link to my recorded message. I'm not sure if this was an issue on Jott's behalf or simply because of the mic on the iPhone. I can tell you this however, Jott likes the Jawbone, which in my opinion is the highest performing headset I've ever used, as it obstructs outside interference and channels your voice in a much clearer and focused stream. Jawbone + iPhone + Jott = Productivity  Connect on Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce or Facebook.
02 Oct  While I was preparing my presentation for “Starting the Conversation,” a social media workshop hosted by SocialMediaClub, I wound up drafting version one of the manifesto for helping marketers adapt to the rapidly evolving realm of social media. In the past, I’ve spoken at PR, tech, and communications events about Social Media and how companies can engage in the conversations taking place with or without them. As much as I wanted to look into the future, I was rooted in the present as a means to connect it to the past. There are just too many new things to introduce to people and even more reasons why they should care. The discussion usually centered on the tools enabling social media instead of analyzing the shift in how information is distributed. From there, the natural progression was to understand who would be responsible for these new strategies and how they would sell it to management. There has been a fundamental shift in our culture and it has created a new landscape of influencers and an entirely new ecosystem for supporting the socialization of information – thus facilitating new conversations that can start locally, but have a global impact. Monologue has given way to dialog. Social media has created a new layer of influencers. It is the understanding of the role people play in the process of not only reading and disseminating information, but also how they in turn, share and also create content for others to participate. This, and only this, allows us to truly grasp the future of communications. The socialization of information and the tools that enable it are the undercurrent of social media and ultimately the social economy. Content is the new democracy and we the people, are ensuring that our voices are heard. What we’re talking about here is how companies will best manage an integrated communications strategy in the not too distant future. It is about putting the “public” back in Public Relations and realizing that focusing on important markets and influencers will have a far greater impact than trying to reach the masses with any one message or tool. The key point here is that Social Media has yet to reveal its true impact. While many are defining its future, the majority of people around the world have yet to embrace it and participate. This means that it’s only going to become more pervasive and as such, become a critical factor in the success or failure of any business. The evolution of social media is also forcing an incredible transformation in PR and corporate communications – its most dramatic to date; even more significant than the introduction of radio, television and motion pictures. With the injection of social tools into the mix, people now have the ability to impact and influence the decisions of their peers and also other newsmakers. Social media is not a game played from the sidelines. Those who participate will succeed – everyone else will either have to catch up or miss the game altogether. Engage or die. What does the future of communications look like? First it’s an understanding that social media is about sociology and less about technology. It’s a mashup of new and traditional media that spans across advertising, PR, customer service, marcom, sales, and community relations. In order to succeed now and in the future, is to bridge the gap between early adopters and everyone else. Now, however, it’s about conversations, and the best communicators start as the best listeners. This is where the future of communications takes shape. It all starts with respect. Listening is marketing. Participation is marketing. Media is marketing. Conversations are marketing. Comments are marketing. These are pretty powerful statements and they are the essence of the future of marketing. They combine traditional marketing, conversational marketing, participatory marketing, and more importantly, the ability to be successful in dynamic relationships with multiple markets. Let’s start with figuring out who’s in charge of the conversation? Is it advertising, PR, marketing communications, customer service? It’s all of the above. How do you integrate this into the marketing fold without either getting laughed at, or worse, fired? Perhaps CEOs, directors and investors will read this and force the change to stem from the top, down. But in most cases, change will be driven from bottom, up and from the middle. The best companies will let go of their message and control of gate keeping in social realms and trust it with their employees to carry forward. Don’t get me wrong, traditional marketing can still run as it has, it just now needs a more complementary role with all new media activities. There also needs to be a more cognizant process for understanding the people who comprise the markets you’re trying to reach. We need leaders. We need champions. What the CMO, chief marketing officer, was to Web 1.0, such is the new role of community managers in the new world of Web 2.0 and social media. This is the role that keeps the company ear to the ground in order to determine where the conversations are taking place and where they should participate. They are on the front lines of listening and engaging in conversations across the Web. The next step is to realize that messages are not conversations. This is where most companies fall down in traditional marketing. People just don’t speak or hear things that way. As Doc Searls once said, “There is no market for messages.” This is a hub between the company and its customers. It’s the new customer service, fusing marcom, PR and customer relations, all in one department. Everything we’re integrating into the marketing mix is aimed at sparking and cultivating not only conversations, but relationships. It’s humanizing companies and their products and services so that they matter to people. Focus. Jay Rosen wrote a great essay entitled, “We are the People Formally Known as the Audience,” that introduced an entirely new concept of reaching people – ultimately influencing marketing. In order to reach people, we have to figure out who they are and where they go for information. In the process, you’ll quickly discover that there is no magic bullet for reaching everyone - all at once The best communications programs will reach out to traditional media, a, b, and c-list bloggers, people, and communities equally. But it requires a new mindset. Social media is about speaking with, not “to” or “at” people. This is about doing PR in a way that both works in a conversational medium and doesn't demean and insult the intelligence of everyone involved. This is a sea filled with sharks – most of which would love nothing more than to have PR pros for every meal of the day. To succeed here though, is the future of integrated communications. This concept introduces the Long Tail of media and the new regime of influentials in the micromedia.  Integrated Marketing – The Tools The future of marketing integrates traditional and social media elements. The new mix will include what you know along with the tools to succeed in social media and customer relations. They can include blogs, social networks, wikis, lifestreams ala Twitter and Jaiku, video, livecasts such as Veodia and ustream.tv, news aggregators such as Digg and Reddit, social media releases, videos, and podcasts. There are also opportunities for companies to participate in virtual worlds, such as Second Life. Remember, the future of communications introduces sociology into the marketing strategy. The technology is just that, technology. The tools will change. The networks will evolve. Mediums for distributing content will grow. As you participate in each of these new discussions, the key ingredient to ensuring transparency is realize that whatever you do, is less about the company, per se, and more about how your customers can succeed in their business or how people can simply improve their personal lives. They learn. You learn. It’s about building a community around them – literally. The rest are just tools to facilitate the conversation. With everything you do in social media, you have to participate in order to build bridges that connect people and the company. Blogs - I’m pretty sure that by this point, we’re all pretty familiar with blogs. What we should all know however, is that they are not effective when used as a corporate platform for marketing messages. And also, they’re not a channel for featuring ghostwritten posts for company executives. The best corporate blogs are genuine and designed to help people. Make sure to pay attention to the comments as well. Some of the best conversations take place in the comments section as people react to what you wrote as well as the feedback from their peers. Trackbacks can not go unmentioned here. As you blog, make sure to send trackbacks to any outside blog post that may have inspired your post. This builds tunnels between the blogs allowing new readers to discover your content. Social Media Release – Originally introduced by Todd Defren, the SMR is a new way of facilitating conversations, while also packaging content in a more concise format, rich with media and other social tools (it also recently celebrated its first anniversary). The social media release, aka new media release, is not a miracle pill to cure the ills of poorly written press releases. It is merely a tool that is most effective when combined with a strategic arsenal of relevant company blog posts, traditional releases, relationships, and an emerging category of press releases that tell a story (written by people for people using SEO to reach them). Social media releases are designed to get the conversation going, providing readers with the ability to disseminate information and multimedia, bookmark and share the content, and in turn, spark threads. They also serve a purpose of providing new media influencers with the information they need, in one package, in order to write a full story, their way – without having to carve out the BS of a traditional release or pitch. News releases can tell the same story in different ways – appealing to specific markets and the users that define them. Here are a few examples for your reference: HP Geocommons Virtual Thirst VNR 2.0 - Video is the new frontier, again. I recently introduced the idea of reinventing the VNR (video news release), which is designed to help viewers humanize companies and also explain the value of their products or services in a way that speaks to them directly. ‘Un’ produced videos that tell stories are incredibly viral when placed in online communities and also on the corporate Web site. The more produced they feel, the lower the interaction and sharing ratio. The more real they are, the greater the dynamic and propensity for sharing. These videos can be short demos, screencasts (a demonstration or walkthrough on screen), entertaining snippets or collages, mini episodes, etc. Create a channel on Youtube, tag each video with the key words you think people are searching, and watch the views skyrocket. I recently uploaded a simple screencast, which generated 55,000 views in one week. Social Media Newsroom - Todd Defren who introduced the original template for a social media release also introduced the concept of a social media newsroom.  This allows press, analysts, bloggers, conference organizers, and also customers to discover, subscribe, and share corporate news, bios, images, video, RSS feeds, del.icio.us links, blogs, tags, IM accounts, etc. Social Networks - Building a dedicated social network, which could be considered a more sophisticated and easier to use discussion board, is imperative to service and relationships. Take a look at services such as Ning in order to quickly build and launch a network if you need to take matters into your own hands. But just because you build it, doesn’t mean they will come. You have to start by recruiting. Go find your customers and bring them to you. Also make sure to maintain a presence in other social networks – where relevant – so your customers can also find you. Also take a look at Dell’s Ideastorm for mashing up a digg-like community around customer ideas. For more on the subject, take a look at Jeremy Toeman’s smart and useful post on DIY Viral Marketing Activities. Podcasts and Video Blogs – Podcasts and video blogs are easy to produce and can provide a world of value to customers. They can focus on company milestones, executive interviews, customer success stories, how to’s, and anything else that may be worthy. Not only can they be hosted on the company’s web site, they can be placed in a variety of content distribution networks such as itunes, to reach people using the tools of their choice. Wikis – Wikis are important to facilitate collaboration in a more friendly, socially-focused content management system. It’s not just about teams and document management. It can now provide a forum for inviting content and suggestions from customers. Microblogs and Flow Applications – Twitter, Jaiku, and tumblr aren’t just for geeks. They represent a new channel for listening to customers and also sharing new information with them. Often referred to as microblogs, these new tools are designed to share short updates, whether you’re publishing new information, content, or media. People “add” people and companies as friends when they want to learn or stay up to date with their activities. Again, these are just a few examples where conversations are taking place. Not one represents a collective community for your customer-base. You have to understand where they are, what they’re looking for, and why – in order to reaching them. Livecasting and video casting – There was a time when only the elite or Fortune 500 companies had access to video production and the ability to mass broadcast. Now companies are building networks and the tools that enable you to broadcast video live or as episodes, which can facilitate 24/7 or episodic livecasts on the Web and through mobile appliances. Video segments allow companies and customers to engage in a whole new way. All it takes is a notebook, a fixed broadband connection (or even EVDO for mobile casts), and either a Web cam or a camcorder. Companies such as Veodia and Ustream enable livecasting anywhere, anytime. While kyte, Mogulus, and BlogTV facilitate episodic broadcasting. For business, these tools are ideal for (whether live or not) for webcasting training sessions, HR and executive announcements, product reviews, marketing events, lectures, conferences, speeches, panels, etc. Media – Artwork, and all media in general should be placed in social communities for customers to find and use. Some of the more successful companies are sharing less-polished, more customer-focused exclusive content in communities such as fickr, zooomr, Izimi, Photobucket or all of the above. Also collage tools, such as SplashCast, allow you to integrate all forms of media into one portable, rich, and captivating video. SplashCast enables anyone to create streaming media 'channels' that combine video, music, photos, narration, text and RSS feeds. These casts can be placed on blogs and in social networks. If you want to read a killer case study that gives us a glimpse of the future of integrated marketing, take a look at what Marshall Kirkpatrick and Alex Williams did for the Splashcast launch. Here are the highlights:
Social Bookmarking – Social bookmarking sites, such as del.icio.us, ma.gnolia, diigo, and stumble upon, also offer a unique way of creating a resource center for reporters, bloggers, and customers by saving key sites, reports, user experiences, or any relevant information on the web to help place your company and its value proposition in clearer perspective when compared to competitors. Relevant tags allow other people to discover information, bookmark it on their own and also read through your bookmarks. Social Calendars – Nothing beats participation and relationship building like doing it in real life! Social networks aren’t only limited to content, they also allow people to find and share events related to their interests. Upcoming and eventful are great ways to reach potential customers by introducing relevant events, by location, to people who may or may not have discovered it on their own. Companies use these tools to invite people to demos, open houses, webcasts, trade shows, etc. Tags also play an important role in attracting visibility. Virtual Worlds – This is an interesting category unto itself. Many companies are extending their presence into virtual worlds, with Second Life ranking as the most popular of the bunch – but certainly not the only world to participate. This truly requires participation prior to any form of marketing, as these worlds have a unique culture that requires experience – the kind of experience only possible through residence and participation. To succeed in social media, we can’t be gatekeepers or handlers. Like with all forms of social media, companies sometimes make the mistake of attacking it with the same rules as they do with traditional media. In the recent case of Intel’s launch of its island through a virtual press conference in Second Life, we learned what not to do. Many attending media complained that the news of Intel's launch was already released prior to the conference and that nothing new was reported in the event. Even worse, reporters, analysts, and bloggers felt that there was an “us versus them” mentality typical of traditional press releases. According to Metaversed, “The overriding feel I got from attending was one of ‘we will talk, you will listen.’ Indeed, one of Intel's inept handlers actually told the audience to shush, and show some respect, for daring to converse.” Defining the Future of Integrated Communications – Getting to Work Below are your action items for placing your company on course for the Future of Integrating Marketing and embracing the world of social media to enhance relationships with press, bloggers, customers and all other unforeseen influencers:
Let businesses be measured by their actions and not their intentions. In the world of social media, companies will earn the community of customers they deserve.
02 Oct  2006 - 2007 saw the rise of new media and it has been nothing short of disruptive for journalists, communications professionals, newsmakers, and the people formerly known as the audience. I'm sure this isn't news to you. After all, you're reading this blog, which says that you're already part of the new media movement and are mostly likely creating your own media as well. Whether you're in technology or not, there are some very important movements taking place in the world of new media, influence, and the ability to discover the most authoritative voices. MediaMap, Burrells, Listlogix, among others have done a decent job over the years of tracking traditional media, but none have embraced new media effectively. New services have emerged to help such as Dow Jones, BuzzLogic, among others, which track Social Media metrics and the conversations defining your markets. But what if you don't have the budget to afford these new services? So far, the best results have been generated by resourceful people who research, listen, and identify the right people covering your markets. As I've said before, there are two different search strategies that should matter to you...traditional search and blog search. Both are distinct in how they shape your communications program. In the world of new media, blog search engines such as Google Blog Search, Sphere, Ask.com, and Blogpulse have become the standards for identifying blogs covering key words and topics. In my opinion, Technorati however, stood out among the fray as the definitive headquarters for listening, tracking conversations, measuring influence, viewing popular topics, and discovering the voices that matter to you. Among the services Technorati offers, its top 100 blog list has become the standard for identifying the most authoritative voices in the blogosphere. Now that list is being challenged by Gabe Rivera, founder of Techmeme, a unique service that tracks popular conversations as they unite around particular topics and automatically refreshes as each topic expands. Gabe Rivera introduced the Techmeme Leaderboard which tracks the most consistent sources of popular discussions and news and ranks them based on presence.  Presence is measured by the percentage of headline space a source occupies over a 30-day period. Instead of tracking links, its measuring influence. I know what you're saying...I don't work in tech, so why does this matter to me? I promise to get to that. Gabe explained his reasons for creating the Leaderboard in his introductory post, "I suppose this is long overdue. For two years, I've been urged to publish such a list. Why? Techmeme, in surfacing the latest tech news, also identifies leaders in tech reporting. As a friend who works in PR recently told me, 'I gauge hot new blogs via Techmeme.'"  Gabe Rivera by Lunch 2.0 co-founder Terry Chay via flickr Techmeme is unique amongst the other Social Media tracking tools and services. It introduces familiar voices around conversations but also includes new voices to the subject. This broadens the horizons for PR pros and reinforces the need for them to look beyond the A-List and start tracking the people who truly have a peer-to-peer relationship with your customers. Gabe Rivera's platform is expanding into new industries and also uses the same methodology to track conversations. Additional properties include WeSmirch, entertainment gossip, Memorandum, politics, and BallBug, baseball. As of now, Leaderboard is covering tech, but will eventually migrate to the other sites. So, let's get back to the Leaderboard. While it doesn't yet track the top 100 for other industries, its spotlight on tech is very revealing and introduces a new look at the mixture of new and traditional media (the full list is below). The number one spot goes to TechCrunch, which is number two on the Technorati 100 list. But what's interesting and important here, is that traditional media is demonstrating that cultivating an online presence rivals even the most popular blogs. For example, New York Times is at number three, the BBC is at number eight, Infoworld at nine, and The Wall Street Journal rounds out the number ten position. In fact of the top 100 online authorities, 26 are traditional journals, magazines and newspapers with online branches. And, are you ready for this? Two of the top 100 sources for news iare traditional wire services! BusinessWire, number 29, and PR Newswire, number 38, have been sourced more for news than ZDNet, PC World, Wired, Washington Post, Forbes, Bloomberg, and many others. This demonstrates that the right press releases can spark conversation regardless of distributing in a social or traditional format.  Attention PR people and company executives! Don't underestimate the value of either traditional or new media. Your campaigns should not be limited to either blogs or press, nor should it simply focus on the Top 100 list at Techmeme, Technorati or any other service. The best communications strategies will envelop not only authorities in new and traditional media, but also those voices in the Magic Middle of the attention curve who help carry information and discussions among your customers. The Magic Middle is defined as the bloggers who have from 20-1000 other people linking to them. While these lists are representative of the people you ideally wish to reach, it doesn't give you an invitation to spam them. At the end of the day, this is all about relationships and it all starts with listening and reading. So wrapping things up, I had a chance to speak with Gabe about the Leaderboard prior to launch, thank you Gabe! PR2.0 - Do you see the leaderboard also going live across your other sites? Rivera - Yes, other Leaderboards will appear soon. PR2.0 - How is this different than Technorati's list? Rivera - Technorati's list ranks the general blogosphere. You can use it to support claims like "PostSecret is among the Top 100 blogs." Techmeme's list identifies leaders in tech news reporting. Blogs are listed among non-blogs. It's a good reflection of the realities of today's news media. PR2.0 - Were you surprised by the mixture of traditional media v new media? Rivera - Nope, my sites are built around the understanding that both have a major role in tech news. I know from speaking to PR professionals that they need to keep current on who the influencers are. And it's not as obvious as it seems. There's churn; they keep changing. (e.g., Silicon Alley Insider came out of nowhere this summer.) So this list, which is updated every 20 minutes, should definitely help. PR2.0 - What do you think about Businesswire and PRNewswire showing up in the mix? Rivera - Fine by me. Occasionally press releases contain pertinent details not emphasized elsewhere. That's usually the case when they appear on Techmeme. -- Here's the top 100 list, which I also ran here. 1. TechCrunch 2. Engadget 3. New York Times 4. Ars Technica 5. CNET News.com 6. Read/WriteWeb 7. GigaOM 8. BBC 9. InfoWorld 10. Wall Street Journal 11. The Register 12. Reuters 13. Silicon Alley Insider 14. paidContent.org 15. Between the Lines 16. Gizmodo 17. Google Operating System 18. eWEEK.com 19. Search Engine Land 20. Computerworld 21. Crave: The gadget blog 22. Associated Press 23. TorrentFreak 24. Webware.com 25. VentureBeat 26. The Unofficial Apple Weblog 27. Business Week 28. CrunchGear 29. Business Wire 30. Google Blogoscoped 31. Techdirt 32. Microsoft 33. Bits 34. Rough Type 35. DailyTech 36. Scripting News 37. mathewingram.com/work 38. PR Newswire 39. CenterNetworks 40. The Boy Genius Report 41. ZDNet 42. Guardian 43. All about Microsoft 44. PC World 45. Wired News 46. Inquirer 47. AppleInsider 48. Epicenter 49. Tech Trader Daily 50. Washington Post 51. Forbes 52. Bloomberg 53. Times of London 54. Apple 55. BoomTown 56. InformationWeek 57. Publishing 2.0 58. Scobleizer 59. A VC 60. iLounge 61. Download Squad 62. All Facebook 63. Financial Times 64. Boston Globe 65. Electronista 66. Yodel Anecdotal 67. apophenia 68. Official Google Blog 69. Google Public Policy Blog 70. USA Today 71. Compete Blog 72. AdAge 73. Apple 2.0 74. WebProNews 75. Mashable! 76. New York Post 77. Googling Google 78. iPhone Central 79. Todd Bishop’s Microsoft Blog 80. NEWS.com.au 81. DigiTimes 82. Digital Daily 83. BuzzMachine 84. comScore 85. Security Fix 86. CNN 87. Andy Beal’s Marketing Pilgrim 88. NewTeeVee 89. istartedsomething 90. Think Secret 91. ProBlogger Blog Tips 92. Reflections of a Newsosaur 93. GNUCITIZEN 94. O’Reilly Radar 95. MediaShift 96. ipodminusitunes 97. Doc Searls Weblog 98. Kotaku 99. Valleywag 100. Los Angeles Times -- Additional voices on the subject: TechCrunch 1 & 2 Ben Metcalfe Robert Scoble who asks, TechMeme list heralds death of blogging? -- Connect on Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce or Facebook.
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