The Thank You Economy - Are you part of it? The Next Move After Social Media is your Context

So much of what we call Social Media is based on PUSH. We are PUSHING our agenda to others.  We log in and sell our ideas.  How many of you are actually listening to your customer and responding on a human level? It is unfortunate that online social interactions are called "social media".  This implies a PUSH model where we are as we used to say in a sales call "showing up and throwing up".  Not taking in the context of our relationships is totally missing the point.  OK we are here to do business, I get that - me too.  I want customers, I want YOUR business, but the real opportunity in the Social Context is to connect with people who I may never meet but where our interaction can actually benefit both of us.  Because after all, the reader at the other end of this blog post can stop coming to read this at any time.

If you have been reading my blogs over the last few years you will find that most of my posts are wrapped around something I found useful or interesting that we are now doing for our clients.  We are trying to help others and create a place for all of us to understand what is and what is not the right way to use Social Context with our clients to encourage them to take the relationship / trust paradigm to the next level... OK great.  The question is, this cannot all be PUSH.  There has to be the interaction, the connection. the interplay.  The Business has to do more than just show up and throw up on their customer with brochures, coupons and ads. Businesses need to take into account the needs, wishes and interests of their customers.

I listen to a number of podcasts on my Droid on Stitcher (a great way to listen to all your favorite news and business and tech stories) and one of my favorite shows is Jason Calacanis and his This Week In Startups.  Recently he had Gary Vaynerchuck on who just wrote a great book,  "The Thank You Economy".  Get it, read it, listen to this 55 minute video and prepare for a paradigm shift from the Social Media to Social Context.  This is going to be a fundamental shift and it is going to happen.  Some companies will get it and others are going to crash.

Watch This
http://thisweekin.com/thisweekin-startups/gary-vaynerchuk-of-vaynermedia-on-this-week-in-startups-126

Gary Vaynerchuk of VaynerMedia on This Week in Startups #126

What is your position on this?  Write to me and tell me your thoughts on this idea and how you are going to implement these ideas.

Torrey Russell can be reached at torreyrusell@gmail.com

The Thank You Economy - Are you part of it? The Next Move After Social Media is your Context

So much of what we call Social Media is based on PUSH. We are PUSHING our agenda to others.  We log in and sell our ideas.  How many of you are actually listening to your customer and responding on a human level? It is unfortunate that online social interactions are called "social media".  This implies a PUSH model where we are as we used to say in a sales call "showing up and throwing up".  Not taking in the context of our relationships is totally missing the point.  OK we are here to do business, I get that - me too.  I want customers, I want YOUR business, but the real opportunity in the Social Context is to connect with people who I may never meet but where our interaction can actually benefit both of us.  Because after all, the reader at the other end of this blog post can stop coming to read this at any time.

If you have been reading my blogs over the last few years you will find that most of my posts are wrapped around something I found useful or interesting that we are now doing for our clients.  We are trying to help others and create a place for all of us to understand what is and what is not the right way to use Social Context with our clients to encourage them to take the relationship / trust paradigm to the next level... OK great.  The question is, this cannot all be PUSH.  There has to be the interaction, the connection. the interplay.  The Business has to do more than just show up and throw up on their customer with brochures, coupons and ads.  Businesses need to take into account the needs, wishes and interests of their customers.

I listen to a number of podcasts on my Droid on Stitcher (a great way to listen to all your favorite news and business and tech stories) and one of my favorite shows is Jason Calacanis and his This Week In Startups.  Recently he had Gary Vaynerchuck on who just wrote a great book,  "The Thank You Economy".  Get it, read it, listen to this 55 minute video and prepare for a paradigm shift from the Social Media to Social Context.  This is going to be a fundamental shift and it is going to happen.  Some companies will get it and others are going to crash.

Watch This
http://thisweekin.com/thisweekin-startups/gary-vaynerchuk-of-vaynermedia-on-this-week-in-startups-126

Gary Vaynerchuk of VaynerMedia on This Week in Startups #126

What is your position on this?  Write to me and tell me your thoughts on this idea and how you are going to implement these ideas.

Torrey Russell can be reached at torreyrusell@gmail.com

What is your KLOUT Score?

R
ecently a company called http://klout.com has given us a way now to rate our relationships with others.
All businesses are looking for those people they are talking to that are influential decision makers, some call them Sneezers...people who will do the free marketing to promote your brand to their network of friends and businesses acquaintances - what is often called Viral marketing.

Now you can look into your social media graph of followers and friends and determine their clout in the marketplace

Where do you fit in the scheme of things?  Now you can look at those people coming to your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn account and rate them based on their potential KLOUT Score.  Who do you focus on now when you see that someone has a high score and is likely to bring you lots of business from their community if they like what they see?

Here is a short interview of their founder and explains it allhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FB8rICLmLg
 

Google puts the Squeeze on Marginal and Link Exchange sites - are you playing with fire?

Google has just changed the way they view web sites and many are being removed from their index... is yours one of them?

Recently it came out in the Press that Overstock.com and JC Penney (more on that here: http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/110226-184951 ) were using other sites, some just for the purpose of posting a link back to their site, to increase their rankings on Search Engines.  This is a common strategy and often employed by those companies calling you and claiming to get you on the front page of Google.  Now these sites are being outed and their customers are paying the price.

If you are caught playing in this arena your site will simply be removed from the index.  All those backlinks you have created to bolster your position on search engines are down the tubes as it were.

So what is the solution.

First of all lets be clear what is going on.  What are called Link Farms or sites whose sole purpose is to generate a link back to your site are being scrutinized by the new algorithm of Google and if you fall into being one of their customers, ie: you have links from those sites to your site or a page on your site, you will be taken down the rankings ladder or even removed entirely from the index.  This is of course the kiss of death for companies today that thrive from the traffic they get off of search engine results... and YOU of course will now have to suffer too.  One of the big issues is that even legitimate companies are feeling the pain.  Even if you have been very careful to build links and exchange links with other companies and organizations.  So, don't take this lying down.

You can tell Google your pain here: https://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35843

Don't be shy but be aware that you may be playing with fire.  By asking Google to come look you over you may actually be inviting further downgrading... Inspection can be a two edged sword.

So how should you be playing this game.  Simply use the tools that Google provides.  If you want to build legitimate back links, get on the front page of Google and have a presentation that engages your client - use video.  Post everything you have to YouTube... its free.

For our auto and real estate clients we of course do this in an automated way.  This gives your site a 1x increase in back links that Google actually likes to find.... next step multiply those links by 5x.

Multiply your back links (legitimately)  by posting videos on YouTube.  Once uploaded to YouTube use the AutoShare feature in YouTube to feed videos to Facebook, Twitter, Google Buzz, MySpace and Google Reader... all legitimate links, all considered by Search Engines when your site is being indexed.  Using this technique you need never to worry you will be dinged by the Search Engines as doing something untoward or evil (Remember Google's mantra is "Do No Evil" - ya right)

Lastly stop giving your inventory to 3rd party sites who are only using that to steal your front page position on Google (http://torreyrussell.blogspot.com/2010/08/3rd-party-sites-are-stealing-your-front.html )

So, stop taking those calls from companies that claim they are getting going to get you on the front page of Google, focus on a strategy to increase your links and engagement factor by using video and sharing on YouTube and stop giving your inventory to 3rd party sites that are stealing your front page on Google.

And be careful on your way to Grandmother's house... there really are big bad Wolves along the way.