"The Hardest Part..."

"The hardest part...," pulled from one of my favorite Cold Play songs, seems applicable to this month's blog-a-roo.

What a month of change. Of course, right? I'm in Social Media. It's always changing.

And with that in mind, I'd like to give a shout out to one of (I feel) the biggest changes this year...Seesmic. I'm completely impressed and blown away and have started using the multiple versions. Tweeting from Look is so much easier than any other method of tweeting. There are a lot of people that are going to Tweet more because of it. I said Twitter would have to do something big to gain on Facebook? Well, Twitter should 'Tweet" Seesmic a big ol' thank you note. If you're a business looking to make a mark on Twitter, a Channel through Seesmic is the coolest way to interact with your Tweeters that I've seen yet. Check out Red Bull's Channel...as always, they are right on the cutting edge of the extreme...and this is extremely awesome as far as Twitter goes.

Don't mistake me, I'm still a loyal Facebook cheerleader. It still reigns at the top of the Social Media kingdom. If they could only come up with a valid way to receive alerts from Administered Pages it would be a perfect world. Until they do, however, they now offer Page Administers a statistical view of how comments and post are being perceived and interacted with right under the said text itself. Pretty cool...and a great step forward. After all, Facebook would be wise to head the advice of Page Administers...

Important no-brainers for your Facebook fan page. "Content is King!" For marketing's sake and sanity, engage your fans with what I like to call "human" stuff. Sales/promo's should only account for 10% of your social presence on any given medium. That doesn't mean that 10% isn't important. It is....extremely! A majority of your fans are either loyal to your brand already or looking for a deal. Once fans, they want to be a part of your brand. Create an interactive community.

The word interactive leads me to my next two insights. The first on Haiti. While I hate to call attention to this tragedy in terms of Social Media, it created a powerful message to the world on the most productive way to achieve a cause or purpose. Cool how the entire world interacted live on the Twitter map at http://www.hopeforhaitinow.org/ to rally support for Haiti. If you haven't seen now how Social Media is encapsulating the human spirit worldwide than you just might not ever. Out of tragedy the human spirit becomes stronger and more united. Neat that what I used to call my 'small little nerdery' has now become enormous enough to hold a strong foot in such a noble cause.

Interactive, in second, is now synonymous with Smartphones. Seesmic and Foursquare are two very powerful apps I'd be involved in right now. Though less than 20% of the population owns one, the next wave has already crashed down in Smartphone-ville. Apps will be a huge market for businesses to reach out and converse with their target markets this year. It will be a break out year, and with competition from Android, I personally look for Smartphones to become a more accessible form of cell phone communication for the general public. Come on, 4G...let's go!

Social Media is new age 'word of mouth' marketing. As eMarketer smartly pointed out this month, it's not the ads that sell your brand, it's the marketing.

So brilliant, and makes me feel needed and loved as a Marketeer. Even a Social Influence Marketeer. "Word of mouth and conversational marketing, up more than 23%..." Music to my ears, since my whole blog is about using Social Media to 'humanize' your brand and create buzz (word of mouth!) I love it!

OK, soap box temporarily retired.

I'll leave you with my reflection on the loss of a 'car biz' colleague.

For those who've never done a stint in the car biz before I'll paint the picture as I experienced it: scary and miserable but funny as hell. If you've ever seen a spoof on car dealers and thought it was completely unrealistic, you never met Greg. I often wanted so badly to hate him for his 'sense of humor' but just couldn't...because he was hilarious...and always made a point. I learned a lot from him in the short time I spent as his office neighbor. That "a lot" fit's in very random categories of my overall learning experience...but I developed a respect for him in spite of it all, and it felt good that the feeling was mutual.

I will forever bust a gut picturing him during a Saturday 'Slasher Sale,' megaphone in hand, running around the lot slashing prices.

He was one of those people that just 'get it.'

RIP, Greg. You're irreplaceable.