I came across these highlights of a speech by Paul Fennemore, a Managing Partner at Viapoint, that I had to share:

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Yeah… no wonder why men bounce quickly from the site.

So.Much.Ribbon. (and pink with lace!)

But I was intrigued because of the massive adoption. I am a marketer at my core, so I saw this as an interesting way to approach a segmented audience. The audience is mostly women who post “pretty” things. At the time I was working for GannettLocal as their Chief Marketing and Product dude. My focus was always innovate new ideas and adapt to trends. Well, you can not say Pinterest was not a trend! So I played around with the obvious to see what traction I could get. What is the most obvious…. #cuteoverload pics of course. So I optimized my StumbleUpon and my Tumblr for “cute” photos of animals.

Starting pinning and noticed the only folks re-pinning, commenting, and liking the pin’s were my own network. Well, I could do this on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. Why is this different. I quickly found out that I needed “categorize” my Pin Boards to public boards.

Once I did that… I saw significant and quick engagement:

That was just a few house and one cute post!

Well this is easy! Women like to share pretty things on this site. So what kind of things would they want to share that would result into marketing win’s for our clients. We started with furniture stores and their inventory. Then went to girly geek gadgets. This was great link bait! Shares and click through were happening and we were driving traffic to our clients sites.

So there is an obvious lead gen play here to an audience that self segments. In fact, many brands are now getting this. Here is a list.

But is the community turning off the men with all that ribbon?

Well recently a few noteworthy social media dudes have joined in on the #pinterest fun:

• Scott Stratten‘s board: http://pinterest.com/unmarketing/
• Jason Falls‘ board: http://pinterest.com/jasonfalls/
• Thomas Knolls’ board: http://pinterest.com/thomasknoll/
• Gary Vaynerchuk: http://pinterest.com/garyvee/
• and of course Jay Baer is rocking his tequila board: http://pinterest.com/jaybaer/
• You even have some political dudes playing in on this.

You can see they are still trying it out. Their volume isn’t high, but the quality is. They have not gone crazy like me, just yet.

There is a UX flaw IMHO with Pinterest. By default, when you “follow” a user, you follow ALL the boards of that user.

So I follow the girly room decor stuff and the dresses and the shoes. Gah! But when you choose to follow just the boards that matter to you from your friend who happens to be female, then your feed is optimized. I started following art, gadgets, photography, and yes… even I like pretty home things… so I kept a few of those as well.

By default, I followed ALL the board of my male friends just to see what they are pinning. I have yet to unfollow any of their boards and my feed is more balanced with the dude and girl stuff.

Men… it can be done, and be fun, and drive traffic.

Pinterest is heavily trafficked by women, yes. Does that mean hands off to men?

Nope.

And if you are a marketer… it gives you another ecosystem to play in and understand new forms of engagement strategies.

Are you a dude on Pinterest? If so, leave your link below so other dudes can follow and not be alone! Or hit up #dudesonpinterest

UPDATE: Got a lot of interest in this blog post. Thank you! Here is one mega #dudesonpinterest board that came to my attention because of this blog post. The board of man: http://pinterest.com/drewhawkins/board-of-man/

And there is my Pinterest boards

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1) Pinterest

At the heart of the bewilderment are the 421 million pageviews generated in the month of October. This growth is apparently a staggering 2000% growth since the company last reported traffic numbers in June.

(Source: sitetrail.com)

2) Crock Pot Girls / Crockin’ Girls

These girls went from a new Facebook Fan page with zero followers to over 1.2 million Likes in just weeks! They even changed their name to “Crock’in Girls” because of of the anti “Rival” women out there (the makers of Crock-Pot) and started a NEW group and was able to generate +500k likes in weeks after that. Nearly 2 million likes in just a few months! Some mommy bloggers are saying there was some black hat involved, but others dismiss this.

3) Spotify

Spotify is getting its systems in order to support a planned 100 million users in the future, job openings suggest.

(Update 12/09/11: I started this poll yesterday on Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook and received a lot of feedback that I decided to post this officially on my blog.)

These are my top 3. What are your top 3?

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Well, to be fair… there is no “official label” that is assigned by an official committee. There is only talk about such evolution online and in nerd herds I associate with.

In a recent conversation, I realized the core of this evolution is the byproduct of the previous evolutionary phase. Or what I have recently began calling the “guano” of the web.

What’s guano? Well, profitable [bat] crap, of course!

Let me step back…

This is how I define the evolution of the web: I see business models fitting into each phase of the evolution and – depending on the phase – there are specific measurements of success associated with each evolutionary web step.

I often refer to Web 1 as the Dewey decibel system of the web. Indexable by keyword, author, and subject. Think Altavista, Webcrawler, Yahoo Directory, and even Dogpile as businesses that fit in this space. I would consider email technology short of automated marketing to also be categorized as Web 1 – broadcast and search. Success in this space is use of product. Metrics of success in businesses under Web 1 are defined by user experience around the curation and display of data as a service as well as the use of transition of data peer to peer. Early social products are around bulletin boards, forums, IRC, and peer to peer networks (file sharing.)

Algorithms in discovery evolved within search and the mass adoption of user generated content (social web) gave us Web 2.0; the ability to connect. With Web 2.0 we can see the transformation of search to include sentiment, reviews, and networks of trusts. MSN’s Bing becomes the “decision engine” and consumers begin to adapt to the decision making process and how community, networks of trusts, and online conversations around brands impact discovery and information consumption. From Friendster to Facebook and Twitter to Tumblr, social networks evolved around inter-connectivity of communities. The programmable web via the API gave us the ability to harness the byproduct of social content into products themselves. Example; a review of a service or business on Yelp populating as a “Check-in” on Twitter, a review on Facebook, and a curated search result on Google.

I recently referred to this as the Guano Effect of the Web. Attract a community of bats that call a place home, and then guano farmers will flock to harvest the byproduct of that bat community; their crap. They found many of uses for it and have built businesses to harvest this crap. Therefore, the programmable web is akin to bat crap! Semantic data is the guano of the web.

Most agree with these labels. It’s the labels past Web 2 that are subject to debate often online.

The frequency of which user generated content is produced from Web 2 technologies give us many options of how to harness that data. The fact that any new discipline created in this space is derivative of the latest and greatest tech and business models that were just put forth into the market place allows for massive research and development. Lots of “testing” and the market place learns from these tests. From 2005 to 2009, many “social” businesses were created. Success in this space is defined as adoption, connections, and the ability to build experience off of a social graph. Example, open API, Open Graph, Apple’s “App Store,” etc. Many Web 2 technologies are still launching today. But 2009 was the birth of Web 3.

In 2009 two businesses launched that defined the Web 3 world. We saw the launch of Qwiki and Wolfram Alpha. Search engines harnessing semantic data. Searchable, indexable, with sentiment, relevance, and contextualizes the data with human behavioral algorithms. Two years later, these businesses are still grasping for adoption and relevance in the online consumer. Those of us who live and breath this, love that they are forging ahead with this as the market space learns from their success and/or failers.

This phase is in its infancy still yet with massive adoption and more and more web guano being made, many are finding new uses and adapting technology to fit consumer use.

Many have started defining Web 4 as the automation of this semantic data. To put artificial intelligence behind the social cloud and harnessing the lessons learned in algorithms like Wolfram and Qwiki. Some have even started to label this automation and “software intelligence” and Web 4. Many have said this Web 4 now has a voice, and a name. Her name is Siri, and her father is Apple.

Is Siri Web 4? Is there a next step in this path to Web 5? Is Web 5 true artificial intelligence with proactive curation and the ability to broadcast to your electronic portals to the web? Is semantic data the new gold rush? I think we know that it is for many. Is the web really headed to harvesting social data as the product? We have opted into behavior that gives birth to millions of dollars being made off our content.

I am ok with that. In fact, I love collecting the web guano and finding awesome world solutions to connecting people. To me, guano is gold, man!

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The final test, was can we stay authentic with social, as we scale nationwide, and still deliver quality social voice. Can social (boutique) scale? Well the answer was talent driven. We have a team of amazing social media and digital marketing all stars in our Scottsdale, AZ office that now service accounts nationwide. They are hands on with the client, manage community brilliantly, and drive leads to our customers. I am proud to be a part of that team.

That is why this is hard for me to write.

Prior to GannettLocal, I was working within my own agency around activating word of mouth. My focus was to build community around brands. With GannettLocal, I was able to do that with a team, and with many clients. I have been given the opportunity to lead social strategy around a brand I grew up with, a brand I know well. The Village Voice Media is the parent company of The Phoenix New Times has asked me to help build their community and lead social strategy for all of their brands, products, and markets (13 markets.)

It is an opportunity to connect digital voice with news, events, culture, and local business. I can’t pass it up. I am excited about the next steps. What the folks have built over at the Village Voice Media is impressive. I am honored to be a part of the team.

I am humbled by these opportunities, friends, and the over all experience I have had at GannettLocal.

Thank you so much. You always know I am but a tweet away

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Step 1: Define your objective (ROI vs. KPI)

Set goals. Are you looking to drive up business leads? Or are you looking for a career change? Setting up objectives will allow you to qualify success. In my case, I am making sure my personal brand and my company is seen as experts within small and medium sized marketing. To this end, my summary and groups match this objective. I qualify success (ROI of time) by connections (leads) and my performance metrics (KPI) by views in search, responses of content I produce in groups, and the unsolicited recommendations I receive. You can gain access to some of metrics through “Who’s viewed your profile” when you have a paid membership ($25/mo.)

My ROI:

My KPI:

Step 2: Optimize your profile to meet your objectives

Based on your goals, adjust your profile content to match high volume search terms. Use Google Keyword Tool to find search volume around your industry. Example, “Small Business Marketing” + “Small Business Consultant” top keywords: entrepreneur, startup, ppc, lead generation, and branding.

Adjusted my LinkedIn summary to include these keywords, resulting in high volume of discovery based on these keywords:

Step 3: Engage!

Don’t just stalk the LinkedIn groups that interest you and/or are strategic based on your goals, but chime in! Post survey’s and ask for opinions. Folks who engage with you and see your content will most likely want to find out more about you. Example:

Multiple responses lead to multiple views on my profile and one connection.

For best results, make sure that your profile is compelling enough around the content you are posting within the groups. Just like a “landing page” and a “call to action” the “click thru promise” is the same within LinkedIn. If a user clicks through to find out more about you, make sure your profile is written in a way that addresses the curiosity factor from these groups. In this above case, I spoke about leaders within the social media space in Phoenix. Think about the user experience… “Why is this guy asking this? Let’s find out more about him to gain that frame of reference.” Does my profile address these potential questions? What is the potential call to action once they click through to my profile? Is my latest status update encouraging folks to connect with me?

The point is… user experience is the same in social space as it is on Google. Think about what your profile says to attract the potential traffic you want. Ask yourself what is your objective, and how do you go out and engage with those that can help ramp up achieving your goals.

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It started with Gary Vaynerchuk’s TechTV interview: “99.5 Percent Of Social Media Experts Are Clowns.”

He got a lot of heat for this post and responded to the heat with this vlog: “Social Media Experts as Clowns: Expanded.”

To sum up his argument, he basically said that to be “social” is one thing. To get the business acumen of how social fits in the larger business strategy is something completely different. I could not agree more! How does the “listening and engagement” fit in the larger business strategy? Is it top of the funnel of a sales cycle? Is it strategic customer service? Is it just public relations? How does a social foot print truly add value to a brand past the perception and voice? His point: that many in the social media space, as a consumer of social, does not translate into someone who should be considered an “expert” as to how social fits in the larger business model.

This was followed by Peter Shankman‘s post “I Will Never Hire a ‘Social Media Expert’ and Neither Should You.” He basically says that marketing and common sense has not changed. That conversation, how it fits into marketing, and basic rules of business thumb hasn’t evolved, so stop hiring “experts” to do what you really should be doing yourself.

Rand Fishkin responded with what I feel is the slam dunk of all responses “Everyone should hire a ‘social media expert.’“. He backs his arguments with tons of data and defends the notion of what a “social media expert” is in the larger picture, someone with knowledge of the data, the KPI, and at times the ROI.

I don’t want to get into the always debated “What is the ROI of your mom” conversation around social media but to take these back-and-forth’s between leaders in this space and reflect how awesome it is to have access to this spirited, honest, debate. And of course add my $0.02. After all, this is my blog

The reality is… they are all right. As someone who hires social media talent, and build businesses around the use of social media, I see the duality of social media consumers that think they can cross the line into “strategic implementation of social media” and business guru’s that try to grasp the understanding of social media as part of a larger business plan.

A true “social media expert” is someone who understands the larger business model and the many different applications and best practices of social media. If you consider yourself a “social media expert,” I challenge you to define what expertise do you bring to the table?

Are you part of marketing within social media? If so, then how does conversations fit to the marketing funnel? How do you qualify your engagement strategy with true metrics? Are you focused on eyeballs and exposure or true leads? How do you qualify your leads?

Are you part of public relations within social media? Then how do you qualify earned media? How do you define brand equity in your engagement strategy?

Are you part of customer experience within social media? What quality assurance practices do you implement? What is the life cycle of a customer service issue? Do you actively use “tickets” to track experience?

Are you part of sales within social media? What does your sales funnel look like? Do you have a defined prospect/suspect plan? How do you research, engage, and warm your lead for a sales ready conversation?

I can go on and on. The point is, getting “social media” is a skill. It is NOT a job. Adapting that knowledge into a business pain point and providing a strategic, measurable solution is when you can begin championing an expertise.

Do you consider yourself a “social media expert?” If so, why?

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“Given my social network promiscuity I realize that I’ve fallen into a broadcast-only trap.”

Wow, that hit home hard. You see, I am an instant adopter. I want to try all the new services and gauge the relevance of its use for the many clients I work with. I also love sharing these experiences to my social streams. Yes, I am guilty of sharing Instagrams, Foursquare check-ins, daily Paper.li posts, what I am watching via GetGlue, and even what I am listening to via Soundtracking. But when is it too much cross posting, sharing, curation… spam? Or is it just static?

There are many levels of irony at play here. I see the static on heavily consumed networks like Twitter and Facebook. I contribute to it. But often times I want to converse away from the noise. In fact, because I am an instant adopter, I often times engage with fellow instant adopters on these networks/services that sometimes I don’t on my main Twitter or Facebook feed because of the noise.

Example: When Quora first came out, I was engaging with acquaintances like Scott Monty or Scott Stratten. These are folks that I occasionally engage with on Twitter from time to time, but those conversations are one of thousands that transpire weekly. On these new platforms, they are here to test out the relevance of these services like myself. There is more of an intimate audience.

Does the fact that I know that there will be consistent engagement between my fellow early adopters and I on a new platform yet I rarely see that on the larger social streams showcase the fact that there is indeed too much noise on Twitter and Facebook?

Do you ever opt-out of following a friend or colleague on Twitter or Facebook because of to many notifications of these external services?

When does social aggregation become too much aggravation?

I love all these emerging services that pipe INTO Twitter and Facebook. However I am going to try to NOT share my statuses, my check-in’s my activity from these 3rd party services with my main streams for a while. I am curious what I my social stream and my interactions with others will change. This will be my attempt to turn the static to a clear signal.

Do you think that engagement and activity will drastically change?

Keep an eye out on my social streams and give me hell if you see me “check-in” the next few weeks. I am going to do my best to see what difference it makes. I have not manually gone through all my services and turned off the notifications. So I might slip up. Let me know!

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