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Archives for March 2012

Pink Slime Social Media Blame Game

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Credit: NorthIowaToday.com

Oh, to be a beef producer that has to slaughter 1.5 million more head of cattle and raise prices on poor consumers to accommodate retailers and school lunch programs that no longer wish to add the pink-slime-ammonium-hydroxide-laced additive that makes ground beef leaner.

And, guess who’s to blame? WE ARE!

We are the consumers who sit around all day on social media channels attacking this brand and that brand with our onslaught of detractions to effect change in the corporate world that has been doing the same thing for 20 years to unsuspecting families.

Alas. Social media is the corporation’s nemesis; well, it’s only the nemesis for those organizations that have something to hide, right?

I don’t eat red meat; I’m a flexitarian (look, Microsoft Word doesn’t even recognize that word) – I’ll eat meat on occasion, but I prefer to be a veg head – that’s what I crave (some say it’s because my blood type is A+ … the grades I got in school every day). I digress.

We’re talking about the pink slime debacle that the USDA is saying will cost…WAIT! There isn’t a cost in the Wall Street Journal article today; did that reporter fall down on his job? I bet he tried to get a price tag beyond “effectively slaughtering 1.5 million more cattle” to add to the story.

Hmm, can you put a price tag on healthier eating versus the risk of ingesting ammonium hydroxide filler in cheap cuts of meat sold by lower-value grocers to people without ability to purchase high-priced organic health foods for their families?

So, five governors in states that produce this poorly-labeled-and-pummeled (waahh) pink slime filler are lining up to defend “this unwarranted, unmerited food scare” according to the Governor of Iowa Terry Branstad alongside Texas Governor Rick Perry. They’ve both vowed to eat the product…hurray!

What’s missing from the story that also has the Nebraska governor upended is the number of jobs at risk for suspension of pink slime production (in Texas and Iowa, as well). I’m sure the reporter asked that question, too; after all, this is the Wall Street Journal reporting.

And, so, dear friends and consumers who sit around all day writing blog posts, posting detractions on social media and essentially rabble-rousing the entire population of Americans against an industry that has long functioned without consumer watchdogs…keep on. No sense crying over spilled pink milk, eh?

I, for one, applaud you.

Has The Pinterest Bubble Burst?

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Credit: Jayme Soulati

As soon as I heard about the copyright-pinning snafu from this highly popular new channel, I stopped pinning. As a professional who works with lawyers to protect intellectual property rights (which include all images), I have no desire to get caught up in a copyright mêlée.

I paid attention as the Pinterest founders hammered out their new strategy for pinners, and then yesterday, I just shook my head at the obvious lack of clarity about the entire platform.

The Wall Street Journal on March 27 ran a piece, “In Shift, Pinterest Says to Pin Your Own Stuff.” Indeed.

The beauty of Pinterest as a visually appealing channel has been the freedom to grab an image that resonates, create a board, and share with the world. And it cascades from there…I wonder if the pins I posted with bridges in the rain forest of Borneo came from National Geographic?

Could National Geographic file a lawsuit against every single pinner who posted an image without permission on their boards? Hmmm, I don’t think so, but, it’s not worth the aggravation.

So, in a nutshell, here’s the recap from yesterday’s story in the almighty Wall Street Journal:

  • Self-promotion is now the new normal on Pinterest. Do you recall at all when Pinterest informed companies they couldn’t promote themselves by pinning images of their own products? Guess that’s now a reversal, and companies are encouraged to pin away.

Outcome: Pinterest will become another advertising billboard and followers will likely yawn unless they’re already brand loyal.

  • The best way for us to avoid copyright conflict is to pin material we either create or have permission to use. Really? I don’t know about you, but I’m not sitting around all day creating cool photo-shopped images to share on my boards. Maybe the photos I took of my blooming spring flowers would make a nice Flowers In My Garden board, but who has the time to go to that trouble and for what gain? And, how does one go about getting permission to use an image…if you’ve ever attempted that, you know it’s a nightmare.

Outcome: Pinners’ excitement will wane with the new self-create images mantra and the necessity to get permission.

  • New “Pin Etiquette” rules and principles take effect April 6 and are designed to be simpler, encourage authenticity and invite long-term happiness at Pinterest.

Outcome: I am reasonably astute in legal matters as I manage all litigation for a client. That said, the new etiquette rules have been created to appease all legal teams and for Pinterest’s ultimate survival. What has in fact occurred is a dampening of enthusiasm for pinners to freely pin (with all due respect to the pin-ees) images that delight.

I don’t know about you, but I may withdraw completely from Pinterest to protect my intellectual property. And you?

 

 

 

 

Register for Social Customer Service and Chief Marketer Social Media Certificate Program

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Penton Education Services is hosting a social media certificate program with six hours of training, testing, roadmaps and expert sessions with an amazing line up of faculty who know what they’re talking about.  I can say that with aplomb because Jayme Soulati, that’s moi, has been invited to teach on social customer service, How To Create Savvy Customer Service Teams In The New (Social Media) Normal.

Because I didn’t like the line up, I created my own topic, because if you’ve been following me you know I’ve become something of a detractor when things in customer service go awry.

That got me thinking about what the problems are in this realm – the last bastion untapped by social media marketing. And what I saw on the ‘net was a ton of material devoted to the outside-in – how consumers engage with companies vs. the inside out.

That’s what I’m presenting on; the deck is done; the recording is scheduled this week; the 20-question quiz is complete; and, I need to write my roadmap for registrants’ next steps as well as provide my library of assets. Yes, this has been a ton of work. I’m hoping it’s going to be highly rewarding for anyone who registers, right here, right now!

If you register now, prior to April 12, 2012, you get six hours of instruction, testing, roadmaps and access to presenters. Each presenter will provide a resource library of their materials (books, blogs, studies, white papers, etc.) to provide further teachings.

Here’s the best news…pre-register now and you save $500! You get all of what I just said for only $195 through April 12, 2012 (that’s the official Charter Launch “Live Day”). On April 13, the four core sessions and two electives are priced at $695.

When you use this link, it goes directly to my page and you can register at the bottom.

The good news is this Chief Marketer Social Media Certificate Program is being hosted by Penton, a brand known for its expertise in vertical-market publishing. They’ve done a great job of selecting faculty and session topics for this course:

So, without further ado, head on over to Penton to my page and book yourself right quick to save $500 on what promises to be money well spent. Even if you’re an agency, independent contractor, small business trying to beef up a social engagement program or an established business already astute in social marketing, there’s a bunch to learn from this esteemed group of presenters.

I’m jazzed to be a part of it; hope to see you there!

ADDENDUM: Please use my code SMSOULATI to get the promo price through April 12! (If you’re registering after April 12, then ask me…I’ll try to work some magic for you, but no guarantees!

This Is Your Social Media Sharing Quiz

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I wasn’t going to blog today as I’m feeling extreme stress and inability to comprehend life and the pursuit of happiness.

Chalk it up to not having taxes done, select soccer, taekwando belt testing, yard work, client service, a newly combined blog and website with fabulous SEO and powerful inbound marketing, pulling my upper calf muscle (again) on the tennis court and burning the skin from an ice pack…sorry, just had to get that all off my chest.

Then I read , and he writes a wonderful  piece about Ragu and empathy; read it, you’ll like his creative bridge just as I did.

I’m getting to the point, promise. I went to share this down below in comments just like a good commenter should.  I hit “Share+” expecting it to be Google+. Instead, I got a litany of sites on which to share. I kept scrolling and scrolling to find the bottom and was astonished at the variety and my apparent lack of intelligence about mostly any of these.

Upon further inspection, I think we’ve got a list of world-wide shares, as I see some language I can’t understand and extensions in Russia, among others. For the purposes of today’s post (which I wasn’t going to write), I challenge anyone to dissect these below. Mind you , it took about 10 screen shots to capture these as I couldn’t enlarge the pop-up window (did you see that story on pop-up restaurants today in the Wall Street Journal?  Budding restaurateurs trying/testing cuisine concepts, ala Kosher foods, in lobbies of other businesses that close at night; neat marketing idea.

Are you familiar with even ¼ of these listed below? Have some fun, and now I’m going to go away and try to breathe.

P.S. If you scroll to the bottom and see this post script (I have no idea where it ends up with all these images), you know it took me longer to set up these darn jpg than to write the post, eh?

Have a great weekend, dear Friends!

Attend Social Slam April 2012

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Social Slam 2011

Last year I presented at Social Slam in Knoxville (see me at left with Ann Deeter Gallaher and Trey Pennington (RIP)); the inaugural regional blast-of-an-event you can’t miss this year. The event is going to be the best gathering of IRL social media mavens, rock stars, A-listers (yes, all the names you’re not supposed to use) you’ve been interacting with during the past year.

Please join me and so many others in this community and beyond on April 27, 2012 in Knoxville. We’re having a Tweet Up Thursday evening, so you can’t miss that, either! (Of course, it’s AFTER the VIP pre-party; 10:15 p.m. at a location TBD).

Tickets to attend are the lowest ever and quite affordable. Knoxville is a hop, skip and a jump from most states east of the Mississippi (I sang that as I typed it so I’d know how to spell it).

What’s more, the line up of speakers promises to be worth it so you can say you met them IRL. I’m so excited to see everyone this year, and you’ll get to meet up/tweet up with the likes of these keynoters:

  • Mitch Joel — keynoter and amazingly articulate “digital rock star” who founded Twist Image; he’s going to address the Six Pixels of Separation that define the social mediaosphere.
  • Mark W. Schaefer — my buddy from the earliest days of Twitter in spring 2009 when we launched together and became fast friends. It’s his expert tutelage that drives he behind-the-scenes of this fabulous event and he does a grand job as emcee, too. He’s over at his Grow blog beating the bushes with books, presentations, video,  and lots of insight.

Also IRL and presenting lots of grand content in sessions are some of these you may recognize:

  • Jay Baer — author, blogger, social media rock star who writes over at Convince and Convert; we saw him last year and he did rock the house.
  • Tom Webster of Edison Research who is accessible @Webby2001
  • Marcus Sheridan of The Sales Lion
  • Stanford Smith, Pushing Social
  • Sean McGinnis of DotCoLaw
  • Billy Delaney

There’s tons of great content; the audience numbers ~400, and the chance to meet everyone up close and personal is the best opportunity ever. When you can only share words on a post with folks and no one gets to touch a hand or give a hug, something is missing. That’s the prime reason I’m going…so shake a leg and join me! Seats are still available!